Deanshanger Parish Annual Meeting Wednesday 22Nd May 2019 6.30Pm Parish Council Office
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Deanshanger Parish Annual Meeting Wednesday 22nd May 2019 6.30pm Parish Council Office Annual Parish Meeting Programme of events: 6.30 Welcome 6.35 Verbal report from County Cllr Allen Walker & questions 7.00 Any further questions on the reports in the annul Booklet 7.10 Close Contents Reports from the following: • Parish Council • Deanshanger Allotment Association • Brownies • Deanshanger in Bloom • Friends of Deanshanger Library • Memorial Community Centre • Deanshanger Methodist Chapel • 2nd Deanshanger Scout Group Deanshanger Parish Council 18/19 Annual Report Finance The parish council set the precept for 18/19 at £89000 this was the same as the previous year. During 17/18, the Parish Council awarded grants to the following organisations: • Deanshanger Football Club for Goal Posts. Grant Awarded £2,268.78 • Allotment Association for clearing of vegetation. Grant Awarded £275.00 • Friends of Deanshanger Library for Books & Equipment. Grant Awarded £3,005.00 • Deanshanger Primary School towards pieces of kitchen equipment. Grant awarded £14,630.00 • South Northants Community Responders for a Defib Kit. Grant Awarded £1,194.44 • Haven Court for a bingo machine. Donation given of £125.00 The Parish Council are committed to support the local community where possible. If you would like to apply for a grant, please contact the clerk for a grant application and a copy of the Grant awarding Policy. Works completed As you walk around the village you will see the many enhancements we have made. New bins have been installed to try and help with the litter problem along with regular litter picks and new benches have been installed. We have looked at all the play equipment in the village and repaired and replaced as necessary. The Parish Council would like to thank all of those who notify us any issues and would encourage you to continue to do so. The Parish Council welcomes any ideas and suggestions to enhance the village, and we have an open space working party, of which the public are welcome to join and share ideas with the councillors. The allotments at North Way are fully occupied and we hope all the tenants have enjoyed the fruits of their labours. Unfortunately, the allotments on the Redrow site were not in a fit state for the Parish Council to take over and have been handed over to Deanshanger Allotment Association. The handy man continues to work hard around the village and he spent some time clearing overgrown vegetation from our open spaces making them safer for all. He continues to litter pick and during 18/19 spent 173 hours picking up litter at a cost of £2000 and he could probably do as much again if he had the time. Please use the litter bins provided. Other Crime will always be an issue and we are continuing to work with the police to ensure we have issues facilitated and managed to maintain a safe environment. We are also working with the police and the community to support Neighbourhood Watch and understand where we can support new initiatives such as street watch. The council continues to see a lot of a change with new councillors; we are 2 councillors short of capacity and hope to fill that vacancy as soon as possible. Now is your chance to join the council. We are also working to try and embrace more and more groups and individuals so that we can share what is happening and deliver any news items. If you wish to contribute please notify the clerk as soon as possible so that she can build up a record of contributors. The state of the roads is mentioned repeatedly, this is an issue for Northamptonshire county council and we do report in the newsletter reminders where you can report these. We are working on an emergency plan for the village and will be asking for volunteers in the near future. DEANSHANGER PARISH COUNCIL VACANCY Deanshanger Parish Council has a vacancy for a Parish Councillor which it is proposing to fill by co-option. The Parish Council would, therefore, like to invite suitably qualified individuals to apply for this vacancy. To qualify as a co-opted Councillor an individual must fulfil the following qualifications: 1. Be a British subject, a Commonwealth citizen or a Euro national and at least 18 years old. 2. Be either a local government elector of the parish; or a person who a) has, during the whole of the 12 months up to the date of their appointment, occupied land or other premises as owner or tenant in the parish or b) has, during the same period, resided in that area or within three miles thereof, or c) has during the same period, had his/her principal or only place of work in that area. If you meet the required criteria and would like to apply, please submit your application in writing to Teresa Floyd, Clerk to Deanshanger Parish Council at 3 Hayes Road Deanshanger, outlining what interests you about the role and what you feel you can bring to it. We would like to thank everyone for contributing and supporting the Parish Council this past year. We look forward to working with more of you in the coming year. Deanshanger Allotment Association 2018/19 Annual Report Deanshanger Allotments now owns three sites in Deanshanger, although only two are long-established - one at Church Lane and one at Puxley Road. The third is our new site at Northfields acquired only a few weeks’ ago, which is slowly being reclaimed from its overgrown state. This is proving extremely challenging as the weeds have badly infested the soil over the eight years or so that it was under the ownership of Redrow Homes, and the ground is very compacted due to the heavy machinery that was stored there. We are working to eradicate the weeds using tried and tested organic methods without poisoning the soil and thus negatively impacting the health and wellbeing of future plot holders. The Northfields site presents a valuable opportunity to build a new community around a healthy outdoor activity that is beneficial to all age groups. It will also enable residents to get to know each other better and help to develop community cohesion both within Northfields and hopefully also with the rest of the village via our Church Lane and Puxley Road gardening communities. Subject to availability, plots can be rented by anyone in the village to grow their own delicious vegetables and fruit. Plot rents have not been increased for many years, as we rely on volunteer labour to maintain our sites, with every plot holder playing a part in the process. We have enjoyed another successful year of allotment gardening during 2018 and are all looking forward to growing our crops this year - once the weather becomes sufficiently drier and warmer to give us a window to finish planting this year’s seeds! The ground is very wet at the moment making it difficult for those who have only just taken on plots to prepare the ground. We welcome all new plot holders into our community and offer our support and encouragement. It can be a slightly daunting experience if you have not had an allotment before, so we’ll all be saying hi to new faces, passing on any gardening tips and information that may be helpful, and sharing/swapping spare seeds, seedlings and plants. There is also our blog at Deanshangerallotments.wordpress.com for additional information, and you can raise gardening questions/issues and share gardening tips and advice on the blog by sending a message to [email protected] . We are most grateful to our suppliers of free manure and wood chips. The manure is excellent as an accelerator and enricher for our compost bins, and the wood chips are invaluable for a wide variety of uses on our sites and within our allotments. Anyone interested in a plot should send an email to [email protected] or phone 01908 265413. We’ll be delighted to show what we have available! Brownies First Old Stratford Unit meets at Deanshanger at Holy Trinity Church every Monday in term time, 6pm -7:30pm. We currently have spaces available for seven to ten-year-old girls in the local area, (not just those that live or go to school in Deanshanger). This small pack is friendly, informal, bubbly and quite often loud for its size. The three adults in charge are DBS checked and hold basic (or better) first aid qualifications. A new progressive programme, linking the transition from Rainbows, Brownies, Guides to Rangers, was introduced in September 2018 and should be up and running in all UK units by September 2019. We are already implementing this in an imaginative and enthusiastic way, using the “Skill Builders” and “Unit Meeting Activities” resources. Alongside this we encourage all the traditional crafts and citizenship qualities that are still important and relevant to the girls, the community and the world today. These include Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day and other celebrations. The life skills include respect, conservation, diversity and friendship, to name but a few. In fact, we are encouraging all Brownies to do their best! Best of all we have FUN doing it! Go to www.girlguiding.org.uk to resister your daughter/ward or contact Julie Atkinson on 01908 56635 email [email protected] for more details. Deanshanger in Bloom Deanshanger in Bloom have enjoyed another successful year enhancing the appearance of Deanshanger by filling the various planters placed around the village with beautiful flowers. We have continued to maintain the large bed on the entrance to the village, the roses were beautiful last year and we look forward to seeing them again in 2019.