January 2011
Following the annual review of the Parish Council budget at the meeting on December 13th, Austwick Councillors have agreed to keep the 2011-12 precept unchanged at £3500, or £14.58 per Band D household. We hope you will all agree that this represents good value for money and that your local concerns and interests are well represented by Councillors. The dates of all meetings in 2011 are given below, please feel free to come along if you wish to raise a particular issue or if you just want to see what your Parish Councillors do!
Leonard Wallbank, who has for many years been responsible for gritting the local roads in the winter, cutting hedges, verges and so on, has retired and passed the work on to Robin Askew at Lawkland Green Farm. We are all indebted to Leonard for his work in the Parish and wish him and Mrs Wallbank good luck in their retirement.
The draft proposals document for the Community Governance Review has been released by Craven District Council, detailing the proposed changes to the boundaries of Austwick and Lawkland parishes at the next local elections in 2014. The review suggests that the boundary between the two parishes should follow the A65 and that all land to the north of this will be Austwick parish and all land to the south will be Lawkland parish. Councillors have discussed the proposals and are in general agreement that the A65 is an obvious boundary that makes geographical and administrative sense, as under the proposals Austwick parish would be wholly within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, rather than split between the National Park and the Forest of Bowland. Further details will be available when the full document is produced later in the year.
Following letters of opposition, including correspondence from this Council, proposed changes to the concessionary bus fares scheme, which would see free travel for the over 60s restricted, has been scrapped and the current scheme will continue to allow those who are eligible to have free bus travel after 9.00am and at any time on a weekend or Bank Holiday.
The Parish Council also wrote recently to express concern at proposed changes to North Yorkshire Court Services, highlighting the difficulties that residents in the west of Craven would have in getting to court if Skipton Magistrates’ and County Courts were closed and proceedings transferred to Harrogate and Bradford. As you will have read recently in the local press, the Lord Chancellor’s decision is to retain these courts.
Ross Cannon, Trees & Woodland Officer for YDNPA, is working in partnership with the Woodland Trust to identify and record Ancient, Veteran and Notable trees within the National Park. Having discussed whether there were any qualifying trees within the Parish, Councillors suggested that some of the elderly Hawthorns on Moughton Fell might qualify, having been referred to in a book entitled ‘Hidden trees of Britain’. Mr Cannon has said that he will investigate the Hawthorns as part of the survey.
The Parish Council meeting dates for 2011 are:
January 31st
March 7th
April 4th Parish Council at 7.00pm followed by the Annual Parish Meeting at 8.00pm
May 16th Annual Meeting of the Parish Council
June 27th
July 25th
September 5th
October 17th
November 28th
All meetings are held in the Parish Hall and start promptly at 8.00pm.
The minutes and agendas of all Parish Council meetings, together with links to relevant planning and local government web sites can be found on the Parish Council web site at www.austwickparishcouncil.org.uk or copies can be obtained from the 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
Peter Goold 015242 51039
David Dewhirst Parish Clerk 015242 51190
