January 2010
Austwick Parish Councillors have agreed to keep the 2010-11 precept unchanged at £3500, or £14.58 per Band D household. The matter was given careful consideration at the December meeting because the draft budget for next year includes additional expenditure of nearly £800 to cover local election costs in May. The Clerk informed the meeting that the additional expenditure could be absorbed without increasing the current annual precept to leave a reduced, but acceptable current account balance at the end of March 2011.
The new domestic refuse collection arrangements proposed by Craven District Council were explained to Councillors and residents in December by Waste Minimisation Officer John Sutcliffe. Mr Sutcliffe gave details of the reasons for the new domestic refuse collection regime that would come into effect on February 15th 2010, after which time normal domestic refuse and recycled material will be collected on an alternate weekly basis. It is essential that the amount of recycled material is increased, not only to meet national and European targets, but because land fill costs are increasing every year and there may be future bans on food and any reusable materials being dumped in land fill sites. Craven District currently has 35.5% of material recycled, but is aiming at 40% for 2010, 45% by 2013 and at least 50% by 2020. Under the new regime, glass, cans and plastic will be collected fortnightly from every household in the blue wheelie bins and paper and card will be collected in sacks, supplied by Craven. The collection of compostable material remains unchanged. Mr Sutcliffe told the meeting that there were future plans for all recyclable materials to go into one bin on an alternate weekly basis. The recycling bins in the old road section on Graystonber Lane will remain for the time being but, despite requests from the Parish Council, there are no plans to have plastic collection bins at this location in the foreseeable future.
An information pack on the new arrangements, including a collection calendar, will be sent out to all households in January.
The condition of all the public benches within the Parish is currently being reviewed and an up to date record of who is responsible for the maintenance of each bench is being compiled. Historically, each bench has been ‘adopted' by a resident and they have been responsible for looking after it. Over the passage of time this system has in some instances broken down and a review is now required to make sure that all benches are maintained and are fit for purpose.
A letter has been sent to each resident who is listed as looking after a bench to ascertain whether or not they are willing to continue. In the event that anyone is unwilling or unable to continue then a new ‘owner' will be sought and if no one is willing to do the work then the Community Warden will assume responsibility for an annual maintenance regime.
At the beginning of 2009 the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, as part of its Housing Development Plan, launched a Call for Housing Sites within the National Park, aimed at identifying locations suitable for developments of affordable and local needs housing which were not necessarily within the current building line. Two sites outside the current building line were put forward by landowners in Austwick, one opposite Tommy Bank Barn below Town Head Farm and one off Pant Lane, below Pant Head House. In the course of its deliberations, the Housing Working Group has eliminated the Town Head site, but is still considering the Pant Lane option and is now seeking comments from technical consultees such as Highways, Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency. The Parish Council does not feature among these consultees and our dissatisfaction with exclusion at this stage has been recorded. A final shortlist of sites will be produced which will go into a draft Housing Development Plan and be presented to the National Park Authority. This draft plan will then be put forward for public consultation, early in 2010.
The Parish Council have been keeping up with the actions of the National Park throughout this process, but will be unable to comment fully until the proposals are open to public consultation in February or March. While Austwick Councillors are in favour of any development of affordable housing in the village that would allow young people with families to live here, thereby supporting the school, the shop and the general village infrastructure, there is considerable resistance to any development that also includes additional local needs housing, which is not necessarily ‘affordable'! There are already numerous ‘local needs' approvals in the village, the last 5 of which are in the grounds of Pant Head House and any further developments of this type, particularly in the Pant Lane area, are considered to be inappropriate in both scale and position.
Full details of the public consultation process will be advertised on the Parish notice board so that you can take part in discussions about this very important issue if you wish.
Craven District Council has decided to carry out a Community Governance Review of all 73 Parishes in the District in 2010, in which issues such as boundary changes, electoral arrangements and grouping of parishes will be considered. There has not been such a review for at least 30 years, so in the light of this and the fact that are several known anomalies, a full review, including the publication of draft proposals, will be completed in 2011.
After several years of discussions it appears that the proposed bridleway link adjacent to the A65 between Austwick and Clapham may soon become a reality. North Yorkshire County Council are funding the project and the route will form part of a proposed ‘Coast to Coast' cycle route called ‘The Way of the Roses', which it is hoped will be completed some time in 2010.
Following a visit last autumn from James Ferguson of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Austwick Field & Local History Society approached the Parish Council to suggest including some of the grass verges in the Parish in the Yorkshire Dales Roadside Verges Scheme. The scheme involves clearing sections of grass verge of long grass and vegetation to encourage the growth of wild flower species, then managing them according to a specific cutting programme to maintain the flower rich sward. In October a group of volunteers cleared a long section of verge on Graystonber Lane beyond Austwick Bridge and we look forward to seeing the wild flowers increasing in this area over the next few years. We plan to include more verges in the scheme this year to provide a natural, colourful approach to the village.
Finally, the dog waste bins on Flascoe and Wood Lane are being very well used by local and visiting dog owners and this popular walking circuit is relatively clean. We do still have a problem with one particular gentleman and his 5 dogs, who has already been fined twice for allowing his dogs to foul the bridleway, but we are liaising with the dog warden and the police to try and resolve the situation. Remember that dog bags are available free from Crossleigh Stores, but please dispose of the used bags sensibly in either the dog bins or your own domestic refuse bin, NOT in the litter bin outside the shop.
The minutes of all Parish Council meetings can be found on the Parish Council website at www.austwickparishcouncil.org.uk or copies can be obtained from the Parish Clerk.
The contact details for your Parish Councillors are as follows:
Ian Smith Chairman 015242 51318
Kate Smith Vice-Chairman 01729 860225
Ian Shaw 015242 51850
Robert Cooksley 015242 51235
Andrew Lewis 015242 51766
David Dewhirst, Parish Clerk 015242 51190 woodview@austwick.org