Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
As a Parish Council we receive many questions and requests.
We’ve put together this page to provide information on the most common of these. If you think there is another topics that we have missed, please contact us.
What are the different roles of Escrick Parish Council, North Yorkshire Council and the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority?
The Principal Council for Escrick is North Yorkshire Council, but some services are also provided by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and Escrick Parish Council.
The different bodies are not a hierarchy, but have distinct roles and responsibilities.
The lists below covers a selection of the key roles that each authority provides as a quick reference guide.
It is generally best to contact the relevant authority directly for the issue concerned. If it is a policy issue or if you feel that it requires further escalation, contact the appropriate Councillor or Mayor.
Escrick Parish Council
- Lease & maintenance of Village Green and Playing Fields.
- Owns and maintains some street lights (A19, Main St, Skipwith Rd, Wenlock Dr, The Glade, Carr Lane, Hollicarrs Close).
- Owns & maintains both war memorials, Jubilee fountain and Coronation benches.
- Grass cutting of 'urban' grass verges within the Parish
- Provision and filling of most of the grit bins in the village (Carr Lane, Main St, The Glade)
- Owns and maintains village defibrillator
- Owns and maintains the 'Vehicle Activated Sign' (speed sign) on Skipwith Road
- Local initiatives – e.g. installation of village defibrillator, community speed watch, spring clean, etc.
- Provide local input into planning applications and external consultations.
- Raise the profile of and lobby for action on significant issues – such as A19 safety.
- Help support and initiate community initiatives.
- Help communicate issues impacting local community.
- Contact: See contact page
- Councillor(s): See Councillors page
North Yorkshire Council
- Waste & recycling collections.
- Street cleaning.
- Planning (including the ‘Local Plan’ and deciding upon most planning applications).
- Licensed premises and event licensing (and also food safety).
- Environmental Health (including pest control, noise pollution and food outlets).
- Fly tipping and abandoned vehicles
- Dog fouling enforcement and dog warden service.
- Parking enforcement.
- Electoral roll and council tax.
- Social housing/housing benefits.
- Provision of Selby & Tadcaster leisure centres.
- Waste/recycling centres.
- Waste Disposal.
- Planning applications relating to minerals and waste, or NYC property (e.g. schools)
- Owns and maintains some street lights (Dower Park, Dower Chase, Woodlands, Carrs Meadow, Escrick Park Gardens).
- Highways (including drainage, gritting and vegetation obstructing the roads, pavements, signs & lighting (and the grit bin at Main St/Escrick Park Gardens)).
- 'Vehicle Activated Signs' (speed signs) on the A19
- Grass cutting of 'rural' grass verges within the Parish
- School Admissions (includes handling applications for those applying to schools within City of York Council area).
- Registry office functions.
- Libraries & record offices.
- Health & social care.
- Trading standards.
- Contact: See Home | North Yorkshire Council
- Councillor(s): See County Councillor John Cattanach
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
- The role of the mayor is to work alongside local leaders to create a long-term vision, secure more investment into the region.
- Responsibility for 30-year Mayoral Investment Fund and the powers to borrow against funds
- Responsibility for Adult Education and associated budget
- Powers to improve the supply and quality of housing and secure the development of land or infrastructure
- Powers and funds to improve transport through a consolidated, devolved, multi-year transport settlement
- Responsibilities for community safety including Police, Fire and Crime
- Contact: See York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority
- Mayor: David Skaith
Other bodies:
- Keir Mather MP is the current Member of Parliament for Escrick (the Selby and Kippax constituency). MP's deal with a wide range of matters, particularly around new and amended legislation, national policy, and representing constituents to national government agencies.
- The Parochial Church Council (which is often confused with the Parish Council) is responsible for the financial affairs of the church and the maintenance of its assets.
- North Yorkshire Police are responsible for policing in the Escrick area (tel: 101, or 999 for emergencies). The York & North Yorkshire Office for Policing, Fire, Crime and Commissioning is responsible for overseeing policing activity.
- Maintenance and management of the beck in Escrick is managed by York Consortium Drainage Board (but both banks of the beck and hedges are the responsibility of the neighbouring properties)
- Water pollution & flooding: Environment Agency
- Sewage and water leaks (e.g. sewage on the roads): Yorkshire Water - tel: 0345 1 24 24 24 (24 hour leaks line)
- Electrical emergencies (e.g. powercuts or damaged power lines) - Northern Powergrid, tel: 105
- The Escrick Park Estate is responsible for many of the permissive rights of way in the Parish, where these are on Estate land.
A19 traffic and Skipwith Road junction
The Parish Council is aware of the various traffic related issues on the A19 and in particular the Skipwith Road junction. Many of us find it difficult to cross the A19 as a pedestrian, and motorists find it difficult to get out onto the A19 from Skipwith Road and other side streets.
This is an ongoing area for the Parish Council, see our dedicated A19 improvements page.
Speeding and other road safety concerns
In addition to the A19 issues above, the Parish Council are aware of a wide range of other highways and speeding concerns within the Parish.
The Parish Council does not have the authority to change speed limits or make changes such as speed humps, but we try to ensure that North Yorkshire County Council (as our local highways authority) are reminded of these concerns.
The Council has arranged for speed monitoring to be undertaken at least twice in recent years along Skipwith Road and Carr Lane. Results have found evidence of speeding problem on Skipwith Rd but did not find evidence of a significant problem along Carr Lane.
Skipwith Road and the A19 are now designated sites for the police camera van, and statistics for 2018 are:
| Location | Number of deployments | Number of motorists caught |
| Skipwith Road | 32 | 278 |
| A19 (Sang Thai) | 8 | 2 |
| A19 (South of Escrick) | 4 | 34 |
Statistics for 2019 are:
| Location | Number of deployments | Number of motorists caught |
| Skipwith Road | 26 | 174 |
| A19 (Sang Thai) | 5 | 0 |
| A19 (South of Escrick) | 5 | 18 |
Statistics for 2020 are:
| Location | Number of deployments | Number of motorists caught |
| Skipwith Road | 14 | 52 |
| A19 (Sang Thai) | 7 | 0 |
| A19 (South of Escrick) | 5 | 8 |
Statistics for 2021 are:
| Location | Number of deployments | Number of motorists caught |
| Skipwith Road | 14 | 54 |
| A19 (Sang Thai) | 0 | 0 |
| A19 (South of Escrick) | 5 | 3 |
A community speedwatch scheme was established in 2017, focused on the A19, but had to be discontinued when this was made into a police camera van location (the police do not allow the same locations to have both camera vans and community schemes).
In 2019 the Parish Council purchased a vehicle activated speed sign for Skipwith Road. Speed stats for the sign can be found here. This is alternated between periods facing north and south.
In 2020 the Parish Council got agreement for North Yorkshire County Council to install a 'village gateway' at the southern entrance to the village on Skipwith Road.
For 2021/2022 the Parish Council made budget provision for installation of 'build-outs' on Skipwith Road, however Councillors decided to put this on hold to evaluate the impact of other initiatives first.
The Parish Council has requested that Carr Lane be included in North Yorkshire County Council's scheme for 20mph zones near schools. The request was declined by NYCC on budget grounds.
Specific speeding concerns can be reported on the North Yorkshire police website.
Parking restrictions / enforcement
The Parish Council often receives concerns about inconsiderate, dangerous or illegal parking.
Responsibility for parking enforcement depends upon the circumstances:
- As North Yorkshire Council has adopted 'Civil Parking Enforcement' most enforcement of parking restrictions is the responsibility of North Yorkshire Council. This includes parking on double yellow lines, school 'keep clear' markings and blocking dropped kerb driveways.
- Parking in another dangerous position or causing an obstruction to the highway itself requires police enforcement. (For example blocking the road, parking close to a junction, parking where there are double white centre-lines, etc)
Responsibility for considering requests for new parking restrictions, such as double yellow lines, resides with the Highways Authority at North Yorkshire County Council.
More detailed guidance on parking restrictions and enforcement responsibilities.
Parking on pavements
The highway code states that you should not park on pavements, but the legal position for enforcing this is less clear. This is currently being reviewed by central Government. At present the Parish Council has no authority to take action against cars parked on pavements.
Nonetheless, we strongly encourage residents and their visitors not to park on pavements in the village. This can obstruct the pavements particularly for prams/pushchair users and residents that use wheelchairs. Water pipes running under the pavement have been damaged by cars parking on the pavement.
This is a central Government issue (see Select Committee report) and complaints may be better directed towards the local MP.
Dropped kerbs at junctions
The Parish Council has requested that dropped kerbs are installed at the locations below to ease movement for wheelchair users, mobility scooters and those with pushchairs. The dropped kerbs are due to be installed in 2022. The locations are:
- At entrance of The Glade on Carr Lane (priority because it is a key route, and no alternative pavement on the other side of the road)
- At junction of Carr Lane at Skipwith Road (priority because it is a key route, and road layout removes ability to cross elsewhere)
- Wenlock Drive (east entrance)
- Wenlock Drive (west entrance)
- Dower Chase (at Skipwith Road)
Lorries cutting through the village
We are aware that lorries sometimes use Skipwith Road to access premises to the south of Escrick. There is a 7.5T limit on this road, but this doesn't apply to vehicles accessing premises within the 7.5T restriction area (which runs down to North Duffield).
The Council raised concerns with North Yorkshire Police that some vehicles appear to be using the route as a cut-through, not for access. The Police undertook spot checks in late 2020 and all vehicles stopped were found to have a legitimate reason to be within the 7.5T restriction area.
Street lights
For historic reasons street lights in some roads are maintained by the County Council and others by the Parish Council. (Dower Chase, Dower Park, Woodlands, Carrs Meadow and Escrick Park Gardens are all County Council, with the remainder maintained by the Parish Council).
During 2016 the Parish Council replaced all concrete lampposts with metal ones, and replaced all traditional 80w lamps with modern 20w LED lamps. This has reduced electricity and maintenance costs, and addressed safety concerns associated with concrete lamp posts.
The Parish Council is aware that in some parts of the Parish there is limited street lighting, and since 2016 has installed seven additional street lights.
We are aware that not everyone wants extensive street lighting, considering it to be out of keeping with the rural character. Our aim has been to get street lighting to a standard where you can walk around the main routes of the village without a torch - which is approximately half the lighting level of typical urban lighting.
Faults with street lights can be reported online using our street light fault page.
Hedges / trees obstructing pavements, signs and/or street lights
A common problem reported to the Parish Council is overgrown hedges and trees, obstructing pavements, street lights, or signs, or just generally being untidy.
The Highways Act 1980, section 154, creates a legal obligation for the owner or occupier of a property to ensure that the 'public highway' adjacent to their property is not obstructed by vegetation from their property. A 'public highway' means any verge, footway, carriageway, bridleway or footpath that is maintained at public expense and over which the public has a right of way.
Local Authorities (in our case North Yorkshire Council) also have a legal duty to ensure that public highways and street lights are unobstructed, and hence to act upon complaints about any such obstruction.
In the first instance we usually suggest a friendly reminder to the resident concerned, as most incidents are due to oversight rather than ill intent.
As a guide, hedges/trees should be no lower than 7ft 6" over a pavement, and no lower than 17ft over a road.
Neither individuals nor the Parish Council have legal powers to cut vegetation growing on private land without the owners permission, even if it is an obstruction. To do so may constitute criminal damage.
If the matter is not resolved, you can report obstructions to roads and pavements on the North Yorkshire Council vegetation page.
Visibility at junctions
The highways authority are responsible for ensuring the safety of the road network, including appropriate visibility at junctions. As a rule of thumb, if from a position 2.4m back from the give way line, at a height of 1.05m, you cannot see an object 0.6m high, 40m away, then the highways authority may have the power to require the landowner to remove the obstruction.
Neither individuals nor the Parish Council, have legal powers to cut vegetation growing on private land without the owners permission, even if it is an obstruction. To do so may constitute criminal damage.
You can report obstructions to roads and pavements on the North Yorkshire Council vegetation page.
Gritting of pavements and roads
Gritting of public highways is the responsibility of North Yorkshire Council. The Parish Council also provides grit bins for public spirited residents to use to spread on public pavements and problematic patches of road. See our gritting page for more details.
Bus service through the village
The Parish Council is very aware that many residents would prefer the 415 bus service to route via Main St and stop in the village, rather than straight down the A19. Arriva have consistently stated that the journey time penalty of routing through the village is the reason for not running down Main St.
The bus service to Escrick is deregulated and not subsidised, this means at present neither the Parish Council nor County Council can specify the routing and service frequency. The Bus Services Act 2017 allows County Councils to take a more directive role in specifying bus services, but this requires a more extensive change to the County Council's approach, rather than specifying ad hoc changes to individual services.
The Parish Council lobbied Arriva extensively when the service was first re-routed to bypass the village. We have also explored the opportunity of other services (such as the no 18 from Wheldrake) routing via Escrick. To-date we have not been able to reinstate a bus service through the village, but it is an area we will continue to explore periodically as circumstances change.
We have put up signage on the disused bus stops to highlight that they are not in use, with a map showing where the buses now stop.
The Parish Council provided funding to City of York Council to install bus shelters and a street light for the stops on the A19.
Some residents have express concerns about the punctuality and reliability of the bus service. The Office of the Traffic Commissioner has the power to fine bus companies if they do not operate the specified service within an acceptable level of punctuality. Punctuality targets are that 95% of services should between 1 minute early and 5 minutes late - more details are available on the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/traffic-commissioners/about/complaints-procedure
Dogs
Dog mess
Periodically we have problems with dog mess left on pavements within the village.
North Yorkshire Council have adopted the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act which allows them to prosecute owners of offending dogs, with a maximum fine of £1000.
The Parish Council has erected warning signs and on occasions has used paint to highlight offending areas. You can report fouling via the North Yorkshire Council website dog fouling page.
Dog walking
- Dogs are not permitted at the playground / playing fields (except assistance dogs)
- Dogs are permitted to cross the village green to gassy wood, but should not be exercised on the green and should be on a lead.
- Dogs are permitted in gassy woods and the temple walk, but must be kept under good control (not specifically on a lead).
- Dogs are permitted at Skipwith Common, but must be kept on a short lead as is a legal requirement under the CROW Act of 2000.
- Dogs are permitted to run freely at the Canine walk.
Noise nuisance
A variety of noise concerns have been reported to the Parish Council. These typically concern businesses or events within the Parish.
The responsibility for managing noise pollution resides with Selby District Council. More information and the ability to complain online about noise pollution is available on the North Yorkshire Council website.
Grass cutting
Village green / playing fields:
The Parish Council is responsible for grass cutting on the village green and the playing fields.
Grass verges:
Grass verges are classified as either 'rural grass' or 'urban grass'. 'Urban grass' is the verges within the 30mph/40mph area of Escrick village, and all other verges in the Parish are 'rural grass'.
'Rural grass' is the responsibility of NYC, and in our Parish 'urban grass' is the responsibility of the Parish Council (the Parish Council currently receives a financial contribution from NYC towards the cost of urban grass cutting).
Many residents and businesses maintain the verges outside their premises themselves - we are very grateful to them for doing this.
Most other 'urban' grass verges within the Parish are maintained by the Parish Council's contractor.
We sometimes get complaints from residents that cut the verges themselves who no longer wish to do so - if this is the case, simply let us know. Likewise we have also had complaints from residents that think we are wasting public funds cutting the verge outside their house which they are willing to do themselves. If this is the case, simply let us know. It can be difficult to keep track of who is gladly cutting their own verges, and those who would prefer the Council did it.
Our grass cutting map show the areas of grass cutting currently covered by the Parish Council's contractor. Grass cutting is undertaken approximately fortnightly during the growing season from April to October.
Other maintenance of public areas
Roads and Pavements:
Pavements: North Yorkshire Council are responsible for maintaining and cleaning pavements.
Public footpaths: Public footpaths and permissive rights of way are usually the responsibility of the relevant land owner to maintain.
Private access roads: There are several private access roads/shared drives in the village, which are not adopted by the council. Usually these are the responsibility of the residents/landlords of the properties that they provide access to. In some cases these access roads double-up as permissive rights of way/public footpaths, but the maintenance responsibility remains with the residents/landlords.
Other buildings: The Parish Council is responsible for maintaining the war memorial bus shelter on Main St, the war memorial in the Church grounds, Coronation Benches and Jubilee fountain.
Gashouse woods: Gashouse woods is owned and maintained by the Escrick Park Estate
Village Green/Pond: The Village Green Association manages the village green on behalf of the Parish Council (contact via the Parish Council).
Playing Fields: The Escrick Playing Fields Association manages the maintenance of the playground and play equipment, including any plans for new/replacement equipment.
Planning permission
North Yorkshire Council (NYC) is responsible for managing, and determining upon, most planning applications in Escrick. NYC is obliged to consult Escrick Parish Council for its local knowledge for applications within the Parish. The Parish Council can only provide information, it cannot prevent an application being approved.
See our planning page for more details.
Communication within the village
An important role for the Parish Council is to disseminate information within the village. The Parish Council has an website covering a wide range of Parish Council matters (www.escrick.org). We have an email list so that people can be alerted by email to changes, minutes and agendas amongst other things.
We recognise not everyone uses the internet, and we endeavour to provide monthly updates via the Parish Magazine. We undertake door-drops of leaflets on significant topics.
Is Escrick in the Fulford School Catchment area?
Yes. See our schools page for more details.
Can residents get a YorkCard?
If you work in York, yes, otherwise not. YorkCards are available to people who live, or work, in York. Escrick is outside the City of York boundary, so you can only get one if you work in York. http://www.exploreyork.org.uk/yorkcard/
Where is the boundary of Escrick?
For Parish Council purposes, the area of Escrick Parish (civil parish) is as shown in the Escrick Civil Parish map.
(the area of Escrick village north of St Helen's Church, is with the Deighton Parish, and City of York authority area).