Rothersthorpe – 'Best Small Village 2015'

The café continues to be open of Fridays throughout June (9-11.30am). If you would like to use the facilities for a charity fundraiser contact Val on 832422.

Great news from the weekend. The annual plant sale raised £529 for Church Funds. Thank you to everyone who supported the event, either running stalls, providing plants or simply attending.

The next Parish Council Meeting is on Monday 14th May in the Committee room. There will also be the AGM and Annual Parish Meeting on the same evening from 7pm. The Agendas are displayed on the notice boards and are also available electronically via the Parish Council Tab.

A second phase of formal consultation for the Rail Central development will take place between 15 March and 11.59pm on 23 April 2018.
As part of this the applicant will be holding a series of exhibitions at venues close to the site. Members of the project team will be available to answer questions. Events are scheduled as follows:

The Walnut Tree Blisworth, Thurs 15th March 2pm-8pm
Milton Malsor Village Hall, Sat 16th March 12.30pm-5.30pm
Roade Village Hall, Wed 21st March 1pm-7pm
South Northants Council Chamber Thurs 22nd March 1pm-7pm
Milton Malsor Village Hall Fri 23rd March 2pm-8pm
Blisworth Village Hall Sat 24th March 10am-4pm

Ashfield Land and Roxhill between them appear more determined than ever to build the largest warehouse park in Europe (this is not an exaggeration) in the middle of four rural villages, changing the character and nature of south Northants forever. Their bland and unsubstantiated assurances that the detrimental effects can be ‘mitigated’ are risible and insulting: you cannot build something of this size without inevitable overspill into the sur rounding communities. If you are not yet angry about this unwanted intrusion into our lives then I would urge you to start getting angry now. None of this is inevitable but if we all do nothing we will get what we deserve. You will get just one chance for your voice to be heard: please do not waste it. Please attend the (Blisworth) village hall meeting 12th March @ 7.30pm.

Northampton Male Voice Choir (NMVC) is challenging the men of Northamptonshire to join them and the wonderful soprano Emily Haig in a concert on 14 April 2018 to raise money for PROSTATE CANCER UK.

We’re holding two open evenings at the Northampton Saints’ Rugby Ground, Franklins Gardens on 1 and 8 February. You’ll be invited to learn to sing two songs over an 8-week period with training by our charismatic Musical Director, Stephen Bell. At the end of the 8 weeks you’ll be …ready to perform the songs at our concert in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.

So, if you think you might be interested, why not come along to one of our open evenings and enjoy a free beer while you find out more about this fantastic opportunity and meet the NMVC team (why not bring a friend). To secure your place at the open evening of your choice just get in touch with our Chairman, John Waller on 07989 387752 or jwaller7@btinternet.com

Please review the poster here

Over the Christmas Period Roxhill have published another newsletter about the Northampton Gateway Strategic Rail Freight Interchange. This can be viewed online here

It was believed that the proposal for 66 new homes were in the wrong location, not needed and would damage the rural character of Rothersthorpe, according to South Northamptonshire Council’s (SNC) Planning Committee (PC).
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 the PC refused permission for an outline planning application from Amanda Jones and Hollins Strategic Land for the new housing estate bordered by Kislingbury Road and Banbury Lane.
PC chairman, Cllr Rebecca Breese, said: “South Northamptonshire has stood up to the challenge presented by the national housing shortage and we can show the district will be fulfilling its obligations for more than a decade.
“Our local planning policies are clear in that we can only allow house building to take place where there is infrastructure to support it, not only to ensure developments are sustainable, but also to protect the rural character of our villages.
“We had one letter supporting this proposal, and two neutral comments, but 16 local people objected for a variety of reasons, some citing planning policies, others had concerns about traffic and the safety of pedestrians and cyclists as well as flooding and drainage.”
The proposals were outside the confines of Rothersthorpe and in the open countryside where development can only take place in exceptional circumstances.
SNC can currently show it has sufficient new homes in the planning pipeline to satisfy its housing needs for just over 10 years.
The proposal was also contrary to policies within the South Northamptonshire Local Plan and West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy which seek to concentrate house building in Brackley and Towcester while protecting the intrinsic character of the countryside and rural areas.
In addition the proposal would also have had a harmful impact on The Rothersthorpe Conservation Area.

This is to provide the November update to participants in the Rail Central LLG and keep you informed.
 
We continue to progress our technical work and develop further detail on our proposals so that we can carry out Phase Two consultation and then proceed to submission of an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO).
 
Much of the work is now completed or at an advanced stage.  As reported in the October update, Highways forms an important part of the overall package of information we are developing and we anticipate moving forward from our discussions with Highways England and Northamptonshire County Council so that all of the relevant information can be assembled for consultation.  As you will be aware, we are looking at both the main site and at J15A of the M1 as we bring together the information that will form the Preliminary Environmental Information (PEI) for consultation.   
 
We continue to anticipate carrying out Phase Two Consultation in early 2018.
 
Once we have completed the work required to enable us to proceed to Phase Two consultation, we will update the LLG and, in addition, advertise details on the consultation extensively.
 
If you have any questions please get in touch by emailing railcentral@camargue.uk or by calling 0845 543 8967

The Parish Council have recently addressed concerns about the proposed Roxhill Gateway development which is proposed for land around J15 of the M1. These concerns relate to the lack of information and advanced notice of the exhibitions held in October and the information provided at these exhibitions. The Parish Council will keep the village informed when any further information is available. The Parish Council are also concerned about the proposed Ashfield development at J15A and will provide more information when available.