KIRBY HILL & DISTRICT PARISH COUNCIL

(Incorporating: Kirby Hill, Milby,Thornton Bridge, Humberton and Ellenthorpe)

A meeting of the above Parish Council was held on 12 January 2009 in the Coronation Hall, Milby, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972, due notice having been given. The meeting opened at 7.00 pm.

Present: Cllrs. Smailes(Chairman), Helliwell, McKenzie, Merson, Renfrew, Widdows, Wilkinson, DCllr Brown (from 8.00pm) and Martin Rae (Clerk)

1 Apologies: NYCCllr Watson,Cllrs Lister & Parr, Sgt Ramshaw, PC Waite

2 Code of Conduct: Cllr Wilkinson expressed an interest in items 7b and 7c

3 Minutes of the Meeting held 10 November 2008 had been distributed and were

accepted as a true record and duly signed

4 Finance

a. Balance stood at £3,301

b. SLCC annual sub to pay £61

c. VAT refund £109 claim submitted

d. Arbortech £400 to pay

e. Rent of room to pay £5.50

5 Correspondence

a. Harrogate District Safer Communities Partnership. Deadline for 2009/10 grant applications - 23 Jan 2009. Cllrs felt the sort of topics covered by the grant funding had little relevance for the parish and had no suggestions for projects.

b. HBC Dept Community Services – Commuted Sums. Following the turmoil in HBC resulting from staff moves, this had at last been sorted out and the balance sheet for Kirby Hill & District had been received by the clerk and was checked off as correct in relation to previous balance sheets.

c. HBC Electoral Register. Received by the clerk. Number of electors in the 5 parishes now 523 (up from 501 in 2007, 516 2008)

d. Church Lane Surgery, letter to Phil Willis MP – re- Pharmacy White Paper. Chairman circulated the letter round the meeting. General support for doctors’ stance but no action required.

6 Clerk’s and Councillors’ Reports/Meetings

a. Police Liaison. Cllr Helliwell attended the 1 Dec meeting in place of Cllr Wilkinson and reported on BB crime figures and community policing initiatives. Also on the different approach taken between NYCC and HBC towards gypsies, the police generally supporting HBC’s zero tolerance approach.

(Sgt Ramshaw, when presenting his apologies for Parish Council meeting, asked that the message be put across that he’d appreciate councillors’ views on policing priorities for the area. Main concerns were around speeding on the minor country roads, especially the Helperby and Dishforth roads.)

The Clerk routinely received minutes of Police CAP meetings and agreed to forward them to all councillors in future. ACTION CLERK

b. Joint Parish Council. The Clerk reported on the last meeting 11 Dec, specifically about the British Waterways/Carbon Trust proposals for a hydro electric scheme on Milby island. The site was one of 50 being investigated in the UK. The Clerk and Mike Collins of Langthorpe PC had attended an earlier meeting with BW and Carbon Trust representatives, whose lack of knowledge about the extent and regularity of Boroughbridge flooding had been very apparent. This might rule out the possibility of any scheme being developed on this site.

Next JPC meeting 5 March. Cllr McKenzie, who had been unable to attend many meetings, asked to stand down as one of the Kirby Hill PC representatives. Cllr Smailes volunteered to take his place, joining Cllr Helliwell as the other representative.

7 Ongoing Matters/Updates

a. Milby Lane Waste Site proposals. No further application yet received.

DCllr Brown joined the meeting at 8.00pm having been delayed at another meeting. He considered it worthwhile the parish council making an approach to Mr. Ogden. Councillors were reluctant, however, to do so at this stage, before the expected new application came through.

The Clerk pointed out that early in the LDF consultations the Parish Council had requested that the Milby Lane industrial estate be zoned mixed employment/housing instead of 100% employment. This had not been accepted by HBC.

b. Kirby Hill MSA proposals The clerk had now received from HBC the full application

documentation, and notification about comments procedure, with 27January deadline.

The clerk reported on the work to date by the RAMS but explained that some of their

activities/funding needed to remain confidential. The RAMS Chairman, Gareth

Owens, had been called away to Australia on business for the month of January but

had done a huge amount between Christmas and New Year and was still in email

contact. He had sent a copy of the [draft] RAMS Statement of Objection, which the

clerk agreed to copy to councillors for information. ACTION CLERK

The clerk had also drafted the Parish Council’s letter of objection and distributed it prior to the meeting. He asked for Councillors’ comments/suggestions by the end of the following week. The Chairman suggested including the loss of prime agricultural land, an argument he’d be using in his personal letter of objection.

c. Layby B6265 The clerk reported that NYCC’s Ken Major, who had been dealing with

the proposed closure order, had left for another job and his replacement had not yet started. A temporary halt to progress on this issue was likely but the clerk would chase the matter urgently and also request that something be done in the meantime about the very severe tipping/littering in the area. ACTION CLERK

d. Grass Cutting/ Tree work. The council had again awarded Aidan Foster the contract for cutting the village green. Arbortec had done the pollarding work on the 8 lime

trees on 5 January and had cut the lower branches from the Sorbus at the north eastern end of the green to make grass cutting easier. Invoice for £400+VAT expected.

e. Helperby Road/Burton Cottages road marking This had now been completed and

Cllr Renfrew felt the result was satisfactory. She queried why it had not been possible to have double white lines down the centre of the road at this location. Clerk to find out. ACTION CLERK

f. Village footpaths and Highways matters. NYCC Highways had confirmed that the

village green footpath would be included in the list of village footpaths for microsurfacing under the ‘special funding bid’ but would be low priority. They had also confirmed that the two red anti-skid crossing points near the Blue Bell would be reinstated “as resources become available”. The siding out (grass edge removal) of the footpath from the Blue Bell to the end of the Grange estate had also been added to the list - as low priority.

The potholes near Manor Farm entrance had been dealt with. Cllr Wilkinson reported that there were bad ones at the top end of Millings Lane as well. ACTION CLERK

g. Council Meetings Venue. The clerk and chairman expressed disappointment again

that the room being used for the meeting had not been prepared and that time had been wasted at the beginning while councillors had to remove clutter and fetch tables and chairs. Owing to the bookings situation the choice in future was between the unsatisfactory ‘storeroom’ on a Monday evening or the Bradley Suite on a Tuesday evening. Councillors opted for changing the meeting day to Tuesdays so that the upstairs Bradley Suite could be used. The revised list of meetings dates is given at the end of the minutes.

h. Village Green bench (near St John’s Walk junction) The chairman explained that his

attempt to acquire plastic planks from Solway Recycling had failed and that he would

pursue a solution using timber for the repairs to the bench. ACTION CHAIRMAN

8 PLANNING

a. 6.47.61.A.FUL 08/04144/FUL

Godbold - 5 Manor Drive Kirby Hill

Erection of 1 detached dwelling with new vehicle access.

DECISION AWAITED

b. Deans Removals Goods Yard Milby

Erecton of replacement warehouse bldg.

GRANTED

c. 6.47.52.B.OUTMAJ 08/05860/OUTMAJ

Heather Ive Associates Outline Application for the erection of a Motorway

Services Area (MSA)

SEE 7b ABOVE

The meeting ended at 8.25pm

NEXT MEETINGS:

TUESDAY 10 March 7.00pm Bradley Suite Coronation Hall

“ 12 May 7.00pm “ “ (inc AGM and Annual Mtg)

“ 14 July 7.00pm “

“ 15 Sept 7.00pm “

“ 10 Nov 7.00pm “

SIGNED……………………………………………………DATE…………………………