Dear Parishioners of Bubwith, Breighton and Willitoft
We can all sigh with relief as finally, and ahead of schedule, Bubwith Bridge has reopened, hurray! A vote of thanks go to the officers of East Riding and the contractors who worked hard to bring the repair in ahead of time and who set a new high bar on communicating effectively with communities.
Work has begun on tidying up the car park adjacent to the bridge with new picnic benches and a good trim of the hedges and there have been some very positive comments on the safety barriers although the blue is not everyone’s cup of tea (I’m told it was the original colour when the steel barrier was put on).
The Parish Council wishes to thank everyone who took the time to respond to our recent informal survey testing the appetite for campaigning for a new second bridge. We received a number of responses via email or in person the majority of which were against and some wished to see speed or weight restrictions imposed following the reopening of the repaired bridge.
The Parish Council voted to accept the survey results as indicative of local views, various points were discussed for and against the proposal of a second bridge and it was then resolved not to pursue the issue at this time.
The Parish Council then considered trying to gain a weight limit to reduce traffic on the A163, the only way to approach this would be to apply for an environmental weight restriction. The grounds for such an application were explored and of the four possible grounds only one could apply and this was seen as not being achievable. Parish Councillors saw that if a weight limit was imposed this would push traffic onto lesser roads, and would impose a 60-mile diversion in some cases resulting in added cost to companies and more pollution. The effect on Sutton Derwent village would be extreme resulting in furtherdanger to their school children. Parish Councillors felt that a “fair sharing out” of HGVs was sensible and therefore resolved not to apply for a weight limit.
It was a joy to attend the Macmillan Coffee Morningat the end of September at the Leisure Centre. It was lovely to see so many members of our community (some into their 90s) coming along, bringing their cakes and then enjoying a cuppa, a cake and a chat with old and new friends. A big thank you to all who came along and supported us, we managed to raise the princely sum of £655.
We are delighted to announce that the Bubwith bridge repair scheme is completed and the bridge will be open once again from 9am today (Tuesday 10 October).
The scheme has been completed almost two weeks ahead of schedule.
Councilor Paul West, the council’s portfolio holder for environment and transport, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to be able to reopen this bridge almost two weeks early.
“I’m sure the residents of Bubwith and the surrounding area are extremely pleased the work is finished and the bridge can finally reopen to traffic.
“We had no option but to close the bridge to carry out these repairs and I want to thank the local residents and local drivers for being very patient with us while the work was carried out.
“We know this has been a difficult time for them, but they have been very supportive and understood this was about making the bridge safe again for years to come.
“I want to commend our civil engineering team and our contractors Esh Construction for being so accommodating and carrying out an impressive repair scheme in a shorter time frame.”
The bridge was officially opened by a delegation including the civil engineering teams from Esh Construction, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and both local and parish councillors.
https://www.bubwithparishcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/copy-of-copy-of-bubwith-bridges-300x129.png00bubwith_adminhttps://www.bubwithparishcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/copy-of-copy-of-bubwith-bridges-300x129.pngbubwith_admin2023-10-10 09:30:562023-10-10 09:31:10Bubwith Bridge is Open!
Bubwith Parish Council wants a new – fit for today – bridge with two-way traffic and no traffic lights, this is in response to all of the comments at the public meeting.
The old-listed bridge can then be used by cyclists and pedestrians so it will not be wasted.
This is a dream that is attainable but will take some years, the Parish Council has been offered support from a local bridge engineer currently working on 9 motorway bridges on the M6.
Our friendly engineer has set out an agenda to achieve a design and scheme that will produce a new bridge, we are assured that monies do become available at short notice at times and if we have a scheme “on the shelf” then we could take advantage of this and put forward our ready-made project for consideration. The first job to be done in the process is to carry out a public consultation which would not just be Bubwith but would include all the surrounding villages who are dependent on the bridge. Armed with the results of this consultation and accompanying a proposal prepared by our friendly engineer we would then approach East Riding Council to seek funding and support to produce a design for a fit-for-purpose modern bridge.
Parish Councillors feel that this is an opportunity to plan for the future and have a bridge that is not at the mercy of people speeding to catch the green light and will be a safe and modern river crossing.
So the first job is to carry out a public consultation, this will require planning and communication skills plus the will to move our community forward into the 21stcentury!!
You do not have to live in Bubwith to support this initiative so please get involved to join the group preparing information to move this scheme forward, contact us below ASAP and by the end of September.
To express an interest, an initial meeting with the engineer and our Ward Councillors will be held to plan the way forward.
http://www.bubwithparishcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Untitled-design.jpg6301200bubwith_adminhttps://www.bubwithparishcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/copy-of-copy-of-bubwith-bridges-300x129.pngbubwith_admin2023-08-31 09:29:082023-08-31 09:29:30September Chair Letter : A new fit for today bridge is possible
I hope this finds you well. They say be careful what you wish for, so my apologies for complaining about the dry garden last month, we seem to have been blessed with a lot of rain as a consequence.
Let me begin with Bubwith Bridge. Work has now commenced although I note that there is a concern that there is little sign of major activities at the moment. I shall be raising this with ERYC to see if there is an explanation. Don’t forget there is a contact email: to direct questions to individual officers simply mark ‘for the attention of’ and it will get to them.
There is also the Bubwith Bridge Facebook page www.facebook.com/groups/188447323849759for updates and for those not on Facebook a regular update can be emailed or a printed version posted. Please either call the council call centre 01482 39 39 39, or email your name and address to and request regular updates by post.
Locally, businesses in the village are definitely already feeling the impact and are very actively mitigating against reduced business due the closure. Mounfields have introduced an order and delivery service for their customers over the bridge, contact Mounfields on 01757 288339.
The White Swan has introduced Quiz night Thursdays, £5 ppincluding supper, 7pm for 7.30 start, this enjoyable event got off to a great start so get there early and don’t miss out! All our businesses need our local support to see them through this time. I bumped into someone the other day that had only just tried the fruit and veg room at the Jug & Bottle and were bowled over by the selection, if you don’t go in you won’t know what you are missing until it’s too late!
Bubwith Leisure & Sport Centre has a new Social Team of volunteers. Their goal is to run social events at the centre to support for local people. The team is planning events for next year including a Gin Festival & Bubwith Big Bash. Currently they have reinstated the monthly Bingo and are holding a Family Fiesta evening on 9th September (tickets £10 adult £5 child including supper and a soft drink or Sangria, tickets available Alison Craven mob: 07738609711 or ). If you would like to get involved with the Social Team as a volunteer, as a group in the village, or have suggestions please contact Alison.
ERYC Business Development lead Dawn Hall has offered to support the development of a marketing booklet outlining all the businesses within our community and I’ve recently been in touch with most to see if they’d like to be involved. Paula Clark (a professional also local to the village) is being commissioned to design and produce the booklet. If I haven’t contacted you please contact me if you’d like to be involved. It’s intended the booklet will encourage people to use our services now but also signpost newcomers in the future and encourage us all to reduce our carbon footprint by buying local.
The bridge is not the only story of the moment. We have been fortunate to have some successful bids from the Spaldington Wind farm Community Fund. Thanks to those in our community who put some great bids together. Our successes include; funding our Youth club Workers (we are the only village in the immediate area to have one, supporting the repair of the metal bridge from the Leisure Centre Field to the PRW along Southfield Drain and FoBS application for a Children & Young Peoples’ art project. Every year people make the effort to put in bids to enhance our community assets and every year their effort has paid off, thank you!
This month I’d like to give a mention to hedges and hedgehogs. August is approaching and from the birds perspective it’s safe to cut your hedge (if you haven’t already). The Parish Council has been inundated with request for action on cutting back hedges as some are sticking out so far it is impossible to operate a pram/buggie or mobility scooter safely on the pavement. There are some where even a single pedestrian ends up on the road to avoid them, not to mention reduced visibility for motorists. Please be considerate to your community by keeping your hedge in check. If you have a problem getting your hedge cut please get in touch we may be able to assist you.
As for hedgehogs, did you know they are an endangered species in the UK? Did you also know that they could walk about 3 miles per night foraging for food? Hedgehogs R Us a local charity contacted our PC to raise awareness of their highway project. All it requires is to leave a 5-inch (12.7 cm) gap in your fence to enable our spikey friends to access your garden and help themselves to your slugs, snails, beetles and earthworms.
Finally and very importantly, a request has been made to site a waste bin in Breighton to assist dog walkers to deposit their dogs’ deposits. Steve Young is on the case and hopefully it will be with you very soon.
Thank you for your kind attention. If there is anything arising from my Chair’s piece today please get in touch.
I hope this finds you well and enjoying the sunshine if not the garden watering. I have only 2 very important things to cover this month beginning of course with Bubwith Bridge.
The bridge continues to cause a great disruption to the village with an increasing number of incidents of vehicles stuck on the bridge causing major hold-ups and worse as with the incident where people were stuck behind a van this week with no way forward or back! Sadly, the solution and repair are also not going to be easy. I believe it will impact on everyone in the village and many in the surrounding area, a time for us to pull together as a community.
A meeting was held at the Leisure Centre on the 9th June. It was attended by and unprecedented 8 officers from ERYC, Councillor Victoria Aitken and David Davis MP. Our community of Bubwith and Breighton attended in high numbers and raised some very important questions and concerns. A full account of the meeting is elsewhere in the Bugle to enable people to see the range of concerns, if I’ve missed anything in my note taking please get in touch with Steve Young who will make amendments.
ERYC communications lead, Jenny Walker has advised they will shortly be putting contact details on Facebook and through other social media for people to get in touch to raise individual concerns and seek help. There is a contact email that you can use now to direct questions to individual officers simply mark ‘for the attention of’ and it will get to them.
There is a great thirst for details of what will happen and when. The Parish Council will do our best to ensure this is available to people as quickly as possible, we will also seek to bust myths and rumours wherever we can.
Many people will feel stressed and disempowered during the period of the repair; there is nothing worse than feeling out of control of an inescapable situation. So what can we do? One thought is to establish a ‘Buy in Bubwith’ campaign. When it’s difficult to get out of the village why not patronize our local businesses more than we currently do. This may not be easy for everyone but if we all had a regular monthly meal at the White Swan, a take away or meal from Cinnamon, buy our meat and bakery goods from Mounfields, have a regular trip to the Jug and Bottle for a treat or pick me up (I know chocolate cake always helps a bad situation), not to mention gifts and deli lunches and suppers that would be an excellent start. Similarly, support our new Morrisons and don’t forget the Leisure centre, if your classes are in North Duffield see if you can temporarily shift to Bubwith and vice versa. Any other thoughts on lifts and car sharing are welcome; perhaps we can do a ‘Lifts & Shares’ WhatsApp group? Any other ideas please get in-touch; perhaps we need to establish a Bubwith & Breighton Pull Together (BBPT) group?
The second big-ticket issue is the BOOM Solar Farm consultation. The Parish Council is not a formal consultee and as such won’t be formally responding. Everyone should have received a consultation pack. There are clearly some people who will be more directly impacted than others and people are split in their views, as they are concerned for our energy security or our food security or both. Whatever your view, I urge you to respond to the consultation. The decision will not be taken locally due to the size of the proposal. There is a process where the Planning Inspectorate will receive the consultation report (amongst other things) from BOOM who will then report to the Secretary of State for Energy Security who will make the final decision. Please ensure your view is included.
A consultation meeting to discuss the planned bridge closure was held in the Leisure Centre on Friday evening. The meeting was chaired by Councillor Victoria Aitken and fielded a range of officers from East Yorkshire County Councillor, from structural engineering, adult and children’s social services, economic development and communication. The Right Honourable David Davis MP was also in attendance.
The meeting was well attended by members of the community of Bubwith and surrounding villages who made strong and valid points regarding the closure and it’s impact on individuals and businesses.
Points raised included:
Pedestrian access and the need for at a minimum a footbridge
Timescale of the repair – strongly urge the council to revisit the contract they have and push for 7-day working and 12-hour days.
The potential to do the repair in phases.
Care support for our residents – many are supplied from Selby and negotiations need to be put in place to ensure care companies allow longer for visits to address the diversion.
Children and teenagers getting to school in North Duffield, Selby and York
Shuttle Bus provision – both to meet up with the Wheldrake service into York and also to North Duffield and Selby.
Access to the GP surgery for North Duffield residents registered with the Bubwith Practice
Emergency Services (Ambulance/Fire/Police) – all have been informed and will take account of attending in the village and surrounding areas based on the closure.
Future weight restrictions on the bridge to reduce similar issues arising again.
The discussion was full and at times energised. The officers are taking the points away and will be revisiting current plans particularly taking on board the need for a pedestrian access bridge and the contract for the repair. This will need to be discussed and agreed upon internally within the Council prior to final decisions being made.
At this point, it is believed the closure will go ahead in July as planned.
Minutes of the meeting have been taken by myself and Councillor Liz Hayes and we will work to give a fuller account in the next two weeks.
I have some copies of the shuttle bus timetable and I will put copies on bus stands in the village.
If anyone needs a copy please contact Steve Young, Parish Council Clerk.Tel: 01757 288234
Email:
The Parish Council will continue to work closely with the County Council on behalf of our community and will ensure regular ongoing communication is given.
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