HAVERAH PARK WITH BECKWITHSHAW PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON Thursday 16 May 2019

Location: The Village Hall, Beckwithshaw

Present: Councillors – Cllr D Spence, Cllr A Ellis, Cllr T Muirhead, Cllr Mrs J Ryder and

Cllr M David.

Parish Clerk – Mrs J H Galloway

Commencing at 7.45pm the Annual General Meeting was held with 3 members of the public present. (Mr A Ross, Mr J Gordon and Mr T Coates)

1. Apologies: Cllr S Lumley and Cllr Miss V Oldham.

2. Election of Chairman :

Cllr D Spence was proposed by Cllr Ellis and seconded by Cllr Muirhead.

All in favour.

3. Election of Vice Chairman :

Cllr A Ellis was proposed by Cllr Spence and seconded by Cllr David.

All in favour.

4. Chairman’s Report :

Thank you for attending our annual general meeting and a warm welcome to you all.

I would like to thank my fellow Councillors and previous Chairman, Mark Nicholson, for all the hard work they have put in over the last year. I would like to propose a special vote of thanks to our hard working and knowledgeable Parish Clerk Mrs Jean Galloway who has been very helpful to me in my first few months as Chair of the Parish Council.

During the course of the last twelve months we have dedicated a lot of time and effort to reduce speeding through the village. I must express the gratitude of the Parish Council to Jo Parish and her Speedwatch Team who have consistently braved the weather to aim speedguns at passing motorists, not all, of whom were pleased with the presence of Jo and her Team. Jo reported on the 10^th of April that after presenting the latest set of Speedcheck results the 95 Alive Traffic Panel has taken the decision to stand down the Beckwithshaw Speedwatch Group and use vehicles with enforcement cameras instead. This is an excellent result as it demonstrates an acknowledgement by the Authorities that speeds through the village are unacceptably high. Well done to Jo and her team who I am sure will be monitoring police activities and outcomes.

We have been informed by Stan Lumley, our County Councillor, that NYCC are in the process of issuing a new protocol on Speed Signs and hopefully in the next 12 months we will see the installation of an automated traffic speed sign.

Thanks must also go to Councillor Lora Barovic and District Councillor Victoria Oldham for the provision of the two speed reduction signs erected at either end of the village.

We have dealt with many complaints regarding Pot Holes but thanks to the impending bike races many of these issues have been resolved though we will continue to be vigilant.

We have also attempted to deal with school buses parked at Beckwith Head and are in correspondence with Councillor Phil Ireland who is currently working to find a solution. We have been advised by County Councillor D McKenzie that the buses are not causing an obstruction and no action is required. We were made aware of increased use of Shaw lane by construction traffic and have worked with the Police to monitor and hopefully reduce the problem.

Planning issues continue to be a major part of our duties. This workload has and we think will continue to increase with the ongoing Planning Applications around Whinney Lane, Lady Lane and Windmill Farm. We have made objections to all schemes. We have worked and contributed to the Western Arc Co-operation Group who made representations to the recent Government Planning Inspectors review of HBC’s proposed Local Plan. This work helped to persuade the Inspector to remove a number of rural sites from HBC’s list of preferred options but unfortunately had no impact on Sites surrounding Beckwithshaw.

Broadband – Councillors Andrew Ellis and Tom Muirhead and now supported by Councillor Marcus David continue their work to improve this service in the Shaw Lane area and thanks go to them for their efforts.

We carry out an annual inspection of P.C. property and have a contractor in place to maintain the grassed area opposite Shaw Lane whilst relying on volunteers to maintain the Copse and a big thank you to all who have contributed. We have undertaken litter picks in both Spring and Autumn and would like to thank all those who have helped with this task.

We have completed a mandatory ‘Village Emergency Plan’ together with a collection of items available for use should the need arise. Thanks to all Councillors and members of the public who have helped to complete the Plan and in particular to Councillor Lora Barovic for providing items for the Emergency Battle Box.

I would like to bring your attention to the fact that we currently have vacancies for a Parish Councillor and sadly a Parish Clerk and would like to take this opportunity to invite anyone interested in filling either of these roles to contact Mrs Jean Galloway.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the workings of the P.C. this last year and to remind you that as Parishioners you are welcome to attend our monthly Parish Council meetings.

The Annual General Meeting closed at 7.50pm.