12th May 2022 Annual Parish Meeting

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting in the Village Hall
Thursday 12th May 2022
1. PRESENT: Chairman N. MacDermid, Vice Chairman A. Dewsnip, Councillors T. Hall, C. Dickinson, J. Locke, K. Tharby and S. Gallimore. Clerk – M. Richards. District/County Councillor A. Paraskos was also present along with 3 residents (including the internal auditor) and 3 members of Rudding Park Hotel senior management.
2. Apologies: There were no apologies for absence as all Councillors were present.
3. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 6th May 2021 confirmed as approved at June 2021 meeting.
4. Matters arising – all issues had been followed up at the June 2021 meeting. No outstanding matters.
5. Reports:
a) Chairman’s report for 2021/22 – The Chairman introduced the Parish Councillors:-
Anne Dewsnip, who is also Vice Chairman
Charles Dickinson
Justin Locke
Terry Hall, representing Plompton.
Newly elected councillors Sam Gallimore and Keith Tharby, who replaced Tony Martin and Sam Riley.
He thanked the councillors and the Parish Clerk, Mike Richards, for their hard work and commitment to the community and also the support given to him personally. Reference was also made to other individuals’ contributions to the community as follows:
• Richard Snoxall our internal auditor
• Steve Smith for maintaining the Follifoot.org website
• Mark, our village handyman
• Stuart Bush for cutting the grass and maintaining Follifields
• Anne and Andy from the village shop – for being involved in many activities in the village and generally being a “Hub of the Community”
• John Chilton for publishing our Parish meeting minutes in the Harrogate Advertiser
• And finally a mention to Andy Paraskos – our ward and district councillor. Andy has continued to be a great supporter of our parish and regularly attends our meetings. We have also benefited from the council fund that Andy is able to allocate to community projects. – the most recent one being towards the cost of installing the picket fences on Haggs Road to help improve road safety.

Before moving on to his review of the year, the Chairman took the opportunity to express his utmost thanks and appreciation to Tony Martin and Sam Riley who are standing down as Parish Councillors.

Sam has been a parish councillor since 2018 and in that time she has made some important contributions both in and outside of our parish meetings. Through her membership of the FOFS fundraising group she has also been a very helpful connection to the school.

Tony has been a member of the Parish Council for a considerably longer period of time, both as a parish councillor and vice chair, and also represented the Parish Council on the Village Hall Committee. Tony has made many important contributions over the years, and he has also provided great support and advice to me personally.
On behalf of the Parish Council, the community, and me personally I would like to thank them both.

Tony responded, thanking the Chairman for his kind words. He reflected on his time on the Parish Council when he considered that the two most significant events in his time had been the building of the Village Hall and the creation of Follifields, both of which he was extremely proud to have been involved with. Minor regrets were the failure to improve mobile telephone reception (he had even offered the various telephone companies the opportunity to site signal boosters on his land) and the (still) patchy internet connectivity. Nevertheless, he had enjoyed his time on the Parish Council, expressed his best wishes for continuing success and his intention to keep in touch, albeit at a distance.

The Chairman then outlined the major issues considered by the Parish Council:

• Road safety
– Speed survey – Pannal Road
– Installation and operation of the Vehicle Activated Sign
– Installation of picket fences on Haggs Road
– Guider’s Bridge car parking
– Plompton entrance/exit issues
– Street lighting Pellentine Road
• Recreation & Leisure
– Installation of goal nets Follifields
– Follifields ongoing maintenance
– Return to fundraising
– Wildflower area revamp
– Jubilee events
• Maintenance, Litter Picking and Hygiene
– Refurbishment of village benches
– Litter picksand individuals’ contributions
– Dog fouling
– Jubilee trees
• Planning & Development
– Role and stance of the Parish Council
• NYCC/HBC Re-organisation
– Single unitary authority based on NYCC, replacing 7 Borough & District Councils
• A few comments on our finances
– Precept
– Ringfenced reserves

The detailed report is attached at the Appendix to these minutes

b) Financial report for the year to 31 March 2022 – The Parish Council continues to be in a healthy financial state, with a significant level of reserves which, as explained by the Chairman in his report, are necessary due to the need to provide for unexpected incidents with regard to high value assets such as the bus shelters and also the need to be prepared for replacement of high cost play equipment at Follifields in due course. The clerk had circulated the draft annual accounts statement for councillors’ review and approval and he then explained that 2021-22 was a relatively normal year in financial terms with receipts and payments largely mirroring previous years. The only exceptions being a return to fundraising, via such events as Folliwood, and the expenditure on traffic calming (VAS and picket fences) although this was largely funded by the grant of £2750 from the so called AJ1 Fund last year. The only outstanding issue is the reclaim of VAT of some £1000 which should be received by mid-June (based on current timescales)
The Internal Auditor has largely completed his review work on the accounts and the state of internal financial control and governance and will be presenting his report to the June Parish Council meeting, at which the formal Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) will be available for Councillors scrutiny and review, prior to authorisation.
There were no questions from residents or councillors on the Council’s finances.

Submissions from Residents
There being no questions or comments from parishioners, the Chairman closed the Annual Parish Meeting by thanking all for their attendance and positive contributions to the matters discussed. He also thanked councillors for their hard work and effort throughout the year in supporting the community.

Next Annual Parish Meeting: May 2023, in Follifoot Village Hall.

APPENDIX – CHAIRMAN’S FULL REPORT FOR 2021-22

Follifoot with Plompton Parish Council

Chairman’s report to the Annual Parish Meeting – Thursday 12th May 2022.

Thanks to all those attending this Annual Parish Meeting

First of all a quick name check of Parish Councillors: –

I’m Nigel MacDermid – Chairman
Anne Dewsnip is Vice Chair (having replaced Tony Martin who stood down from that role during the year, but remained as a Parish Councillor)

Our fellow Parish Councillors are: –

Charles Dickinson
Justin Locke
Terry Hall – representing Plompton

And now joined by :-
Sam Gallimore
Keith Tharby

Sam and Keith have replaced Tony Martin and Sam Riley who have both stood down. (I will talk more about them later)
And a final introduction of Mike Richards our Parish clerk and Responsible Financial Officer.

As with previous years I’d like to give my thanks for the great service that the Parish Councillors and the Parish clerk have given to the community, and the support they give to me personally.
Some other people I’d also again like to thank are: –

Richard Snoxall our internal auditor
Steve Smith for maintaining the follifoot.org website
Mark, the village handyperson
Stewart Bush for cutting the grass and maintaining Follifields

And finally, a mention to Andy Paraskos – our ward and district councillor
Andy has continued to be a great supporter of our Parish and often attends our meetings. We have also benefited from the council fund that Andy is able to allocate to community projects – the most recent one being towards the cost of installing Picket Fence Traffic Calming measures. There will be more on Road Safety later in my report.
Andy was recently re-elected in the local government elections and we welcome his continued support.

Thanks & Appreciation

Before I start getting into the review of the year I would like to first of all express our utmost thanks and appreciation to Tony Martin and Sam Riley who are standing down as Parish Councillors.

Sam has been a Parish Councillor since 2018 and in that time she has made some important contributions both in and outside of our Parish meetings. Through her membership of the FOFS fundraising group she has also been a very helpful connection to the school.

Tony has been a member of the Parish Council for a considerably longer period of time, both as a Parish Councillor and vice chair, and also represented the Parish Council on the Village Hall Committee. Tony has made many important contributions over the years, and he has also provided great support and advise to me personally.
On behalf of the Parish Council, the community, and me personally I would like to thank them both.

Road Safety
Having previously carried out a speed survey on Pannal Road we made the decision to install a Vehicle Activated Speed Sign.
This was installed during the year and the data has been shared regularly at Parish Council meetings. Whilst the majority of drivers do stick to the speed limit there are still is significant number of drivers who do not. We will be publicising the speed data and also rotating the sign to monitor speeds for drivers leaving the village to make them aware when they exceed the speed limit.
The speed of traffic on Haggs Rd as it approaches the junction with John Metcalfe way has been a concern for some time. Efforts to have the speed limit reduced have been unsuccessful and so we have looked at alternative solutions.
During the year we installed traffic calming white picket fences. There will be some re-positioning required to one of the fences and we will also be installing safety message signage. We will consult with the neighbouring property before any changes are made.
Concerns have been expressed regarding inconsiderate parking on Guilders bridge. This was reported to the community PCSO. It is unclear what (if any) action has been taken by them as the issue still remains.
There have also been accidents on Wetherby Rd at the turn off into Plompton. this has also been raised with North Yorkshire Police.
A resident expressed concern at the adequacy of street lighting on Pellentine Road – we have communicated this to NYCC and HBC.

Recreation & Leisure
This year we installed goal nets on the football posts at Follifields which have been welcomed.
As well as the regular cutting of the grass in follfields Stuart Bush has also undertaken a number of additional maintenance activities.
We have noticed over time that the wildflower area has been dominated by thistles and as a result the more colourful wild flowers have diminished. Both Sam Gallimore and I have recently held a meeting with some local residents who have expertise in this area and we are developing a plan to make improvements. The intention is to include residents in some form of community gardening project.
There is quite a bit of cost involved in the maintaining of Follfields both grasscutting and additional ad hoc maintenance. The good news is that last year we were able to have our Folliwood Pop Up Indian Restaurant, which raised £1,400. I would like to thank both the organisers of the event and most importantly all those residents who attended and gave great support. A special mention to Jessica Beckett and her family who entertained the diners with Eastern style dancing.
This year also saw the resumption of the very popular Fish & Chip Quiz to raise money for the School.

Planning by the Village Hall Committee and the WI has been taking place to organise a Jubilee Picnic which will take place on Sunday 5th June at the Village Hall. We have also been successful in securing a grant to help towards the costs.
There will also be a late summer event taking place in Follifields, organised by the Fofwrap group.

Maintenance, Litter Picking and Hygiene
With the easing of covid restrictions we were able to hold both an Autumn and more recently a Spring litter pick. Thanks go to those residents that were able to attend
In addition, Charles and Chris Dickinson have continued to carry out litter picking as part of their regular walks and we are very grateful to both of them. I’d also like to thank them for the planting and maintaining of flowers at the entrances to the village. Rudding Estate also donated decorative stones to enhance the appearance of the planters and our thanks go to them.
We have had a further volunteer who has been carrying out litter picking as art of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
From a maintenance perspective we have been able to have a number benches refurbished. This included a major refurbishment of the Cullingworth Bench on Main St, and a donation to the cost of these works was made by the Cullingworth family.
Mark, the village handyman, has carried out maintenance activity in the village and Stuart Bush has maintained Follifields.
Sam & and Gareth Riley have regularly emptied the bin in Follifields, and we are grateful to both of them.
A constant and continued area of concern issue of dog mess. This includes dog fouling near the entrance to Follifields and the school. Whilst our approach has mainly been to make people aware of the issue and the risk to people’s health, we have again been in contact with the Harrogate Borough Council dog warden to see what they can do.
Following on from the earlier comments about the Jubilee Picnic, we have recently planted three trees to commemorate the event. One in Follifields and two between the church and The Pound. One of the trees is being donated by the school, one by Rudding Estate and one by the Parish Council itself. Thanks go to Rudding Estate for allowing us to plant two trees on their land and thanks also to Terry Hall for the planting.

Planning & Development
The Parish Council plays an important role in the planning permission process, and as a consultee we provide local knowledge and comments on planning applications that are submitted for developments in the Parish.
We take a positive and constructive approach to the review of applications, but where we feel that an application is inappropriate then we will respond accordingly.
As part of the review process, we will take into account the National Planning Policy Framework and other planning policies.
A number of applications came forward in the last year for our responses – including a number of applications for Rudding Park Hotel. We thank the Rudding Park management representatives for attendance at our Parish meetings to talk us through their proposals and to respond to comments and suggestions.

NYCC/HBC Re-organisation
Following completion of a consultation process and sign off by central government there will be a single North Yorkshire unitary authority to combine the current county council and the seven borough councils. This will take effect from 2023.
The recent council elections elected Councillor Paraskos initially to HBC council and after a year we will become a councillor of the new North Yorkshire unitary council.

A few comments on our finances
Mike has already talked in some detail about the Parish Council finances in his report so I will just make a few comments of my own.
The annual Parish Precept (which forms part of residents Council Tax Bills) was £10,720 for the financial year just ended. As a Parish Council we made the decision the freeze the Precept for 2021/22. For the new financial year that we have increased the precept to £10,930 (an increase of 2%). In light of high inflation this seemed a sensible but modest increase.
The Parish Council does hold financial reserves and we are mindful that these should not grow too large, but these do include £7,400 for the maintenance of Follifields (including future equipment renewal) and £1,500 on behalf of Plompton for a donation they received over the last two years. We have also made a conscious decision to retain reserves for future major maintenance projects such as Follifields and the bus shelters. Both of which are Parish assets with a significant value.

Closing Comments
As covid restrictions have eased we have been able to be more active as a Parish Council and as a community.
It is great that we have an active and supportive community and we have much to look forward to in the year ahead.

That concludes my annual report.

Thank-you.

Nigel MacDermid
Chair – Follifoot with Plompton Parish Council