Huttons Ambo Meeting Point - April 2014

The next Meeting Point will take place on 26th April in the Village Hall starting at 2pm.  Come along for coffee, tea and cake, books, Fairtrade and Childrens activities.

All material © Philip Stone 2014

Huttons Ambo Book Club - Wednesday 30 April at 8pm

In February the book club met to talk about The Ghost by Robert Harris, a political thriller about a former British Prime Minister and his involvement with the CIA.  We all enjoyed the book and read different meanings into the dramatic concluding event.  Read it and see what you think.  In April we will be reading and discussing Virginia Woolf’s celebrated novel To The Lighthouse.  Call Alison Hewitt on 692918 if you are interested in joining the Book Club.

Alison Hewitt

Village Hall Kitchen Update

The Village Hall Committee are in the planning stages of an update to the kitchen area of the Village Hall, in an effort to make the kitchen more useable and the Village Hall a better facility for any events involving catering.  The current thinking is that a hatch will be installed in the wall dividing the kitchen and the small room, a cooker fitted and some of the existing cupboards redesigned to provide more work surfaces.  A request for spare cookers has resulted in three being offered, along with other building materials. 

If anyone has any unwanted kitchen units they would like to find a home for, the Village Hall Committee would be very interested.  Contact Maggie Stone on 697509.

Parish Questionnaire - Summary of Results

PARISH QUESTIONNAIRE

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

Questionnaire returns:

	Delivered	Returned
Upper Low Village	27	11	41%
Lower low Village	22	9	33%
Low Lane & Low Hutton Park	25	12	55%
High Village & outliers	38	12	32%
Total	112	44	39%

Features cited by 3 or more respondents:

Likes	No.	%	Don't change	No.	%
Tranquillity	23	17	Herbie's	14	19
Herbie's	22	17	Absence of street lights	14	19
Environment	16	12	Rural nature	13	18
People	14	11	No. of houses	8	11
Community spirit	9	7	Friendly neighbours	3	4
Walks	8	6
Village facilities	8	6
Events/activities	7	5
No street lights	5	4
Church	4	3
No through road	3	2
Location	3	2
Dislikes	No.	%	Change	No.	%
State of roads (pot-holes/drainage)	25	24	Mend roads & footpaths/fix drainage	10	11
A64 junctions	12	11	A64 accesses	8	9
Bad driving (speeding etc)	10	10	Manage verges better (maint./cutting/conservation)	8	9
State of footpaths	5	5	More social (evening?) events (inc. alcohol?)	6	7
Nowhere to "drop in" (pub/café etc)	4	4	Get a Pub	5	6
State of Swing Bridge	4	4	Play area(s)	5	6
Dog mess	4	4	Reduce vehicle speed/Impose speed limit	5	6
Inconsiderate parking	3	3	Improve use of green (Play area, picnics, wild flowers)	3	3
Lack of play area	3	3	Upgrade Village Hall facilities	3	3

Herbie’s, and the tranquillity, the environment and rural/traditional nature, along with the absence of street lights, are the principal features of the village people like and don’t want to change.  Not being on a through road is seen as valuable, as is the low level of signage.  There is an antipathy to development, though houses for the elderly were excepted by a minority of respondents.

People, community spirit and social events are also much appreciated in general and the Meeting Point, the Flower & Produce Show and the Church choir are cited, though a significant number of respondents would like more events, possibly including the occasional sale of alcohol.  A need to increase community voluntary participation was mentioned.

Village facilities are also valued (hall, church, bus shelters, ‘phone boxes and the local bus service) although the cuts to the bus service were deprecated.

The village green was mentioned as an asset by some but  its under-utilisation is seen by several as a wasted opportunity, with the lack of/possible provision of, a play area being cited by some.

The absence of a village pub (or café) was raised by a number of respondents, by some as a positive, and others a negative, feature.

The condition of the roads and footpaths is the major concern raised, particularly pot-holes and flooding.

Road safety at junctions with the A64 is seen as a major problem by a large proportion of the respondents.

 Traffic features as another significant concern, with excessive speed (particularly between the villages) and lack of care/courtesy in driving and inconsiderate parking mentioned.  Damage to verges by large vehicles and tractors were singled out by some.

The state of verges, footpaths and the Swing Bridge, and their value as village features, are recognised by many, and their maintenance seen as a priority.

PARISH PLAN

The Parish Council hopes that this information will be used to draw up a simple Plan which would outline a vision for the Parish and set out actions that will help realise that vision.  The existence of a Plan would;

·       Give the Community a voice

·       Provide evidence of local needs and views

·       Generate action, both by authorities and volunteers

·       Improve community spirit and involvement

Parish Plans have been drawn up by a number of other parishes in the Ryedale area. Such plans are not Parish Council documents. On the contrary the idea is that this Plan would be developed by the Community as a whole, with some facilitation by the Parish Council.

If you might be interested in becoming involved please contact one of your Parish Councillors; Andy Dorman, Maggie Stone, Jessie Garnett, Richard Green and Simon Lealman or the Clerk, Jem Charles.  If sufficient interest in participating is expressed  a meeting will be called to explain the process further.