Parish Magazine Update - February 2020
The following update appears in February's Parish Magazine:
Escrick Parish Council:
Highways:
A19/Skipwith Road junction scheme: The Chair and County Councillor will be meeting with senior highways officers to discuss next steps on this initiative. There have been a number of notable changes since the public consultation. Adversely NYCC have raised the bar on their criteria for adopting the scheme. Conversely, changes in the national political context may mean that other sources of funding for the scheme (such as central Government grants) are more likely than had been previously assumed. We are working with our District and County Councillors to better understand options available and likelihood of success before confirming our focus. We remain keen to ensure that the issues associated with the A19 are addressed.
Vehicle activated speed sign for Skipwith Road: The sign was installed in mid-December. Anecdotal feedback from residents living near to the sign is that they have noticed an immediate reduction in speeding past their properties. The sign contains a data logger which captures a count of vehicles and multiple speed measurements of all passing vehicles. Data for December shows that more than half of vehicles monitored by the sign are exceeding 30mph, and nearly a quarter of vehicles are exceeding the “+10% + 2mph” threshold at which speeding tickets are normally issued. The sign is portable and can be moved to other approved locations around the village. The Parish Council have agreed in principle to trialling other locations in due course.
No through road for vehicles sign on the footpath between Carrs Meadow and Main St should have been installed by the time this update is published. This is to address an issue where delivery drivers are mistakenly trying to use this as an exit route, and having to reverse back along the footpath when they reach the bollards.
Main St bridge damage: The bridge over the beck was hit and damaged by a lorry in August. The highways authority have confirmed that the bridge is safe, and that repairs are being scheduled for later in the year. The delay to undertaking the repairs is in part due to the requirement to erect scaffolding over the beck.
Sharing roads and pavements: The Parish Council has received several concerns regarding inconsiderate parking in the village. Residents are requested not to park on pavements, nor to park where it blocks dropped kerbs for crossing at junctions. In addition to the general inconvenience, we have several wheelchair users in the village, along with numerous pushchair users, and blocking pavements and dropped kerbs makes their mobility around the village particularly difficult. Similarly residents are requested to take care when putting out bins and recycling crates that these do not obstruct the pavements. Finally residents are requested to show consideration when parking that they do not block access along the road, and/or access to driveways.
Maintenance:
The Parish Council procured some additional pavement sweeping in December to supplement that done by the District Council. This included the pavements north of the Skipwith Road/A19 junction, the footpath between Carrs Meadow and Main St, and footpath leading to the playground. The arrangements in place allow the Council to call-off additional work when required.
Planning:
At the time of writing there was no significant update on the large planning applications in/around the Parish. We will provide updates on our website if we receive further updates regarding the former mine sites, quarry or tip site.
Parish Councillors:
We currently have four vacancies for Parish Councillors. Please contact us (details below) if you may be interested in joining the Council and contributing to the local community.
Parish Council meeting dates: 3rd February, 2nd March, and 6th April. All meetings at 7.30pm at Escrick & Deighton Club. Public welcome. Contact: Clerk (Sally Look), clerk@escrick.org, Chair (Richard Rowson), chair@escrick.org; Website: escrick.org