Staveley & Copgrove Parish Council

Local Elections

In line with the move towards the new unitary structure for North Yorkshire, all councillors, at every level throughout the county, are required to step down this spring. Elections will then be held for every post. This process includes your Parish Council representatives.

Nominations for the Parish council will open on 8^th March 2022 and close at 4pm on 5^th April.

All residents on the electoral rolls of Staveley or Copgrove are eligible to apply to become a Parish Councillor. Forms will be available from our Parish Clerk (clerk@staveleyandcopgrovepc.org.uk).

That’s the official notice requirement covered, here’s the more personal part.

In the context of the disbanding of HBC there are going to be significant changes to the way local authorities deal with each tier of local representation and being proactive now could establish a better process for more local opinions being sort and listened to. If you are willing to help by being that local voice which can represent and protect the interests of Staveley and Copgrove, your neighbours, then please consider standing as a councillor, we need 6 people to represent us in this changing world.

Being a Parish Councillor may not be on everyone’s to do list however, without residents being willing to give some of their time, being prepared to voice their opinions, apply common sense and represent others, we would lose the small influence our potentially underrepresented villages currently have.

Like so much else , if we do not have the volunteers then we will lose our Parish Council.

Information packs are available from Liz (clerk@staveleyandcopgrovepc.org.uk) so please feel free to contact her or any of your current councillors for further information.

Road safety

Following yet more instances of excessive speeding, particularly through Staveley but also along Copgrove Road and Wath Lane, we are continuing to liaise with North Yorkshire police in order to establish our own Community Speed Watch. This initiative will see residents, supported by the police, undertake speed checks in designated areas with a view to ultimately reducing speeding.

In the meantime please continue to report dangerous driving or road safety incidents to the NYCC site 95alive.

Excessive traffic

The number of complaints regarding increased volumes of traffic, with more specifically large vehicles travelling through Staveley, has significantly increased over the last 12 to 18 months. Both Minskip Road and Arkendale Road have 7.5 ton restrictions however this notice does not apply to vehicles using the routes for access.

Access in these instances is likely to be either works traffic travelling to/from Burton Leonard due to all the changes occurring there, or to Jubilee Court Copgrove due to the building expansion. Please be aware that the expansion of the site and the extension of the car park are currently awaiting retrospective planning consent. We anticipate that the ability to make comments in relation to these applications will be offered shortly.

In order to more accurately access the impact of traffic to and from Jubilee Court, a number of volunteers undertook a traffic survey last October. The survey counted all the vehicles arriving and leaving the site between 6.00am and 5.15pm. These results were then compared to the more accurate traffic survey undertaken officially by rumble bars across the road in September 2019.

In September 2019 during a 24 hour period 1784 vehicles travelled either into or out of Staveley along Main Street. In October 2021 during a period of just under 12 hours 570 vehicles arrived or left Jubilee Court.

New single council for North Yorkshire

On the Parish Council website there is an update available to read from North Yorkshire County Council executives regarding the latest phase of the transition to a new Unitary Council. This update sets out the scope of change and the current approach to continuous service provision.