News Archive
Officer to get "allotment" of free travel !
Keighley Town Council and Keighley & District Travel (K&DT) are teaming up to trial a new travel scheme for a Council Officer, who already has excellent green credentials ! Lee Senior is the recently-appointed Allotments Officer of Keighley Town Council, whose job it is to oversee the good management of the 480 allotments which the Town Council has recently taken over from Bradford District Council.
"Lee has to do a great deal of travelling around the Parish"
said Cllr Allan Rhodes, Chair of the Allotments Committee.
"It is normal to give a Council Officer a car mileage allowance but the committee thought that because Keighley has such an excellent network of frequent local bus services, a very much better idea would be to give him a bus pass for a 2 month trial period."
K&DT Operations Director Dave Alexander said,
"We applaud the Town Council’s decision to use the bus network rather than car travel and to help them evaluate how easy it is to get around Keighley by bus, we are happy to donate monthly K-Cards to the Allotments Officer for the period of the trial. In the current situation of high fuel costs, the weekly or monthly K-Card, available for unlimited travel on most K&DT services in the Keighley area, is an even better bargain for the regular traveller."
Cllr Rhodes said that he was very grateful to K&DT for supporting this imaginative project.
"This Council likes to think ‘outside the box’ and what better way for our ‘green officer’ to travel ? I hope that at the end of the trial period, the Allotments Committee will agree to buy in a regular supply of K-Cards for Lee Senior !"
Allotments officer
Keighley Town Council have appointed an Allotments Officer
Mr. Lee Senior, who can be contacted on 077664 02539
or via Keighley Town Council, Town Hall, Bow Street, Keighley.
Election of 2005~2006 Town Council Mayor and Deputy Mayor
At the Town Council meeting held on the 7th of April, the Mayor-Elect and Deputy Mayor-Elect were chosen.
There were two contenders for mayor-elect, Councillors B Hudson and Wright. Councillor Mitchell for was proposed as deputy Mayor-elect and stood unopposed. The title of Mayor-elect and Deputy Mayor-elect has no legal standing in local government law; it indicates the majority view of the council as to who should fill the positions for the coming year and gives those individuals time to prepare.
Cllr Tony Wright, (the current Deputy Mayor), was chosen as Mayor-Elect and subsequently became Mayor - unopposed - at the Annual Council Meeting on May 19th. Cllr Wright's main goals next year are to achieve quality status, aid community cohesion and make big improvements to the town’s allotments.
Cllr Graham Mitchell, also unopposed, was elected as the Deputy Mayor, the post being vacated by the new Town Mayor, Cllr Wright.
Both posts run until May 2006.
Allotments
The Town Council Allotments working group is in the process of making site visits of the Allotments it owns and the management of which will be passed over in April.
There are approximately 430 allotments. Many sites are working well but there are others which require a great deal of attention.
In the first year the Town Council will probably make minor repairs to assist with security on a number of sites and will be working towards identifying a specific site which requires urgent attention and through a lot of hard work make it a show case site for the area.
The Town Council will also be looking at establishing through its allotment holders allotment associations for all the sites.
KEIGHLEY TOWN COUNCIL GRANT SCHEMES
To date, £5131.96 in grants has been given out from the Acorn Fund.
The Fund is open to groups in the community and can award up to £250.00
The next grant upis the Oka Fund which grants funding up to £999.99 and has awarded approximately £7300.00 to date.
Giant Rombald to be moved,
We are looking to move GIANT ROMBALD out of the Airedale Centre. Since the new café was formed Rombald has been used as a cup and plate stand!
He will move to the roundabout at the end of Skipton Road!
The new Town Centre Association will be up and running from April,
This is a new group formed by traders of which Bradford Council and Keighley Town Council are partners in funding the work of the association.
The Town Centre Manager has recently retired. Jonathan Appleby has been seconded to Keighley to work as the Town Centre Manager until a replacement is found.
Work to start on the Cenotaph,
Work will commence on some renovation to the Cenotaph particularly where skateboarders and bikers have damaged the stone.
It is also the intention of the group to provide some form of railings to prevent further damage being caused to the structure.
The Town Council are working in partnership with Bradford Council on this initiative.
KTC vote to accept the proposed budget for 2005/06,
At the meeting of the Town Council on 3rd February members voted to accept the proposed budget put before them for 2005/06 by the Finance & Management Committee.
The percentage increase is 11.2% which at Band D works out at £14.38
Allotments to be run by Keighley Town Council,
There are a number of projects which the Town Council are and will be involved with during the coming year. 480 allotments belonging to the Town Council will be handed over for the Town Council to manage.
Since 1974 the management has been in the hands of Bradford Council. Whilst there are a number of well run allotments there are many which are in urgent need of attention. It is the intention of the Town Council to start work on one particularly bad site this year and make it a show piece.
The Town Council will be looking for interested allotment holders to form allotment associations where there isn’t one for their site.
Election of 2005~2006 Town Council Mayor and Deputy Mayor
At the Town Council meeting held on the 7th of April, the role of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for 2005~2006 was finalised.
 Cllr Tony Wright |
Cllr Tony Wright, (the current Deputy Mayor), defeated Cllr Brian Hudson. Cllr Wright's main goals next year are to achieve quallity status and successfully take over the running of the towns allotments. |
Cllr Graham Mitchell stood unoppesed for the Deputy Mayors possition, which is currently held by the new Mayor, Cllr Wright.
Both posts run from May 2005 until May 2006.
Four new faces on the Town Council and Guard House by-election,
There are four new councillors on the Town Council:
Cllr G.Edge Cllr L.Lockley Cllr D.Miller Cllr G.Miller |
The vacant seat at Guard House will be up for election on 9th September.
There will be two candidates standing in the by-election.
The candidates are:
Cllr Angela Clarke, Mr Brian Morris. |
Election of new Town Mayor and Deputy Town Mayor:
At the Keighley Town Council Annual General Meeting,
held on 20th May, The following was elected:
Town Mayor
Councillor Alan Rhodes
Ward Councillor for Oakworth Ward.
On accepting the position of Town Mayor,
Councillor Rhodes addressed the Council and thanked them for entrusting him with the honourable position of Mayor. He believes that the attainment of Quality Status can be achieved by working together and subsequent management of services will be for the benefit of the residents and business community of Keighley. He stressed the importance of sensible negotiations with other councils and other bodies which are carried out in a professional way. He assured Councillors that he would put every effort into representing Keighley Town Council and asked for their support so that the Council can continue to go from strength to strength.
Deputy Town Mayor
Councillor Tony Wright
Woodhouse & Hainworth Ward.
After being elected, Councillor Wright thanked all his colleagues and reiterated that the way forward for Keighley Town Council is Quality Status and the take over of services.
Both positions are for 12 months.
Five vacancies on the Town Council,
We have presently five vacancies on the Town Council. The first seat for Riddlesden will go for election on the 22 July.
Anyone wishing to stand can get the necessary forms from the
Elections Unit at Bradford Council.
We await the situation with the other Wards i.e.
Morton & Sandbeds
(Councillor O. Holdsworth's seat)
Brackenbank & Ingrow
(Councillor M. Wilkinson's seat)
Guardhouse
(Councillor Alex Brown's seat)
Under Quality Council status we must not have 20% of the seats filled by co-option. We have already two members that were co-opted and therefore it is crucial that ten electors come forward to ask for an election in their Ward where there is a vacancy.
New Assistant Town Clerk appointed,
Keighley Town Council are pleased to announce that we have a new Assistant Town Clerk.
Mrs. Debbie Spink of Cottingley will start with the Town Council at the end of this month.
She has worked for Bradford Council for some 13 years and comes with experience of Local Government and its workings.
We look forward to her joining us, and hope that she is ready for a challenge!!
Asset management project:
Keighley Town Council, has speculated the parish and town councils campaign against the asset management project which is Bradford's idea of raising money quickly by forming a strategic partnership with an outside body under a long term agreement.
The deal will transfer responsibility to a partnership board. The parish and town council's in the district have worked together to fight the proposals.
Keighley Town Council are looking to take on services devolved by BMDC but this is yet to be agreed. Under the quality council initiative. Keighley Town Council hopes to become a quality council, which will give it more power to its aim in achieving devolvement of services.
The people of Keighley want home rule - it is a long way off but Keighley Town Council and the cluster of parish and town councils in the Keighley area are working towards this goal.