North Yorkshire Council

Are you interested in the North Yorkshire countryside, and are keen to help shape the future of rural and urban paths? If you are able to spare a morning every four months or so, we would love for you to join our North Yorkshire Local Access Forum. The forum is an independent body that advises us on how people can make the most of opportunities for getting out and about in the great outdoors. To find out more, visit https://lnkd.in/eWCPZi_z

Schemes to benefit sport and active travel across North Yorkshire have benefitted from more than £1 million through a fund aimed at tackling regional inequalities across the country. A wide range of projects in North Yorkshire have benefited from the financial support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was established to improve communities and provide more opportunities across the UK. The sport and active travel programme, managed by North Yorkshire Sport on our behalf, has awarded grants of up to £50,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to projects across the county which aim to increase physical activity in rural areas. See, https://lnkd.in/eJb2Nrdd

Green-fingered community champions in Scarborough are celebrating the launch of an innovative seed hub taking residence in the town’s library. Voluntary group GROW Scarborough is leading the venture, whereby residents are offered free seeds to grow their own food, herbs, and flowers. The aim is to cultivate resilience through sustainable local food growing and sharing, with the help of resources in the library and an online app. GROW Scarborough spearheads a community garden which offers a tranquil space for volunteers to tend to plants, grow food and help wildlife to thrive. See, https://lnkd.in/epXRZsPi

Changes designed to make our home to school transport policy fair to all families, responsible and affordable have been given the go-ahead. We are facing a £48 million shortfall in our budget and need to bring our policy in line with that offered by many other councils to ensure it and other essential frontline services are sustainable. Providing school transport has become our third-largest expenditure at £51 million a year – behind adult social care and waste management – and has more than doubled since 2018/19. After considering feedback from a public consultation earlier this year, elected members today confirmed the new home to school travel policy at their full meeting. Find out more at https://lnkd.in/eBKF9ypM

Scarborough’s Alpamare water park re-opens today at 10am after a massive effort between ourselves and Flamingo Land. Staff have been working round the clock to get the site ready for customers once more. It has been closed since December last year when the previous operator went into administration. The North Bay attraction boasts a wave pool, a splash and play pool, four state-of-the-art slides, two outdoor pools and a café and terrace bar. It was purpose-built in 2016 overlooking North Bay in the seaside town. Its’ alpine themed spa and treatment area will open at a later date. We took possession of the site in December last year when the waterpark’s tenant, Benchmark Leisure Ltd, went into administration. Now that Flamingo Land has taken on its short-term operation, work to find a permanent solution on the future operation of the site will begin. See, https://lnkd.in/eK6zdb9F

Music champions in schools across North Yorkshire have welcomed opportunities for all pupils to learn a musical instrument and hone their talents alongside their classmates, regardless of their backgrounds. As a hub lead organisation we have been awarded an Arts Council England grant of £1.2 million. The move is part of an ambitious, national programme to provide high-quality music education for all children and young people. Among those to benefit are pupils at Camblesforth Community Primary Academy. For the past six months a small group of children at the Selby-based school have been learning to play the violin and trumpet thanks to free instrument hire from the council’s music hub service. They also now have the opportunity to perform in ensembles and public concerts. Find out more at https://lnkd.in/ehaxCcW6

A rural primary school in North Yorkshire will close at the end of next month (August) due to dwindling pupil numbers. For the last 15 years, St Hilda’s Church of England Primary School in Ampleforth, has had no more than 36 pupils. It currently only has 13 children on the roll, and the school has seen a consistently low intake of new pupils in recent years. A consultation was launched on 1 March following a request from the school’s governing board to glean the public’s views on the potential closure. The six-week consultation also included a public meeting. To find out more, see https://lnkd.in/eXYkSb-e

We've launched a new campaign to help #NorthYorkshire communities target littering hotspots. We're teaming up with parish and town councils to encourage residents and visitors to protect the environment. Keep an eye out for the new weatherproof anti-littering posters popping up where you are! See, https://lnkd.in/ej_pWanq

The North Yorkshire coast will be alive with the sound of music and the smell of the finest seafood dishes this weekend as the ever-popular Scarborough Seafest makes its return. A regular on the summer calendar for more than two decades, the free event is organised by North Yorkshire Council and takes place from tomorrow until Monday on the resort’s West Pier. Crowds are expected across the weekend, with more than a dozen bands and musical performers appearing alongside some of the region’s top chefs and culinary experts, including Chris Hobson from SeaGrown and the chef patron at Clark’s Restaurant, Rob Clark. The popular music and beer marquee returns in partnership with Cropton Brewery, while the Scarborough Hospitality Association sponsors the Food Theatre. There will also be a firework display on the Saturday night. See, https://lnkd.in/enNk-ENP

We're excited to announce that on 1 September we'll be launching our new sport and active wellbeing service, Active North Yorkshire. It will start with the rebranding of Selby and Tadcaster’s leisure centres and is the first stage of our plan to bring all our leisure services in-house. The Active North Yorkshire service will help to support everyone in the community to be active, with an increased focus on improving the physical and mental health and wellbeing. Centres in Hambleton and Craven will also be rebranded in September with other facilities making the change at later dates. To find out more, see https://lnkd.in/enhTTVRy