June 2026
Join us on the Parish Council
Have you ever wondered what a
parish council is? A parish council is a local
authority that makes decisions
on behalf of the people in the parish and
has an overall responsibility for the
well-being of its local community. As it
is the authority closest to the
people, parish councils are invariably the
first-place people will go with concerns
or ideas.
It’s true to say that on their
own, parish councils have limited powers to
make decisions. But, they do have
the ability to negotiate with, and the
power to influence, those other
organisations that do make the final
decisions (in our case North Yorkshire
Council).
The most common topics that
parish councils get involved with are planning
matters (they are statutory
consultees), crime prevention, helping local
groups, managing open spaces and
campaigning for and delivering better
services and facilities.
In this respect parish councils
are extremely powerful. The organisations
that make the final decisions know
that a parish council gives the best
reflection of how a community feels about
something, and its views will be
taken seriously.
Newton le Willows Parish Council
currently has a vacancy. Councillors are
volunteers and as such are unpaid. We
meet approx. every 8 weeks. This
year we have set all the dates and these are
listed on our website
(https://newton-le-willows-parish-council.yolasite.com/). Please
have a
look at the website to give you a taste of what is discussed at
meetings.
If you live in the village and
are interested in joining us, then please speak
to one of the other councillors
or email the clerk at
newtonlewillows.pc@gmail.com.
Becoming a councillor can be a
rewarding experience as you can make a
change in your community to help improve
residents’ lives. A councillor’s
role can include developing strategies and
plans for the area, helping with
problems and ideas, representing the
community, working with other local
community groups, making decisions, and
talking to the community about
their needs and what the council is doing.
Our next meeting is on Monday 29 June - everyone is welcome to attend.
April 2026 - Recent housing survey
Following the creation of North Yorkshire Council (NYC) in April 2023, it has
a duty to prepare and adopt a local plan for the area. When adopted, this
will replace the existing local plans.
The new North Yorkshire Local Plan will guide future development and
conservation in the area until 2045. This plan covers North Yorkshire,
excluding the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and
outlines their priorities for land use and development.
The call for sites was open from April 2024 to November 2025 and they
are now assessing the 2,000 + sites that have been submitted. Even if a
site is deemed suitable for development and is included in the Local Plan,
this does not mean it will necessarily be developed.
You can keep up to date with the North Yorkshire Local Plan and when
consultations will be held by registering your details on NYC planning
consultation portal. NYC is not currently running any consultations on the
local plan or sites it may contain. Other groups and organisations may ask
about the local plan or sites that are being put forward. We ask each
resident to reply to any survey circulated as they see fit. This is ultimately
not a Parish Council matter but a resident matter.
Community Resilience
Included with this paper copy of this letter is a new Community Resilience
Plan card. This is an updated version of one that you should have received
when you moved to the village. It has been simplified to include only
telephone numbers that should be used only in an emergency. In case of
an emergency, we would ask all Village Hall key holders to ensure that the
Hall is opened for use as a safe space and shelter should it be needed.
This is because we appreciate that named people may not be in the village
when an emergency happens.
If you need a further copy of the card or would like a hardcopy of this
information please email a request to the Clerk at newtonlewillows.pc@gmail.com
who will send you one.
Dates of future meetings
The Parish Council have set the dates for all our meetings for 2026. We
hope that you will be able to attend a meeting this year. All meetings are
held at 7 pm in the Bar/Green room in the Village Hall.
The dates for the meeting are:
Monday 29 June
Monday 7 September
Monday 2 November
Monday 14 December