Two councils have clashed over proposals which could pass the power for deciding minor planning applications to them.

Silsden Town Council thinks the power should reside with town and parish councils at the lowest tier of local government, but neighbouring Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council sees the responsibility riddled with potential problems.

Currently decisions on small-scale applications and amendments, such as conservatories and balconies, are made by Bradford Council’s planning department.

The idea of shifting the responsibility is in the discussion phases and must be passed by the Yorkshire Local Councils Association before it goes to the National Association of Local Councils, which can take it to the Government. Silsden councillor Michael Elsmore believes the move would give local councils more credibility and relieve the responsibility from already heavily-burdened planning officers.

He said: “In some places people say ‘what is the point of the parish or town council, what do they do?’ And I think this will give the authority more status.

“I do think if councillors receive training it could work well.”

But the chairman of Steeton-with-Eastburn council, Cllr David Mullen, said: “I understand where Mike is coming from but I really do think it is a can of worms.

“I think it needs to be decided by people who have the training and we do not have the training.

“I also think it needs to be decided by someone detached from the environment who lives away from the village.

“I can envisage somebody whose application has been turned down knocking on the door and saying ‘why have you done this?’ “I would be interested to know more about it and welcome the information, such as who would be responsible for enforcing the decision, but at the moment we do not know.”

Town and parish councils in the Taunton Deane borough in Somerset have had the responsibility since the mid 1990s. They notify neighbours of planning applications and put the requisite notices up to save planning officers’ time and resources.

A spokeswoman for the Taunton Dean Borough Council said that it had the power to overrule the parish’s decision but that situation was rare

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Councillor John Weller reported to PC Peter Merrifield and PCSO Andrew Blood that a car had recently been travelling at speed down Elmsley Street and doing handbrake turns at the bottom.

He also told Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council a group of youngsters had been knocking on doors down the street and scaring residents.

Cllr Hargreaves reported cars travelling too fast down Barrows Lane around teatime and in the morning.

The police representatives said they could conduct speed checks in the area.

Cllr Roger Lambert added that he had also spotted youths and a young man running around on the roof of Kadughli House, at the bottom of Elmsley Street.

PC Merrifield said councillors and the public could have special screws put on their car number plates to prevent them being stolen. Police will be fitting the screws to plates for free in the car park at Airedale Hospital, between 10am-noon, on Saturday, February 21.

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A district councillor faced tough questioning over the lack of gritting on Steeton’s roads.

Steeton with Eastburn parish councillor John Hargreaves told Craven Ward councillor Adrian Naylor that the main road running through Steeton had been left icy in last week’s snowy weather and that this was “wrong”.

He said: “There were lots of people walking on the main road — there are mothers taking their children to school. They could slip and anything could happen.

“I do not believe there is anything right about that. It is wrong and dangerous.”

Cllr Naylor — who is Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration and economy and not directly responsible for gritting — said it was impossible to grit all the roads in a short space of time, especially when the weather had been particularly troublesome.

He said: “As far as I know, 700 miles of road were gritted in Bradford every single day.

“They are doing the bus routes and have GPS systems in the gritters so it is possible to get a route of where they went.

“The grit is very small so often you can’t see it and people think it hasn’t been done.”

Cllr Karen Pickard asked why Bradford Council employees responsible for clearing the roads of leaves couldn’t do the same with the snow. She said: “They clear the leaves so people don’t slip on them so surely they have the same duty of care with ice, what is the difference?”

Cllr Naylor said he would find out the answer to the question.

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A 20-year-old Steeton woman lost her temper after being thrown out of a Skipton club, a court heard.

Rachel Sellars threw punches at the door staff after being carried out of The Strata, Keighley Road, on December 20.

Skipton Magistrates heard last Wednesday that Sellars, who hopes to join the army, was “merry drunk” after drinking five pints of lager.

She had been at the club after recently returning from a job in Gran Canaria and had got into a scuffle with another woman after bumping into her.

Prosecuting, Hilary Reece said bouncers had removed her from the club but that once outside she had taken four or five wide punches at them.

A passing police patrol had got involved and had restrained her with arm entanglements and handcuffs, arrested her and taken her to the police station.

Sellars, who admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, was already banned from pubs in the town, the court heard.

In mitigation, Glen Chivers said Sellars, of Whitley Head, had been at the club with friends and family and had got into a scuffle with another woman after mistakenly bumping into her.

He said she had been physically lifted out of the club and had become agitated because all her belongings were still inside.

Mr Chivers added that Sellars recognised she behaved badly after drinking and had not been out since December.

Sellars was given a three-month community order, including a three-month supervision order.

The order includes a curfew, requiring her to return to her home address on Fridays and Saturdays between 7pm and 7am. She was also ordered to pay £43 costs.

A police application for an ASBO to be imposed on Sellars was adjourned until Friday, February 13.

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Steeton’s vehicle testing station is to close as part of a modernisation programme.

It will shut — along with others in Cornwall and Manchester - by the summer and staff will be transferred to other stations.

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) said its modernisation agenda would lead to the creation of a more efficient and customer-focused service for the testing of buses, coaches and lorries operating in the 21st century.

It said: “VOSA’s long-term plan is to replace its ageing test stations, many of which predate the development of motorways in the UK, with new authorised testing facilities under contract from the agency.

“The local test station at Steeton will close and staff will transfer to stations where we believe the majority of customers will take their vehicles to be tested.

“Our aim is to achieve this as soon as possible but before we do we will be working with the transport industry locally to identify potential authorised facilities to offer customers a choice of test location.

“VOSA will ensure that customers affected by the closures are kept informed and will assist them in making future test bookings at alternative locations.”

Members of the Prospect union fear the closures are the start of a wider programme.

On behalf of Prospect’s 580 VOSA members, negotiator Helen Stevens said: “While we welcome assurances that the 45 jobs affected by this decision will be transferred rather than lost, we fear this is the thin end of the wedge.

“Our members readily acknowledge that VOSA’s existing network needs to be upgraded and better located, but fear that this is the start of a cost-saving exercise designed to shed VOSA estate rather than improve access to facilities. These plans could ultimately damage the agency’s strategic capacity to test.

“Increased reliance on privately-owned testing facilities will force heavy vehicle operators to travel greater distances to find an approved site or use those owned by their competitors, both of which could act as deterrents.

“Given the current economic climate and the increasing number of businesses going to the wall, you also have to question whether now is the right time to look to private premises to provide the facilities for essential safety testing.”

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Youths are "running riot" on the bowling pavilion roof in Steeton, it has been reported.

Resident Roy Finn attended a meeting of Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council and expressed his concerns about young people repeatedly climbing on the roof.

He told councillors: "There has been a lot of trouble with this. They are youths aged between five and 14 years old.

"It has been reported many times but nothing seems to be done about it.

"One of these days somebody is going to go through that roof."

PCSO Lawrence Walton, who attended the meeting on behalf of the neighbourhood police team, said he did not know anything about the complaints but would look into them.

He said: "We need to be informed exactly when it is happening. We cannot be everywhere.

"At the moment we are having a lot of trouble with the kids hanging around Hothfield School, in Silsden.

"If you are walking past and there is a problem, then you have to let us know."

Council chairman Councillor David Mullen said he had not been informed of the problem and so could not comment.

The council’s budget for 2009/10 has been finalised and the parish council precept for a Band D property has gone up by 36p. The owner of a Band D property will now have to pay £16.84, compared to £16.48 last year. Council chairman Cllr Mullen said: "We have been prudent."

Designs for Eastburn playing fields may finally be completed in time for next month’s meeting, reported Cllr Karen Pickard.

The chairman of the Eastburn playing fields steering group met with park designer Bradford Community Environment Project to call for the plans to be completed after months of waiting. The project, to create new walkways and facilities in the playing fields, was originally meant to be completed during the summer.

Cllr Pickard said: "They are hoping to come back with a plan on January 29.

"I told them we did not want the plan to be done on a shoestring and that we would rather make it a good investment than be penny pinching."

The council adopted the redevelopment of Eastburn playing fields as part if its parish plan.

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A second resident alerted the parish council to speeding motorists on the old Skipton Road, where the speed limit has recently been reduced from 60 to 30mph.

He said: "Can anything be done about it? It is highly dangerous, people do not slow down."

PCSO Lawrence Walton said: "We have done speed watches on that area but cars coming the opposite way flash motorists to warn them we are there and they slow down.

"In one way that slows motorists down, which is what we are there for in a sense, but it makes it harder to catch people speeding.

"If everyone was an advanced driver then we would not have this problem but unfortunately they are not."

Cllr Pam Blagden, who attends meetings with the police, said she would request more speed watches on that stretch of road.

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Craven Ward district councillor Andrew Mallinson said he felt progress was finally being made regarding the improvement of Steeton and Silsden Railway Station.

A joint transport working group was formed after residents had complained of lack of off-peak parking and disabled access to the station.

He told the parish council: "Sometimes it feels like nothing is getting done but we had a meeting in December and it was a very positive one, but it was disappointing that no one from Network Rail could attend. This is the second meeting they haven’t attended."

Later, he added: "I have secured £20,000 of airport money and that will be matched.

"But we have got to be realistic - to increase the car park size will cost millions of pounds but if you do not chip away at it, it never gets done."

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Police are investigating after a dry-stone wall near a church diocese office was partly demolished.

A ladder belonging to the Bradford diocese office, at Kadugli House, in Steeton, was also found left next to the wall, which separates the property and a cemetery in Elmsley Street.

Insp Sue Sanderson, of the Craven Neighbourhood Police Team, said youths were believed to be responsible.

She said: “A large section of the wall has been pushed down but we do not know who is responsible at this time. It is potentially youths.

“We will be conducting patrols of the area.”

Kadugli House is an administrative office for the Bradford diocese but it has not yet been confirmed if the wall belongs to it or the cemetery. Malcolm Halliday, diocesan secretary, said the vandalism was an “irritation”.

He said: “We don’t know who has done it - it is somebody up to no good and it is a nuisance, but these things happen. The timing is a bit strange because things like this usually happen when it is summer and people are looking for something to do, not when it is the middle of winter and freezing outside.”

Anyone with information should contact the neighbourhood police team on 01274 475301.

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A young Steeton woman attacked nightclub bouncers after drinking five pints of lager, Skipton Magistrates heard.

Rachel Sellars, 20, had been thrown out of Skipton’s Strata Club on December 12 after getting into a fight with another woman, the court heard.

She believed she had been wrongly singled out and had thrown several punches at the club staff.

Passing police had seen the scuffle outside the Keighley Road club and arrested Sellars, who spent the night in the police station.

Prosecutor Alison Whiteley said Sellars had taken four or five wide punches at bouncers which did not make contact but were seen by passers-by.

Sellars told police that in her drunken state she had accidentally bumped into another woman, which had set off a scuffle.

Mrs Whiteley said Sellars, who had previous convictions for violence and assault, had felt angry and believed she had been picked on unfairly by the club’s bouncers.

Sellars, of Whitley Head, who had recently returned from a temporary job in Gran Canaria, accepted that she had a drink problem and was currently living with her aunt, the court heard.

In mitigation, Glen Maude said the majority of Sellars’s trouble was caused by her over-drinking.

“Her parents have said to her because of her drinking they are not prepared for her to live with them,” said Miss Maude.

She said Sellars had now stopped drinking and was seeking help.

Sellars admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.

Her case was adjourned until January 28 for reports.

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