MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BILLINGTON AND LANGHO PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON

 Monday,  NOVEMBER 24th   2025 at 7.15pm

 AT THE COMMUNITY HALL

 

PRESENT

 

Parish Councillors. Brian Haworth, Martin Hincks, Eva McPrice,  Katie Swingewood, Michael Collins, Cllr Tony Austin. Cllr Steve Farmer, 

 

In attendance –3 members of the public and R Greenwood clerk

 

ITEM 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

 

There were  apologies for absence from Dennis Johnson and John Aspden

 

ITEM 2        DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST  

 

1.    Register of Interests – Councillors were reminded of the need to update their register of interests.  

 

1.  One  member disclosed a personal interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting. Martin Hincks declared an interest in the quote from Ribble Valley Restorers and refrained from voting. 

 

ITEM 3 ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING 

 

3.1  Minutes of the meeting held 27th October 2025 were accepted and signed as a true record. 

 

ITEM 4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

 

4.1 Two members of the Remembrance Parade Committee attended the meeting to request funding for the 2026 Remembrance Parade. There was discussion regarding bank accounts and the costs involved in the hosting Parade. 

 

 4.2 A resident has contacted the Parish Council with serious concerns regarding the amount of dog mess on pavements and elsewhere. This was circulated to members prior to the meeting and contact was made with the RVBC.  Cllr K Swingewood has done some work round this and will be campaigning for more awareness. Cllr S Farmer has been requesting new bins for 18 months. 

 

 ITEM  5 PLAYGROUNDS

 

5.1 No report was received from the Lengthsman. 

 

5.2 Repair works have been undertaken on the boundary fence at Billington Playground. 

 

5.3 Bollards – the replacement bollard installation at the entrance to Langho Playground has been completed.  This work was undertaken by RVBC and will prevent unauthorised vehicle access. 

 

5.4 The Commercial Design and Partnerships Manager from ESP attended the meeting with prices and brochures for equipment at the playgrounds. A quote for Rospa works was given.  Billington Playgrounds has accepted 106 money this will be approx. £19,000 that is to be used on new equipment for Billington Playground only. Two other firms were contacted. 

 

5.5 Quotes were compared for jet washing of the playgrounds, the quote from Ribble Valley Restorers was accepted and work will commence on the cleaning of the equipment as per the RoSPA guidance. 

 

5.6 The equipment in both playgrounds is looking tired and it was proposed that a five year rolling plan for play equipment was implemented. Proposed MC Seconded BH, All in favour. It was resolved to undertake a five year rolling programme across both playgrounds. 

 

ITEM 6 ACCOUNTS

 

6.1 The following cheques were presented for payment.

 

Cheque 202689	C Walton lengthsman	£276.92
Cheque 202690	Post Office	£20.85
Cheque 202691	Travel	£25.46
Cheque 202692	Ribble Valley Restorers for Billington Playground repairs	£275.00
Cheque 202693	HMRC Paye Clerk	£10.70
Cheque 202694	Clerk salary	£546.43
Cheque 202695	HMRC employers liability	£20.97
Cheque 202696
Cheque 202697
Cheque 202698	Little Green Bus	£100.00

 

6.2 The bank reconciliation, bank statement  and cash flow were presented. 

 

6.3 The budgets for the Precept were presented and considered. The paperwork was signed for RVBC. 

 

6.4 A grant request was received from Little Green Bus, it was resolved to make a grant of £100. 

 

6.5 A grant request was received from Billington Community Centre for Christmas Lights. This was refused as only a limited number of people would see the lights. 

 

6.6 It was resolved to give a grant to the Remembrance Parade Committee once they have established their bank account. 

 

ITEM 7 PLANNING

 

7.1 The following applications were received and considered. 

 

3/2025/0845 The Village Hall, Franklin Hill, no objections were submitted. 

3/2025/0854 Monts Brow, no objections were submitted. 

3/2025/0781 Thornlee, Whalley Road, no objections were submitted. 

3/2025/0880 26 Whalley Road, objections were submitted to RVBC planning. 

3/2025/ 0859 Whalley Old Road, no objections were submitted. 

3/2025/0891 Rogersfield, no objections were submitted.

 

ITEM 8 HIGHWAY

 

8.1  There has been no response regarding the  wagon reported at that last meeting.  The clerk to continue trying to contact the firm responsible.

 

8.2  There has been no response from the Black Bull Public House in regards to the damaged verges at Old Langho, the clerk to continue to chase. 

 

8.3 Northcote Road is icing over due to the weather and the drains. There were accidents this week here and on Whitehalgh Lane. The Clerk to email LCC Highways regarding drains and gritting. 

 

8.4 The clerk to write to RVBC regarding the verges at Old Langho. 

 

 

ITEM 9 PETRE ARMS

 

9.1 An application to RVBC for The Petre Arms, has been submitted, this is a request for the Petre Arms to be registered as an Asset of Community Value. If this is successful then we would be discussing with the council to move to issuing a Compulsory Purchase Order under Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (for regeneration) or Local Government Act 1972 s.226 (for social or economic well-being). It was resolved  to support the first stage of this application.

 

ITEM 10 OFFICERS REPORT  

 

10.1 A volunteer is to start work on digitising old parish council records and maps. At this stage these will be stored on a hard drive but in the future consideration will be given of how to make these records publicly available. Proposed BH Seconded KS All in favour It was resolved to purchase a hard drive for record storage. 

 

ITEM 11 FLOOD CONCERNS AND UPDATE

 

11.1 Despite recent heavy rains there was no report of flooding.  

 

 ITEM 12 DEVOLUTION

 

The Government will decide at the end of November the preferred option for Lancashire. With the roll out starting in April 2028.

 

.ITEM 13 DATES OF NEXT MEETING. All at 7.15pm. 

 

26th January 2026	29th June 2026
23rd February 2026	27th July 2026
30th March 2026	28th September 2026
27th April 2026	26th October 2026
AGM 25th May 2026	30th November 2026

 

The meeting closed at 21.16hrs

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BILLINGTON AND LANGHO PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON

 Monday, 27^th October  2025 at 7.15pm

 AT THE COMMUNITY HALL

 

PRESENT

 

Parish Councillors. Brian Haworth, Martin Hincks (acting Chair) , Eva McPrice,  Katie Swingewood, Michael Collins, Cllr Tony Austin. Cllr Steve Farmer, Dennis Johnson and John Aspden

 

In attendance –1 members of the public and R Greenwood clerk

 

ITEM 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

 

There were no  apologies for absence

 

ITEM 2        DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 

 

• Register of Interests – Councillors were reminded of the need to update their register of interests.

 

• No members disclosed a personal interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.

 

ITEM 3 ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING

 

3.1  Minutes of the meeting held 29^th September 2025 were accepted and signed as a true record.

 

ITEM 4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

 

4.1 A member of the public attended regarding the boundary fence at Langho Playground. The fence has blown down and needs to be repaired. The parish council had had a living hedge but the developers have installed a full wooden fence. Proposed MC and seconded DJ. It was resolved to replace the posts only.

 

 

 ITEM  5 PLAYGROUNDS

 

5.1 No report was received from the Lengthsman.

 

5.2The RoSPA report has been received. Quotes are  being sought for the work that needs to be undertaken. The work is being split between three sections, the metal work, the cleaning work and the wood works.

 

5.3 Bollards – the replacement bollards are due for installation at the entrance to Langho Playground. This work is being undertaken by RVBC,

 

 

ITEM 6 ACCOUNTS

 

6.1 The following cheques were presented for payment.

 

Cheque 202679	Langho Playground hedge trimming with James O Garnett	£180.00
Cheque 202680	RVBC grass cutting through Billington and Langho	£2520.17
Cheque 202681	British Legion for the Poppy Wreath	£20.00
Cheque 202682	Travel	£25.46
Cheque 202683	October HMRC Employer NIC	£20.97
Cheque 202684	April to Sept HMRC Employer NIC	£141.42
Cheque 202685	Employee PAYE	£10.40
Cheque 202686	Clerk salary	£546.43
Cheque 202687	Groundsman Old Langho Church	£250.00
Cheque 202688	RoSPA playground inspection	£240.00

 

6.2 The bank reconciliation and cash flow was presented.

 

6.3 Tony Gaffney of Wilpshire PC contacted the parish council requesting that the installation of a steel gate to access the landscape feature Tin Men. At present there is a stile in situ and this is in a poor state. Proposed MH seconded BH. It was resolved to pay for the steel gate.

 

 

ITEM 7 PLANNING

 

7.1 The following applications were received and considered.

 

3/2025/0685	Field Barn, Old Langho		no objections
3/2025/0763	Cunliffe House Farm		no objections
3/2025/0845	The Village Hall, Franklin Hill		no objections

 

 

7.2 An enforcement notice has been issued to Raja Farm but this has been appealed. The only permitted development on this land is crop growth or animal husbandry. APP/T2350/C/25/3374492 is the planning inspectorate reference.

 

7.3 RVBC has issued a call for sites. The Call for Sites exercise is the start of the process of auditing land availability by inviting landowners, developers and other stakeholders to put forward sites which they consider would have the potential either for future development as local plan allocations or could, for example, be protected for open space provision or nature recovery. The parish council can not comment on these submitted sites until the information has been collated in a few months time.

 

7.4 Langho Football Club has been selected to development as a 4G pitch. There are existing issues with parking and the lack of suitable footpaths these will need to be addressed in order to ensure compliance with the Football Associations regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

ITEM 8 HIGHWAY

 

8.1  The footpath starting at Victoria Terrace to St Augustine School has been reported to LCC Highways and on the Love Clean Streets App due to being too narrow for pedestrians to move along it without safely. The reference for the report is 702357

 

8.2  There has been no response regarding the  wagon reported at that last meeting.  The clerk to continue trying to contact the firm responsible.

 

8.3 The A59 has had an overnight road closure but no visible work has been undertaken. The road and closures are to be monitored.

 

8.4 It was resolved to share road closure notices across all local social media platforms.

 

8.5 There have been two witnessed road traffic accidents at Old Langho as a direct result of the lack of visibility caused by the scaffolding at Keepers Cottage. The clerk to write to Highways and Planning Enforcement.

 

8.6 The grass verge on the green at Old Langho are being damaged by vehicles parking for the Black Bull Public House, the clerk to write to the Black Bull as they have planning permission for an extended car park.

 

ITEM 9 YORK TIPPING AND BURNING

 

9.1 The illegal burning is with Environmental Health Officer Andrew Dent. All incidents witnessed are asked to be reported to the Police and to Environmental Health.

 

ITEM 10 OFFICERS REPORT 

 

10.1 Cllr Austin is to attend the LALC AGM

 

10.2 The Remembrance Parade at a recent meeting RVBC and the Police insisted that a traffic management system was put in place, this will cost in the region of  an unattainable £1,000 Cllr Austin has written to the Police Commission and the MP expressing his dissatisfaction with this. The meeting had sited Martyn’s Law regarding this but as this is a  non-ticketed Remembrance Day parade and service for under 800 attendees it is  generally considered to  fall outside the direct requirements of Martyn’s Law. The guidance from the Home Office and SIA is incomplete as not all areas for regulation  have been finalised.

 

10.3 The clerk attended training via NALC for Martyn’s Law – guidance and further training is to be provided as the legislation is formalised.  The clerk also attended training regarding new legislation and best practice for audit, insurance, IT accessibility and asset regulations.

 

ITEM 11 FLOOD CONCERNS AND UPDATE

 

11.1 No items were discussed.

 

 ITEM 12 DEVOLUTION

 

 

 

12.1 Cllrs Farmer and Austin have attended meetings with RVBC regarding this. There is nothing new to report.

 

.ITEM 13 DATES OF NEXT MEETING. All at 7.15pm.

 

24th November 2025	29th June 2026
26th January 2026	27th July 2026
23rd February 2026	28th September 2026
30th March 2026	26th October 2026
27th April 2026	30th November 2026
AGM 25th May 2026

 

The meeting closed at 20.30hrs

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BILLINGTON AND LANGHO PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON

 Monday, 29^th September 2025 at 7.15pm

 AT THE COMMUNITY HALL

 

PRESENT

 

Parish Councillors. Brian Haworth (chair), Martin Hincks, Eva McPrice,  Katie Swingewood, Michael Collins, Cllr Tony Austin. Cllr Steve Farmer.

 

In attendance –2 members of the public, PCSO Caroline Pemberton and R Greenwood clerk

 

ITEM 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

 

There were  apologies for absence from Dennis Johnson and John Aspden

 

ITEM 2        DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 

 

• Register of Interests – Councillors were reminded of the need to update their register of interests.

 

• No members disclosed a personal interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.

 

ITEM 3 ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING

 

3.1  Minutes of the meeting held 29^th July   2025 were accepted and signed as a true record.

 

ITEM 4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

 

4.1 PCSO Caroline Pemberton gave her report:-

• The burning and fly tipping at York continues, if people could contact the Police specifically PC 8090 Feeny and RVBC Andrew Dent who are both dealing with this.
• Report of two incidences vehicle interference on the 9^th September
• Report of a male in Langho about with a torch very early in the morning, this turned out to be the new newspaper delivery person who was unsure of his round hence shining his torch onto door numbers.

 

4.2 Billington and Langho Remembrance Parade Committee member attended the meeting requesting a contribution towards the cost of the 2025 Parade. This is a voluntary group who need to raise money for the core costs needed to run the parade. Concerns were raised about the need for repairs of the Cenotaph. The parish council is trying to secure funds to complete this work.

 

4.3 York Telephone Kiosk, a group of residents from York have volunteered to maintain the telephone kiosk at York, one of the ideas is that is will house a defib for the community. The parish council are pleased to support this group and have agreed to pay the costs of the paint and the ongoing costs associated with the defib ie the pads  that need replacing annually.

 

 

 ITEM  5 PLAYGROUNDS

 

5.1 No report was received from the Lengthsman.

 

5.2The RoSPA report has been received. Quotes are  being sought for the work that needs to be undertaken.

 

 

ITEM 6 ACCOUNTS

 

6.1 The following cheques were presented for payment.

Cheque 202664	RVBC website costs	£36.00
Cheque 202665	Returned	£0.00
Cheque  202666	Void
Cheque 202667	Clerk wage and backpay to April	£684.95
Cheque 202668	N Haworth Old Langho Church Groundsman	£500.00
Cheque 202669	C Walton August lengthsman duties	£276.92
Cheque 202670	PKF Littlejohn External Audit	£252.00
Cheque 202671	HMRC reissue of 202665	£45.20
Cheque 202672	C Walton September duties	£332.29
Cheque 202673	Travel	£25.46
Cheque 202674	HMRC	£10.40
Cheque 202675	Clerk Wage	£546.43
Cheque 202676	PNFS subscription	£30.00
Cheque 202677	N Hawroth Old Langho Church	£500.00
Cheque 202678	Remembrance Parade Committee	£150.00

 

 

 

6.2 PKF Littlejohn have completed the external audit. An error in the figures has been noted for the next audit.

 

6.3 The bank reconciliation and cash flow was presented.

 

6.4 Income of £2061.00 has been received via RVBC Concurrent Functions.

 

ITEM 7 PLANNING

 

7.1 The following applications were received and considered.

 

3/2025/0594	Northcote Hotel		no objections
3/2025/0549	5 Brookside, Langho		no objections
3/2025/0616	36 Painter Wood		no objections
3/2025/0426	Land east of Snodworth Road		As 7.2 below
3/2025/0676	Cunliffe House Farm, Longsight Road		No objections

 

 

7.2 An extension of time was granted by RVBC regarding 3/2025/0426. The parish council has strong objections to this application including the access road on the plans, the spoiling of the location including the impact on the skyline and the erection of an orange hut on the site prior to permission. Concerns were raised as to a business meeting held near the site with over one hundred attendees, no information has been forthcoming regarding this meeting with posts on Facebook being removed.

 

 

ITEM 8 HIGHWAY

 

8.1  Whinney Lane / Snodworth Road Speed Campaign, LCC have written to the residents heading the campaign and said that they will not consider using any of their road safety funding on Whinney Lane as the area has an excellent road safety record.

 

8.2 Enquiries were made regarding the parish council funding Spids, after discussion it was resolved not to fund Spids in the area at present as the area is well attended by both the Police speed van and the Police requested temporary Spids. This situation will be reviewed.

 

8.3 A wagon associated with the recent gas pipeline works in Old Langho has caused damage to the village green. The 14 tonne wagon reversed onto the gravel driveway of the Church but sunk into the grass. It took a local resident with a large tractor to pull the wagon out but there is damage to the village green. Whilst the firm has filled the holes with top soil this is not seeded or rolled flat and there is a hole in the tarmac at the side of the road. The clerk to write to ask for these repairs to be completed.

 

 

ITEM 9 YORK TIPPING AND BURNING

 

9.1 This item was discussed under Public Participation.

 

ITEM 10 OFFICERS REPORT 

 

10.1 Harrisons Engineering have been thanked for moving the notice board from the paper shop to the fence at Billington Playground.

 

10.2 There has been a report that older children from St Augustine School have broken the bench outside the paper shop. PCSO Pemberton confirmed this had not been reported to the police.

 

 

10.3 The bench at Old Langho Church has been stolen

 

10.4 Gas outage at Old Langho and Brockhall. There is compensation available for the interruption of gas supplied to homes  but this must be requested by the residents affected via the Cadent website as this is not automatic. The form can be completed online at https://cadentgas.com/contactus/compensation-claims

.

10.5 Cllr Austin attended the Community Centres meeting. There is a request for new volunteers to support the Centre. An update was given regarding the recent grant works and the forthcoming maintenance works scheduled. A request is to be made to LCC for a crossing person for St Leonards school.

 

10.6 Cllr Austin attended LALC area committee meeting, discussed at this was Devolution and future funding.

 

10.7 The railway parking at the Taj has ended, this is due to the lease for parking being completed and not renewed. Cllr Farmer is to contact the Taj owners who have said that the site is due for redevelopment.

 

ITEM 11 FLOOD CONCERNS AND UPDATE

 

11.1 No items were discussed.

 

 ITEM 12 TELEPHONE KIOSK

 

12.1 This item was discussed under Public Participation.

 

.ITEM 13 CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

 

13.1 A grant is available from RVBC for parish Christmas Lights, due to the parish council not having a focal point in the area, the ongoing costs of  annual pat testing / electrician to install and storage of the lights it was decided that the parish council would not be applying in this year.

 

ITEM 13 DATES OF NEXT MEETING. All at 7.15pm.

 

27^th October 2025                                                    29th June 2026

24^th November 2025                                                27th July 2026

26th January 2026                                                   28th September 2026

23rd February 2026                                                 26th October 2026

30th March 2026                                                      30th November 2026

27th April 2026

AGM 25th May 2026

 

The meeting closed at 21.06hrs

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF BILLINGTON AND LANGHO PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON

 Monday, 28^th July 2025 at 7.15pm

 AT THE COMMUNITY HALL

 

PRESENT

 

Parish Councillors. Brian Haworth (chair), Martin Hincks, Eva McPrice,  Dennis Johnson, Michael Collins, Cllr Tony Austin.

 

In attendance –R Greenwood clerk

 

ITEM 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

 

There were  apologies for absence from Katie Swingewood and John Aspden

 

ITEM 2        DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 

 

• Register of Interests – Councillors were reminded of the need to update their register of interests.

 

• No members disclosed a personal interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.

 

ITEM 3 ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING

 

3.1  Minutes of the meeting held June 30^th  2025 were accepted and signed as a true record.

 

ITEM 4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

 

4.1 There was no public participation.

 

 ITEM  5 PLAYGROUNDS

 

5.1 No report was received from the Lengthsman.

 

5.2 The request for bollards at Bushburn Road Playground has been passed to RVBC to action.

 

 

ITEM 6 ACCOUNTS

 

6.1 The following cheques were presented for payment.

 

Cheque 202659	C Walton Lengthsman	£276.92
Cheque 202660	HMRC	£7.00
Cheque 202661	Travel	£25.46
Cheque 202662	Clerk Salary	£532.50
Cheque 202663	N Haworth Groundsman, Old Langho	£500.00

 

6.2 The National Joint Council for Local Government Services has forwarded  the Clerk / RFO pay scales. These are scales 1 to 62. The Clerk is on pay scale 2 which has had an hourly increase of 40p per hour. This will be back dated to the 1^st April 2025

 

 

6.3 The bank reconciliation and cash flow was presented.

 

6.4 It was resolved that as no meeting would take place in August that the Clerk would raise the cheques for payment and send them out rather than having contractors or employees having to wait for two months for payment.

 

ITEM 7 PLANNING

 

7.1 The following applications were received and considered.

 

3/2025/0482	18 Highwoods Park, no objections
3/2025/0516	Oak Tree, Whitehalgh Lane, no objections.
3/2025/0454	Land off Snodworth, objections sent to RVBC
3/2025/0540	Brooklands, Longworth Road, no objections.

 

7.2 Cllr Austin had circulated the report for the failed Appeal for Elker Meadows.

 

7.2 Padel Courts at Mytton Fold  –  this application was passed.

 

7.3 Cllr Austin gave a brief precis of planning issues in the villages.

 

 

ITEM 8 HIGHWAY

 

8.1  Nothing reported.

 

ITEM 9 RIBBLE VALLEY SETTLEMENT REVIEW.

 

9.1 RVBC produced a list of services and facilities for Billington, Langho and Brockhall (Old Langho). The parish council worked through these added missed facilities and removing those that were no longer in place. Concern was raised as the maps that were supplied did not cover the whole area missing Cronshaw Chair and the area opposite Northcote. The clerk to submit the completed forms and forward the  missing area concerns.

 

ITEM 10 OFFICERS REPORT 

 

10.1 The parish council is seeking a volunteer to scan and write up the parish records, these go back to the 1800’s and are in a frail condition. The parish council will work with the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley CVS to source volunteers.

 

10.2 The Groundsman for Old Langho Church was thanked for his work. He had reported that the bushes, hedges and tree’s between the two graveyards are top heavy and need maintenance works. The Clerk to write to Old Langho Church suggesting this work.

 

10.3 Cllr Austin attended a LALC meeting, he raised questions about LCC’s devolution.

 

.

 

ITEM 11 FLOOD CONCERNS AND UPDATE

 

No items were discussed.

 

 ITEM 12 CORRESPONDENCE.

 

12.1 All correspondence has been forwarded by email.

.

 

ITEM 13 DATES OF NEXT MEETING. All at 7.15pm.

 

29^th September 2025

27^th October 2025

24^th November 2025

 

The meeting closed at 20.28 hrs