Dear resident
A huge thank you to all who took part in our community consultation last month.
The results are currently being analysed and will be used to inform budget setting, the spending of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and the draft of the Neighbourhood Plan.
Some very good news is that the Bingley monthly market, run by the Town Council, will continue into next year. There will be markets in November and December this year (2 Nov and 7 Dec), a break in January and then the market will resume on the first Saturday of the month from February to December 2020. Read on for more details on this, as well as the Christmas light competition, the Community Asset Transfer of Bingley Pool to Friends of Bingley Pool, the Green and Clean Forum and progress on the Town Council’s efforts to re-provide public toilets in the town centre.
Finally, the next Community Litter Pick is on Saturday 12 October, taking place in Cottingley.
Kind regards,
Ros Dawson
Chair, Bingley Town Council
Christmas lights and competition
The Council discussed Christmas arrangements at its September meeting and will be looking at building on the Christmas lights in Bingley again next year. Unfortunately owing to the age of the lamp posts in Crossflatts, Bradford Council has been unable to give its permission for lights to be installed there.
Bradford Council has again requested a payment for the town’s Christmas tree in the market square. The Town Council will be considering formally approving the Christmas tree to be provided by Bradford Council at its October meeting.
A second Christmas lights competition is being planned and details have been given to local schools. The design for the Christmas light can be in any media, but no bigger than A3 size paper. Last year, some schools used this as an ‘After School club’ project, others as an Art and Design topic. The closing date for entries is Friday 19 October 2019 and entries will be collected from the school. The winning design will be made and installed by Festival Lights and placed on a post on Main Street in the town centre. The student with the winning design will be invited to attend the Christmas Lights Switch-On on Saturday 30 November. There will be a prize for the winning entry, a plaque for the school and each school’s participation will be recognised with a certificate from Bingley Town Council.
Grants to Community Groups
At this month’s meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, the following grants were awarded to local community groups:
£1,974 to Aire Wharfe & Craven Counselling for a contribution to counselling for residents of Bingley
£2,000 to Bingley Chamber of Trade and Commerce to go towards items for the Christmas Fayre
£2,000 to Bingley Little Theatre for a contribution to a new screen and publicity materials for its community cinema events
£1,680 to Bingley Sea Scouts to purchase safety equipment, buoyancy aids and helmets
£2,000 to Community Action Bradford and District for £2,000 towards the cost of a replacement floor at Cardigan House
£1,800 to Cottingley Community Association for the cost of replacing a wooden raised bed at Cottingley Green with stone walling
£1,948 to Crossflatts Village Society for items for local events and a storage shed
£2,000 to Eldwick Scout and Guide Association towards the cost of a new boiler at the Scout Hut on Otley Road
The third and final Green and Clean Forum of the year took place at the usual venue of Cardigan House on Saturday 28 September. Representatives of community groups and village societies involved in planting and looking after our green spaces were pleased to welcome Julia Cushion of Hope for the Future, who spoke about strategies for working with councils and MPs about the climate emergency.
There was much sharing of news and views, in particular about the Incredible Edible Bingley project which started this year and has already resulted in small-scale but impressive harvests in central Bingley and Gilstead. Friends of Prince of Wales Park reported on the Parks and People, Stronger Together event members had recently attended in Doncaster and shared some documentation.
Bulbs and winter bedding will be delivered to local groups by the end of this month, and the next forum will take place in January. The date is yet to be confirmed, but it is hoped that the theme will be tree planting and parks maintenance.
Annual Report for 2018/19
The Annual Report for 2018/19 Summer 2019 Newsletter was published and delivered door to door last month. Unfortunately, the Town Council found that a number of copies that were delivered to residents were faulty, with missing or duplicate pages. The Council has been in touch with the printer about this and if you have received a rogue copy and would like a replacement, please get in touch: enquiries@bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk. Alternatively, the report is still available online here.
Following concerns raised by the Friends of Bingley Pool (FOBP) about the progress of the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) of the pool from Bradford Council to FOBP, the Council wrote to Bradford Council to ask that the CAT be prioritised.
In addition, a meeting was held on 23 September between Councillors and representatives of the Friends of Bingley Pool (FOBP). FOBP was able to confirm that the project had moved on, several meetings had been held with Bradford Council officers and that FOBP’s business plan had been scrutinised and met with approval by Bradford Council. New trustees had been appointed to FOBP and potential sources of funding identified, and it was anticipated that Stage 2 of the CAT will be ready by 23 October.
The Town Council is committed to supporting efforts to keep open Bingley Pool and has asked FOBP for details of how they would like the Town Council to assist.
Office/toilets conversion project
There has been an initial review of the tenders received from contractors wishing to undertake the project of converting the toilet block in Jubilee Gardens into two standard accessible WCs and central offices for the Town Council.
Following this, and a process of value engineering, it has been agreed to consider an alternative configuration of the entry lobby and boiler and storage space. Interested contractors will be asked to resubmit their proposals on the basis of a revised design specification, which is expected to reduce overall costs.
The Council will shortly be seeking quotations for the electrical work needed to convert an accessible changing room in Bingley Pool into a Changing Places toilet facility for people with complex care needs.
The Council is pleased to once again be supporting the Remembrance Parade, this year taking place on Sunday 10 November. Councillors will be acting as marshals and running a clean-up in the market square, Jubilee Gardens and Myrtle Park before the event as well as presenting a wreath on behalf of the Town Council.
Bingley Monthly Market
The Council agreed at its September meeting to continue with its successful monthly markets, run with the support of Otley Town Partnership. There will be eleven markets in 2020, starting in February. It has allocated a sum of £5,000 over two financial years to cover market licence fees, entertainers, marketing and promotion, a marquee and tables and chairs.
Two market dates now remain this year, 2 November and 7 December. Traders sell a variety of wares and hot food/drink from 9 am to 1 pm to the accompaniment of live entertainment. If you are a trader and would like to be considered for a stall at the market, please get in touch with Otley Town Partnership who run the markets for the Town Council: farmersmarket@otleytownpartnership.org.
Street furniture painting
The Town Council has been advised that permission for the street painting project can be given by a senior member of Bradford Council staff. An update is being requested. In the meantime, those participating in the community consultation events were asked if they would prefer the street furniture painted blue or black: there were 51 votes for the furniture to be painted black and 3 for it to be painted blue.
Annual Governance and Accountability Report
The Council is pleased to announce that its Annual Governance and Accountability Return had been reviewed by the external auditor PKF Littlejohn and that the Council has received a clean report. The report is available for viewing under Finance in the Documents section of the Town Council website: https://bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk/documents/
Dates for your diary
Saturday 12 October – Community Litter Pick, 10 am to 12 pm, Cottingley – meet at the noticeboard on The Parade
Saturday 2 November – Monthly market, 9 am to 1 pm, Bingley Market Square
Saturday 30 November, Christmas Fair and Christmas Lights Switch-On,
Saturday 7 December – Monthly market, 9 am to 1 pm, Bingley Market Square
The next ordinary meeting of the Town Council is at 6.30pm on:
Tuesday 29 October 2019, Cardigan House, Ferncliffe Road, Bingley BD16 2TA
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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.
Finally….if you’ve made it this far, please do share this newsletter with friends and family and encourage them to subscribe too.
Thank you, Town Councillors for all the wonderful efforts you and the groups have made to give Bingley such an uplift.
I thoroughly enjoyed all the beautiful flower boxes around town and particularly near my house! Thank you again.
Thank you Dania for your positive and enthusiastic feedback.
Kind regards
Ruth Batterley
Town Clerk
Comprehensive and interesting news letter. Thank you.
It’s great to be kept up to date with Bingley news. The Town Council do a fine job and Bingley is looking good!