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May 2008
The Parish Council report in the January newsletter included a request for residents to indicate the main issues that they felt needed to be addressed in the village as part of the 3 year review of the Austwick & Lawkland Parish Plan. Many thanks to those of you that responded, a summary of the key areas of concern to residents were identified as:
Planning control, future development & loss of green space 25
Traffic speed, parking & highways in general 15
Footpaths & verges 5
Housing for young families 5
Affordable housing 4
Support for school & shop 4
Improved bus routes & times 4
Dog fouling 4
A65 junctions 4
Wheelie bins 3
Many of these issues are already being addressed and your Councillors will be looking at further options over the coming months.
The second part of the January report asked whether you thought the Parish Council should consider applying for Conservation Area status for Austwick and the surrounding area. Once again, thank you for the excellent response on this matter. A total of 61 responses were received in favour of the proposal, with 2 against. Having gained the broad approval of residents to the proposal, discussions have now taken place with Don McLellan, the Yorkshire Dales National Park officer responsible for reviewing Conservation Area applications. Mr McLellan has agreed that Austwick should be eligible and after carrying out a preliminary assessment of the village and the surrounding area, will present his findings to a public meeting of residents on Tuesday 22nd July 2008, at 7.30pm in the Parish Hall. If general approval is forthcoming at that stage, the National Park can then embark on the formal assessment process which we understand can take up to one year to complete.
A key area of concern for residents in Austwick is the matter of planning control, housing development and the loss of green space within the current housing development boundary. A recent application to erect 5 local occupancy houses in the garden of Pant Head House was recently refused by the National Park planning committee on the grounds that ‘The scale, form and design would not fulfil Local Plan Policies GP1, B6, B7, GP2, TA12 and H2 as it may lead to an overprovision of local needs housing that would be harmful to the special qualities of the Yorkshire Dales National Park’. The developers are currently in discussion with the National Park to reach agreement on what type of proposal would be acceptable on the site and we will make every effort to ensure that any development is constructed in a form and density appropriate to its surroundings. Correspondence has also been exchanged with the National Park planning department on the matter of ‘local need’. Until a formal process of assessment is agreed that is entirely objective and divorced from the commercial desires of developers we anticipate that there will be serious problems for parishes and planners to evaluate the true extent of local needs requirement. The majority of the letters of objection to the proposed development at Pant Head House sent in by residents highlighted the need, not only for local needs housing at affordable prices, but for affordable housing that would allow first time buyers and young families a fair chance of living in the village. Austwick residents realise that a balanced population with an even distribution of age groups is essential to maintain a thriving community, provide children for the school and revenue for the local shop and pub. We will keep you updated with developments.
The 2008 Annual Parish Meeting, held on April 15th, was very well attended, with 32 residents present in addition to Steve Hastie from the National Park and WPC Monika Nagy, our community police officer. Following a summary of the year’s events from the Chairman, Ian Smith, Mr Hastie and WPC Nagy gave a brief report to the meeting. WPC Nagy explained that she is part of the Safer Neighbourhood Team, with responsibility for Austwick and that she would be patrolling the area on a regular basis. She can be contacted via the 0845 6060247 police number, or through the Clerk who has e-mail and mobile numbers available.
Steve Hastie told the meeting that a bid had been made to an opportunities fund to seek finance for the proposed A65 bridleway link between Austwick and Clapham. A site visit had been made to consider the building of an additional wooden bridge over the beck on Flascoe Lane. With regard to stiles and gates, Mr Hastie said that the maintenance programme now flags up problems based on urgency. The maintenance team were responsible for some 1350 items, of which 70 were in need of attention.
The contact details for your Parish Councillors are as follows:
Ian Smith Chairman 015242 51318
Kate Smith Vice-Chairman 01729 860225
Bryan Braithwaite-Exley 015242 51273
Ian Shaw 015242 51850
Robert Cooksley 015242 51235
David Dewhirst, Parish Clerk 015242 51190 woodview@austwick.org
January 2008
The Austwick and Lawkland Parish Plan was published in October 2004, with the promise that it would be reviewed after 3 years. Councillors felt that as part of this review, it would be appropriate to look at the main issues identified by Austwick residents when the plan was first produced and to see what sort of progress had been made in these areas since then. The priority issues identified were:
Car Parking: Various options have been looked at and discounted as impractical or expensive, so this still is, and probably always will be an issue. Many visitors do now park on the edge of the village near the bridge or at the bottom of Townhead, but walkers and customers to the Gamecock parking on the Green can still be a problem at certain times. We are still considering other options and will keep you informed.
Speed Limits: A survey of traffic speeds at various locations in the village was carried out by NYCC in June 2006. The average speed in the centre of the village was 21mph, suggesting that there was no need for further traffic calming measures, while the average speed outside the school was 29mph, indicating that some form of further speed restriction would be beneficial. As a result of this work, Austwick was placed on the 20mph scheme reserve list, in fifth place. However, only one scheme is completed each year due to the costs involved, so we will have to wait a while longer!
Junctions with A65: There has been considerable correspondence with both NYCC Highways and Amey-Mouchel, the contractors responsible for maintaining the A65, on the matter of this dangerous section of road. The most recent development was a site meeting in November 2007 with representatives from the Highways Agency and Amey-Mouchel to look at ways of improving road safety at the Cross Streets junction. The contractors have agreed that the junction is dangerous and will carry out an assessment before making any recommendations.
Footpaths and Bridleways: The main concerns highlighted in the plan related to the condition of footpaths in the area and the lack of signs. A considerable amount of repair work has been carried out on Flascoe and Hale Lanes, which are part of the Pennine Bridleway, together with new and replacement finger posts on this route and other footpaths in the area.
In the Forest of Bowland there has been some rationalisation of footpaths, again with new finger posts and a signed, circular route established between Eldroth and the Dalesbridge Centre.
Austwick & Lawkland Community Warden Scheme:
The need for a Community Warden, along the lines of the old ‘parish lengthsman’, was highlighted several times in the 2004 Plan. The Austwick & Lawkland Community Warden Scheme was set up in 2005 with funding from North Yorkshire County Council, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and the Forest of Bowland AONB, with management and administration carried out by the Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust. The scheme is now independent of the YDMT and the day to day management is co-ordinated by representatives from each parish. The warden, Martin Holroyd, carries out maintenance work as required around the parish, both independently and in conjunction with the relevant authorities.
Planning:
There was a general feeling at the time the Plan was produced that the planning officers of Craven District Council and the National Park Authority were ‘not listening to local needs and concerns’ and that ‘there should be much more consultation on planning matters’. These points are still relevant today, but we are now in much closer contact with the planning authorities and have vigorously lobbied for greater consultation on matters that affect the parish and its residents.
Conservation Area Status:
The perception that the unique nature of Austwick is under threat from the recent proliferation of new and proposed housing developments in the village has prompted the Parish Council to consider applying for Conservation Area Status for the village, and possibly the surrounding area. Within designated conservation areas, development will only be allowed where there is no adverse impact on the character and appearance of an area; landscape features such as trees, walls, open areas and footpaths and important public views from and into the conservation area. The first stage of such an application would be to gauge the opinion of residents to see whether such a proposal would be received favourably, or not, and then to proceed with a formal proposal, appraisal and public consultation process.
If you would like your views to be taken into account on all these matters, please send your comments to any of the people listed below. The information will be used to assist councillors in the formulation of the new plan and individual submissions will remain confidential.
The contact details for your Parish Councillors are as follows:
Ian Smith Chairman 015242 51318
Kate Smith Vice-Chairman 01729 860225
Bryan Braithwaite-Exley 015242 51273
Ian Shaw 015242 51850
Robert Cooksley 015242 51235
September 2007
There has been quite a lot of activity on the Parish Council front during the summer months including the adoption of some new legislation, a new web site, a project that will tidy up a well used feature in the village and the usual discussions and concerns over planning matters.
On May 3rd 2007, a new Code of Conduct for Town and Parish Councillors was issued by the government and at the Parish Council meeting on July 17th this revised code was formally adopted and the appropriate authorities notified. As part of the same process Councillors had to complete a new register of interests and submit this document to the monitoring officer at Craven District Council.
As part of the process of attaining Quality Parish status, the Parish Council, on May 21st 2007, also adopted a new set of Standing Orders, as approved by the National Association of Local Councils, which ensures that all aspects of Council business are run according to an agreed set of rules. If you would like any further information on the new Code of Conduct or Standing Orders please contact the Parish Clerk.
If you are in the habit of looking at the Parish Council page on the Austwick Community web site you may have recently noticed a change of format. As a further step towards achieving ‘Quality Parish Council’ status and in order to have more editorial control over the content of the Parish Council pages, it was decided to set up a separate web site, independent of the community site. The new site can still be accessed through the Austwick Community pages by simply clicking on the link provided, or you can go directly to www.austwickparishcouncil.org.uk. The new site contains an interactive map, details of recent planning applications in the parish, information on news and events, agendas and minutes from the latest Parish Council meetings and some useful links.
There has been some discussion this year about tidying up the area around the bus shelter and the Parish Council have recently applied for and received some funding from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to
do just that. The proposal is to clear the ground elder infestation from behind the shelter, lay a porous membrane down and cover with bark chippings and plant some indigenous tree species. We would also like to plant some woodland bulbs such as bluebell & cyclamen, as well as putting up a few nesting boxes. On the shelter itself, there are plans to replace the front windows which are badly rotted and repair the guttering.
After some 5 years cleaning the shelter, Jack Broadhead has finally hung up his mop and bucket and moved on to pastures new. We would like to thank Jack on behalf of the Parish Council and the residents of Austwick for all his efforts in keeping the shelter clean – not always an easy task! Our new cleaner is Andy Lodge who has started the job enthusiastically and is already proving to be an asset to the village.
Many parishioners have expressed concern in recent months over the amount of building development going on in the village. As a result of this, Daniel Child, a Senior Planning Officer with the Yorkshire Dales National Park, was invited to the August Parish Council meeting to discuss planning policy with residents, particularly with regard to its effect on villages like Austwick. The meeting was well attended and there were plenty of interesting questions and points of view expressed. The minutes of this meeting can be found on the Parish Council web site. If you do not have internet access and would like a copy of the minutes then please contact the Parish Clerk.
Tree Preservation Orders have recently been approved on the Horse Chestnuts on Pant Lane and a group of trees on Low Street. On the subject of trees, the eagle eyed among you may have noticed that the plaque that stood in front of the Sessile Oak that replaced the old whittle tree has been removed because it was no longer legible. A replacement is being engraved and will be back in place soon.
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