Baildon Parish Council

Following the resignation of Debbie Davies a new Councillor was co-opted at the July 2009 meeting of Baildon Parish Council.

Denise Thomas lives at Heatherside Baildon and joins Denis Colman as Parish Councillor for Baildon South East.

Other things of note at the July meeting were the formation of a Cultivation Committee with responsibility for Allotments, Garden Sharing and Baildon in Bloom representation.

The Parish Council also agreed to a grant to help with new flooring at St Hugh' Centre on Coach Road. St Hugh's is used for many community based activities and Baildon Parish Council are pleased to be able to contribute to the centre.

At the meeting it was also reported that Baildon Parish Council had successfully hosted two meetings for the formation of the Friends of Baildon Moor. They now have their own Steering Committee who will put together the constitution and conditions for membership. Once this work is complete they will then hand control over to the Friends themselves.

Related to Baildon Moor were two agenda items. One was to ask Bradford Council to no longer go to the expense of bracken rolling. This is as a result of the rolling not seeming to fit within an overall management policy and its timing and repetition raising questions about its effectiveness.The second item was to facilitate an audit of the bio-diversity of Baildon Moor. This will allow us raise their importance and help everyone get a better understanding of their long term future.They have their own web site here that will develop as the group develops.

Good progress appears to be being made on the Parish Council Handbook.

Baildon Parish Council had a stall at the Baildon Carnival which seemed to be well attended, and great fun was had by all.

The Parish Council agreed at its June meeting to look into the powers that it has available to look at encouraging the provision of power from alternative sources to fossil fuel. Options include wind, photovaltic, hydro and biogas.

This is a complex matter and Councillor Marfell, Chair of the Parish Council has been tasked with exploring the options open to the Parish Council.

The Parish Council has agreed to produce and publish a new Community Directory for Baildon. The new directory is to replace the previous one published by the Community Council in 2002.

The professionally produced 72 page A5 booklet will list all of the groups and organisations in Baildon. If you would like to advertise your company or service in the directory , please contact Ruth Batterley the Parish Council clerk and she will be happy to help you. Ruth can be contacted on 01943 605746, or via e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If your group or organisation had an entry in the old directory one of our councillors will be contacting you shortly to check your most up to date details. If you are a NEW GROUP or you were not included in the old directory and would like to be included in this one, please contact Ruth with your details.

The new directory will be hand delivered free to every house in Baildon and will be a useful source of local information.  

A good turnout came to the meeting on the 20 May about setting up a Friends of Baildon Moor. As expected from the variety of use the moor gets, there was also a big variety of opinions on how to look after the moor and what could be done to improve its use. I talked to a few people afterwards, and asked them what their priorities would be. The common response was first to put a stop to the selfish things that go on, and which spoil it for the rest of us.

Someone brought a photograph to the meeting of an off-road vehicle parked up by the "trig" point on the top of the moor. Its these vehicles, and the quad bikes and motorbikes (normal size and mini-bikes) that really annoy people. They shouldn't be on the moor, and its just reckless, thrill-seeking selfishness that makes them do it. Motorbikes are as well churning up the groundlayer in the woods in Shipley Glen, and their noise makes it a misery for people walking in there, as well as frightening. Cyclists are also using the path through the woods on the other side of the Glen. They know this is a FOOTpath and not a bridleway, but in their selfishness they expect walkers to get out of their way. Cyclists aren't allowed to ride willy nilly across the moor either, because the open access of the urban common is only for walkers and horse riders.

Another priority, particularly for the Countryside Service of Bradford Council, is to stop the few people living alongside the moor, and along the edge of Baildon Green, from using the land as a dumping ground. This is also a problem with the few people who live along the top of Trench, Walker and Midgely Woods, and who dump rubbish into them. These woods anyway get the empty fizz bottles and crisp packets from the secondary school children, but you would think that adults would know better. I am told there are also people taking bits of Baildon Green as add-ins to their garden. More light fingered than green fingered!

Dog mess is the problem at Moorside, but we also have a problem with the bins around the car park there that fill up quickly over a weekend and then the wind empties them across the plateau and down the slope.  The bend in the road above the White House is still getting young drivers in to thinking that their car can take off and fly, but thankfully Bradford Council are quick to remove the wrecks.

I came across something last year in Shipley Glen that made me check up with the British Mountaineering Council. Some climbers have taken to hacking away at the trees growing near the rock faces, and along the connecting paths between rock faces, in the worse form of gardening you will ever see. The BMC issue a guide on "opening up" crag faces for climbers and their access, which is a bit presumptious as these climbers don't have a right to do this just because open access does allow them to climb. But it does stress that permisson is required from the land owner for any clearance.  Is it too much to ask that they seek supervision before they just selfishly hack away?

I went for a walk up the beck in Shipley Glen on Tuesday. Not a route that many take as its hard going sometimes over slippery rocks, but its the best way to appreciate the marvels of this water course as it carves down the valley through the sandstone layers and under the cover of the ancient woodland. You can see dippers and herons, and the beckside ferns are at their best.  While I walk (slither) over the rocks I also pick up the litter of cans and bottles, plastic bags, disposable BBQs, sweet wrappers and fertiliser bags. I can usually find a robust polythene "builders bag" in the beck to put the rubbish in, which I then stash for later and then when it is full carry it out to one of the bins on the top of the Glen. The odd wheel and tyre will need a special trip, as will the rusting carcass of a motor scooter, and bizzarely the council bin that was wrenched out and thrown over. At least we don't get the cars being pushed into the Glen that we used to, but it is rewarding how a bit of litter picking lets you concentrate on the natural wonders of the beck and not the trash. I've also seen people litter pick on top of the Glen.

Only a few selfish people are needed to mess things up for the rest of us. And they keep doing it (often at odd hours) because they know they can get away with it. Its not a pleasant task to have to confront them, but in the end we will have to think of ways to discourage these selfish people, and we can't always expect others to do it for us.

The Parish Council is aware that there are concerns about dog fouling and litter in Baildon. Bradford Council doesn't provide dog waste bins, but rather encourages dog owners to put ther bagged waste into ordinary bins.

The Parish Council as part of its budget for 2009-2010 agreed some extra funding for bins and our Warden has completed an audit of all the bins in Baildon.  The Warden looked at areas where there are known problems with dog fouling and this together with complaints that have been recieved  by the Parish Council and the Brdaford Council Dog Warden Service, gave Councillors the information they need to decide on the location of new bins for ordinary rubbish and dog waste.

The bins will be installed at:

1. Moorside- Baildon Golf Club

2. Denso Marston Nature Reserve

3. The Grove

4. Salisbury Avenue

5. Hope Lane

We are hoping that the installation of these bins will encourage all residents and visitors to Baildon to bag and bin their dog waste.

PARISH COUNCIL SURGERIES

The Parish Council has decide to trial surgeries to enable people who can't make evening meetings to come along and speak to someone about local issues. The surgeries will initially run from May through to July and then the situation will be reviewed to see if there is sufficient demand for them to continue.

The surgeries are as follows:

ST HUGH'S

The first Wednesday of every month from 1:00pm- 2:00pm. Dates 6/05/09, 03/06/09, 1/07/09

BAILDON LINK, CLIFFE AVENUE

The second Wednesday of every month from 10:00am - 11:00am. Dates 13/05/09, 10/06/09, 8/07/09

WESLEY'S

Wednesday 20th May from 10:00am - 11:00am.

Tuesday 16th June 1:30-2:30pm

Tuesday 14th July 1:30-2:30pm .