PARISH ELECTIONS 2019
There is a full election for Parish Council on 2nd May 2019. The Election Notice is attached here. Some of the current Councillors have advised that they will not be standing in the Election, so there will be some vacancies. If you are interested in becoming a Parish Councillor there is more information about the nomination process on www.selby.gov.uk/may-2019-elections. If you would like more information about the role of a councillor please contact the Parish Clerk on 07981 371937 or email gateforthpc@gmail.com.
WELCOME TO GATEFORTH
The Parish Council has produced a leaflet providing information about Gateforth and its local services, primarily aimed at new residents. It is available to download here.
GREAT BRITISH SPRING CLEAN
Keep Britain Tidy is holding its annual Great British Spring Clean from 22 March to 24 April and Selby Council are offering our support to the Parish Council to organise their own community litter picks as part of this national campaign.
They can loan equipment free of charge including litter pickers, gloves, high-viz vests and black bags and will remove bags of waste at the end of the event.
A Litterpick was held in Gateforth last year, and local volunteers have continued this by collecting along road verges. If any parishioner would like to participate in the future please contact the Clerk at gateforthpc@gmail.com
SPEEDING
The Parish Council have submitted requests for the speed limit in the Village to be reduced to 30 mph. However this can only be formally be reviewed every 3 years, with the next opportunity in 2020. To support a case at this point information about problems caused by speeding would be useful. Any accidents or near misses should be reported to the Police using the 101 phone number.
PRECEPT
The Council has agreed a £21,000 Precept for 2019-20 which is a cost of £52.91 for a Band D property. The full budget is included on the "Council" section of the website.
Viner Station, Birkin
The retrospective planning application for a Biomass plant at the above site has been refused. Concerns have been raised about the heavy traffic that this has generated. The plant may still operate pending appeal, so it would nbe useful to receive reports of any traffic issues.
Defibrillator
The Parish Council have acquired a Community Defibrillator which has been installed in Bus Shelter. In the case of an emergency please phone 999 when, in appropriate circumstances, the operator will provide the access number and talk you through its use. Any parishioner who is interested in helping to manage this facility please contact the Clerk.
Footpaths
There is a good network of public footpaths in the Parish which provide off road routes to neighbouring villages including Hambleton, Birkin and Haddlesey. These are shown on this OS Plan. They also provide routes to the Canal towpath. The best way to protect these routes is to ensure that they are regularly walked. Any problems should be reported to North Yorkshire County Council.