Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Parish Held on 23rd May 2017, 7.30pm in the Village Hall, Hardingstone

Present: Parish Councillors, clerk and 18 members of the public

1. Approval of the minutes of the Annual Parish Council meeting held on 24th May 2016 Minutes were signed by chair of the parish council

2. Reports from the Parish Council Chairman report Chair thanked everyone for attending and made introductions. This year there have been lots of projects being worked on, and details of these will be given by each of the committee or working group chairs. There are currently 2 vacancies for councillors, these are voluntary roles, but not having a full serving council impacts the way we do business. During the year the council have been awarded a foundation level of Local Council Award Scheme and we are working towards the next level. This scheme ensures that the council is enacting business within the relevant legislation. Chair thanked the county and borough councillors for their support over the last year and advised that at the county council election earlier this month a new representative was voted in – Lizzy Bowen. Chair also thanked parish councillors, co-opted members and the footpath warden for their support and enthusiasm over the year. The parish council invites members of the public to attend the monthly meetings and to contact the clerk with any concerns as without the public advising us of issues, we may not be aware there is a problem. Finally the chair said how nice it was to see The Rec being used on Sunday for a childrens fun run which had been organised by local parents.

Planning committee This committee is a statutory consultee on planning applications in the village, but is limited in its response by rules and regulations of planning. Meetings are the 3rd Tuesday of the month and members of the public are welcome to attend and express any concerns regarding the applications being discussed. Over the year 32 applications have been considered.

We are still awaiting to hear further news regarding the SUE which will bring 1300 homes to the edge of the village. Homes and Communities Agency are currently looking at their disposal options. The Planning Authority is aware that the parish council wish to be involved in meetings regarding the development.

We have also been working with other local parish councils with regards to Rail Central Interchange and Local Plan, both for Borough Council and South Northants Council, who propose possible developments on the edge of the village. Letters have been sent expressing our concerns.

Finances and General Purposes The Parish Council had a surplus of £4,421 in the year to 31st March 2017. This was after setting aside specific reserves of £5,650 to cover future expenditure in respect of the replacement of playground equipment in the recreation ground (£5,050) and Parish Council election costs in 2019 (£600).

The precept for 2017/18 has been set at £40,000, unchanged from 2016/17. This has resulted in a small budget deficit for this year of £2,560 after once again setting aside the aforementioned specific reserves of £5,650. Those specific reserves are budgeted to total £16,350 at the end of this financial year.

In addition to the setting aside of these specific reserves, our budgeted expenditure covers maintenance and mowing of the recreation ground; village maintenance; upkeep of the Parish Room; upkeep of the defibrillator which is located at Bouverie House; Community events; grants to village organisations; salary and associated payroll costs for the Parish Clerk; insurance; audit costs; a donation to Forum for printing our minutes; telephone, broadband & website costs and training for Councillors.

Finance and Purposes was converted from a Working Group to a Committee at the Annual Parish Council meeting held earlier this month. As a result, all future meetings will have a formal agenda, which will be posted on the village notice boards in advance of the meeting. Our meetings will now be minuted by the Parish Clerk, who is also designated as the Council’s Responsible Financial Officer. Members of the public are also welcome to attend these meetings. In addition to the appointed Committee members, the Council’s Chairman and Vice-Chairman, together with the Chairmen of the other Committees and Working Groups are entitled to attend and vote at each meeting. Meetings are normally held once a month.

The Finance and General Purposes Committee is responsible, in the main, for budget setting; monitoring performance against budget; monitoring the effectiveness of internal control & financial reporting; undertaking all financial and legal issues relating to premises, land and equipment leased or rented; the HR function, including recruitment, retention & training; and reviewing all policies of the Council on an annual basis and making recommendations to Council regarding their adoption at the Annual Parish Council meeting.

Finally, I should like to thank all Councillors, both past and present, together with the Parish Clerk, who have worked within Finance and General Purposes during the past year. I look forward to meeting the many challenges facing the Committee during the coming year.

Community The Community Group is made up of parish councillors and interested co-opted residents.

The Group performs the functions of communication via the website, magazine articles, newsletters and posters, and seeking the opinions of residents on projects and issues affecting the village.

On 11th June 2016, a very enjoyable tea party was organised by the Community Group at the Hardingstone Academy in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday. Many thanks to sponsors and all who worked to make the day a success.

Newsletters have been printed, and have been delivered with the May edition of Forum. Many thanks to all who deliver the Forum for the extra work involved. It is our intention to produce more newsletters as and when we have items to report.

An article was printed in the spring edition of the Link magazine with information of Hardingstone Parish Council’s activities.

The Parish Council arranged the road closure for Remembrance Day service, last November, and paid for a young bugler from the Music School who played the Last Post very competently.

A defibrillator was purchased by the Parish Council and has been installed on the outside of Bouverie House. Two training sessions were held for councillors and residents to learn how to use it, and how to carry out CPR.

The Website is an ongoing project with a sub-group working to adapt it to HPC requirements, with guidance from the new provider, 2commune. It will have links to all community groups and local services. It is hoped that many residents will find this new website more attractive and user-friendly than the old, and will contribute comments, articles and photos to be uploaded. The web address will be widely publicised when up and running. Please send contributions to the Parish Clerk. We would encourage all groups to use the village diary in the Forum magazine and, when it goes live, the diary on the website, to promote their events and prevent diary clashes.

Why not make your voice heard at one of our Council meetings on the first Tuesday of the month at 7.30. Public time comes first on the agenda.

If you would like to be involved in the work of the Community Group please contact the Parish Clerk.

Open Spaces As usual there has been lots going on in the Village in the past 12months in respect of open spaces. You may be aware that certain funds were secured from the developers of the Gardeners View housing estate in the village. This money must be used for open spaces projects within the village.

Some months ago, HPC carried out a survey of the children at Hardingstone Academy, to find out what further play equipment they would like to see on Hardingstone Rec. The results of that survey were analysed and five pieces of equipment were chosen. Several quotes were obtained and we are now waiting for Northampton Borough Council to release the funds to the chosen contractor.

Part of the money has also been used to resurface the footpath around the Rec., and to purchase two further picnic tables. Our Rec. Is an important open space and asset to our Village and we as a Council are making every effort to ensure that it is a safe and enjoyable place for everyone.

NBC has finally approved the siting of four benches around the village. We are again waiting for NBC to carry out this work. Several new signposts are to be installed around the Village, showing the location of the Rec, Cherry Orchard, Parish Room and the Scouts and Guides huts. Once again, we are at the mercy of NCC.

Negotiations to complete the transfer of Cherry Orchard to the ownership of HPC, are nearly finished. It is of no surprise to me that we are awaiting the Solicitors. Once everything has been completed and this lovely asset is in our possession, we can turn our thoughts to what might be done with open space. But that is a conversation for the future, and I have no doubt that the whole village will, at some stage be asked for their ideas.

Finally, the two triangles at the entrances to the Rec. Are to be replanted by our contractor who looks after the Rec. They will maintain them both, and hopefully they will enhance the look of the Rec.

The Open Spaces group will continue to work hard to maintain and improve the assets of our lovely Village.

3. Neighbourhood Watch The role of Hardingstone Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) is to help people themselves, their neighbours and their property safe. We continue to put useful items we receive from Police and National NHW in Forum and on notice boards and report at Parish Council meetings. There is a lot of litter and some fly tipping in Bouverie Garage area. We have reported this to the site manager of the Academy builders who cleared some of their litter. This area again became badly littered and the Neighbourhood Warden has inspected it and was to visit the site office. Despite reminders the village has been waiting for over a year for NBC to install a litter bin in the garages area.

We are concerned about vehicles blocking the pavements so that pushchairs & people using mobility aids have to walk in the road.

We do not get much contact from Police. Jim & I have attended 2 meetings with the Police and Crime Commissioner.

As always NHW advice is to keep doors, windows and cars locked and leave nothing on display.

Do not buy on the doorstep and never respond to cold callers on the phone about a problem with your computer. Remember, your bank will never ring you or ask for your details. Never give information about your personal matters to anyone contacting you. Always ring your providers yourself.

Thinking about litter can we ask all residents to pick up litter that lands just outside their properties. Let’s keep Hardingstone tidy.

NHW is up to you the residents as individuals to be watchful and report concerns to the Police.

Always report anything suspicious on 101 and crimes in progress on 999.

4. PCSO Apologies had been received from the PCSO. Due to a change in the computer system they are not able to provide annual statistics for individual parishes, so unable to provide comparisons with previous years. Monthly crime statistics are available on www.police.uk

The Neighbourhood team have been completing parking patrols at Hardingstone Academy with an aim to educate and prevent nuisance parking. Hardingstone continues to be a safe place to lice and work.

5. County Councillor County Councillor Lizzy Bowen sent apologies

6. Borough Councillors Borough Councillors Jonathan Nunn and Michael Hill sent apologies

7. Reports from Local Groups and Organisations Hardingstone Academy Whilst there is a push in Maths and English, education is about the whole child. During the year there are several parent events to encourage parents into the classroom with their children. There are links with Northampton Music School and sport is also important. There are initiatives to empower disadvantaged children.

At sports the school has done well, the Hot Shots team made the county finals and the Hockey teams came 1st and 3rd.

There are strong links with the Church who put on some great Easter activities for the children.

The school is now a water only school and no juices are allowed. There is daily meditation to help with mental health of the children.

They have also had a visit from Ben Smith, who ran 401 marathons in as many days. His presentation also talked about bullying.

The extension is now complete and the official opening will be in June.

The Parish Council were thanked for the grant towards the foundation outdoor area.

Scout Group No report received

Guide Hall No report received

Village Hall No report received

Allotment association The Allotment Association for the past year has again maintained a 100% occupancy of the plots on the field, there are two plots which are vacant but we consider them to be unworkable due to the poor topsoil. The majority of the plot holders are from the Hardingstone village with the remainder living in Wootton and Wootton Fields. The security measures introduced over the past few years have reduced the occurrences of unauthorised access to the field to a minimum, However, we still have the occasional person who insist they have a right to roam through the allotments as they consider it to be public space. The defensive hedge planted along the boundary with the golf course is maturing nicely. The hedge has indigenous species which will eventually provide a natural habitiat for wildlife.

Last year was a relatively good growing year, a big improvement when compared to the previous season, mainly due to reasonable weather conditions. The Association has been in negotation with representatives of the Parish Council and their legal advisors regarding a lease for the allotment. The current document is not considered suitable for the Allotment Association.

Despite the rabbits, mice, pigeons and occasional mole, the plot holders do find gardening on the field a relaxing and rewarding pastime.

Wine Circle It has been another successful year. We have enjoyed a variety of talks. These include a talk by Jill Stidever, an award winner of unsung hero at Sports Personality of the Year, about swimming for the disabled. Vicky Cole spoke about the Spanish |Civil War and their amazing banknotes which are collectors items. We learnt about the Spires and Squires of Northants from Derek Blunt and received an amusing American View of the county from Gary Schaeffer who is a Blue Badge Guide. We heard all about from Ruth Thomas. Andy Lock a partner at Waitrose gave us a fascinating history and an insight in working for the company and wowed us with their generosity of tastings. Kevin Varty and Steve Dimmer returned to entertain us with tales of Victorian obsessions with death ‘ Black Feathers to Black Underwear’ and the secrets of Operation Bernhardt during WW2, respectively.

We always enjoy our Christmas party catered so ably by Graham Waughman and welcomed the singer, Maggie, back for a lovely evening. As usual Nigel excelled himself with our annual wine tasting and quiz in the New Year. We managed to get out and about for an excellent BBQ; a heritage walk around Towcester including a private viewing of Towcester Museum and our usual annual trip to London for Heritage Week in September.

We have been pleased to welcome 4 new members and would love to see even more. Please join us on the 1st Tuesday of the month at 8pm.

St Edmunds King and Martyr Service pattern continues with early services every other weekend and the church is open most week days.

There is a monthly churchyard tidy to which helpers are always welcome.

Funds are raised for essential repairs and events are well aattended, and in the last year funds have been used towards the organ and the roof.

There was a plan to reduce the height of the trees so the church is more visible, but the plans were not acceptable to Northampton Borough Council so negotiations are ongoing to find an acceptable option.

The Parish Council were thanked for the grant towards repairs to the footpath.

Bouverie House All our regular activities and special events are published in Forum and newcomers are very welcome. Wednesday coffee morning is a good place to start or Friday Bingo. Pat and Barbara run these. The monthly lunch club continues to be popular with Vanessa as cook. We also have 4 or 5 fish & chip lunches during the year. We have a few places for extra guests at meals but you must book in advance. There is also is whist.

We have an adults only coach trip to Skegness on Thurs 13th July leaving at 8am. Another Christmas shopping coach trip is planned for November. There are spare seats for both at £10, contact Pat to book. We have also planned Christmas musical entertainment.

Our Third annual fund raiser for Cynthia Spencer made £450.

Northampton Partnership Homes run many courses in Bouverie House for clients from right across the Borough so it’s now a busy venue.

We invite those who have never been to our sessions to come and have a laugh and a chat.

Friends of Hardingstone There are 4 on the Friends of Hardingstone steering group at the moment. Sadie, Jo, Gwen & Pam.

We have run monthly coffee mornings on the first Saturday of the month in the Parish Room. We are pleased that some newer residents of the village have been attending. Anyone in the village is welcome to just call in. We share information about up and coming events that are happening in the village and we also draw our monthly Tote. Currently about 170 tickers have been taken up. We would like to sell even more and we ask you to actively advertise us to others in the village.

Jo runs monthly Pins and Needles on the 4th Monday of the Month where you can come with your art or craft work and have a chat & a laugh, mostly the latter!

We feed and keep an eye on the roses we planted at the war memorial and we again arranged for village groups, along with individuals, to make a field of remembrance in November. We held a really enjoyable 2016 Seniors Christmas Party. Thanks to HPC for helping us fund this. We have another planned for Dec 9th 2017 and anyone over the age of 55 is welcome.

We want to encourage individual residents and groups to work together and get involved in village activities so as to encourage community spirit. Keep an eye on the noticeboards & read Forum to see what is going on.

History Society The history society continues to prosper and meets the 1st Wednesday of the month. We continue to have a selection of speakers and trips to local places of interest. We are joining Northants Heritage Forum, and the website is up and running. If you have any information please let us know.

Bouverie WI The Bouverie WI meets every 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7.45pm in Hardingstone Village Hall.

We currently have 30 members, who enjoy friendship, entertainment and activities in our monthly meetings.

We were very grateful to the Parish Council for awarding us some funding under Section 137, in 2016

The money has been invaluable and has helped towards the cost of the hall hire and booking speakers for some of our evening entertainment.

During 2016/2017, we have enjoyed listening to some excellent speakers, about a wide range of subjects. These include a very informative talk by Denise Taylor, on the work of Medical Detection Dogs.

A fascinating insight into restoring the lost gardens of Canons Ashby, along with old and new photos, by Laura Malpas.

The Story of , by Kate Wills

Marion Perry told us about The History of Candles, with many attractive items for sale.

Sweet Memories, by Kevin Varty, was a very interesting slide presentation, reminding us of our favourite childhood sweets and chocolates.

We also had a teacher, Russell Attwood, who shared his passion for growing pumpkins with us. He also showed us some excellent pumpkin carving ideas for Halloween.

In March this year, Frances Benton showed us an amazing display, along with a talk about The Pearls of Wisdom. We were told about the history, myths and legends of pearls. Frances donates all profits from sales of pearl items, to The Jabulani Project, a charity supporting poor orphans in Durban South Africa.

Without the funding that we receive from the Parish Council, we would not be able to enjoy such interesting and informative speakers.

We celebrated our 51st birthday in April this year, and Waitrose very kindly supplied nibbles and drinks, served by staff Anna and Diane. Andrew Lock, their Wine Manager, gave us a very interesting talk and slide presentation about the history of the John Lewis Partnership.

Bouverie WI also arrange a number of additional activities that members can enjoy. Ten Pin Bowling, Croquet, Monthly tea group, Scrabble, Craft, Cinema visits and Darts and Skittles.

We took part in Made In Hardingstone, held in St Edmunds Church last July. We displayed many items of interest that members had made.

We raised some funds when we had a table at the Hardingstone Village Hall Autumn Fair 2016. Every member contributed towards our Goodies in a Jar Tombola.

Bouverie WI also support Cynthia Spencer Hospice by providing home made cakes.

Last year, at the Parish meeting, we mentioned that a number of members had knitted some Twiddlemuffs, which are brightly coloured and decorated hand warmers, for dementia patients, and that we had donated 24 to Kettering General Hospital. Since then, with support from the community, family and friends, Bouverie WI have donated a further 30 to Northampton General Hospital, and also several more, to individual members of the community. Following this project, we have been mentioned in the local press, the WI Life and also had an interview on local radio. Many individuals have contacted us for information to enable them to support their own local hospitals . We continue to donate and support our community, with these gifted items.

We actively promote our WI on the County website, Village Hall website and village notice boards.

We have been fortunate to welcome new members to our monthly meetings and continue to look forward to seeing anyone who would like to join our friendly group.

8. Presentation of grant cheques to applicants Cheques were presented as follows: Hardingstone Academy £400 Friends of Hardingstone £200 Hardingstone History Society £200 Hardingstone PCC £200 Bouverie WI £200

Applications have also been received from Village Hall, Wine Circle and Scouts which will be considered by council at the June meeting and presented thereafter.