There is considerable disquiet in the village about the proposal to demolish the vicarage, recently sold by the church, and to replace it by a terrace of four 3-storey houses. In the Parish Council’s opinion this would be a totally inappropriate development in the centre of the Conservation Area at the heart of our historic village. The site backs on to old High Street cottages, it is flanked by one Jacobean house and looks out over our mediaeval churchyard at another. These sentiments apart, the potential hazards of loading yet more traffic into a single track road with an extremely dangerous blind exit onto the main east-west road leading through the centre of the village seems totally illogical. It is very difficult to see what could be done to improve the road situation and anything that is done must inevitably necessitate expenditure of a very significant amount of council tax payers’ money. On top of that there are significant drainage problems as far as both mains sewers and surface water drains are concerned. The Council will do its best to fight this unwanted development but nothing succeeds like the power of public opinion and all concerned individuals are urged to write their own objections to Mr. Jason Green, Leeds City Council, Department of Planning, Selectapost 5, Merrion House, Merrion Centre, Leeds LS2 8SH

The recent road works associated with the installation of larger diameter sewers in Clifford Road and the associated traffic diversions have accentuated the problems on Windmill Road. Clifford residents have been increasingly concerned about the dangers to horse riders, and in consequence to the general public, caused by speeding traffic along this road. Clifford Council has asked us to join with them in a request for horse warning signs on the approaches to the double bend at the entry to Clifford. This we have agreed to do.

After many months of delay trying to get replies from various service providers about their underground services in the neighbourhood of the chosen sites for the proposed new bus shelters, we have now received the necessary information and the two shelters have been ordered. One will be on Clifford Road near the junction with Firbeck Road and one for Front Street alongside the Beck. It will of course still be some weeks before the shelters actually appear.

Ian Watson

Residents will have observed that large blocks of stone have been erected on three of the main approaches to the village ready for the attachment of the new village name signs. The blocks, each a single magnesian limestone boulder, were quarried within the parish and represent a significant feature of our village built as it is on the magnesian limestone ridge that supplied (and still does supply) stonework for York Minster.

At the same time, on two other approaches, oak signs have been erected. These, like the stone blocks, are not yet complete; they await their associated illustrations of village features. We look forward to the completion of both these projects giving a new look to our village approaches.

At a recent meeting we learned that Wetherby police force is currently operating at less than 75% of its nominal strength and even then it is called upon to provide help from time to time to the forces in Shadwell and Chapeltown. Of course the system is such that those forces would reinforce our local service in case of serious need. It was nevertheless made clear that the force operates a graded response system where the priority given to an area depends entirely on the number of calls received. The moral is that if we want police support for our area we must report every single incident without fail otherwise our locality will be graded "low priority" and we will have difficulty in getting service. On a brighter note we are told that more money has been allocated to the police, which should help them to build up their manpower.

Following the strong objections raised by the council (and we hope many residents) to the proposed replacement of our vicarage by a terrace of four 3-storey houses, another proposal is now raising our collective blood pressures. Plans have been submitted for squeezing eight houses into the small Milnthorpe Lane cul de sac – on the plot that previously had outline permission for 7 houses. Four of these newly planned houses are to have three storeys and will look down on the rest of the Milnthorpe estate. The council has written its objections to this further unsympathetic development in the Conservation Area but, once again, only strong public opinion is likely to have any effect.

Ian Watson

Once again vandalism was the first topic of discussion at the November council meeting. We are all paying for this rash of problems. Our insurers have now set the excess limits on the council’s insurance policy so high for cases of malicious damage that we can no longer claim the repair costs from our insurers; it comes out of the council tax. The damage being done is fairly obviously the work of one or two young hooligans whose names must be known to some members of the community. We’ve all been young and enjoyed a bit of mischief that causes annoyance to our elders but doing systematic wanton expensive damage is a different order of behaviour altogether. Anyone who can throw any light on the problem should telephone Wetherby police on their direct line 0113 232 2096. As we said in last month’s magazine all incidents, however minor, should be reported anyway because, if we do not, then police attention will concentrate on those areas that do complain.

We have recently received our report on RoSPA’s annual inspection of the Children’s Playground. Happily, having spent a significant amount of money on the facility during the last year, we have been given a clean bill of health on all the items criticised in last year’s report. It is of course always possible to make improvements but it is reassuring to know that our children can play in safety.

At last month’s meeting the council received a delegation from a youth committee representing skateboarders and BMX-ers from Boston Spa and surrounding districts seeking financial support for a skateboard park at Deepdale on land owned by Leeds City Council. Our council was impressed by the way they presented their case but we have now had to say that we think our money would be better spent focussed within the parish. Nevertheless we applaud the initiative of these young people. Our representative on the Community Involvement Team, which has funds available that can be used for the benefit of the whole Wetherby district, will recommend that the CIT should offer financial support.

Finally we have had reports that the lorries have sometimes missed out areas when emptying the new green wheelie bins. Any problems should be reported to the Cleansing Helpline on 0113 247 7477.

Ian Watson

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BRAMHAM PARISH COUNCIL

The long awaited two new bus shelters have now been installed – one on Clifford Road near the junction with Firbeck Road and the other on Front Street alongside the Beck. It’s amazing how quickly one adapts, they already look part of the established village scene (even down to the graffiti!).

Another minor improvement to the village facilities, also initiated nearly a year ago, has finally come to fruition. Dropped kerbs have been installed outside the Post Office and on the path at the opposite side of the road. Many will not notice them but they should make life just a little easier for shoppers with pushchairs or invalid chairs.

Like all town and parish councils we are currently being inundated with literature on the new Quality standards that will have to be achieved following the adoption of last year’s Rural White Paper. While we all applaud the concept of councillors being "democratically accountable" and giving "Best Value Performance" it does seem inevitably to lead to more and more bureaucracy without any visible benefit to parishioners. Our present councillors are adopting the attitude "if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em" knowing that if we fail to conform we may lose out on any future funding (at present purely hypothetical) that may be made available for the benefit of the parish. Councillors are in future going to have to spend more time being trained to carry out their jobs in line with legal requirements but one wonders how many public spirited people will volunteer to serve in future as it becomes ever more time consuming. Our councillors receive no payment at all for the time they spend on their parish duties and the demands on their time are constantly increasing. Also, unlike some positions, the job carries no perks only chores!

Getting back to the detail, parishioners will be interested to learn of a planning application for Northways School to be developed to provide 61 dwellings. The council has written to Leeds asking that any such development shall be associated with an extension of the 30 m.p.h. limit to cover the whole of the road between Northways and the Primary School and also that there should be parking restrictions on the road.

Ian Watson