St Andrew’s Church – On Saturday there will be a coffee morning in the Parish Rooms from 10am until noon in aid of the Church Mission Society and the Jigsaw Kids Ministries Project in Manila, Philippines. On Sunday there will be a service of Holy Communion at 8.15am and a service of Family Communion with Baptism at 10am. Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, and there will be services of Holy Communion with Imposition of Ashes at 9.30am in the Parish Rooms and at 7.30pm at St Peter’s Methodist Church, Cross Hills.

The Village Pump – the over 50s group meets in the lower hall at Farnhill Methodist Church on Wednesday afternoon from 2pm-3.30pm.

Kildwick Primary School will hold a Fairtrade community coffee morning on Friday from 10am-11am. Everybody is welcome. On Friday, March 7, the school will be celebrating World Book Day. The children can come to school dressed as their favourite character from any Roald Dahl book.

The February meeting of Farnhill Parish Council was was chaired by Coun G Harling. Six members of the council were present plus NYCC Rep Coun P Mulligan. Four members of the public were also present.

The minutes of the meeting held on January 7 were approved and signed as a correct record by the chairman.

The council resolved to rescind the additions to standing orders (June 7, 2011) till the new standing orders were agreed.

Various complaints were received from members of the public which have been passed to Craven District Council for attention, plus a further complaint was also made about dog fouling on the path at the end of Newby Road and Parson’s Bridge. The dog warden has said she will do some patrols and put up some signs where she can. Clerk to also request that she arranges for the dirt to be cleaned up. Concerns were also expressed about the pointing on the wall near the culvert on Main Street. Clerk to write to the Canal and Rivers Trust.

Coun G Harling met at Cononley Lane Ends junction with Coun Lois Brown (chairman of Cononley Parish Council) and a Keighley News reporter to campaign for more improvements to the junction. Coun Mulligan also voiced his concerns regarding the junction. A spokesman for NYCC stated that they will continue to monitor the junction with a view to installing further safety measures if necessary. However they stressed that since safety measures were undertaken in 2011 accidents in the area have fallen and that based on information from NY Police it is clear that no additional engineering safety measures would have prevented these more recent collisions, which involved driver error. Clerk has written to various people at NYCC but no reply has been received yet. Coun Mulligan believes the response from NYCC regarding the Cononley Lane Ends Junction to be unsatisfactory and he suggested holding a public meeting with NYCC officers attending. He has been in discussions with Cononley Parish Council with regard to holding a meeting and will keep us informed on the progress.

A complaint has been received from a member of the public regarding the junction of Main Street by the bus access. Apparently there have been several incidents of people not stopping at the junction when travelling from the bus access and nearly causing accidents. The give-way sign is covered by the bushes and the white lining at the junction is badly worn. Clerk to ask NYCC if they can attend to the sign and arrange to have the white line reinstated also to ask for the white line to be refreshed on the bend by the White Lion as vehicles often come round the corner on the wrong side of the road.

Coun P Mulligan reported that NYCC have a full Council meeting in the middle of February and will be looking at the budget and there is likely to be some unpopular proposals on the delivery of services, with possible cuts to grass cutting, children’s centres and bus services. He will keep us updated with the outcome.

Coun D Atkinson informed the council that if it were to have a Christmas tree it would be secured in place either by digging a hole in the ground and securing with wedges or by a central cylinder with cross members. Clerk to inform the Canal and Rivers Trust who requested the information prior to giving permission to erect a tree.

When YEDL came to connect the main electric cable to the new street light on Main Street (Light No 25), the main cable was not where it was expected to be. This meant YEDL had to carry out further excavation works 10metres northwards and had to dig up the footpath up to 5 Main Street. This will incur an extra charge to the Parish Council of £428.26. Peter Ball from NY Street Lighting is looking into solar-powered LED lighting to see if it would be any good for Parson’s Bridge.

A report was received from a member of the public regarding two lights in the village being out, one outside September Cottage, 17 Starkey Lane, Farnhill, and the other up Lang Kirk. Clerk has reported lights to appropriate people as the lights do not belong to it (NYCC for one and the housing association for the other.

Coun R Bramley has obtained a certified copy of the deed of gift of the Arbour and is continuing the process of registering the Arbour with Land Registry. Coun M Scarffe provided further plans for improving the footpath that runs through Lower Arbour and it was thought the best solution would be to extend the length of path with steps so as to graduate the slope. The council to get quotes for the work. The clerk has received a quote for spraying of the brambles and ivy at the Arbour and the council requested that a further quote be sought specifying the areas identified by it as needing attention.

The council resolved not to have a domain name with gov.uk for the website as it was considerable more expensive and more complicated. Clerk to inform Chris Wright to register the site with the original farnhillpc.org.uk.

The council agreed that Coun R Bramley draft a new set of standing orders based on the standing orders the Council already have in place (excluding the additions made on June 7, 2011) but to include all the standing orders which are in bold type in the new NALC Standing Orders which are statutory requirements. The council will then consider adopting them at the meeting in March.

Issues were raised regarding identifying any vulnerable people who are likely to need assistance in bad weather and it was agreed to make enquiries at the over 50s club to see if they know of anybody who would appreciate any help.

The council would like to thank the public-spirited resident who has been cleaning up litter in the village.

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday, March 4, in Kildwick/Farnhill Institute at 7.30pm.

All members of the village are welcome to attend.