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Bill Hoult

Liberal Democrats at County Hall were pleased and proud that Councillor Caroline Seymour was elected as the County Council Vice Chair for the year 2009/10

Cllr Seymour has been a member of the council for 23 years being first elected in 1985 and was leader of the Liberal Democrats for ten years until 2007. During that period she was also the joint leader of the Council for 18months.

She represented the County Council for a number of years on the Fire Authority including periods as Chair in 1996-1998 and 2006-7.

Her commitment to to local government in general is evidenced by her membership and participation in  Local Government Association affairs –Deputy Chair LGA safer communities Board, and member of the LGA fire suppression task group lobby.

She was a Director of LACORS the local authority regulatory body from 1997-2008 and has worked for the IDeA as a member peer for 5 years.

On a more local level Caroline was a member of of Hambleton District Council for 22years and is now an honorary Alderman of the District currently she is a Stokesley Parish Councillor.

Married to John a farmer, her roots in North Yorkshire are both deep and strong, well evidenced by the fact that Cllr Seymour has been returned to the Council Chamber by her electorate without a break since 1985.

Cllr Bill Hoult Leader of the Liberal Democrats at County Hall comments

It is a proud moment for the liberal Democrats to see Cllr Caroline Seymour honoured in this way.

In the run up to the election many local residents in the Manors and Charltons raised with me the condition of the seats by the little green area at the top of Manor Road.

After a long walk up the hill along Manor Road or the footpath that runs down by the side of the Sure Start Centre and the Charltons to the Ivy Cottage these seats provide a welcome resting place.

Unfortunately they are now in a poor condition and need replacing. Unlike most seats in the Town they are basically simple planks made into benches by being bolted into concrete blocks.

I have recently written to Harrogate Council to ask for them to be inspected and if possible repaired. My suggestion has been that a simple repair would be to fix another “plank” on top of the existing as the benches do seem a little low.

More and more people are voting by post nowadays, after all it is quick, easy and is a safeguard against the unexpected happening on the day. However I picked up some disturbing news after the election from postal voters who never received their ballot papers for the June election. I have heard directly about two voters in Knaresborough and four in another Ward in Harrogate.

No one seems to know where the stray votes have gone as Harrogate returning officers are adamant that the votes were put in the post on time so we will probably never know and for the last election it is too late now anyway.

It is important however for this issue to be investigated to find out how we may improve things for the future.

Comment
It is not uncommon to find that some voters have not received their “advisory” cards about voting but to not receive ballot papers is an entirely more serious issue.

We need to know how many complaints Harrogate Council did receive and also how many “second” ballots were actually issued to those who did complain.

Further one of the voters complained to me that when they rang Harrogate electoral registration office to complain they were asked to “come into the office” to claim their vote.

Most postal voters are postal because they just cannot get around any more so we need to find a more appropriate response to their concerns.

A Friends of Jacob Smith Park has now been set up and the next meeting is at Wednesday 8 July 2009 at 7pm Park Grove Methodist Church.

Simon Klippel is Chair; Richard Owen-Hughes Vice Chair; Andrew Middlemiss the Treasurer and Jean Bell the Secretary.

When I have the contact details for the officers I will post them on the web site.

The discontent over the proposal to only extend the METRO rail scheme to Harrogate and not Knaresborough or Starbeck has caused a rethink by Tory chiefs at Harrogate Council

In April this year an agreement was struck by District Councils, Leeds City Partnership and the Metro Transport Authority to extend the reduced fares for onward travel from Leeds to all stations up to and including Harrogate. The fares to Leeds itself remain unchanged by the agreement.

Knaresborough rail travellers concerns were raised by Cllr Bill Hoult at a meeting of the Harrogate Strategic Partnership on Thursday 11 June and a pledge was obtained from the Leader of the Harrogate Council that the whole issue would be reconsidered in September this year.

My Comment
I welcome the re-think, to most residents it is nonsense not to extend the METRO scheme to Starbeck and Knaresborough to which virtually all trains from Leeds travel. Obviously to take advantage of the cheaper fares there is a risk that some travellers will just jump in their cars, drive and park in the streets near stations such as Pannal which do qualify. That would defeat the whole object of the proposal

After a site inspection with representatives of Somerfield and Harrogate Borough Council’s Highway Department an agreement has been reached to try and solve the pedestrian crossing problem.

Somerfields have agreed to improve the forecourt tarmac markings and to provide more affective warning signs for right turning traffic leaving the site.

Fortunately there is CCTV on the site so that the effectiveness of the measures can be observed remotely and improvements introduced if needed.

Have you ever worried about what might happen if after setting off for a holiday or business away from home your burglar alarm starts to go off due to a fault in the system?

Even the best maintained alarms can occasionally set themselves off and under the nuisance laws local authorities can be called in by neighbours to take action to stop the alarm. Sometimes that means breaking into the house to disable the alarm and usually a bill to pay for the service never mind any repair costs to the house itself!

Get yourself Registered
Harrogate Borough Council has instituted a “Burglar Alarm Keyholder Registration Form” on which you can log the details of 2 keyholders who should be available in your absence to either cut off the alarm or at least give the local authority access to the property without damage.

It is a simple form to complete just email Audrey.lancaster@harrogate.gov.uk

A planning application has been received for a change of use of an agricultural Building located at Stoneface Farm for “B2 General Industrial and B8 storage”. The justification is that the agricultural usage on the site is diminishing and the proposal is an attempt to diversify the holding.

I have concerns in that the proposal would introduce an industrial usage to an area in statutory greenbelt and the likelihood of heavy vehicles using an access that is very narrow with a difficult entrance from Forest Moor Lane.

The full application may be viewed online at the Harrogate Council website http://www.harrogate.gov.uk
The case number is 09/02164/cou

All representations please to both Harrogate Borough Council planning Dept and Knaresborough Town Council. Please feel free to copy me in to any response or comment direct to me.

At a meeting of the North Yorkshire Liberal Democrat Group on Sunday 14 June County Councillor Bill Hoult (Knaresborough) I was elected as leader of the Group.
Also elected were the Secretary Keith Barnes (Oatlands Harrogate; Chair and Treasurer Margaret Ann de Courcey Bayley (Starbeck)

Bill comments “I am pleased to be selected once again to lead the Group. This year is so important as there has to be a General Election sometime within the next twelve months so we must be active and alert throughout.the year.