Notices

Help rid Gassy Woods of Himalayan Balsam

published on 2nd Jun 2020

The Escrick Park Estate would appreciate any help residents can offer in controlling the Himalayan Balsam in Gassy Woods.  Normally they would arrange annual clearance of this invasive species, but this isn't feasible this year due to COVID restrictions. If you are able to help with just a little whilst walking in the woods, it would be greatly appreciated.

North Yorkshire - Buy Local

published on 31st May 2020

Please see attached notice from North Yorkshire County Council:

Parish Magazine Update - May 2020

published on 17th May 2020

As the Parish Magazine is not being published at the moment, this month’s update is online only.

Covid 19: In general, the Parish Council is continuing to operate. Legislation was introduced in April to allow Parish Councils to meet ‘virtually’ via video conferencing, and May’s meeting was held this way. The Council intends to continue to meet ‘virtually’ for the foreseeable future. 

At the time of writing, the playground is closed in line with national regulations, albeit the playing field remains open for recreation. The Council has liaised with its grass cutting contractors, and as they have working practices to work in line with social distancing, grass cutting has been maintained to the usual schedule. The Council is reviewing the impact upon work on the Neighbourhood Development Plan. 

The Council expressed its thanks to the Escrick Park Estate for keeping its permissive paths open for residents.

Highways: 

A19/Skipwith Road junction scheme: There has been no further update from the County Council. As the next step was due to be a site meeting with officers, this is impacted by the pandemic.

Plans to re-orientate the VAS sign for southbound traffic are on hold pending the easing of the lockdown. In the meantime the impact of lockdown on traffic has been monitored, which has seen roughly a 2mph increase in average speed.

Issues with the missing H bar marking at the Main St crossing, and overgrown foliage remain outstanding, and will be re-raised with the highways authority.

Residents are reminded to ensure that foliage from their property does not obstruct pavements or exacerbate moss build-up (taking care not to disturb any nesting birds).

Council members:

The Council welcomes Stuart Hawes who was co-opted as a new Parish Councillor at May’s meeting. We have one remaining vacancy.

Planning:

The application for a waste sorting site at the former Stillingfleet mine site was due to go to NYCC planning committee in May, but appears to have been delayed again. 

The application for increased infill activity at the former brickworks quarry west of the business park has been resubmitted.

At the time of writing there is no significant update on the clay extraction or caravan park applications.

Maintenance:

The Parish Council has agreed a programme of maintenance for the year. This includes: painting the bus shelter woodwork; addressing concerns about the bus shelter electrics; tidying the area around the Jubilee fountain and treating the fountain with a monument treatment to reduce moss build-up (albeit plans to add lighting and flowers will be reviewed when the impact of Covid-19 on the Council’s budget is better understood); the village green fence along Carrs Meadow will be replaced by the Village Green Association (the Council will look at ways to find contributions to the cost of this, in lieu of the income that would have been received from the 10k and ‘Dinner on the Green’). Cllr Chambers has volunteered to attend to the planters in front of the village signs, and the Council expresses its thanks to the volunteers who have tended to these for the past few years.  Additional pavement sweeping was considered, but Councillors retained the position that this should only be undertaken in areas of no residential frontage and elsewhere residents should be encouraged to take responsibility for the pavements outside their own homes.

Parish Council meeting dates: 1^st June, 6^th July, and 7^th September. All meetings at 7.30pm online. Public welcome.  Contact: Clerk (Sally Look), clerk@escrick.org,   Chair (Richard Rowson), chair@escrick.org; Website: escrick.org

Hedge trimming

published on 13th May 2020

The Parish Council’s contractors will be doing some minor pruning of some hedges around Carr Lane / Skipwith Road junction this week.

We are aware that some confusion exists around the legality and probity of cutting hedges during the bird nesting season, and this note is intended to clarify the position.

It is an offence under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 to intentionally damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. As such, it is generally recommended to avoid cutting hedges where feasible during the peak nesting season of March – August.  However, it is not illegal to trim hedges during this time, providing reasonable steps are taken to check that a birds nest will not be damaged or destroyed.  The work being undertaken is not a deep cut into the body of the hedge, simply removing the thin new growth extending into the pavement. As such the contractors can ensure that they are not cutting back into any active nests.

The Highways Act 1980, section 154, creates a legal obligation for the owner or occupier of a property to ensure that the 'public highway' adjacent to their property is not obstructed by vegetation from their property. A 'public highway' means any verge, footway, carriageway, bridleway or footpath that is maintained at public expense and over which the public has a right of way. The pavements where the work is being undertaken are relatively narrow, and it is considered necessary to keep on top of the new growth so that the pavement is not obstructed.

This approach was agreed by the Parish Council at its meeting on 4^th May.  If residents disagree with this approach, can we kindly ask that you do not confront the contractors, but direct your concerns to the Parish Council itself via the contact details on its website.

Escrick 10k 2020 cancelled

published on 24th Apr 2020

Cancellation of 2020 event: 

It’s with regret that we have decided to cancel the Escrick 10k 2020.

Normally by now we’d be walking the course, choosing medals and mementos, thinking about how many sausages to order for the barbecue, and encouraging runners to sign-up.

None of us know what restrictions will be in place by August, but it seems likely that social distancing will still be in place, which makes it impossible to think about squeezing 700 runners through the start line, and impractical to get the volunteers together to do all the preparation.

For those who have already signed up online, you will be contacted by our booking provider, BookItZone. We’ll roll over your registration to 2021, or if you prefer you can have a refund.

We are sorry that we can’t welcome you this year, but we’ll be back on Sunday August 22nd 2021.

10k Organising Committee

Fly tipping and dog fouling

published on 20th Apr 2020

Concerns have been raised across the district about increased fly tipping and dog fouling in recent weeks. If you are aware of instances of either, please report them via

https://www.selby.gov.uk/report-dog-fouling-incident

COVID-19 update from the Chief Executive of Selby District Council

published on 18th Apr 2020

Bulletin Special - 17 April v.final.pdf

The Bulletin includes an update on the financial considerations we’re now dealing with as part of the response effort.  But in particular this week I want to highlight two aspects of our work that really demonstrate how different parts of the council are working together to deliver for our community.

Firstly, our work to support those most vulnerable to the virus.  We’ve been working with county council colleagues to identify people who need to be ‘shielded’ from the virus.  There’s direct help in place for those who need particular support.  This week we’ve also been offering an additional layer of help for those in this shielded group, but who’ve told us they have support in place.  We want to check they’re doing okay and have everything they need.   A group of staff drawn from across the organisation has been making phone calls to people in this group.   By the end of today, this dedicated team will have phoned around 450 people in our area.

In terms of business support, we’re continuing to push out government grants to eligible businesses.  As of today, we’ve distributed nearly £12m of funding to our business community, through over 1,000 applications.  This has been a real dedicated team effort involving lots of different teams.  My thanks to them all.

You can also help us to support local independent retailers who’re allowed to continue to trade at the moment.  The County Council has launched a new ‘Buy Local’ website, with the aim of listing local services still operating.  Not many Selby district businesses are represented.  To be included the business must register.  Please pass on details to any businesses in your area who may benefit from this exposure.  The website can be reached here: www.buylocal.northyorks.gov.uk.  

Alongside the Bulletin update, don’t forget that you can see a list of the latest decisions made via the website – click here for more details.

Thank you . Keep Safe. 

Janet Waggott

Chief Executive

Parish Council meetings during COVID-19

published on 5th Apr 2020

Parish Councils are normally required by law to meet in person, and to allow the public to physically attend and observe meetings.

"The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020" came into force on 4th April, and has several important impacts:

• Meetings can now be held by video conference
• Annual meetings normally required to be held by law around May each year are postponed

These regulations came into force too late to allow April's meeting to be arranged as a video conference (as by law we are still required to give 3 clear days notice of the meeting). Therefore, April's meeting is cancelled. However, it is our intention that May's meeting will go ahead as planned via video conference. Details of how members of the public can observe the meeting will be published nearer the time.

We will use May's meeting, amongst other things, to decide the impact upon other Parish Council initiatives.

Parish Magazine Update - April 2020

published on 1st Apr 2020

The following update appeared in April's magazine

Escrick Parish Council:

Highways: 

A19/Skipwith Road junction scheme: The Parish Council has chased NYCC for an update, but at the time of writing had not received a reply.

The Parish Council considered options for further deployment locations of the VAS sign, and agreed that the next location to be trialled is Skipwith Road southbound. This will involve installing an additional mounting on the existing post, so that the sign can be alternated between northbound and southbound directions.

Planning:

The application for a waste sorting site at the former Stillingfleet mine site is due to go to NYCC planning committee at the end of March. At the time of writing there is no significant update on the other major schemes in/around the Parish.

The Parish Council has made a response to Selby District Council’s consultation on their new local plan, which is available on the Parish Council website.

The Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) team has put forward proposals for how to approach the ‘site selection’ stage of the NDP project. However, the Parish Council deferred making a decision on the approach until site submissions have been received later in the month. Cllr Bartle has volunteered to take-over the chair of the NDP project, when Cllr Rees stands down in April.

Resilience:

The Parish Council received a presentation from              Riccall and District Resilience Group explaining the work that they had done locally – preparing for situations such as floods, severe weather, power cuts, etc. The PC had agreed to review whether establishing something similar for Escrick.

Parish Council meeting dates:   6^th April, 4^th May and 1^st June. All meetings at 7.30pm at Escrick & Deighton Club. Public welcome.  Contact: Clerk (Sally Look), clerk@escrick.org,   Chair (Richard Rowson), chair@escrick.org; Website: escrick.org

Amended bus service

published on 25th Mar 2020

For those key workers and others who still need to travel, be aware the 415 is now running a Sunday service all week:

bus-timetable-corid19.pdf