2009 Chairman’s Report

FOLLIFOOT WITH PLOMPTON PARISH COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT TO THE ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

16 APRIL 2009

Good evening everyone; welcome to the Follifoot with Plompton Parish Council Annual Assembly for 2009. I would like to present my Annual Report.

The Parish Council met on thirteen occasions during the past year, of which there were eleven full Parish Council meetings, and two separate Planning meetings. Our District Councillor Caroline Bayliss and our Community Policeman, Mark Ayre, attended many of the Parish Council meetings. A written report is received every month from our Community Policeman, giving details of crimes and detection rates etc in Follifoot and the surrounding villages. One or more residents attended almost all of the meetings during the year, which is much appreciated by the Councillors. The Council would like to see more Parishioners attend future meetings, and once again I would like to stress that Parishioners are welcome to attend meetings.

I believe that the Council has made a positive contribution to the villages of Follifoot and Plompton during the past year. Our goal is to ensure that Follifoot and Plompton are good communities to live in, and that we help to foster good community relations. We try to achieve an environmentally friendly village, and I hope that we can continue the good work during the coming year. We are proud of our Conservation Area status, and the Listed Buildings in the Parish, and the Council works hard to ensure that the status is maintained.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT – The Village cleanup is always a great success, although the success is not always a good thing, because it has to be said that the volunteers again cleared a record amount of rubbish. I would like to see no rubbish to be cleared, but I am afraid that this is never the case. It seems that every year there is more and more rubbish dumped in our village. I would like to thank all those volunteers who helped with this difficult, and messy task. Litter is becoming an increasingly difficult problem to deal with, and it seems that as fast as we clear it, more is deposited. Our sincere thanks to Harrogate Borough Council who respond so speedily and efficiently to complaints from the Parish Council and residents about fly tipping in village lay-bys. Appliances, car tyres, builder’s rubble etc are regularly dumped in the lay-bys and Kitty Corner, and HBC clear it as soon as they are made aware of the problem. The Parish Council is actively considering different methods of catching the fly tippers, however this is not easy and it is a difficult problem to solve. At the lay-by on Plompton Road, we have had the gravel/chippings moved, so as to make it more difficult to fly tip without being seen, and this seems to have reduced the amount of tipping. We do ask for vigilance by residents, and if anyone sees items being dumped in the lay-bys they should report it to the Police, and/or to the Parish Council. Because of the amount of rubbish and litter being deposited on the roads in and out of the village, and indeed in the Main Street, we are now wishing to increase the frequency of the Litter Pick to every six months. Newspapers, and large numbers of cans; plastic bottles; and containers are regularly thrown out of cars especially on the Plompton Road up to the Wetherby Road, although The Pannal Road is also experiencing increasing amounts of general litter. Education has to be the key, and I have spoken to the school to see if they can make litter awareness a subject of discussion.

Flowers were again planted around the base of the three ‘Follifoot’ village signs at the entrances to the village. Barry Butler and Tony Martin were responsible for this, and they carried out an excellent job. The Councillors work a rota system for watering the flowers in the summer, and if any resident wishes to volunteer to help with the watering, it would be greatly appreciated. The flowers really enhanced the signs, and they are pleasing to the eye when entering the village. The flowers lasted well into late Autumn.

For the second year running a large number of daffodil bulbs were planted in the village, this time where Pannal Road comes off the By-pass. These and those planted last year, really look nice, and we have received many favourable comments about them. Thanks are due to Barry and Jan Butler for organising the purchase and the planting of the bulbs. Our efforts were tremendously supported by Rudding Park, who organised the digging of several hundred holes in which to plant the bulbs. Without that help, the planting would have taken several days, and a lot of hard work, and we do thank them, and especially Peter Banks, who organised this, most sincerely.

Whilst on the subject of the environment, the Council has received a number of complaints about dog fouling in the village. There have been complaints about owners not clearing up after the dog fouling, and this is particularly bad when the fouling is on pavements; in the streets; or on the grass next to the Village Hall where the school children play. More will be said on this subject later in the meeting.

FOOTPATHS – during 2008 and the beginning of 2009, Rudding Estate kindly opened two permissive footpaths. The first was from Kitty Corner up to the Plompton Road, and the second was from the public footpath at the bottom of the field next to Spofforth Road which linked up to the footpath at Kitty Corner, on the field side of the Beck. We are very grateful to Rudding Estate for these permissive paths, and they are very nice to walk, and again we have received very favourable comments about these new paths. We are also in discussion with the landowner about the flooding on the footpath along the old railway line. It is a very difficult problem to solve, however suffice to say that we are in discussions, as are NYCC , with the landowner about ways and means of solving this particular problem.

SAVE THE GARTH – Jane Bradburn is here this evening to give the meeting an update on the situation with their committee.

CONSERVATION AREA – The department responsible for Conservation areas within HBC held a meeting with residents the summer before last. As a result of that meeting a report was issued by HBC Conservation Department which recommended some minor changes to the Conservation area. The recommendations were for a small expansion to the existing Conservation area within the village. These recommendations have been adopted. As I mentioned earlier the Council is keen to protect our Conservation Area status.

PLANNING – there were twenty seven Planning Applications on which the Council was involved during the year, compared with twenty six last year, and five tree works applications – the Parish Council generally is not consulted on Tree Works applications. Of those Planning Applications made, a number were refused by HBC, however a number of the refusals were then appealed. (The Parish Council is notified of appeals but is not involved in the hearings). The HBC Planning website is used by the Council, and this greatly assists us in finding out the planning history of properties, and makes us aware of matters not requiring Parish Council consultation.

PLOMPTON – It has been a relatively quiet year as far as Plompton is concerned, but the village has been served well by Councillor Bolton, and I would like to thank her for all her efforts during the year.

YORKSHIRE WATER – the Parish Council has had a number of discussions with YW over the years about the problems being experienced in the village with smells. After much ‘chasing’and many tests; and without going into the details, we do believe that the problem has now finally been solved, and the Council is very pleased with the outcome. It just goes to show that tenacity does pay off. We maintain our contacts with Yorkshire Water. If any residents do have any reason to complain about the smells, they should initially complain to Yorkshire Water (Complaints Dept), but also, the Parish Council would very much appreciate being notified, so that the complaints can be followed up, if necessary.

FINANCE – generally our finances are in reasonable shape. As a Council we are very aware of our financial responsibilities, and we do keep a tight control on our costs. We feel that we use the precept money wisely, and always to the benefit of the Parish. Wherever possible we try and build reserves for future potential community projects.

National Auditors completed their annual audit to their satisfaction. Chris will be giving the financial report later in the meeting.

VILLAGE HALL – the Council works very closely with the Village Hall Committee, indeed we are represented on the Committee. The Council was very pleased to donate the cost of buying new gas heaters for the Hall, which were installed during the recent expansion work. The cost of the heaters and the installation was £3,724 plus VAT., and the Council donated the full cost.

GENERAL – numerous Government publications, both from Central and Local Offices, continue to be sent to the Council. All need to be assessed, as some are relevant to us, however many are not. Whoever suggests we live in a paperless society should see some of the paperwork we receive. Systems are in place to comply with “The Freedom of Information Act”, and Parishioners, or indeed anyone else, are able to see anything they wish from the Parish Council.

The Yorkshire Local Councils Association has been contacted, and their advice has been sought on numerous occasions. They are always extremely helpful, and we thank them for this.

TIME FOR THANKS – it would be remiss of me if I did not mention all the help that is given to me, as Chairman. Again I would like to make special mention of the excellent and hard work carried out by my fellow Councillors, and our Clerk to the Council, Christine Woodman. As I have said before it can be a daunting task being Clerk to the Council, and at times thankless, but Christine makes a very positive contribution to the Council, and I am sure that the Councillors and residents will join me in thanking her for all her hard work. I would personally like to thank her for the very great assistance she has given me. I would also like to thank my fellow Councillors especially for all the support and hard work they have not only given to me, but also to the villages of Follifoot and Plompton. Councillors and the Clerk not only attend meetings, but they also put in many hours work, ‘after hours’ for the good of our Community.

Margaret Kettlewell has settled into her position as our Internal Auditor, and she carries out an excellent job on this. I thank her for all her hard work. Susan Milligan became a Councillor last summer, and hopefully she has settled in to the job. Sue has already contributed positively to the Council. We welcome her, and thank her for her efforts so far.

I would like to thank the volunteers who help to keep ‘The Horse Pond Beck’ tidy, and special thanks to Jan Butler who pruned and looked after the shrubs during the year. It really is a nice area. Special thanks are also due to Tony Martin who regularly cleans out the bus shelter at the top of the village. It is a difficult and messy job. Netting has been placed across the inside of the roof to prevent birds from nesting there, and I am pleased to say that so far this year, the netting is still in place. I would also like to thank those Councillors and the many residents who volunteered and helped to plant the daffodil bulbs at the corners of Pannal Road at the entrance to the village and the By-Pass. It was an excellent job of work, made so much easier by all the volunteers. I would also like to thank all the volunteers who help with the litter clear up. It is indicative to the Council that so many residents feel strongly about all the litter. It really is a case of many hands make light work, and the Council does appreciate so many residents helping with this task.

I would like to thank David Hinchley for ensuring that the flag at the top of the village is “flying” on all occasions it is required. Thanks to Ann and Andy Dewsnip who help so many in the village, and also for their help to the Council. Thanks also to PC Mark Ayre for being an excellent Community Policeman. He has served us well during the past year, and we do appreciate his interest in Follifoot. Thanks also to all those residents who have helped the villages of Follifoot and Plompton, but have not been mentioned in my report. They are too numerous to mention, but their efforts are appreciated.

The contribution of both The Rudding Estate, and Rudding Park, in supporting the village is greatly appreciated by the Parish Council. The work carried out by both, for the Parish, is on a voluntary basis and we really do appreciate their efforts.

Last, but not least, thanks are due to our District Councillor, Caroline Bayliss, who always keeps very much in touch with village activities; her help in dealing with any problems, in Follifoot or Plompton, that we as a Council cannot solve, is very much appreciated. Her advice on matters is valued.

We welcome all newcomers to the village, and we do hope that they will become involved with village activities, and perhaps attend Parish Council meetings. We hope that they enjoy living in our lovely village. Neighbourly involvement not only fosters good relations but it does help with security.

Thank you.

I am happy to answer any questions.