PICKERING TOWN COUNCIL’S NEWSLETTER
The Town Council - A Quality Council

Community Park, Whitby Road
The plan for the park is well advanced. The developers, Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, have been working with the town council on a park which will be accessible, inclusive and free (save for  allotment tenancies). The developers  themselves have sought ideas from children in our local schools and, recently, ran a consultation exercise in the Memorial Hall. Approximately two hundred people attended and shared their views with the developers.

Not everything will happen at once but when planning permission is secured the park will be laid out and landscaped, a car park and toilets built and allotments and play areas created. Over time more equipment will be installed.

A draft plan is available in the council office.

Continental Market
Well, the Market Place was certainly   bustling on 4 July! The market attracted a lot of Pickering people and whenever a train arrived at the station it wasn’t long before the passengers were looking at the foodstuffs and other goods that were for sale.

Many of  you commented on the look of the market: you liked the uniformity of the canopied stalls; you thought the market looked smart.

Many of you liked the fact that the stalls faced the road so there was plenty of room to look at what was for sale; how different, you said, from the Monday market when you have really struggle and can’t move for people on the pavement, when you have to push to see through the shop windows and see what is on the stalls, when there’s never enough room to stop and chat for a while.

So, it was a good day with lessons to be learnt by the district council on how the Monday market could be improved.

Either…or? Both?
Who could be blamed for wondering just what is going on. We know that the   Planning Inspectorate has given Lidl UK Gmbh permission to build a supermarket (subject to approval for its scheme for  managing traffic); we know that the county council itself is seeking planning permission for a realignment of the Vivis Lane junction with the A170; we know that there is the possibility of a compulsory purchase order for the former coal yard site to enable the county council to bring about the realignment. And it now seems that Lidl is pressing ahead with its plans.

Cemetery matters
The council is reviewing the regulations that deal with exclusive rights of burial, memorials and grave spaces. It is hoped that the review will be completed in August.

Perhaps understandably, many people think that when they buy what is called an  exclusive right of burial they are buying the grave space. This is not so. The grave space remains the property of the council. The right entitles the holder to do no more than decide who is to be buried in the grave space.

It follows that the holder of a right cannot do whatever he or she wants with the grave space. The revised regulations will make it clear what can be done. The holder, for example, can apply to the council to have a memorial erected at the head of the space. And councillors are considering whether fresh flowers and natural and degradable wreaths only should be placed on grave spaces. After all, we are being encouraged to recycle.

Planning applications and the town council
Not everyone knows that when it comes to planning applications in Pickering   parish, the town council is only a consultee: its views are sought by the district council or the county council or the North York Moors National Park Authority, all of whom are planning authorities. The key distinction to make is that while the town council has views, the planning authorities make decisions. And none of the planning authorities is statutorily obliged to consult the town council (or any of the other local councils in Ryedale) about planning applications.

Castle Passes
Pickering residents are eligible for a  castle pass which gives them free entry to the castle. The passes are available from the council office and cost £1.00 each. Passes are issued to adults only – those who have children have their names recorded on their pass. Each adult who wants a pass should bring a passport size photograph and proof of residence when they come to the office.

Town Council Office 

Kitching Room, Memorial Hall, Potter Hill, YO18 8AA, 9am-1pm, Monday to Friday. Tel: 01751 476503.

e-mail:                 townclerk@pickering.gov.uk

website:             www.pickering.gov.uk 

The town clerk is Andrew Husband. 

The council meets in the Memorial Hall on the third Monday of each month at 7pm. The next three meetings are on 20 September, 18 October, 15 November.  The agenda is available on the Tuesday preceding the meeting from the council office and its website.  

Members of the public are entitled to make representations, answer questions and give evidence in respect of any item of public business on the agenda.