Please see below the parish council’s contribution to the October issue of the church magazine.
Gargrave Parish Council
Over the summer months plans have been proposed and agreed regarding the Traveller Gypsy and Roma Plan, we have also joined a campaign to challenge how speeding is policed in North Yorkshire and the augmentation of the Playground was completed:
Work on the Traveller Gypsy Roma (TGR) ‘Plan for Gargrave’ has started. The village will need to be ready in all respects by May 2025 to meet the Appleby Horse Fair dates of Thursday 5th June to Wed 11 June and the Parish Council has agreed a decision timeline to get us to there. The work that this will entail will be done by the TGR Working Group, made up of 4 councillors and 3 residents who have been charged to review and amend the existing plan by considering the following (but not exhaustive) issues:
- Legal Options and By Laws.
- Physical Security (Permanent and Temporary) Options.
- Operational Concerns (lighting, CCTV, grass cutting, wastebins, porta loos etc).
- A fully functioning Communication Plan (strategic and local).
This work will culminate in a Village Meeting in April 25, where the plan will be set out and explained to residents in detail. We will also be conducting residents’ briefings as planning progresses and specifically as options for the protection of the South St Triangle emerge.
Along with other villages, we have joined a local campaign to contest how speeding is policed in the county. North Yorkshire is one of only 2 Counties in England that doesn’t use fixed or average speed cameras. West Yorkshire, Lancashire and now Cumbria have fixed average speed cameras, but they stop at our borders. England’s largest county relies on 14 mobile vans …. this is what we aim to challenge – collectively.
We are about to start the process of appointing a new Parish Clerk following Deborah Redfern’s departure. While historically the position has been solely that of Parish Clerk, we will be adding the responsibilities of the Responsible Finance Officer to the Job Description. We also welcome Claire Cadman as our newest councillor and say goodbye to Janet Sugden who resigned recently, we wish her all the very best. This means that we will be looking to recruit another councillor – details will follow.
Finally, I’d like to mention the Gargrave Events Committee, headed up by Helen Foster and Claire Cadman, who with the Parish Council’s encouragement along with many other individuals and organisation’s support have been raising money for the Christmas lights and children’s party; the duck race was a resounding success, and I enjoyed hugging a horse. Their next fund-raising event is a Pie & Pea Supper with Bingo in the Village Hall on Fri 18 October, and then there’s bonfire night on Tuesday 5 Nov to look forward to.
Do support the great work they are doing to bring fun back into village life.
Gregory L Butt MBE
Chair