Annual Parish Meeting 11th May 2023

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting in the Village Hall
Thursday 11th May 2023
1. PRESENT: Chairman N. MacDermid, Vice Chairman A. Dewsnip, Councillors T. Hall, C. Dickinson, J. Locke, K. Tharby and S. Gallimore. Clerk – M. Richards and 4 residents were also present.
2. Apologies: Councillor A. Paraskos (NYC) apologised for his absence due to a prior commitment but hoped to attend before the end of the meeting.
3. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 12th May 2022 confirmed as approved at June 2022 meeting.
4. Matters arising – all issues had been followed up at the June 2022 meeting. No outstanding matters.
5. Reports:
a) Financial report for the year to 31 March 2023
The Parish Council continues to be in a healthy financial state, with a significant level of reserves which 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 draft annual accounts statement has been circulated for councillors’ review and approval. 2022-23 has again been a relatively normal year in financial terms with receipts and payments largely mirroring previous years. The only exceptions being an apparent larger than expected clerk’s salary (£4580 in 2022-23 against £3604 in the previous year, but this is an accounting anomaly in that 2022-23 represented 13 months payments due to the need for monthly salary to be paid in the month due, not in arrears) Also, the amount for Village Maintenance increased by some £500, due to the refurbishment of village benches. The only outstanding issue is the reclaim of VAT of some £1500 which should be received by mid-June (based on current timescales) This was delayed due to the clerk’s hospitalisation in February/March.
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, but the draft has been circulated and any immediate queries can be addressed.
b) Chairman’s report to the Annual Parish Meeting
Thanks to all those attending this Annual Parish Meeting

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

Nigel MacDermid – Chairman
Anne Dewsnip is Vice Chair
Our fellow Parish Councillors are: –
Sam Gallimore
Charles Dickinson
Justin Locke
Keith Tharby
Terry Hall – representing Plompton
And a final introduction to 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 who stepped down from the role during the year
Steve Smith for maintaining the follifoot.org website
Stuart Bush for cutting the grass and maintaining Follifields

And finally, a mention to Andy Paraskos – our ward and district councillor. With the creation of the North Yorkshire Unitary Authority his roles have been amalgamated. 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 a new additional bench that will be installed in Follifields

Thanks Appreciation
In addition those I’ve just mentioned I would like to thank all of the organisations and groups in our community, including Friends of Follifoot School, the WI, The Village Hall Trustees/Committee and particular thanks to Anne and Andy for all the great things they are
involved in (as well as running an excellent shop)
A huge thanks must go to members of our community who attend and support the organised
events that makes all the effort so worthwhile.
Road Safety
We continue to monitor and report on traffic and speed data from the Vehicle Activated Sign. During the year for a time, we rotated the VAS unit to record traffic heading out of the village.
Having installed Picket Fences and signage as a traffic calming measure on Haggs Road there were access issues with one of the fences. The decision was taken to remove that one, and the intention is to re-use it on Pannal Road on the way into the village from John Metcalfe Way.
Public Transport
In June of last year we were made aware that Connexions buses had made the decision to significantly reduce the bus service coming through the village on Saturdays. The reason given was a shortage of weekend drivers and congestion on Wetherby Road. Since that change there is only one bus heading into Harrogate at 9.09am and one returning bus leaving Harrogate at 11.55 arriving at 12.10pm in Follifoot before travelling on to Wetherby. We hope there may be an increase in the service in the future but at this time there is no indication that will be the case.
Recreation Leisure
As well as the regular cutting of the grass in Follfields, Stuart Bush has also undertaken a number of additional maintenance activities. In the Autumn of last year a group of volunteers, including Sam Gallimore, Charles Dickinson and myself along with a number of residents undertook the task of raking up all of the wildflower cuttings. These were then collected and placed in trailers for removal that were kindly made available by Rudding Estate. The purpose of this is to help encourage wildflower growth. There is quite a bit of cost involved in the maintaining of Follifields both grass cutting and additional ad hoc maintenance. Having previously held very successful Pop-Up Indian restaurant events in the village, the Fofwrap volunteers, led by Sam, decided to go for a different theme. This year’s event was Folliwest, with Chilli for the food theme and Line Dancing for the entertainment. The good news is that it raised a net £1,236. I would like to thank the organisers of the event, the caterers, the line dancers, raffle prize donators and most importantly all those residents who attended and gave great support.
I’d also like to give our thanks to Lewis Sadler for constructing and providing some log seating in the play area.
The Parish Council had a presentation in December on a proposal to create a Greenway Scheme that would be routed through the Parish and connect Spofforth with the Harrogate Showground. Overall the Parish Council expressed views in favour of the scheme and for our name to be referenced in the report. We will monitor progress with proposals and as and when they happen we will provide updates in future Parish Council meetings.
Finally for this section – The Parish Council has continued to support revisions to the Bridleway in Crimple Valley. North Yorkshire Council are in the process of implementing a Creation Order, and we hope that the finalisation of the changes will happen very soon.
Maintenance, Litter Picking and Hygiene
We held both an Autumn and more recently a Spring litter pick. The Spring litter pick was
especially well attended. 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 which create an excellent and colourful
welcome as people come into the village.
Our Village Handyman has carried out maintenance activity in the village and Stuart Bush has
maintained Follifields. The two litter bins at the top and bottom of the village were replaced by
Harrogate Borough Council. The replacements were much larger than the original ones. Whist
this setting for the bin at the top of the village works well the one at the bottom was felt to be out
of place. We have been able to relocate the bottom bin to Follifields which provides much needed
greater rubbish capacity but will also be emptied by North Yorkshire Council. This will avoid
significant cost of commercial waste collection.
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 major outline planning proposal by Rudding Park Hotel for a Country Club development.
We thank the Rudding Park Hotel management representatives for attendance at our
parish meeting and the community consultation events to talk us through their proposals and to
respond to comments and suggestions. A planning application has now been submitted and will
be reviewed at the May Parish Council meeting to determine the Parish Council’s formal planning
response to North Yorkshire 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 £10,930 for the financial year just ended. As a Parish Council we made
the decision to freeze the Precept for the new financial year. The Parish Council does hold
financial reserves and we are mindful that these should not grow too large. We currently hold
£6,800 for the maintenance of Follifields (including future equipment renewal) and £1,500 on
behalf of Plompton for donations 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,
the Phone Box/Defibrillator and Village Stocks. All of which are Parish assets.
Closing Comments
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.

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 2024, in Follifoot Village Hall.