New parish centre

The council is in the process of rebuilding its parish centre in line with future council and community use. Here you can find monthly updates on how this project is progressing. You can also track how our planning application is progressing through Wakefield Council’s planning portal using ref: 19/02156/FUL.

In our September 2019 meeting, Councillor Ripley reported that the council’s application for planning permission has been submitted, and we are currently waiting for an outcome.

In our October 2019 meeting, Councillor Ripley updated councillors on an asbestos survey to be carried out on 10 October 2019, in connection with the rebuild.

In our November 2019 meeting, Councillor Bennett informed councillors that the asbestos survey could not be carried out without the library being emptied of its resources, and so it would now be deferred to the demolition phase, where it will be carried out as a matter of course. Councillor Ripley informed members that WMDC hvae flagged an issue on the planning application regarding a neighbouring property, and a meeting would take place on 18 November. Councillor Bennett requested that off-site parking be considered at this point in the application process.

In our December 2019 meeting, Councillor Ripley advised that following a planning meeting in November it had been agreed to move the new parish centre forward by three metres, to increase its distance from a neighbouring property. On query from Councillor Hewitt it was advised that the centre would not obstruct drivers’ view exiting Towers Close, and would be agreed by the neighbouring property on the High Street. The next issue to attend to was flood alleviation regarding rainwater run-off, and in particular the consideration of calverts and rainwater run-off through a SUDS report. Councillor Bennett raised the issue of a flagpole which may need to be considered as part of planning permission; on further discussion it was noted this was not a planning matter but rather a WMDC matter.

In our January 2020 meeting, Councillor Ripley reported back on the new parish centre, which has now received planning permission. Councillor Ripley advised that the next step was to look at building regulations approval, and that he had met the architect to review engineering studies. There would now be a meeting for councillors to get involved in determining the criteria for quotes to be received from building companies, assessing such matters as quality, price, time and experience as per the council’s financial regulations (which you can find at: Council Documents > Council Regulations > Financial Regulations). Councillor Ripley would send out meeting dates for councillors to get involved in this. Councillor Chalkley raised the query about how there was reference in the planning application to ‘parish centre/library’ rather than simply ‘parish centre’ which could contain a library as part of its plans. Councillor Gordon queried the ‘use’ section of the planning permission, whether it covered a ‘community facility’ which could cover both uses; Councillor Ripley affirmed that it did.