Meeting on 25th January, 2005

A meeting of the Parish Plan Committee was held on Tuesday 25 January with the main items of business being the possible presentation and content of the final booklet. It was felt that all the relevant information had been gathered and now this had to be collated into a final draft copy which would then be sent to the Countryside Agency for possible amendment and/or approval. Sections of the plan were allocated to individual members to research and suggest actual wording, each member's contribution would then be put into a first draft copy to be discussed and possibly amended by committee members at their next meeting.

August, 2005

Selby South CIPs group have awarded £500 towards the Eggborough Methodist Church Hall for a project which refurbishes the building to make it more useful for all community groups.

A further grant award has been made to Cridling Stubbs Village Hall which will help towards their legal fees. It is envisaged that a long-term project will see a new village hall there.

Further projects are being considered at Hensall, Womersley and Kellingley in the next few months.

Projects first identified in the Selby South area 2 years ago are now coming on stream.

Beal, Kellington and Eggborough are developing further refurbishment schemes at their community halls. The key development has seen multi use of community buildings.

The new Smeatons Community Hall at Kirk Smeaton is a partnership between the community and the school.

Parish Plan Development

In Selby District a number of parishes have been working on their Parish Plans—Beal, Kellington, Eggborough and Whitley.

There are still a number of villages that need to consider starting their long-term planning.
A Parish Plan is just the beginning not the end and it is a process to involve the whole community.

Countryside Agency grants have now ended but support is still offered from the YRCC and grant aid can be
applied from your CIPs group.

The Cips group and the YRCC have a wealth of experience and help on hand to help you through the process of setting up and running a Parish Plan.

The Village Hall

It was felt by members of the Parish Council that possibly the village's greatest asset, the Parish Hall, was underused and had, indeed, become an eyesore due to the mindless vandalism that had taken place over the last eighteen months. At the "Planning for Real" day held last July it was noted that the majority of attendees suggested that the hall should be once again become the focal of the village community and that steps should be taken to see this suggestion come to fruition.

With these comments in mind an approach was made by the Parish Planning Committee to the Parochial Church Council to see if an action plan could be mutually agreed in order to improve the facilities within the hall.

Funds are available from a variety of sources to improve village halls but as such, not available to parochial church councils. To overcome this problem the Rev. Colin White and his P.C.C. were agreeable, subject to the Wakefield Diocesan Church Organization Society's approval, to lease the hall to the parish council.

A seven page draft lease has been drawn up by solicitors on behalf of the Wakefield Diocesan and in now in the hands of the Parish Planning Committee. Whilst it was agreed that a lease could be arranged there were certain important aspects of the agreement that needed clarification. This document has now been handed to the parish council's solicitors for comment.

If agreement can be reached, and we are very optimistic that this will be the case, funding will be sought to improve the security and provisions within the hall so that it can once again become the centre of village activities.

IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE FUTURE USE OF THE HALL PLEASE FORWARD THEM TO THE WEBMASTER

Update January, 2006

The Village Hall now belongs to the Village. There has been a meeting of those interested in being involved in the management of the village hall. Further meetings will be held so it's not too late, if you are interested in helping out to contact Vicky McLauchlan 663790, Jane Howard 662295, Sally Harvey 663294 or Kath Newton 662749.

The hall will be operated by the committee with links to the Church, School and the Parish Council. A significant amount of funding is being sought to improve the facilities and it is planned that the hall will return to being the focal point of the village. The hall is still available for bookings and the costs are unchanged. If you would like to use the hall bookings can be made by contacting Vicky or Sally at the contact numbers above.