Dear Resident

 

As ever, there’s plenty to report including plans for more floral planting, regular monthly markets, a new Crimestoppers initiative, latest grants, a fledgling ‘incredible edible’ scheme and how to stand as a candidate for election to the Town Council.

 

It’s nearly three years since Bingley Town Council was formed and this year’s achievements will be celebrated at the Annual Town Meeting on Thursday 7th March at Cottingley Community Centre. In addition, hard-working staff and volunteers from some of the organisations that have received grants from the council will be exhibiting.  I hope to see you there!

 

Finally, enormous thanks to all those who’ve supported and advised my work as Chair since 2016.  Thanks too to all those who campaigned alongside me for the creation of the Council.  I hope you’ll agree it was worth it now it’s clear that Bingley Town Council has made a positive contribution and difference to our community.

Best wishes,

Ros Dawson

Chair, Bingley Town Council

Office/toilets conversion project

At the full Council meeting on 26th February, Councillors approved the documents presented by project managers Bowman Riley that will form the basis of a planning application. There were some agreed minor amendments in the form of revised windows and provision of a movable partition.

 

For the purposes of applying for borrowing approval from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as previously agreed following an extensive community consultation, the Council is required to notify residents of these additional costs and invite comments. The budget costs were £10,000 for the movable partition and £7,000 for the windows. These items will be tendered as part of the full tendering process.

 

The amended plans are available to view on the Town Council website:  https://bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bingley-WC-Layout.pdf;  https://bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bingley-WC-Existing-Elevations.pdf  https://bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bingley-WC-Proposed-Elevations.pdf; If  you have any views on these, please contact enquiries@bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk by Monday 18th March, giving your name, address and contact details.

 

The application will be submitted to Bradford Council and the outcome will be expected 8-12 weeks following submission. In the meantime, work to agree the terms of the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) of the toilet block is expected to conclude shortly.

Local council elections and pre-election period

Do you care about where you live? Are you passionate about your community? If so, you could make a great local councillor.

As noted in our January newsletter, all seats on the Town Council will be up for re-election in May as the initial three-year term of the Council comes to an end. We would like to encourage as many people as possible to stand for election to enable the Council to continue and build on its work and to ensure it has a democratic mandate.

If you are interested in standing as a candidate, the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) produces useful information about becoming a councillor. Some information is on our website: -https://bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk/make-a-change-become-a-local-councillor/ or you can go direct to the NALC website – https://www.nalc.gov.uk/our-work/elections. Candidates will need to submit the necessary nomination forms to Bradford Council by 4pm on Wednesday 3rd April and the election will take place on Thursday 2nd May. All queries about the election process need to be directed to Bradford Council. The next term of office will be the standard four years.

Note that it is to everyone’s advantage if the Council is able to fill all seats by election, rather than having to co-opt. The Council has resolved to use the General Power of Competence as we have a qualified clerk and over two thirds of our councillors are elected rather than co-opted; this extends the powers available to us.

The formal pre-election period starts on 26th March and will restrict the information the Council can put out between that date and 2nd May.

Markets in 2019

 

Bingley Town Council are proud to announce that, following a successful pilot scheme in 2018 and consultation with residents, there will be a market in Bingley on the first Saturday of every month from April to December between 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.  The markets will provide a range of high-class stalls selling a variety of produce, including some exciting new food stalls, as well as entertainment. Make a regular date to come down and enjoy the market.

 

The dates for your diary are 6th April, 4th May, 1st June, 6th July, 3rd August, 7th September, 5th October, 2nd November and 7th December.

Annual Town Meeting, 7th March 2019

 

The Annual Town Meeting is being held at 6.30 pm on Thursday 7th March at Cottingley Community Centre. This is an opportunity for all residents to ask questions of their Town Councillors and to hear from local speakers about activities in the town. This year’s speakers include representatives from Park Run and Trinity Community Kitchen.

 

Organisations that have received grants from the Town Council during the year are being invited to provide a display giving information about their activities. Why not come along to find out about activities going on near you?

 

Newsletter – and the latest Council grant

The Town Council’s final newsletter of its initial term of office is hot off the press and is now available at the usual range of venues – shops, organisations and venues around the town. You can see an electronic copy of it at the following link https://bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/BTC-NL-Winter-Feb-19-final-low-res-1.pdf

Along with the usual array of news on Council activities and projects, it includes a focus on grants awarded to local community groups. Over £30,000 has been allocated to local groups to support their own projects benefitting the community since the Council came into being in 2016.

The most recent organisation to be successful was Eldwick Church, which this month was granted £500 to support the start-up and initial running of Golden Oldies, a monthly dementia-friendly social group for older people.

Additional snippets

Following a meeting with Bingley’s District Ward Councillors, the Town Council is pleased to report that plans are being made for a crossing on Chapel Lane outside the library.

The Council would like to draw residents’ attention to the advice on Brexit given on Bradford Council’s website at the following link https://www.bradford.gov.uk/your-council/about-bradford-council/brexit-what-you-need-to-know/

Green and Clean update

George Corbett, Project Officer in the Parks department at Bradford Council, was the main speaker at the second Green and Clean Forum of the year on 2nd February, when the focus was on edible planting. He described the background to the Incredible Edible scheme that started in Todmorden and contributed to discussions about a similar scheme being planned in Bingley. A small group of residents, Incredible Edible Bingley, are currently considering ideas involving herbs, vegetables and fruit trees in various parts of the town, and ideally involving a wide range of growers – see  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1816858361753926/

 

The Town Council is again ordering reduced-priced summer bedding plants from Bradford Council, to be planted in public spaces around the parish by local gardening groups, Friends groups and village societies.

 

Our next litter picks will be on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd March as part of the Great British Spring Clean initiative run by Keep Britain Tidy. Details of venues and timings will be agreed shortly and posted on the Council’s website and Facebook page and on the Keep Britain Tidy site – https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/.

 

Bingley Town Council is pleased to be supporting the Plastic Free Bingley campaign, which has events coming up on 3rd, 9th and 30th March; please see the group’s Facebook page for details – https://www.facebook.com/groups/185700562036617/

Website enhancements

The Council has recently enhanced its website, with additional information that we hope will be helpful to residents and visitors alike.

The original ‘About’ menu has been divided into two, with one new menu,’ Bingley’, featuring the Going Places prospectus for businesses, the new town map and a page about the Neighbourhood Plan that is currently in preparation. A Tourism page is awaiting a policy decision and should be in place in the next few weeks.

The ‘Council’ heading includes, as before, up-to-date information about what the Council is and does, a map of the parish showing the various wards and a key to the codes, the Council’s committees and sub-committees and contact details for all current Councillors. You’ll also find a list of streets with their associated ward code to make it easy for you to see which ward you are in.

Added to the ‘Events’ menu is Year at a glance, a list of the major annual events taking place in the year. This complements the events calendar already in existence which is open to all local groups wishing to add their own smaller events and regular meetings. All Council meetings are included here too.

 

Crimestoppers

Shipley Police Station staff have just re-launched the Crimestoppers initiative.  Crimestoppers is an independent charitable organisation dedicated to the reduction of crime and reporting of criminal perpetrators. Whilst Crimestoppers passes pertinent information it collates to the police, it has no connection with the police and is totally independent of them.

 

Members of the public who become aware of criminal activity or see something suspicious, but would rather not contact the police direct, can contact Crimestoppers completely anonymously.  No internet contact with Crimestoppers, or phone call or email to them, can be traced back to its source either by Crimestoppers or by the police.

 

Please contact Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or going online at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information.

 

A more recent initiative from Crimestoppers is Fearless (https://www.fearless.org), aimed specifically at young people aged 11-16.  On Fearless, young people can access non-judgemental information and advice about crime and criminality and also a safe place to report information about crime.

Dates for your diary

Annual Town Meeting, Thursday 7 March, Cottingley Community Centre

 

Community Litter Pick (Great British Spring Clean) – Friday 22 and Saturday 23 March, details tba

 

Next Town Council meeting

The next meeting of the Town Council is at 6.30 pm on Tuesday 26th March 2019, St Wilfrid’s Church Hall, Gilstead

 

You can see all our meeting dates in the calendar of the Events section of our website, and a full listing is available as a separate document, updated weekly, in the Documents section of the site.

Bingley Town Council contacts

Bingley Town Council, Cottingley Community Centre, Littlelands, Cottingley, Bingley, BD16 1AL

Town Clerk: Ruth Batterley

Administrative Officer: Laura Jowett

Email: enquiries@bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk

Tel: 07703 188660

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