‘You can’t put up your own signs’ Askrigg councillors are told

By Betsy Everett

Local councillors can no longer put up official warning signs about dog fouling, Askrigg and Low Abbotside parish council has been told. 

Instead, because the signs contained a legal threat of fines, the work now had to be done by the official dog warden, said council clerk Karen Lynch.

Richmondshire district councillor Yvonne Peacock said this did not make sense, and she would investigate: they had put up the signs themselves in Bainbridge with no problem. Council chairman Bruce Fawcett said: “You don’t need a dog warden to put up a sign. We can do it ourselves.” Moor Road resident Jill Leslie said although the green outside another resident’s home had now been clear for some time, dog fouling in the area was still a problem.
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Mrs Leslie said she was delighted they now had a new, fully-functioning, street light in Moor Road. Fellow resident Cllr Allen Kirkbride agreed it was doing “a grand job.” The new-style lights were “marvellous. Let’s hope we get some more,” he said.

Cllr Kirkbride reported that hanging baskets promised to residents in the summer to brighten up the village had never materialised even though the council had paid Braithwaites of Leeming Bar for them. However, the company had now refunded the money. Councillors agreed the flowering tubs in the village which the firm had supplied had done “exceptionally well” in the hot summer and only now did they need clearing. This would be done very soon.

Mrs Lynch told members that at the last meeting concern had been expressed about money given by the district council for the public toilets in Bainbridge and on behalf of members she had emailed Cllr Peacock with concerns.  Cllr Peacock said there was “plenty of money available” from various grants for upgrading and decorating village halls and work on the toilets may be part of this. Money from the National Park Authority’s £175,000 sustainable development fund had recently gone to Garsdale. Community First Yorkshire could help with sourcing and applying for this and other grants and she would send details to Mrs Lynch.

Cllr Kirkbride, a trustee of the Askrigg Foundation, said pre-planning advice on the Community Led Housing Project, the government-funded scheme operated by Richmondshire District Council, had been sought, and a planning application submitted. If approved, the scheme for the Foundation’s Market Place property would provide two flats and a cottage at affordable rents. There would also be provision for a shop and separate office space on the ground floor. Planning applications usually took about eight weeks. Cllr James Hodgson said [if permission was granted] the project would probably take longer than anyone had initially thought but “we must expect that.”

Council chair Bruce Fawcett said the plan for a six-foot high fence around the primary school was “the most controversial thing” he had ever experienced in the village in his lifetime.”  He described it as “outrageous.” A working party had been set up by the school to review it and would report back before Christmas.

The Christmas Tree would be put up and lit on the weekend of December 7-8, said Cllr Kirkbride.

Cllr Fawcett reported that someone had chopped the branches off a cherry tree in the village which, as it was a conservation area, they should not have done.

Cllr David Madley was concerned to have heard the Yorebridge sports centre might be under threat from a planned development at Hawes but Cllr Peacock reassured members this was not the case. The plan was to build a sports pavilion on the community field in Hawes, rather like the one at Carperby. “They have put out questionnaires in the community and it’s possible people have been asking for all sorts of sports facilities on those forms. This may have started rumours but that’s not the idea of it. I can’t see it’s going to affect Yorebridge at all,” said Cllr Peacock.

A resident raised the question of the difficulty of accessing the village noticeboard and Cllr Hodgson said a new, slightly smaller, one that would be easier to use would replace the current one near the post box. The door would be hinged on the right-hand side, against the prevailing west wind. Cllr Fawcett said someone had placed political stickers on the glass door of the current one, and this was not an appropriate use of the facility. He urged villagers to keep an eye open for potential perpetrators.