Meeting of FPC 08.01.2026

                                  WILDFLOWER GRANT – PLANTERS  

                                  16.10.2025 and 23.10.2025

• TRAFFIC MEASURE ROCKS

·        ENCROACHMENT

DISCUSSION

• TREE REMOVAL / REPORT OF BATS

• PEGGY WILSON TRUST MEETING

212/26              WEB SITES

1. Highways – Speed/ maintenance  –

• Extra-Ordinary Meeting to discuss parking issues within the village and reported noise nuisance in the early hours from motorbikes on the A629 single trunk and dual carriageway.
• 20MPH REQUEST FOR STARKEY LANE/MARY STREET.
• Blocked Drains on Main Street

1. Lighting Issues –

ii.        Broken lights reported x2

iii.       Heritage Light on Starkey Lane partially done

iv.        Heritage Light on Main Street

v.       Heritage Light at back of play area – old post

vi.        Missed LED conversion for Heritage light on Parsons Bridge

1. Update on the Play Area / Carpark retaining wall

THE JOINT MEETING WITH GLUSBURN & CROSSHILLS HAS BEEN DELAYED

• Jodie Fieldhouse (Salary November)                                                                                                                                                                                                        £630.36

(431.04 plus £199.32 = tax rebate minus 20.88)

Nest Pension                                                                                                                £20.88

NIC                                                                                                                                    £0

TAX                                                                                                                              £-220.20

·        Jodie Fieldhouse (Salary December)                                                           £410.76

(431.04 plus 0.60 = tax rebate minus 20.88)

Nest Pension                                                                                                              £20.88

NIC                                                                                                                                   £0

TAX                                                                                                                             £-0.60

·        Gardening Contractor for October and November 25                            £372.50

·        Training – Chairing Skills for Chair & Deputy Chair -November        £230.00

October / November payments approved and paid on emergency basis via Chair and Clerk owing to meeting being cancelled.  All Cllrs made aware prior, no concerns raised.

                           MONTH

None all in attendance.

11 members of the public in attendance.

Two residents attended and spoke about the new recycling bin system that is being administered by North Yorkshire Council. Cllr. A Brown agreed to look into this for the residents.

A number of residents wanted to speak about the two trees on the Arbour and to highlight possible issues with the traffic measures that had been installed in the lower arbour.  Unfortunately, communications broke down.

No Disclosures of Interests declared

Cllr. A. Brown retains an open mind on all planning matters. His current view is

North Yorkshire Council are to increase Council tax and make some more cuts but we will know more in March.  Cllr D. Atkinson questioned if they are going to look into the waste of funds. Eg amount of scaffolding used taken away brought back taken away and brought back. The costs of the repairs needed to make the play area/carpark wall safe again was Estimated around 25,000 to do the repairs and currently not even sure if the works undertaken are the works that were recommended by the engineers or if they have just done a cosmetic temporary patch up. The Council has requested copies of the Engineers/surveyors reports a number of times but this has still not been disclosed.  The Council have also requested copies of the schedule of works but again this has not been supplied. Cllr A. Brown confirmed he will look into this.

Kex Gill is hopefully opening in June and has now cost approximately 11.7million pounds to date.

Planning new rules which will remove most controls over what gets built. The Council has set incredibly high targets so this will give developers more rights to argue against refusals.

Engine shed lane in Skipton was going to have a connection from the industrial estate onto the bypass then a number of delays happened and the money to fund the project disappeared. They are now down to 100 yards to connect with the new housing estate however it is hoped that this will take a lot of the heavy traffic out of Skipton.

There is £700 left in the Community Budget or it will be spent within a week. Will need amount of money required, the amount of match money.  Say 1500 and he will do 700 towards. Chair reminded Cllr. A. Brown that he had promised to put a grant towards new noticeboards.  It was resolved that Cllr A. Brown would ring fence this for Farnhill Parish as he is unsure if there will be any further Community Funds provided going forward. Chair to provide figures of new noticeboards and Clerk to provide the same to Cllr. A. Brown.

This was not supplied as not much had changed since previous report prepared for the cancelled meetings.

Cllr. W McDonald attended the service organised by St Andrews Church in Kildwick. He represented Farnhill Village in laying the wreath and honouring all the fallen service members.  The service was very respectful and all went well.

It was resolved that this item can now be removed from the agenda.

It was proposed to put some of the precept into maintenance (50%) and then split the rest between lighting , Insurance , Salary.  Chair then requested the total amount of additional monies , Clerk confirmed the amount and it was resolved to place it all in Maintenance.

It was also resolved that Clerk is to add a development budget but no budget was provided for this. Then to transfer the following monies through to 2026-2027 budgets:-

·        Street Lighting / Maintenance and Repairs

·        Provisions for New Lighting

·        NYCC Electric Supply

·        Provisions for Maintenance/Walling/Strimming/Tree works

·        Reserves

·        Grants

It was resolved that Clerk is to write back and find out if the young person can get a group together and an adult to supervise .

It was resolved that Cllr. W. McDonald would investigate the price of buying new whilst Vice Chair S. Close will investigate the possibility of reusing unused planters and the costs behind relocating them. Findings to be brought back to the next meeting.

Current Proposals for positioning of planters:-

·        Redmans bridge

·        the stepped wall at back of carpark – may be an issue as someone will need to clamber up to care for them.

Minutes of meeting held on 16.10.2025 Proposed to approve by Cllr. J. Walton 2^nd by Vice Chair Cllr. S. Close.

Minutes of meeting held on 23.10.2025 Proposed to approve by Chair 2^nd by Cllr. W. McDonald.

It was resolved that both sets of Minutes are approved.

• Traffic Measure Rocks
• Encroachment

• Tree Removal / report of bats

It was resolved that no decisions can be made on the above items and it will be brought back to the next meeting.

209/26            Works at Farnhill Hall.

Clerk has received correspondence from NYC as residents have reported works being undertaken in the night.  NYC have confirmed that the resident is not at home and wanted to know what dates the other residents have seen works being undertaken on the grounds.  Clerk provided dates. Awaiting updates.

Review of updates and figures:-

Estimated cost of legal fees for NYC approx. £800 then our own on top                     £2000

Estimated cost to remove the garages                                                                                         £6925

Then there are the costs to empty the garages still to consider

After an in-depth discussion it was resolved Clerk to get a list of proposed covenants on the purchase as we need to consider every aspect of this transaction and how the village as a whole can benefit from this.

• Peggy Wilson Trust Meeting – no further update

Chair confirmed that the ones located so far are too expensive. It was resolved that the Chair will continue her search.

It was resolved unfortunately the Council could not proceed further with this item at this moment in time.

215/26            DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

Development plan passed to Clerk to put on website and this will be updated quarterly going forward.

1. Highways – Speed/ maintenance  –

• Extra-Ordinary Meeting to discuss parking issues within the village and reported noise nuisance in the early hours from motorbikes on the A629 single trunk and dual carriageway. – It was resolved that the minutes are now approved so Clerk can now provide Minutes of the meeting to the liaison officer so he can look into issues reported. Discussed permits but highways had already stated they would not do this as office base is Harrogate.
• 20MPH request for Starkey Lane / Mary Street. It was resolved that new signs have been noted on lampposts starting the consultation process.
• Blocked Drains on Main Street – It was resolved that this matter is in hand, the engineer visited the site the following day , spoke with the resident and assed the situation.  The drains are on the list to be cleared but need to keep in mind that there are a lot of flooding issues around North Yorkshire at the moment and have to prioritse the most severe.  The engineer has confirmed that they are unable to provide a date for the works however they will attend the day prior and put out cones requesting residents don’t park near the drains for access on this day.

1. Lighting Issues –

ii.        Broken lights – there is a broken light on back Mary street and it is  now rattling in wind – possible loose wires. It was resolved to replace it with a new heritage light. It was also resolved to order a heritage light for number 43 Starkey Lane on side of house then it is believed that all the old bracket lamps will have then been replaced / upgraded.

iii.       Heritage Light on Starkey Lane –  Clerk to chase an update on this.

iv.        Heritage Light on Main Street

v.       Heritage Light at back of play area – It was resolved that Clerk is to request the old post that has been left is to be changed to heritage post to match the new lamp.

vi.        Missed LED conversion for Heritage light on Parsons Bridge – It was resolved that Clerk will chase an update on this item.

1. 1. Chair and Cllr. W McDonald will have a walk about

1. Update on the Play Area / Carpark retaining wall

It was resolved that Clerk should respond to the resident and suggest taking the garden waste to the local tip.  Clerk to also confirm to the resident that the Parish Council are organising a walkabout with the Gardener and this area will be inspected thank you for bringing this to the Councils attention.  Clerk to also contact the gardener for available any available dates.

Chair and Vice Chair found this course very detailed and took onboard some very useful new skills of what is acceptable and what is not.

The Joint Training Meeting with Glusburn & Crosshills

Unfortunately, this training has been delayed as Crosshills are currently low on Councillors so the plan is to wait until they have a full team before undertaking this course.

It was resolved that Clerk will go back and get dates for June for Wednesdays and Fridays

Items covered above

Adjourned to next meeting. Clerk to send to all Councillors the current one and the most UpToDate recommended version.

221/26           Finance & Accounts

• Jodie Fieldhouse (Salary November)                                                                £630.36

(431.04 plus £199.32 = tax rebate minus 20.88)

Nest Pension                                                                                                                £20.88

NIC                                                                                                                                    £0

TAX                                                                                                                                    £-220.20

·        Jodie Fieldhouse (Salary December)                                                                £410.76

(431.04 plus 0.60 = tax rebate minus 20.88)

Nest Pension                                                                                                              £20.88

NIC                                                                                                                                   £0

TAX                                                                                                                                   £-0.60

·        Gardening Contractor for October and November 25                            £372.50

·        Training – Chairing Skills for Chair & Deputy Chair -November           £230.00

November/December payments approved and paid on emergency basis via Chair and Clerk owing to two meetings having to be adjourned due to lack of quorum (Insufficient Councillors to legally make any decisions) .  All Cllrs were made aware prior, no concerns raised.  

It was also resolved that all Councillor’s were happy with the above payments having been approved. It was also resolved that Clerk is authorised to request tax refund on behalf of the Council when the statement comes through from HMRC and to record this as a receipt as recommended by the auditor in a conversation on 08.01.2026 .

Newby Road – Double Yellow Lines to be added to next agenda.

It was resolved that Clerk is to chase Highways and find out when the consultation period is going to start for the proposed double yellow lines on Newby Road and the timescale for this process to be completed.

New Recycling bin scheme being initiated by North Yorkshire Council.