Grange Moor Matters
Grange Moor Community Association
LATEST NEWS FROM AROUND THE VILLAGE
November 2021
ANTI SOCIAL BEHEAVIOUR - GRAMEEN SPICE BUILDING
Towards the end of October, we received information suggesting that the rear of the Grameen Spice had been broken down and people were seen entering the building.
This was immediately reported to the police, we also spoke with our local PC Ward Manager as a result of which the Police visited the site on a number of occasions during that week and they tell us that “ on Sunday Evening 31 October Police were up there, and four local youths were present, details taken, (Anti-social behaviour warning letters to be issued), and moved on”.
It is hoped that this will be noticed by others who may have been using the premises and that there will be no further visits to the building, so far this seems to have been effective but please do let us know if you see any re-occurrence
The Police tell us that they will continue to monitor the site to prevent any further activity
The Property Owners were also informed immediately and they arranged for the boarding to be replaced. Sadly, there were again called upon in the following days as repeated incidents saw the boarding removed before the Police intervened on Sunday 31 October. The Property Owners are fully aware of the situation and the Police have also been speaking them to them about the security issues
Hopefully the Police intervention and the issue of the Anti-Social Letters may be a sufficient deterrent to others who may be considering a visit to the boarded up building, so far things seems to have quietened down and we are not aware of any further incidents
A further incident was reported to us, this was sometime last week when a hooded youth was seen outside the back door of the building “smashing up” the furniture that has been left out. There was also a noticeable smell thought to be cannabis, in the air. This has been passed onto the Police
ARRIVA BUS SERVICES TO MIDDLESTOWN
I circulated the following e-mail last week following concerns raised to me
Hello there, I have had a number of mentions of the difficulty that residents who are patients at Middlestown Medical Centre are facing with getting to the surgery following the change to the bus service a few months ago
I will be really pleased to hear from anyone out there who has found it difficult to reach the surgery since the bus service changed, please let me know how this has affected you and your access to the surgery
We are also making other enquiries and will report back on these when we have further information
We are also aware that other areas in KIrklees are in the same situation and are also looking at a combined approach to the bus company
DENBY LANE – PROPOSED DEVEOLPMENT OF NEW HOUSING
Our Chairman and myself had a meeting with the Property Developer hoping to build 19 homes on the site of Denby Lane, across the road from Denby Park Drive, information about this has been delivered to many of you by the developers
This was a constructive and informative meeting where we were able to pass on a number of comments and concerns that we had received from residents, for which the Property Developer was grateful and will be included in their considerations when drawing up their planning application. One concern in particular was about construction traffic that is likely to use Ben Booth Booth Lane when work starts on the site and we had a good conversation about this.
This site on Denby Lane is one of two identified in the Kirklees Local Plan (approved in February 2019), LP58 and the adjoining LP195. The LP58 site contains two separate parcels of land, and from the conversation with the developers the Denby Lane site we believe that is the only site likely to developed in the foreseeable future
We remain in touch with developer and were really pleased that we had been given the opportunity to discuss this with them before their planning application is submitted to the Council
KIRKBURTON MOBILE POST OFFICE
The Mobile Post Office Van continues to visit to Grange Moor will continue every Wednesday morning with the big red Post Office van at the Grange from 10.45 to 11.45 am
Please support this, a wide range of post office facilities are available from the friendly and helpful staff who come with the van
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
We are at last looking forward to resuming our Lunch Club Activities, with a view to having the first Lunch out in January
With this resumption and other village activities starting up again, we have re-started the Events Update e-mails and these will bring you more information about events and activities around the village
“IMPORTANT” Please register your interest in our “Sit Down” Lunches and be the first to hear about our plans, really important that you do this as the venues we will be using will have some limited accommodation for us and those of you who have registered will be the first to hear and be able to book a place. A Lunch Club Registration form is attached, please complete and return to us. This gives us some important information that will help us when booking the lunchtime accommodation and where assistance with transport is concerned
COMMUNITY FISH & CHIPS
The next delivery will be on Thursday 16 December and we will be open for nominations and requests on Monday 29 November, closing on Friday 10 December, more information on the Events Update e-mail and November Newsletter
A great big thank you to George & Kayla at Grange Moor Fisheries for providing the fish & chips and their continuing help and support with this activity, great fish and chips too! We are lucky to have such a great couple running our village fish & chip shop, keep up the good work
We are in the process of applying for further grants to maintain this for another year, if anyone would like to offer a donation or sponsor a delivery please get in touch
BOOK BOXES on Ben Booth Lane
The Book Boxes continue to provide the residents of Grange Moor with a wide variety of reading material and will continue their daily presence on Ben Booth Lane as long as you want this. Thanks for the continued supply of books, with new supplies coming in regularly. We welcome paperback books and ask that you leave them in a plastic bag, by the boxes or against the gate posts. All books are then quarantined in the garage for 3 days before being introduced to the boxes
With the shorter days now with us the books will out only for the hours of daylight, and will not be out on days when the weather is not good, which is more likely over the coming months
Similarly, the books will not be out on days when a Charity Van collection is due following the bad experience we had early on
“NEW” We have a selection of books with a Christmas/seasonal theme, and these will be put out for you at the beginning of December
We continue, separately, to maintain the children’s book box and welcome further supplies and returns for this box. There is also separate box containing hard back books which will usually be out during the week
KEY COMMUNITY POP CHOIR
From Graeme Genty,
I'm thrilled to say that the choir started up again on Tuesday 7 September and we will be meeting in Flockton Flockton as usual, every Tuesday from 7pm.
All welcome, new and old, old or young and parents are welcome to bring children along too.
£2 donation appreciated if people attend, children are free.
If you are interested and would like to know more, then feel free to get in touch by emailing keyofgofficial@gmail.com
MINIATURE PARK, Briestfield Road
We are now in the process of applying for grants to complete the work on the Miniature Park, with the hope and expectation that funds could be made available to us in early in 2022. This will, then, allow us to complete the work, please bear with us whilst we complete these necessary procedures. Suitable funds for this type of project are not plentiful and we are searching the market to find suitable funds to which we can apply
Further information to follow
FACE BOOK AND WEB SITE
Our own Face Book, and web site now carries information about all our events and activities, and other issues affecting the village together with Public Service Information, so please pay a visit and let us know what you think
You can also message us with information with your concerns about issues affecting our village through our Face Book page and also the web site
NEW RESIDENTS
Please let us know if you have new neighbours moved in recently, we have prepared a welcome pack to help them settle into the village, and can deliver this to them, thanks
KIRKLEES COUNCIL
FLOODING – There has been further flooding at the end of October on the trouble spot on Denby Grange Lane. This has been reported to Councillor Bill Armer who has received the following response from Kirklees Council
“I have a response from Kirklees:
There are some parts of Denby Lane which are part adopted. I have checked with the Land Registry team who have confirmed that from Briestfield Road (at Grange Moor) to Woodlands Farm, is maintained by the Council. The location of the drainage issues falls within this stretch or road, therefore I have logged this with the Drainage team under reference number DRN629950.
In short, they will take a look, but I don't know when. To be fair, in the past they have been reasonably quick to respond.”
PLAY AREAS – No change on last month as far as Grange Moor is concerned. We understand that there have been some consultations started in other areas and are just waiting for our turn
Please let us know of other issues that need reporting to the Council
LITTER & FLY TIPPING
Our village streets continue to remain fairly clear of litter, thanks to the Council Guy who comes every Mondays and Friday, not mention the efforts made by you, the residents, in helping to keep the streets clean by not dropping as much litter.
Thanks to all of you in helping to make the village look much better, let’s keep it that way
The lady from Overton continues to keep the verges along Wakefield clear of rubbish and Kirklees Council, now aware of her efforts, come along and collect the bags she leaves fairly quickly.
So far this year we have received 27 reports of incidents in and around the village (In 2020 we received 19 similar reports!). Please let us know if you spot anything and keep the reports coming in.
IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT ANY INCIDENT YOU SEE IS REPORTED TO US SO WE ARE KEPT IN THE FULL PICTURE AND KEEP THE COUNCIL PRESSED ON OUR LOCAL SITUATION
DOG POO
Whilst litter on village streets is much improved, there remain concerns about the amount of dog poo left lying around
Can we again ask our dog owners to clear up after their dogs, the dogs cannot do this themselves so please be a responsible owner and do it for them, please show some respect for other dog owners and our village
We would like to hear from you about suggestions of how we can combat this and look forward to hearing from you, but so far have received no suggestions
SPEEDING ON LILEY LANE & BRIESTFIELD ROAD
This continues to be a problem, particularly with late night speeding cars and bikes on Liley Lane
We really need to hear from more of you with your comments and experiences to make the Police and Council aware of your feelings about this, so come on get in touch and let us know
Please do keep us informed of your experiences of speeding vehicles on Liley Lane, this will help us keep the Police informed of the problem and hopefully will encourage some action, there currently seems to be little interest or consideration of speed cameras on Liley Lane. The more information we can provide may encourage some action
There have been some incidents involving cars gathering on Jubilee Way, making lots of noise in an evening, with the police being called on a number of occasions recently.
We are informed that the Police are aware of this and Jubilee Way is on their regular patrols in our area. Please let us have comments you feel would help us in making the Police fully aware of the disturbance that this is causing. Please report any disturbance you hear, the more reports that are logged the more the Police are obliged to respond
GRAMEEN SPICE CAR PARK & RE-CYCLING BINS
The gates at the entrance to the car park remain closed with a strong lock and chain, the bins have, however, been moved by the Council and are now located at the front of the pub building. We understand that they will now remain there to allow residents access to this facility unless another site can be found
The bins are now located at the side of the pavement and road side, it is even more important now that glass is not left if the bins are full, the Council may be on the lookout for fly tipping in this respect so do take care to keep the site clear of glass. It is a busy corner and used by lots of people, including dog walkers so please help to keep this clear of glass
The siting of the bins may not be to everyone’s satisfaction, this was done by the Council without consultation. Suggestions for an alternative site within the village will be much appreciated so let us have your thoughts on this please, so far, we have received no suggestions for this
PLEASE BE PATIENT IF THE BINS ARE FULL AND DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BAGS WITH BOTTLES, come back later, contractors usually come along quickly and empty the bins. Bags and boxes left on the pavement are regarded as fly tipping and may be reported to the Council
Please ring the contractors, 01226 727298, if the bins are full and need emptying. DO NOT WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT! They usually do respond quite quickly and empty the bins
There has been a suggestion from the Council that “Kerbside Glass Collections” may be starting again later this year or early next year. This is now unlikely to happen as there is a new Environment Bill going through Parliament which could make further changes to the Council Plans, so they are now waiting to see just what the new Bill provides. “The Bill may take over a year to become law with legislation to go through Parliament, and it is understood it could be April 2023 before it becomes into force” (BBC News 26 August 2021). There has been no change in this situation, since last month but the Council have recently issued their Waste Management plans, a copy of which was sent to you for your information.
NEWSLETTER
The next Newsletter is now on its way out to you. This includes our annual “Festive Fayre” Promotion with information about what will be available from our great local eateries, do go and support them, they have had a difficult time over the last 2 years and will appreciate seeing you
We are really grateful to our team of volunteers, for helping us to get the Newsletter to you, and will be pleased to hear from anyone out there who would like to help. The more helpers we have the easy it will be to make deliveries with shorter rounds. We would also be interested to hear if anyone would like to provide a backup should any of our regular volunteers be unable to help out on the odd occasion
If anyone would like to help out do get in touch
PLANNING APPLICATIONS
The Planning Application for the Grameen Spice appears to be unchanged. New plans were posted in August and we understand that the Council have requested further information from the developers before re-advertising the application for more comments, but have not yet heard further from the developers
There have been one new applications so far this month as far as we are aware. Planning Application Number 2021/94221. The Coach House, Liley Lane for the erection of a single storey front extension and external alterations, submitted on 5 November
For more information about planning applications visit Kirklees Council web site/search for planning applications
WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE
The West Yorkshire Police team covering Grange Moor are part of the Dearne Valley Rural Policy Team
Our beat officers are PC 4963 NEWSOME and PC 786 Jake KNIGHT.
PC Newsome is also our local wildlife police officer
Please continue to use the 101-telephone number to contact the Police for non-urgent issues and 999 for emergency assistance. You can use the internet reporting form at westyorkshirepolice.uk, this creates a log immediately and is usually picked up quicker than the telephone reporting system (advised by PC Newsome in November 2020)
We have an occasional separate mailing with Police Alerts, so look out for these
How to Contact us
E-mail us gramoorca@btinternet.com
Via the web site
Community Association Face Book
The “Community Association Post Boxes” are located in Grange Moor Fisheries, Grange Moor Convenience Stores, The Grange, and Streakers, hairdressers. These Community Post Boxes are not currently available. If you want to leave a written note, please use the post box on the gate at 2B Ben Booth Lane
Community Association Meetings are now taking place once again, on the first Tuesday of each month in The Bowling Club Pavilion at 7.30 pm, come along and join us
Or
Ring Brian on 01924 840731