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Parish Council information

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Members

The members of the Parish Council are:

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Meetings

The councillors have agreed that future meetings after Jun 24 will revert to being bi-monthly. For the remaining year, meetings will be held on 1 Oct 24 (agenda), 3 Dec 24. Meetings are held upstairs in the Pavilion, Sawley Road, Grindleton at 7 pm.

At the end of 2014, a further assessment of whether to meet monthly or bi-monthly will be made for 2025.

All residents are welcome to attend the meetings. The agenda take the general form:

• Public participation
• Approval of minutes
• Financial matters
• Governance issues
• Improving Parish Council effectiveness
• Planning applications to be considered
• HARP
• Lancashire Best-Kept Village Competition
• Public Rights of Way
• Allotments
• Miscellaneous / AOB

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Minutes - 2007 to present

Archive 2021-2019 - click each link to expand

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Accounts & Transparency

The Council is required to abide with financial regulations regarding External Auditing and with Financial Controls and Procedures.

Financial data for 2023-24 is now available: Notice of Public Rights, Bank Reconciliation, Explanation of Variances, Accounting Statements, Governance Statement, Expenditure Over £100, Internal Audit Report, Exemption Certificate.

Financial data for 2022-23 is still available: Notice of Public Rights, Bank Reconciliation pt. 1, Bank Reconciliation pt. 2, Explanation of Variances pt. 1, Explanation of Variances pt. 2, Accounting Statements, Governance Statement, Expenditure Over £100, Internal Audit Report, Exemption Certificate.

Policies etc.

Local Authority Accounts - a Summary of Your Rights

Any interested person can inspect accounting records; this document summarises your rights.

Freedom of Information Act

A document outlining information available from Grindleton Parish Council under the model publication scheme to comply with Freedom of Information Act is available for download.

Parish plan

A succint Parish Plan encompasses communication, transport, traffic issues, footpaths, leisure and general topics.

Parish Lengthsman

The Parish has a Lengthsman and his duties encompass the maintenance of:

• Footpaths and stiles;
• Recreational Ground play area;
• Minor blocked drains;
• Seats & Notice Boards;
• General tidiness of the village.

Please direct any comments or suggestions for work needed to Andrew Glover (07968 486729).

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Principal Activities, 2023

2023 has been a busy year, as well as a year of change, for Grindleton Parish Council. A range of highlights from the calendar year (from the appointment of new members to successful events held) are set out in a PDF document available for download.

The exercise of compiling a list of achievements has been considered a valuable one by members of the Parish Council, and it is hoped that it will give residents of the village a flavour of the sort of activities undertaken on their behalf. It is proposed to repeat the exercise in future years, with the data gathered for 2023 forming a baseline for comparative purposes.

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Planning Applications

Whilst the decision to approve a planning application is solely one for Ribble Valley Borough Council (RVBC) in its role as Local Planning Authority, Grindleton Parish Council has an important role to play in the planning process. By statute, RVBC must inform Grindleton Parish Council whenever most types of application for planning consent within the parish are submitted, and the Parish Council has a right to comment on those applications. The Parish Council is very aware that the parish lies within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and much of the village of Grindleton is covered by a Conservation Area. For these reasons, the Parish Council takes its role as a statutory consultee on planning matters particularly seriously.

In the interest of transparency, and to assist residents who may be submitting an application to RVBC, parish councillors wanted to set out their views in principle on matters of planning sensitivity. (Please note that these are general guidelines and the Parish Council reserves the right to consider each application on its own merit).

Solar Panels

The Parish Council is very keen to support the sustainability agenda, and solar panels are likely to become an increasingly important and common aspect of this as technology develops over time. However, the implementation of solar panels should be done in a manner which is sympathetic to, and not in conflict with, the traditional appearance of the village.

For instance, some makes of solar panel are installed on a frame that fits onto the roof tiles, and as such will sit proud of the roofline. In general terms, members would oppose the use of this type of panel and fixing. They are not considered to be in keeping with the traditional slate roofs found elsewhere in the village; they look out of place in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty / Conservation Area; they are considered to be aesthetically displeasing; and they may pose a threat to wildlife.

In contrast, parish councillors are more likely to be supportive of applications for solar panels which do not sit proud of the roofline. For instance, integrated solar panels are designed to be embedded in the roof line so as to be flush with it. Alternatively, solar tiles are manufactured in the same shape, size and colour as traditional tiles, and look exactly the same. It is acknowledged that both these options may currently be more expensive than the panels which sit on top of the roof slates, but their cost is likely to come down as technology moves forward.

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Announcements and alerts

Village successes at Lancashire Best Kept Small Village 2023

See the side-panel!

Speeding in the village

Please remember to report any concerns you have about speeding through the village to the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership. Our village has a 30mph speed limit within the centre, 20mph near schools on school days and national speed limit elsewhere. This is the strategy recommended by Ribble Valley neighbourhood police team.

Potholes

Potholes remain a perennial problem and can cause serious damage to vehicles if not repaired. Any resident who encounters a problem is encouraged to report it to Lancashire County Council as Highways Authority. This can be done via the LCC website or the "Love Clean Streets" mobile app, details of both of which can be viewed via the link: pot hole reporting.

Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme.

United Utilities has been consulting with local authorities, councillors, communities and their representatives about plans to replace sections of the Haweswater Aqueduct that runs from Cumbria to Greater Manchester. The 109km pipeline supplies around 2.5 million people with fresh drinking water every day and is well regarded as the backbone of the North West’s water supply. To ensure that they can secure the quality and resilience of these water supplies, work is required to replace six sections of the pipeline amounting to one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the North of England. As part of the pre-application consultation, they have developed an online virtual exhibition at www.harpconsultation.co.uk. Visit the site to find out how the works may be impacting our area and provide feedback if you wish. You can email the UU team at: HARPStakeholderRelations@uuplc.co.uk.

The Waddington Parish website is keeping up to date on the HARP programme and provides emerging information.