Friday 15 July 2016

Parish Council Report

Report of Parish Council Meeting held on 12 July 2016

This month we were without one Parish Councillor, both District Councillors and our County Councillor.  Neither, unfortunately, was there a representative from the local police.  However, a number of interested and informed members of the village were in attendance.

Bespoke Nocton Signs

The Clerk was asked to chase up what is happening about the Nocton signs at the village entrances on the B1202 which despite being refurbished fairly recently, are already looking the worst for wear.

Neighbourhood Plan

The Plan has not yet been reviewed by NKDC (who incidentally out source this work to Peterborough City Council) prior to carrying out the Environmental Assessment so residents cannot comment yet.  Any interested resident can, however, view the current version on the Parish Council Website or on the dedicated Nocton and Potterhanworth Neighbourhood Plan “blog site”.

Nocton Village Hall

An advisor from both the Social Club and VHMC has now been appointed to the Sub-committee which met with Simons (the contractors appointed to carry out the rebuilding) on 4 July.  A second draft of the layout/design of the new Hall has been submitted to the Sub-committee and consultations continue.

A member of the public present asked why the Hall was being rebuilt and not just repaired.  A fairly lengthy discussion took place, where the various queries raised were addressed.  It is apparent that despite all matters relating the future of the village hall having been well documented and made widely available through, for example, the Parish Plan, Village Hall questionnaire survey, the Parish Council website, the Doodle and Nocton Newsletter, some residents are not fully aware of why the decision to rebuild the Hall was made.  To that effect, a letter from the Parish Council will be delivered to all households with the next edition of Nocton News explaining why a new Hall needs to be built, outlining the current position, next steps and how it is to be paid for.

Youth Club

Unfortunately, our recently appointed Youth Leader has offered her resignation as she is to begin teacher training in September and feels that she will no longer have the time available to continue running the Youth Club.  The last meeting of the Youth Club will, therefore, be Thursday, 21st July.

She has also said that it was proving difficult to run a successful Club without more support from the village in terms of parents and others willing to act as “volunteers”.  Without such support, the Club is likely to close as it cannot be run safely by just a Leader and only one (or two) individuals.

The Parish Council is, therefore, intending to hold a meeting of all residents who wish to see the Youth Club continue in the village and are interested in helping out.  Further details will be included in the next edition of Nocton News.  In the meantime, and if you are interested in becoming the Youth Leader or even a volunteer now and again, please let our Parish Clerk know.

Nocton Park

The Chairman of Nocton Park Management Ltd is to be invited to attend the next meeting in September, as various issues have been raised by residents of the Park which they feel are not being properly addressed by the Parish Council.  A meeting with the NPML would, therefore, help to improve communication and clarify roles and responsibilities to the benefit of the whole village.

However, it should be noted that all Parish Council Meetings are held in public and any resident can either attend or write to the Parish Council via the Parish Clerk with any issue that concerns them.  Indeed, of the residents that do regularly attend these meetings some 30 - 50% are from Nocton Park.

Village Green - Tree Inspection

The report from the NKDC Tree Officer’s inspection was received and it was agreed to carry out the work recommended to a number of trees on the village green:
  • Crown Lift to 6 metres on overhanging branches
  • Remove dead branches
  • Clear branches from around BT overhead cables
  • Clear area at end of the Green by the school to the boundary and remove ivy upto 1 metre on the Acer opposite the Church.

Please note that there will be no meeting in August.  Date of next meting is Tuesday, 13th September at 7.00pm.

The most challenging part of success is that you have to keep being there.

Councillor MaryAnn Williams

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