Appendix 1 – Draft Recommendations for Barden Parish Meeting
Contents
1.0 Current governance arrangements and history of the area
Current governance arrangements
2.0 Assessment of consultation responses for Barden Parish Meeting
3.0 Final assessment and draft recommendations
Annex 1A – Consultation survey
Annex 1B – Summary of consultation responses
1.0 Current governance arrangements and history of the area
Current governance arrangements
1.1 Barden Parish Meeting is situated within the Wharfedale division and is part of the Skipton and Ripon parliamentary constituency.
1.2 Barden parish currently has 61 electors and 32 properties.
1.3 Barden has 8 neighbouring parish areas as shown in the map below including Appletreewick, Bolton Abbey, Burnsall, Embsay with Eastby, Halton East, Hazlewood with Storiths, Rylstone and Thorpe.
1.4 Whilst the area of Barden is parished it does not have a parish council and is referred to as a parish meeting. This means it does not elect Councillors or hold parish council meetings. Parish meetings must assemble annually between 1 March and 1 June and on at least one other occasion during the year. These meetings are open to the public, but only registered electors of the parish can speak and vote.
1.5 Parish meetings can raise a precept to raise monies for spending for the benefit of the parish. Barden does not currently raise a precept.
1.6 Barden Parish Meeting initially requested to merge with a neighbouring parish, with Appletreewick Parish Council being the preferred option.
History of the area
1.7 Barden Parish Meeting contacted North Yorkshire Council in May 2025 to advise that the Chair and Clerk both resigned at their AGM on 17th March 2025.
1.8 Barden Parish Meeting expressed an interest to merge with a neighbouring parish, with Appletreewick being the most logical suggestion.
1.9 Initially there was no appetite from Appletreewick to merge as they felt they would also like to request a CGR.
1.10 Following a conversation with the clerk of Appletreewick Parish Council the suggestion of Barden Parish Meeting merging with Appletreewick Parish Council was discussed and suggested as a potential solution.
1.11 After consultation with Democratic Services, it was suggested that a CGR be carried out for Barden Parish Meeting. Following the Standards and Governance Committee on 20 June 2025, Full Council approved the terms of reference of the 2025/26 Community Governance Review, which included a defined list of parishes that would be reviewed on 16 July 2025.
1.12 Appletreewick Parish Council did provide a formal response via the consultation and agreed that Barden Parish meeting would be a good fit for Appletreewick Parish Council and increase the demographic pool for potential Councillors.
1.13 Appletreewick currently has 171 electors and 97 properties, and there are 5 Councillors on the Parish Council.
Five year electorate forecast
1.15 The electorate and 5-year electorate forecast for Barden parish and Appletreewick parish is as follows:
|
Parish |
Electorate (2025) |
Electorate prediction (2030)*
|
Predicted electorate increase |
|
Barden |
61 |
59 |
-2 |
|
Appletreewick |
171 |
176 |
5 |
* based on 2024 electorate totals
2.0 Assessment of consultation responses for Barden Parish Meeting
2.1 The following table shows the number of households written to, with the number of consultation responses received, and response rate.
|
Households sent CGR consultation letter
|
1399 |
|
Consultation responses received
|
15 |
|
Response rate
|
1.1% |
2.2 Consultation letters were sent to households in Barden and the surrounding areas identified on the map above. Only Barden and Appletreewick were identified in the terms of reference as being consulted however the additional households were included afterwards in order to obtain a response from the wider area. Appletreewick Parish Council were contacted in December 2025 to invite a response.
2.3 Barden Parish Meeting is not functioning so therefore could not provide any comment.
2.4 A copy of the consultation survey can be found at Annex 1A. A summary of consultation responses received can be found at Annex 1B.
2.5 For the avoidance of doubt, the free text comments received through the consultation process reflect the views of the individual respondents alone. These comments do not represent the views of North Yorkshire Council and should not be construed as being endorsed by the Council.
2.6 The response rate in the table above was calculated by comparing the number of consultation responses with the number of households directly consulted by means of a letter sent to all properties in the areas under review. The total number of responses for the Barden CGR was 15.
2.7 Of the 15 respondents, 7 reported that they lived in Appletreewick and 6 in the neighbouring parish of Embsay. One respondent was from a community organisation in Appletreewick and another consultation response was made on behalf of Appletreewick Parish Council.
2.8 Of the number of residents supporting a merger (7) 6 supported the suggestion of merging with Appletreewick, as detailed in the table below. 7 other responses were unsure and 1 did not support the idea.
|
Option
|
Number |
Percentage |
|
Merge with Appletreewick
|
6 |
86 |
|
Merge with Bolton Abbey
|
1 |
14 |
|
Total
|
7 |
100% |
2.9 When asked whether the proposed model would meet the needs of its community, a number of respondents were unsure, whilst the majority agreed, as detailed in the table below.
|
Option
|
Number |
Percentage |
|
Yes, definitely
|
4 |
27% |
|
Yes, somewhat
|
3 |
20% |
|
No
|
2 |
13% |
|
I am unsure
|
6 |
40% |
|
Total
|
15 |
100% |
2.10 7 respondents were definitely or somewhat in agreement that the proposed model would meet the needs of its community, whilst 6 respondents were unsure.
2.11 The main reason for the unsure responses were respondents being unclear on what was being proposed. Some respondents stated they were unclear on what was being asked or what a Parish Council does. All consultation responses received have been analysed and taken into account when forming Stage 2 recommendations.
2.12 Annex 1B summarises the feedback received.
2.13 There were no responses from any residents of Barden.
2.14 The comments received from the residents of Appletreewick and the Parish Council suggested that they felt that both parishes could work well together and provide an improved service.
3.0 Final assessment and draft recommendations
3.1 The majority of the 47% responses (86%) indicated support for Barden to merge with the neighbouring parish of Appletreewick. It is therefore proposed to merge the parish of Barden with Appletreewick to form a single parish council.
3.2 The parish would be known as the parish of Appletreewick with Barden
 |
3.3 A map of the recommended parish area is shown below:
3.4 A list of recommendations can be viewed below:
Recommendation 1 – the existing parish of Barden shall be amalgamated with the parish of Appletreewick
Recommendation 2 – that the new parish boundary is as detailed in the attached map
Recommendation 3 – the new parish shall be known as Appletreewick with Barden
Recommendation 4 - there shall be a parish council for the parish of Appletreewick with Barden
Recommendation 5 - the parish council shall be named Appletreewick with Barden Parish Council
Recommendation 6 – that 5 Councillors are elected to Appletreewick with Barden Parish Council
Recommendation 7 – that the above take effect for administration purposes on 1 April 2027 with elections to the new Parish Council to be held on 6 May 2027 for a term of 4 years. Changes to the electoral register required for the above take effect on the revised publication ahead of that election (planned for December 2026).
3.5 The recommendations detailed above will form the basis of the Stage 2 consultation which will commence on 19 March 2026.