News

The date for the next Husthwaite Parish Council meeting is:

Monday 18 May (Extraordinary Meeting)

Tuesday 14 July

Meetings commence at 7pm and are held in the Village Hall.  All parishioners are welcome to attend all meetings.

2026 garden waste collection service

Residents can now pay for their licence for the 2026 garden waste collection service.

A licence costs £52 for collections between March and early December. The licence covers one 240-litre wheelie bin to be emptied fortnightly. Anyone who wants to have more than one bin emptied will need to pay for a licence for each additional bin. Residents can also pay for a licence at any time throughout the season but are encouraged to do so before the start of the service in March as the cost remains the same.

Once paid, a licence pack should arrive within 14 days

Thank you to all who came along to the three drop in events in December.  Lots of questions were asked and people clearly found it helpful to see the draft plan in hard copy rather than try to read it online.

The  overarching objective of the draft plan is to facilitate needed development in a way which preserves the best of Husthwaite.  Based on community engagement to date and a range of other evidence, it aims to balance the interests of current and future residents, visitors, businesses and the local environment.

We are very keen to get comments on the draft plan from as many parishioners as possible to find out if you think the draft plan achieves that objective.  Please use the online form which is available here or email us at husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.  Let us know what you particularly like about the draft plan as well as where you think it needs amendment.

All comments on the plan have to be provided in writing and will be recorded in a public document. They will all be taken into account when the draft plan is finalised for submission to North Yorkshire Council.

A reminder that the consultation runs until 23 January 2026 and there is a further event to promote and explain the draft plan on Saturday 10 January from 10am to 4pm in the village hall. We will be giving a short presentation at 11.30am and again at 2.30pm to explain a bit more about why the plan is so important and what it seeks to achieve

We are also continuing to work on the ‘evidence base’ which underpins the policies in the draft plan. These can all be found on the Neighbourhood Plan Documents page here. We have recently added evidence reports dealing with Community Assets and Housing.  All comments on these – and any other of the documents – will also be very welcome.

This is your parish, your plan, your say!

Husthwaite Parish Council – Planning Update – Dec 2025

Husthwaite Parish Council Planning Update November 2025

Neighbourhood Plan – Consultation has launched!

After three years+, we have finally got the draft Husthwaite Parish Neighbourhood Development Plan (the draft Plan) out for consultation.  It is on the village website here along with the draft Design Code which officially forms part of it.

We are hoping everyone will let us have their views on the draft Plan using our google feedback form here or by communicating via email or paper form.    The draft plan is based on all the community engagement to date plus a review of a huge amount of  ‘evidence’ and its  overarching objective is to facilitate needed development in a way which preserves the best of Husthwaite.  However, this is very much a consultation process – the plan will undoubtedly need some editing – so please do share your thoughts.

The draft plan is split into the same broad themes that we have used through the engagement process:

• Design and Heritage
• Natural Environment
• Housing
• Business
• Community Assets
• Renewable Energy
• Drainage
• Transport
• Connectivity

Each section contains the objectives and justification for the proposed policies which will be used to guide and assess future planning applications in the parish.  Overall they seek a balancing of the interests of residents, visitors, biodiversity and businesses in a way which seeks to deliver a sustainable future for the parish.   We need your confirmation that we have got that balance right – or help on how we could adjust any policy to deliver a better outcome.

We also have to send the draft plan to a long list of statutory consultees like Yorkshire Water, Historic England and most importantly North Yorkshire Council. All their comments and suggested changes will also have to be reviewed and actioned.

It may be easier to look at the draft Plan in hard copy and we have these available to loan – email husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.  Copies – and a summary – will also be available at the drop in events in the Village Hall (refreshments included). The next two are Friday 12 December 12-2pm and Wednesday 17 December 2-4pm.  We will schedule another one for early January.

We anticipate  residents will have questions about the draft plan so we would encourage coming along to a drop in event where hopefully the Parish Council/neighbourhood plan team can help with these.  There will also be a brief Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 16 December 2025 at 7pm at which questions can also be raised

We are delighted to announce that the draft Husthwaite Parish Neighbourhood Development Plan 2025-2036  has been launched.

This is formal public consultation in accordance with Regulation 14 of The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012.

The consultation period runs from 4th December 2025 up to midnight on 23rd January 2026 .

Please come along to one of the drop in events to see the draft plan and discuss it with a member of the Neighbourhood Plan team.

Saturday 6th December 10am-4pm
Friday 12th December 12-2pm
Wednesday 17th December 2-4pm

We would really love to hear from you and there will be various ways in which to do this.

You can either-

• Complete an online survey by following this link https://forms.gle/5CQR5GonjfK6HxuZ8
• By email to: husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk
• By post to: Sarah Aspinall, Fairbanks, Husthwaite, YO61 4PX
• In person by filling out a feedback form at one of the drop-in sessions.

Note: Husthwaite Parish Council is the data controller of your personal data for the purposes
of applicable data protection legislation in relation to Neighbourhood Plan making. We
are required as part of this formal consultation process to collect names, addresses
and other contact details. However, when publishing the representations received we
will only publish the name of the individual respondent or the organisation that they
represent. All other information will be omitted or redacted

All personal information will be processed in accordance with the Parish Council’s data protection policy

A summary of all representations will be made public when the plan is submitted to North
Yorkshire Council for examination.

Please contact Sarah Aspinall via husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk if you would like to find out more.

We are delighted to announce Husthwaite as one of three North Yorkshire villages named as ‘Dark Skies Friendly Communities’ for helping to combat light pollution.

The villages of Husthwaite, Lastingham and Sleightholme Dale are the latest to join the scheme, run by the North York Moors National Park and the Howardian Hills Partnership.

The scheme aims to reduce light pollution and enhance the night sky by encouraging communities to alter their external lights.

Working with Husthwaite Village Hall Committee and Husthwaite Parish Council dark sky friendly lights have been installed at the village hall. With thanks to Richard Darn, Howardian Hills National Landscape for their assistance and enthusiasm and for the funding that was made available for  the project.  Richard commented they are very impressed by the degree to which people in the village clearly value the night time environment which is so important for wildlife as well as preserving tranquility and our view of the stars.  Richard also added the village hall dark lighting scheme is especially impressive and one of the most successful they have seen.

This initiative forms part of a broader effort to preserve the North York Moors and Howardian Hills landscapes.

According to the National Park’s head of nature recovery projects and dark skies lead officer, Mike Hawtin, the addition of the three new villages means that around 2,500 people will soon be living within an accredited Dark Skies Friendly Community.

Mr Hawtin said: “Parish councils, residents, and businesses realise that whereas solving other pollutant crises can seem overwhelming, altering external lights to become more dark skies friendly is something fairly simple and positive they can do, literally at a flick of a switch.

“It’s helped by the fact that more people now understand how reducing light pollution can enhance the tranquillity of an area as well as nature, wildlife, and human health reaping the benefit too.”

The scheme, introduced in 2024, acknowledges neighbourhood efforts to protect and improve the night sky.

Draft Local Green Space Study November 2025 pre-submission draft

The Husthwaite Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group has carried out a review of green spaces in the Parish and identified several Local Green Spaces in addition to those already designated in the Hambleton Local Plan. These are recommended for designation as Local Green Spaces. This is a draft report for consultation.

Between April and September 2025, Action Fraud has received 2,790 crime reports relating to Winter Fuel Payment scams, with victims reporting losses totalling over £27,000.

Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically, you do not need to do anything. If you receive any text messages about Winter Fuel Payments, it’s a scam.