NYC Parish report
25 Sep 2023
Cllr Felicity Cunliffe-Lister Parish Report
Kirkby Malzeard : September 2023
I am continuing to make steady progress with the community bus project and will report further. Now that schools are back I am already aware of one college bus route not linking in with local transport to the extent that students are facing a wait of over an hour. I would like to know of any other instances to take to County Hall with a view to timetable planning improving and delivering a joined up approach.
Community Partnership (Ripon)
Ripon is one of the pilot schemes for these new networks. I have been asked to be involved to represent the villages and communities that fall within Ripon’s “natural hinterland”. From what I can establish, there will be steering group that will enable the various community groups, charities and organisations that are active in the area to convene to represent the interests and ambitions of the City and to help them fundraise. I have suggested that the Partnership makes contact with villages such as Studley to establish what initiatives might be of mutual benefit and if there are any organisations associated with Studley that might want to be involved or consulted. The steering group will establish what the shared goals are for the Partnership and I have asked that consideration always be given to where and how an initiative might impact nearby villages, when it would be appropriate to consult and to what the views of the residents are.
This is an annual exercise now being carried out by NYC (previously HBC). Email and on-line forms are being used for the first time to save on postage costs. I have been asked to assure residents that this is a legitimate exercise as some concerns have been raised about it.
Please note that this grant scheme has been launched to assist households with improving insulation and heating systems, and to reduce energy consumption and bills. Funding is available to 700 homes across Yorkshire - private rented properties are eligible to apply, although landlords must contribute at least a third of the total cost of the upgrade. To qualify for the new scheme, residents must have a household income of £31,000 or less, or via other eligibility checks. Residents can apply at http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/hug2
The Parish Charter that was adopted by the Executive in July and the link to it is here : https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/your-council/parish-charter It is proposed that a Parish Charter Review Group will be set up to support the implementation and monitoring of the Parish Charter and update the document as required. You should be hearing further on this shortly.
Social Housing Allocation
A consultation is taking place, asking residents for their views on how social housing should be allocated. This will inform the creation of a single policy for the whole county. The consultation will run until November 27, giving people the chance to complete a survey which asks for views on income and saving levels permitted for applicants, local connections and exemptions, rural initiatives, assessed needs and the chance to bid across the county area. You can access this here : http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/housingallocations
Please note that for households struggling with the cost of living crisis the fourth phase of this fund is being rolled out. There are 22,500 residents across the county who are eligible, payable in supermarket vouchers. Households will receive a letter from NYC this month with an individual code.
NYC are due to complete a Local Plan for the County and one of the first stages in preparing this is setting out the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) which will set out how residents, businesses and organisations can have a say in the preparation of the county’s Local Plan, neighbourhood plans and planning applications. A draft SCI has been prepared which will be circulated over the next six weeks for consultation. Please let me know if this does not reach you.
Having written to the Secretary of State to ask for the voucher scheme to be reinstated for rural residents I have not had a response. The scheme would enable the residents that are not getting superfast broadband under the NYnet provision to pay for an internet connection while they wait for the Project Gigabit delivery – it mainly impacts the most remote addresses. I raised this with Julian Smith MP at the ACC meeting this month and the response was disappointing but I will continue to chase. The NYC Executive has allocated £800,000 to enable more residents to have online access but this does not make any provision for the cost of a broadband connection, which I will raise with them.
Council Meeting & Executive Decisions
Can I please draw your attention to the Reboot scheme that recycles old laptops and is needing more donations. They must be not more than 5 years old and can be handed in to any County library. Please see details attached.
I attended the ACC Economic Development session today and the Henry Jenkins is now being considered as a project for support/investment (I will follow this up).
Destination Management Plan
Having met Janet Deacon (Head of Tourism & Culture) to review the draft DMP, I am discussing this with her further – there will be another draft to review in a few weeks. It is very important that this sets out the county’s ambitions for the tourism industry over the next 10 years and that it is both coherent, well considered and visionary.
A representative from YW attended our ACC meeting this month. I have the presentation available to circulate (17MB so too large to send as an attachment but I would be able to send it by WeTransfer). I know you have concerns about the water quality in the river, please note there is a live map planned for the end of the year which will show discharge/overflows which will help with ongoing monitoring.
Community Resilience Profile
A presentation was given at the ACC about the profiles that are being developed for each Parish, these should have been in circulation on 12th September for you to review. It should highlight any areas of concern and gaps in information – it will be closely connected to your Emergency Plan, if your Parish has one.
You may be aware that the 20isPlenty campaign was not successful, it did not gain the support of the Conservative majority and so was not passed at County Hall. For the time being the current policy remains in place – so that individual cases are reviewed on a case by case basis, and one of the criteria for a 20mph limit being that “there is a record of speed related personal injury collisions over the last 3 years or there will be a reduced likelihood of personal injury collisions”. The exception to this is for schools. The executive are due to carry out a county wide review of speed limits, but I have not yet had sight of this – it is likely to take several months. Following on from your last PC meeting, please keep me posted on the steps you would like to take following your speed survey. If there is a section of road that you would like considered for a reduced speed limit, the indication is that submissions will need to be made for this once the review is complete, and also that communities that are able to contribute towards the costs involved will be given priority.
I think there will be other villages in the ward who will be interested in renting your survey equipment.
Emma Howson has visited The Grange to consider the application to vary the permitted plans. I have spoken to her today and she is expecting the current application to be withdrawn and for a fresh application to be made for plots 1, 2, 4 & 5 together which will also show the new location of the hedge on the Back Lane side of the site. She has also reviewed the temporary works access route and comments :
There would only be a right of access for the landowner to access his field and it would not be possible to create a permanent right of access into the new housing scheme without further planning permission to join the two developments together, which would be very unlikely to gain permission.
The creation of a temporary access during construction work and parking/storage of materials on adjoining land is permitted development under Schedule 2, Part 4 Class A of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended), but only for the period that operations are being carried out in relation to the construction and not beyond this.
I have spoken to the developer and he has stated that this is a temporary arrangement to enable the construction vehicles to park in the field whilst the development is complete and avoid congestion on the highway. There is no intention to create a through route to the development. There is a field access from the development into the field from the new development but this is only for agricultural purposes only for the landowner.
I have also raised your concerns about the Mulberry Homes application and the potential impact on drainage in the village. I am waiting to hear further from Highways and Planning on this, Highways were waiting for the plans to be issued to them for review.
Can I remind all community groups that my budget needs to be allocated by the end of the financial year and there are still some small sums available.
Please see attached advertisement for a one-year voluntary position on the Young Gamechangers Team. This is a national group, and involves around 12 meetings (online) across the year. It’s a brilliant opportunity to develop your skills in being part of a decision making group!
Now that schools are back, I will be picking up on the conversations that have started with RGS and YMCA to establish a Youth Council in Ripon and in the wider area. If any young people are interested in getting involved in this please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
I am very concerned about the lack of NHS provision in Ripon. This was raised with Julian Smith MP at a previous ACC. If you are aware of the situation causing any difficulty for residents please do not hesitate to put them in touch with me.
I note that Kate Dawson has sent you the Commuted Sums for the Parish, along with Site Map and Guidance Notes, and I have seen the queries raised in your response. Please let me know if you need further assistance regarding drawdown of these funds. Regarding the sums which are shown to be past their spend date, the advice I have been given is :
All the funds are currently available for spending; however those funds past their 10 year spend date and not committed to a project, would have to be returned to the developer should they ask for it. As we don’t have the resources to follow up each development individually to return the funds, they remain available until a developer asks for them to be returned.
So all the funds on your list are still available to spend on a suitable project and we will try to utilise the oldest sums first.