The 2024 Annual Report of Otley Town Council – Speech by the Chair, Cllr Richard Hughes
Welcome and Introduction
I am pleased to welcome all those in attendance this evening.
I welcome colleagues, staff and representatives of the public. We appreciate your being here.
I notice re-reading my report from last year the need then to introduce new colleagues both elected and appointed; this year in contrast there has been helpful continuity in the team. This has also been the case with Council aims and activity – we have no new initiatives, but what I hope is a refreshing determination to carry through and develop further the important aims we already have. We are pleased with progress.
Thanks
It is traditional to start with three sets of thanks:
To the community for its support, whether reflected through attendance at meetings (thank you for attending this evening!), talking to us on the phone or by email, or working through one of Otley’s other great organisations that share their ideas, expertise, and enthusiasms in the coordination meetings we arrange.
To the Council staff, who are all brilliant at responding to the needs of residents, Councillors and Council administration. New colleagues have settled in remarkably well over the last year and are having a welcome impact on administration. We are grateful for the way in which staff support Council projects and maintain excellent support for the public, including maintaining the Council’s commitment to a public enquiries desk, and for activist Councillors who always have another idea that needs facilitating.
To my fellow Councillors who have been unfailingly helpful and supportive. I am grateful for all their voluntary hard work on behalf of the community; as the elected public body for the town we have a special responsibility to do all we can to keep Otley special and thriving. I think we do well.
Statutory duties and more
The Town Council is a parish council. Its statutory responsibilities are limited, but its actions can be wide, largely only constrained by finance, scope of ambition and, where necessary, the need to agree with other authorities. We say that we do three things, summed up by the acrostic ACE: Advocacy, Coordination, Expenditure. We advocate for the town and expect to be doing so again soon, when we argue for the best possible development East of Otley. We work together with other statutory and community groups to ensure the best outcomes for the town. We spend money to ensure that a little goes a long way.
The Town Council is ambitious in its desire to make the town a better place to live and work and to reflect our declarations of both a climate emergency and a biodiversity emergency.
Aims
The Town Council’s aims this year have continued to be to:
· Safeguard the distinctive nature and amenities of Otley as outlined in the Neighbourhood Plan, including direct responsibility for allotments and the Gallows Hill Nature Reserve, the Jubilee Clock, the Buttercross, and the Navvies Memorial
· Improve the town’s environment to reflect the needs of residents and business and account for the climate and biodiversity emergencies
· Support town events, people, and projects
· Use the precept efficiently to provide a service to residents and achieve the aims above. This year we put up the precept in line with inflation – typically by less than the cost of a cup of coffee per household. Using this money collectively we can do a surprising amount of good.
Activities
We have established two further Council groups to further the effectiveness of our work:
1.A Travel and Transport Sub-committee under the chairing of Cllr Carter. This pulls together community knowledge and enthusiasm in this vital area and allows us to be more effectively vigilant on issues such as the airport and other public transport.
2. A Biodiversity Working Group likewise brings together local groups committed to nature recovery in Otley. We are blessed with local expertise and passion in ecology and community action is already making a real difference; the Council will support and help develop this work further, using the Council commissioned Biodiversity Audit to direct our work and act as a reference point for monitoring progress. (The report is available on the Council website for the public to read and use.) Money has been set aside for this purpose; we are building a new dipping pond at Gallows Hill Nature Area, over and above the usual spending on keeping it in good condition for the growing numbers who use it. We are planning to support the Wildlife Friendly Otley Garden and Yard Competition and look at how to protect and develop other Council owned green spaces.
The Otley Neighbourhood Plan Sub-committee chaired by Cllr Campbell continues to be really important. It ensures that we keep the aspirations of the Plan at the heart of what we do and allows us to use the Plan to safeguard Otley’s unique heritage and character. This year will see the first steps in developing a new Plan for 2028 onwards.
2027 and 2028 will also be significant years in Otley’s history as we recognise 800 years of the market charter and of our magnificent bridge. Plans are already being discussed for this two-year celebration and public views and ideas for this will be welcomed.
It should already be clear about how community partnership is at the heart of our activity and way of working: we have engaged again with different groups in the Town, including Otley BID, Otley Town Partnership, the Chamber of Trade and different interest groups, charities, and organisations. Sub-committees, working groups and the longer-established Town Coordination Group are all vehicles for this work. The Community Development Committee chaired by Cllr Robinson regularly makes small grants to community groups and local charities to help them in their work. The provision of the town centre public toilets and the Visit Otley, Buy-in-Otley and Invest in Otley web pages support Otley as a thriving centre for residents and visitors. We continue to fund the Town Christmas lights, the Lights Switch-on and the Remembrance Day activities.
A new working group will bring focus to the long-term vision for the local section of the Wharfedale Greenway – a traffic-free leisure and utility route to Burley Station. More immediately, we know that we have additional work to do in realising Street Vision, the popular plan to make Otley a more pedestrian and wheeler friendly town. This year should see further action on this – a key strand of our action on responding to climate change. Our climate change policy will see further development this year, with a report being published and a plan being written with community support.
These plans require partnership with Leeds City Council as the principal authority and with West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), as the body with strategic responsibility for transport. We were delighted to bid successfully for £39,000 from WYCA to invest in schemes to encourage more participation in cycling, wheeling, and walking in Otley, and also that Otley was chosen for Mobility Hub discussions around how to more effectively integrate bus and car travel with walking and cycling. Rightly, we have a growing reputation in this area of policy.
The Mayor and I were delighted recently to attend the official opening of the Prince Henry’s 3G pitch, to which the Council made a significant contribution thorough its Investing in Otley fund’ This fund has been a vehicle for encouraging the right kind of development in Otley. I am delighted today to announce another; we have agreed to organise an annual award for exemplary new building and building refurbishment in Otley; we hope it will encourage developers who pay proper attention both to Otley’s heritage and to the needs of the environment more widely. The scheme will be launched this autumn, and the first awards will be announced at this meeting next year.
Conclusion
We believe the Council is responsive to the needs of the town, its organisations, and residents. I am personally grateful for the support of a great team of Councillors and office staff and for the spirit of cooperation that ensures Otley organisations work well together for the benefit of the town.
