Parish councillors are consulting children at Bishop Monkton Primary School about the plans for revamping the playground at the Playing Fields. Preliminary designs for the scheme, which would upgrade the playground significantly, were presented to Tuesday's PC meeting. Some funding is already in place but more is still needed. It is hoped that the new facilities can be in place before the end of the year.

Councillor Gareth Sargeson, who is leading the project, has already held one session with children at the School with further sessions planned. There will also be consultation with the wider community. He reminded the meeting that the revamped playground, which is planned to include a zip wire, would, like the current one, be aimed at children up to the age of twelve.

"Bishop Monkton today' is planning a more in-depth feature on the new playground soon.

Other key decisions taken at last night's meeting, the first since the co-option of new members bringing it back to full strength, included -

Dog Fouling - the Council is to place signs on village noticeboards reminding people of the law on dog fouling and to consider providing poo bags at locations around the village.

Grass Cutting - a new contract for grass cutting in the village is to go out to tender.

Avant Homes - the Council has written to a range of public bodies to keep up the pressure on Yorkshire Water to improve drainage and sewerage infrastructure in the village as part of the planning process considering the Avant application for sixty new homes.

Traffic Calming - among a number of matters the PC is looking at to improve road safety, NYC is to be approached about the possibility of providing some temporary vehicle-activated speed (VAS) signs.

Clerk's Overtime - the PC agreed to pay overtime accrued by the Clerk during part of 2024, a period she described as a 'year of turmoil', for which she had not yet been paid.

Welcome Packs - The Council agreed to take over the issuing of welcome packs to people moving into the village. Bob Upton, who has looked after it for some years, was thanked for his work.

Drop-In Sessions - Councillors are thinking about holding regular drop-in sessions to hear villagers' opinions and concerns.

'Bishop Monkton Today' will be running a series of profiles of all six councillors, including the three recently co-opted members, over the next week.

There's more about the Parish Council on the Council's website