Plans for the future
Ingleton Parish Council has had an additional meeting to discuss the recent news that North Yorkshire County Council would be withdrawing their funding from Ingleborough Community Centre, which would effectively mean closure unless some alternative source was found. The Councillors feel that the loss of this resource to the community would be utterly unacceptable and have therefore decided to increase the annual precept to cover the shortfall. Ingleton Parish Council will work in partnership with the Ingleton Rural Community Association to manage the Centre in order to maintain and improve the cultural and social wellbeing of the community.
How the Parish Council Works:
Parishes are the smallest areas of civil administration in England and parish councils are statutory local authorities set up under the Local Government Act 1972. The parish council raises the money it needs for its work from local taxation called the precept. This is collected by the district council and paid back to the parish council in two six-monthly instalments. Extra money can be raised from grants and awards. No money is received direct from central government. At present there is no limit to the amount that a parish council can precept.
Ingleton Parish Council consists of 11 councillors and elections are held every four years. If there are insufficient candidates, members can be co-opted. Sub-committees may be set up so that smaller groups of councillors can progress different projects, reporting back to the full council at its regular monthly meetings. These meetings receive reports from and may question the Police, county and district councillors. Members of the public are also welcome to attend to raise issues of local concern.
The parish council is an essential part of the structure of local democracy and has a vital role in acting on behalf of the local community that it represents. Its broad function is to:
- give views on behalf of the community, on planning applications and other proposals that affect the parish;
- undertake projects and schemes that benefit local residents;
- work in partnership with other bodies to achieve benefits for the parish;
- alert relevant authorities to problems that arise or work that needs to be undertaken and;
- help the other tiers of local government to keep in touch with the community.
The money raised by Ingleton Parish Council is spent primarily in the following areas:
- provision and maintenance of street lighting;
- maintenance of the park and other flower beds;
- grass cutting on verges, around the community centre, The Brow and around other flower beds;
- provision and maintenance of the children's play area, multi-use sports area;
- grants to community projects;
- maintenance of public toilets in the park and community centre car park;
- Clerk to the Council salary.
Other powers that parish councils have are listed under Local Government Act 1972.
What the parish Council has achieved so far:
Since its formation in 1894 Ingleton Parish Council has been involved in a number of projects that benefit the local community, improve the tourist experience and help local businesses. These include:
- A multi-use sports area
- A children's play area
- Provision of village signs
- A programme of improved street lighting
- The youth leisure facility at Mealbank Quarry
- Flower beds in the park, village entrance on New Road and Central Gardens
Plans for the future
The Parish Council has long recognised the need to provide more leisure facilities for young people in Ingleton and is currently in negotiation with Craven District Council for the transfer of land for use as a BMX track and to provide extra football pitches. Following a petition from interested residents it is also looking for a suitable site for allotments. Another proposed project is a hydro-electric scheme. The negotiations and funding for such projects can be protracted and involved and not always ultimately successful, but the primary consideration is that they are of benefit to Ingleton. The Brow has recently been planted with native tree saplings and it is hoped that in the near future permission may be granted to remove the non-indigenous species such as Corsican Pine and the area returned to open woodland.
