Annual Town Meeting 20 July 2013

The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Mayor Keith Savage as Mayor Chris Atkinson was ill.

The Deputy Mayor thanked various groups for their help and support over the past year.

The Town Plan (the 2012 Town Survey) was nearly finish and the results would be presented to the Town Council in the next month.

Proms on the Farm brought a positive image of Silsden and brought people to Silsden from outside the area.

To mark the Queens’ Diamond Jubilee a tree will be planted in the park (in the Autumn).

Silsden Environmental Group have planted trees in the park and there is ongoing work to clean up the beck.

The council has bought the area of land outside Twisters and plans are ongoing to design a memorial / nature garden to occupy the space.

Questions from the floor

Quest Taekwondo thanked the Town Council for their help and support this helped to secure medals for members of the group in national competition. There was a passionate plea for accommodation to use for practise.

The Town Precept was raised this year to cover the potential cost of £11,000 if the town had to hold a local referendum.

There was concern about the amount of additional traffic likely to be generated on Howden Road by the building of new houses. This was viewed as a major problem, not just for Howden Road, but for the whole of Silsden as new houses are permitted without the infrastructure in place to accommodate the resulting traffic.

It was resolved to look at these problems when planning permission was requested for the houses, but suggestions were put forward as to the strategy to take.

Sports facilities in the park. It was stated there are no actual plans for the development of a building in the park to replace the rugby changing rooms, the bowling hut and the pavillion. The project was to provide modern changing facilities for rugby, football and bowling and to be a social centre, but before any project went ahead funding would have to be in place, and the project would have to meet the approval of Silsden’s residents.

The town hall will be refurbished and made suitable for disabled access. It was not known when the work would start but in theory the internal remodelling could start as soon as the existing users have been found alternative venues. The external work on the ramp and crossing area may not start for a few months.

The Tour de France and what Silsden will be doing to make it a successful event for Silsden is in hand. The Town Clerk will be attending a meeting in Bradford to find out what Bradford intends to provide in the way of help. After this meeting a public meeting will be held to work out how the event can be exploited to the best advantage of Silsden.

SAT 5 July 2014 (Stage 1)

• The tour goes through Addingham

SUN 6 July 2014 (Stage 2)

•  The tour goes through Silsden
•  It was stated the roads around Silsden are likely to be closed for most of the day.
• There will be no parking allowed on the route.
•  It will take several hours for the complete entourage to go through
• 6 million spectators are expected to visit Yorkshire.
•  You will not be going anywhere unless you are somewhere else on the day!

THE WEEK BEFORE (SAT & SUN)

•  The route will be made available for amateur riders, they are expecting 15,000 riders
• You will not be going anywhere unless you are somewhere else on the day