Annual Parish Meeting 23rd May 2006

Littlethorpe Parish Council

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 23rd May 2006
in the Village Hall at 7.15pm.


Present: Mrs. W. Orme (Chair)
Brig. J Wardle
Mrs. J. Jowitt
Cllr. I. Galloway (District Councillor)
Cllr. H. Garnett (County Councillor)
Mr W Lupton (Clerk)
31 Parishioners


1) Apologies
Apologies were received from J. Edmonstone, J. Holroyd, D. Walker and C. Orme.

2) Presentation of Minutes from last meeting -24th May 2005
The Clerk apologised to the meeting for some confusion over the Agendas for the two meetings but after advice from Harrogate he had come to the decision that the two minutes (last Parish Meeting and Annual Parish) must be presented separately and had altered the Minutes accordingly. As last years Annual Parish had already been approved during 1995 the Minutes would be re-presented rather than approved. In future the minutes would be presented at the next Parish meeting but would not be formally approved until the following year. It was agreed that the un-adopted Minutes could be posted on the Parish web site.
The Clerk then read out the Minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 24th May 2005

3) Report from Chairman

This has been a year packed with happenings and changes - highs and lows - out of it has come some sadness, but also big steps forward, and positive achievements and opportunities to improve upon what we have. Our greatest sadness has been the death of Leon Smallwood- a wonderful energetic contributor to this villages way of life. Leon is greatly missed, but the new Village Hall Notice Board is a fitting memorial to his name and his enormous contribution to the village and the Church ¬this ever practical mans befitting memorial, being made of steel will no doubt out live us all, .. .and rightly so... Although, it is now some months since Leon died, I think it would be appropriate, at this, our Annual Parish Meeting, to stand for a minute to reflect on his memory and all he did for the Parish.

Now on to the business of the Parish Council - firstly the arrival of the two new Councillors, Danny OConnell & Chris Laker, both of whom have immediately played an active part in Parish business.

- which now leads us on to the happenings of the past year.

Quarry Moor Residents - at last greater involvement - two Meetings a year at Quarry Moor have been proposed enabling greater inclusivity of this part of the Parish. We hope for a successful resolution to their highway safety problem. There is now a window of hope through access to a special fund for highway safety issues that are outside the Highways Agencys priority list - I shall elaborate on this later. .


Budget 2005-2006 - this is a new procedure - this is not a statutory document - simply guidelines for the anticipated annual expenditure and costs of running the Parish Council. This should lead to an open and more transparent running of the Parishes financial affairs, and how exactly, and on what, your Parish Precept is spent.

Parish Plan - this Plan is a very important step for the Parish. It is an independent community drive project, which has been endorsed by the Parish Council. It identifies the communitys needs, its priorities and any future aspirations. It also helps identify shortcomings and areas for improvement. It will offer invaluable information about the Parishes feelings for local issues, their concerns regarding planning matters, acceptable development, encroachment from Ripon, the railways, the quarries and highway problems etc. When completed it will be regularly updated and from that an action plan drawn. It will be presented to the Parish Council for adoption and should hopefully be taken into consideration at all decision making levels.

The Henry Boot Application saga to develop the site adjacent to Morrisons for three retail units and six industrial units has been turned down, for a number of reasons, namely: harmful to the character of the landscape and the setting of Ripon and its cathedral... inadequate landscaping. .. inadequate site security in an area where incidents of crime are recorded... too close to site boundaries... size and structure inappropriate.. .does not accord with the Planning Inspectors Statement of Common Ground when granting the appeal of the outline planning application, etc., etc.

Truss Lofts - Mankin Lane Development - despite a hard fought battle by the Parish Council and the village to resist this, it was finally granted permission this year for a Light Industrial Manufacturing Unit. The village put up a magnificent fight for it to be refused with almost twenty letters of objection, and a list of eighty plus names supporting rejection of this proposed business activity. In the light of all this, Truss Lofts have decided to apply for Outline Planning Permission for Change of Use to Residential for a single two-story house. As this is effectively a brownfield site, to grant change of use to Residential should not create a precedent or cause an opening of the floodgates for houses on any greenfield sites adjacent. This is a single application for Change of Use. If the village wish to support, this application it is very important that the support is as strong as last time. It is an opportunity to resolve the ongoing problems surrounding this site once and for all. As many letters as possible to the Planning Department at Harrogate please. This is absolutely necessary if you wish to preserve the character of this area and maintain the village way of life here. The Clerk has details if you wish to write to the Planning Officer at H.B.C.

Footpaths - redefinition - upgrading - opening up of the Countryside¬ - all this sums up the encouragement from N.Y.C.C. to improve circuits and link ups of our ancient rights of way. The Canal towpath is currently in the pipeline to become an official footpath, along with establishing footpath status for Oxclose Lane linking up with the west bank of the river Ure via Oxclose Lock. There are others awaiting consideration. Please support these changes if you can. Under proposed Government legislation unclaimed or undetermined rights of way will soon be lost forever if they are not defined or declared. It is important to get established their status to preserve these ancient rights of way.

Highways - improvements and curbing along Pottery Lane has been completed. The flooding problem at Little Crossing is due to be addressed this financial year, along with new curbing in the area. There are still two flooding problems on Knaresborough Road and also the T-junction by the Church. Funds are not available for repairs, but we will keep up the pressure for action. Meanwhile Quarry Moor and the Harrogate Road crossing problem is a priority for action. I have been investigating funds the Parish Council can tap into for road traffic schemes outside the Highways Authoritys responsibilities or priorities. The Harrogate Rural Safety Scheme is such a fund and bids have to be in for the next financial phase by September. A site visit has been arranged with the Highways Authority to assess the situation and draw up an appropriate solution to present with our application. This is at last a positive step forward to trying to address this very difficult problem for the residents at Quarry Moor every time they need to catch or get off a bus.

Pink Plan - Local Development Framework-The next phase of. consultation is due in June/July. As advised by Harrogate Borough Council, this will be a more detailed and specific consultation document. No doubt Councillor Galloway will enlighten us about this in due course. There have been a number of significant changes.

Railways - the first detailed report has appeared - three route options ¬the situation is highly unsatisfactory and inconclusive - causing ongoing concern, planning blight and a proposed embargo on planning applications within the route areas. For sure the railway station will be in Littlethorpe, but the overall view from conversations with NYCC is that, if it does happen, it will not be for a considerable number of years ¬simple lack of funds, whatever the publicity may say, is a big problem. We are still attempting to get a representative from ARUP to attend a Parish Council Meeting and hopefully the Clerk will be able to have that organised for the July Meeting.

The Swale & Ure Washland Projects Minerals After Use Strategy. Having been made aware of the concern and the importance of this document as an After-Use Strategy and the need for a response from the Parish Council, I was asked to respond and report on it. I am very familiar with this document as a result of sitting on a NYCC committee dealing with the future of the Thornborough Henges. Having had regular contact with the Minerals Department of NYCC I feel it is important to clarify this documents status when it comes to any influence it may have with regard to aggregate planning applications and the North Yorkshire Local Mineral Plan. The advice I received from NYCC was that this was an informal document with no status at all and that they could not refuse or accept any planning application based on that document. The clear understanding was that this proposed After Use Strategy, after public consultation, has been put on the shelf (due, I understand, to the very poor public reception). The Minerals Department stated they could not foresee a time when it will need to be assessed!

NEW ISSUES in the COMING YEAR and the FUTURE

Quarrying at Littlethorpe - Although the current quarry is not destined to finish till 2011, due to lack of aggregates this date has been brought forward to 2008/9 - curiously lack of aggregate material was one of the many arguments used by the Parish Council in their recommendations for refusal last time. Aggregate Industries Ltd, the owners of Brown & Potter, have applied for Preferred Area status in the river valley below Hewick Bridge, covering a large area on both sides of the River Ure. This large application is made up of three areas - namely

a). Canalside - the area between the current working quarry and the canal side from the southern tip of the racecourse down towards Oxclose Lock, and within 20 metres of the Canal.

b). Processing Plant - an area between the plant site and the river, extending south from Hewick Bridge along the west bank of the River Ure.

c). Sailing Club, East bank of the river - This will be by far the largest site and will involve a large area engulfing the sailing club. The proposal is to create a causeway across the riverbed to get the sand and gravel back over the river to the processing plant or alternatively use a conveyor belt and bucket system. For the health of the river this will have serious environmental implications.

The North Yorkshire County Councils Minerals Local Plan is currently up for review and is due to be published in 2008. It is perfectly possible that Aggregate Industries could put in an application prior to its completion - either in part or as a whole, which ever way it is, it is worrying.

With the Minerals Local Plan under review the Parish Council is a Consultee, and I presume that members of the public will be able to make personal representation if they wish as well. The North Yorkshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework - Preferred Options and Issues Document, which will ultimately determine the overall planning policy for Minerals & Waste is expected to be out for Public Consultation sometime in June or July. The Parish Council will respond accordingly prior to the document being adopted as future Policy.

In the meantime I would like to thank my fellow Councillors and the Clerk for their boundless support, and also for their huge personal contribution in time and effort (for the Parish) over the last year. There have been taxing and testing moments for all, but over and above that, it has been an extraordinarily busy year - the Parish Council has moved on, and has managed to get an awful lot achieved.

I would like to hope that the next year will be fun, as well as positive and successful in looking after the Parishes need - there are some very big issues ahead to tackle and we can only do so if we all pull together - Parish and Council.

4) Treasurers Report

a) Accounts to date
The treasurer reported that no change had occurred to the accounts since the year end apart from the receipt of £1025, the first half of the Precept.

b) Year End Accounts.

The Clerk circulated the final accounts for the year 2005/06

5) Questions from the floor.

At this stage of the meeting the Chair opened the meeting to Parishioners and a lively discussion followed.

The main topics of discussion were:
a) Roads
The delay in starting work at Little Crossing and the risk it may now not be done during this financial year. There is also still some concern over the flooding caused by lack of guttering clearing by Harrogate on a regular basis.
* Clerk to write to Highways to confirm date of starting

b) Railway re-instatement
A Number of Parishioners raised concerns about lack of specific information for Littlethorpe on the proposed re-instatement. No consensus was found as to whether the instatement would actually take place, and if so, when. The greatest concern is the planning blight that already sees to be hanging over the village and will certainly worsen as time goes by without decisions being made. It also seems that some form of route protection is already in place and this can only exacerbate the situation.
* The Clerk was asked to contact Andrew Eason to arrange a public meeting in July.





c) Local Policing issues
The lack of a Neighbourhood Watch was raised and residents asked the Parish Council arrange a public meeting with local police to establish how a Watch might be reformed.
It was also requested that representatives from the Council attend and report back on C.A.P. meetings.
*Clerk to arrange with P.C. Gareth Jones.

d) Gravel extraction
Concern was raised about proposed extension to gravel extraction between Ox Close and the existing workings.

e) Open land in the village and the possibility of Travellers encamping illegally.
It was reported that travellers had been seen in the village and with Appleby Fair imminent some open space in the village might be at risk, especially the triangle of grass at the end of Mankin Lane.
* Clerk requested to see if he could ascertain ownership of the land.

The meeting closed a 9.15 pm.


Elizabeth Tites amendments to 23rd May 2006 Littlethorpe Parish Meeting minutes.


Additions and Amendments to Draft Minutes of Annual Parish Meeting 23rd May 2006
Present: 31 parishioners including C Laker and D O`Connell
1. Apologies: C Edmonstone and L Holroyd to be added
2. Minutes 24th May 2005 ?could not be formally approved & adopted until the
following year
3. Chairmans Report ?this reproduced verbatim
to add re Harrogate Rural Safety Scheme CClr Garnett said that £5000 per scheme per year was available
4. Treasurers Report ? is it possible to expand this item?
Deficet over income because of roll over from previous year.
The Treasurer`s Report needed to be adopted
An independent Auditor Peter Doyle said that the accounts were correct but
Should be formally approved before they went on the website.
Precept: no increase in rate, 2.5% asked for. £1025 as 1st instalment received.
Mrs Winterburn queried when the budget was discussed and said that the
public and Councillors needed to see where the money was going. The Clerk
said that it was not a legal document but a working document and just good
housekeeping.
Iris Alderson said that there was no money for grass cutting in 04/05. Cllr
Galloway was to chase the £64
The way-leave was missing - no cheque received, money should go to
Village Hall not the Parish Council. Clerk to action.
Questions from the Floor
b. Railway Re-instatement Roly Curtis asked the PC to write to Harrogate BC Monitoring Officer to ask for special dispensation for the PC to discuss topic. The Monitoring Officer was apparently reluctant to give firm advice on Model Code of Conduct as they were not happy with their Guidelines.
Clerk to write to Harrogate.
c. Local Policing CAP Gp Meeting to forward Neighbourhood Watch still not resolved. A separate independent meeting to be organised to revitalise.
Clerk to contact NYCC Police Authority to enquire about CAP [Group in
disarray] and also to ask Gareth Jones to keep us up to date.
d. Gravel Extraction ?delete sentence `concern was raised about proposed gravel extension?
Richard Tite referred to the link between the conditions of planning approval
and a new footpath from the River Ure to the canal towpath immediately
south of the race course
e. Triangle of Land near Mankin Lane. Action was thought necessary to keep
this area tidy and as it was not fenced was considered to be a possible threat
from illegal encampment.
The Clerk was asked to write to Peter Greenwood about the state of the Hield
Trust Triangle and a report was requested for the next meeting
f. Contact Sheet - Christine Winterburn asked about progress on the PC
Contact Sheet. The Chairman had a draft and gave out copies
g. Parish Clerk Job Guidelines - Richard Tite asked if the P Council had given
the Parish Clerk clear expectations of duties and time lines; especially as some
parishioners had been invited to comment on the original Job Description. He
enquired what precise action has or was to be taken. Action requested
Liz Tite 3rd May 2007


John Edmonstone amendments to 23rd May 2006 Littlethorpe Parish Meeting minutes.

Old School House
Littlethorpe
RIPON
North Yorkshire
HG4 3LG


William Lupton
Clerk
Littlethorpe Parish Council
April Cottage
Pottery Lane
Littlethorpe
RIPON
North Yorkshire
HG4 3LS 24th August, 2006


Dear Mr Lupton,

I note from the minutes posted on the Littlethorpe website of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 23rd May this year that the anomalous position with regard to the minutes of this meeting has now been rectified and that the agreed procedure is now that:-

In future the minutes would be presented at the next Parish Council meeting but
would not be formally approved until the following year.

That approval would take place at the next years (i.e. 2007) Annual Parish Meeting.

This quite rightly leaves open the opportunity for comment on these minutes by those who constitute that meeting - the people of Littlethorpe. My assumption is therefore that any such comments will be recorded and appended to those minutes at the 2007 Annual Parish Meeting - in much the same way as happens with the regular business meetings of the Parish Council. - just as Councillor Lakers amendments were appended to the minutes of the meeting of 28th March this year.

That being the case, I would like the following appended:-

* That I wrote to yourself on 12th May providing my apologies for non-attendance at
the Annual Parish Meeting and asking that a question be put at the APM, during the
time for public questions. That question was not dealt with , as requested, in the
Annual Parish Meeting at all, but was instead addressed during the Parish Council
AGM that same evening under the heading of Correspondence, thus preventing
any public comment or debate about the important substantive issue raised in my
letter. I consider the gerrymandering of the worst kind and would like that opinion
publicly recorded.

* I query whether it is necessary for the Parish Council Chairs report to be included
in full in the Annual Parish Council minutes. Minutes are not supposed to be a
verbatim report but a concise summary of what has been said and/or agreed. While
on the subject of that report, is it really necessary to personalise matters to this
extent? I noted the use of the term I eleven times in the report, but the term we
only appears three times.

* If the Chairs report is supposed to be an accurate account of what happened during
the year then it is quite clearly partial both in content and in tone. In a public report
to a public meeting while there is quite properly a welcome for two new Parish
Councillors, there was no place at all for reporting on the resignation of two
previous Parish Councillors, nor the reasons for their doing so. Nor is there any
public account by the Chair of her reporting a former Parish Councillor to the
Standards Board for England and the resulting judgement, although the matter was,
of course, reported at an earlier Parish Council meeting on 28th March when the
Chair was able to give her account of matters, but where the individual who was
reported on (myself) and the public were not allowed to comment. This seems to me
to be avoiding accountability for such actions in a public arena.

* I should also point out that the minutes are grammatically flawed. The section of the
Chairs report on Railway Re-instatement particularly so. There are also spelling
errors - for example, under questions from the floor item (b) what is probably
intended as re-instatement appears as instatement.

I look forward to seeing these comments appended to the minutes of the 2006 Annual Parish Meeting on the occasion of the next APM in 2007.

Yours sincerely,


JOHN EDMONSTONE Back to top