August Chair Letter – Safety, Events and Community News
Dear Parishioners of Bubwith, Breighton and Willitoft
I wish you all well as we enter the school summer holidays season. It’s all hands-on deck to entertain and safeguard our younger parishioners and grandchildren imported into the parish for some intensive grandparenting during this 6 week period.
Regarding safeguarding, you may have noticed the recent influx of electric scooters and quad bikes locally. Of course they are great fun and magnets for children and young people who can’t wait to get motorised. But did you know that whilst being fine on private land with the landowner’s permission e-scooters are illegal on public roads, pavements, cycle lanes and other public areas. Quad bikes have age and usage restrictions even on private land and on public roads, riders must be over seventeen and hold a full car or motorcycle license (apparently not a well-known facts).
As a reward for getting to the end of the summer holiday the Bubwith Big Bash III will be held at the Leisure Centre on Sunday 31st August 11am to 3pm this will include an array of entertainment including some fairground attractions, bungee trampolines, circus performer a variety of stalls from local groups and the Church Café will be selling food and beverages in addition to the bar being open. To cap the day off the Tennis Club will be holding a BBQ from 4pm onwards. There will be something for everyone to enjoy so please put the date in your diary and come along.
Just a reminder that together with East Riding Council we are about to pilot a Walking for Health group on Friday each week commencing on the 1st August. Registration will be at 9.45am for a 10am start. If you need more information please contact of Just take your first step to becoming a social walker by joining us on the 1st.
I have been approached again about nuisance dogs in the parish. As a Parish Council we have little power to act so I thought it might be helpful to remind you of the Dog Warden service again. This East Riding Council Officer has numbers of powers to deal with stray dogs and dog fouling amongst other things. The contact number for the dog warden is (01482) 393939 or email: to be effective it relies on individuals reporting concerns.
There are two Parish Council matters that I need to update you on;
The boat moored on the river Derwent between the water treatment works and the bottom of Dingle Dell continues to be high on the agenda as a concern to local people. We will not let the matter drop and are in regular communication with relevant officers at ERYC and other agencies.
The environmental concerns regarding tyres historically dumped adjacent to the Public Right of Way near Breighton Industrial Estate – with the assistance of Sir David Davis we now have a reassuring reply from the Environment Agency:
“With regard to the environmental risk, I can confirm that tyres are very slow to degrade under natural conditions. The vulcanisation process to which the rubber is subjected during manufacture of the tyres provides for a very stable product – which hinders the processing of end-of life tyres. Scrap tyres have historically been used to create basal drainage layers in landfill sites and baled tyres have been trialled in flood-defence works and in establishing marine environments. Whilst not pursued at scale, those trials were undertaken supported by evidence of the long-term stability of the tyres. I hope that this would give some reassurance to Bubwith Parish Council of the low pollution risk associated with scrap tyres
I appreciate that the tyres are unsightly and a potential blight on that location but in summary the risk to the environment is very low.”
We have now put this matter to bed as we believe we have exhausted all avenues of our enquiry.
Finally, if you have observed volunteers out along the riverbank beating down or pulling up Himalayan Balsam you may be interested to hear that this is Natural England initiative to prevent our riverbanks being overtaken by this invasive species. Sadly if left to its own devices it will choke out our natural vegetation. If you are interested in getting involved please contact Louise Smith at the Jug & Bottle who will be happy to have more volunteers.
I hope you have a lovely summer and thank you for your kind attention.
Best wishes.
Sandra Hills
Chair of Bubwith Parish Council (mob: 07748965779)
