Rothersthorpe – Awarded '2019 Highly Commended Village'

It seems ages since we last provided you with an update but a lot of what we have been working on has been groundwork preparation that is necessary but not very interesting so we wanted to move on a bit further before we got back in touch.
So here it goes…… We have set up a constitution and registered as a Charity with the ‘Charity’s Commission’. This has allowed us to access legal support and helps when applying for funding.In the last couple of weeks the lease has been finalised and we are in the process of tying up the last few details. We have had the 3 pre- development conditions signed off by South Northants Council which consisted of conducting a  contamination survey, an archaeological survey and having a landscaping scheme approved (both for the tree planting for the security border and the hard landscaping for the path into the play area).Now that these have been discharged we can begin on work on the site. We applied for some free trees and shrubs from the Woodland Trust and a charity called ‘I dig Trees’, these applications were both successful, Laura Clarke (leader of the Eco Council at the primary school) has also ordered some additional trees which will arrive in the next week or so.  We have marked out where the trees will go and Steven Dellar has kindly offered to  help drive a digger to remove the top layer of soil to prepare the site (this is happening this week).  We have 2 planting weekends planned for which we require volunteers. These are on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March and then if needed Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th March. Both weekends will start at 10am, if you are available meet on site (you will need to use the emergency entrance along Banbury Lane which will be sign posted, or alternatively if you meet at the cemetery at 9.45am we can walk you down).We have started  making some funding applications to the National Lottery, Postcode Lottery, Tesco Bags for help and the Grand Union Housing Group and will be applying to the London Marathon Charity Trust before the deadline in May.  Whilst we are talking about fundraising we kindly received a grant of £550 from Bugbrooke Community Café which we will be using to purchase and gate and posts to allow a  maintenance access behind the planted security border. The WI also made a kind donation of £126 from the quiz they held.  Community fundraising events have included 2 Sunday meals, the Christmas Meat Raffle and the New Year’s Eve Party- all of which have been well supported.  Moving forward we are planning on holding a further meat raffle, car wash, American Night and Halloween at the Pop Up Social Club as well as a talk by the son of the man that the ‘Kinky Boots’ story is about- watch this Space! If you have any ideas for fundraising, or would like to be involved please let one of us know.The next step will be to work with highways to have the entrance approved and then seek funding for this work, hopefully some of which will be provided by highways themselves as without a safe highway access to a ‘community facility’ is being denied! The good news is that we have full support from the District Councillor Karen Cooper so hopefully she will use her influence to help us press forward with this!Finally we have our first AGM planned for Thursday April 9th at 7.30pm in the committee room. The agenda for this will be published nearer to the time. We hope to see you there!I think that is about it for now, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support so far and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to talk to one of us.
Regards Jodie (on behalf of the Dickens Field Trust)

• The best Village competition has been judged and Rothersthorpe was awarded the ‘Highly Commended Award’ against the overall winners Glapthorne!
• Thank you to Shayne Major for completing the entry and for those members of the village that made themselves available to speak to the judges when they visited.
• We hope you agree we have a village which we should all be proud of and will continue to strive to make better for all the residents and visitors.

ACRE have published a rural events calendar for 2019/20 which lets you know information about local events including shows etc. Please find a link to the calendar here The RPC now have an ACRE representative so this kind of information should be available more often and will be published as soon as it is received.

SENT ON BEHALF OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE RURAL CRIME TEAM

Rural residents and workers are being encouraged to use an online reporting form to alert police to any suspicious or criminal activity in their area.

Northamptonshire Police’s rural crime team, whose remit includes wildlife and heritage crime, wants to hear from people about anything which strikes them as out of the ordinary.

PC Abbey Anstead said: “We always want to hear about incidents, and our online reporting form is a really quick and easy way to tell us about non-emergency crime and suspicious activity.

“If you’re a victim of crime or see something that doesn’t seem right, follow your gut instinct and report it to us, because we need the information you have – you are the eyes and ears of your community.

“Don’t worry that you’re wasting our time. No matter how small an incident, we need to know about it so we have an accurate picture of rural criminal activity to help us take targeted action against it.”

The rural crime team is especially keen to encourage people to be aware of and report wildlife-related crime.

PC Anstead said: “Even a small piece of information helps build a bigger picture. Completing the online reporting form only takes a few minutes, and the information provided really does help us better serve our rural communities and protect people and wildlife from harm.”

Report crime and suspicious activity by filling out the online reporting form here

https://www.northants.police.uk/webform/online-crime-reporting

or call 101. In an emergency, dial 999. Information can also be shared anonymously with Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555111.

Kind regards

Northamptonshire Rural Crime Team

On Friday the Parish Council received notification that the Appeal against the decision of refusal for Outline planning permission for up to 66 dwellings with associated landscaping, open space and vehicular and pedestrian access off of Kislingbury Road, had been dismissed. The documentation including reasons given can be viewed at: http://snc.planning-register.co.uk/plandisp.aspx?recno=98714

Councils in Northamptonshire have been given an extra year to prepare for the biggest shake-up of local government since the 1970s. Today, James Brokenshire MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) gave his thumbs up to proposals which will see the number of councils providing services to the district reduced from eight to two. South Northamptonshire Council (SNC), Daventry District Council, Northampton Borough Council and (half of) Northants County Council will form a new authority serving the west of the county. It will now take charge in April 2021 rather than 2020 as originally proposed. Cllr Ian McCord, Leader of SNC said: “I welcome the decision from Government at long last. “Ministers have taken twice as long to read and decide on the proposal as they gave us to put the bid together. “The election of the shadow council and a 2021 start date was something I asked MHCLG to consider a year ago, so I cannot now claim disappointment. “We will now use the time wisely to prepare the four councils for the new unitary structure in the West. “Our experience with Cherwell and South Northants integration tells us that the best way to do this is by bringing everyone with you.  “We have been developing a plan for this scenario over the past few weeks and we will be ready. “We now must seize the opportunities that a new council will present to us.   “The reasons for this decision are well known and today is about looking forward and ensuring that our residents get the best possible local government available.” The announcement includes confirmation that the elections to run the new bodies will take place in May 2020, alongside the delayed Parish and Town Council elections.  Those elected in 2020 will form the Shadow Authority for its final year of planning, and then move over to run the new council proper. The announcement also paves the way for Kettering Borough Council, The Borough Council of Wellingborough, East Northants Council, Corby Borough Council and (the other half of) Northants County Council to form a new local authority serving the north of the county. The formation of the authorities is still subject to Parliamentary approval.  The Government will also be establishing a Children’s Trust to take over responsibility for children’s social care across the authority.   Today’s announcement also confirmed that elections for the new West Northants council (and its shadow council) will be on the basis of three members per existing County Council ward, totalling 93 across the 31 Wards in the West Northants area.

As you may be aware the applicant has made an appeal to the Secretary of state about the application below after being refused planning permission by the Local Council:

Site Address: Land south of Kislingbury Road Rothersthorpe Description of development: Outline planning permission for up to 66 dwellings with associated landscaping, open space and vehicular and pedestrian access. Application reference: A/2017/2620/MAO Appellant’s name: R L Collins, S Collins, C L PassmoreJon Appeal reference: APP/Z2830/W/18/3206346 Appeal start date: 25 July 2018

The appeal will be decided by means of an Inquiry chaired by an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. The Inspector nominated to hold the inquiry is P Major BA (Hons) Dip TP MRTPI. The Inquiry is scheduled to last four days and will commence on Tuesday 30 April 2019 at 10.00am and will be held in the Council Chamber, The Council Offices, The Forum, Moat Lane, Towcester, NN12 6AD. A copy of the appellants’ statement may be viewed here along with a copy of the Local Planning Authority’s questionnaire and statement of case, and any further comments/documents relating to the appeal.

You may attend the Inquiry and, at the Inspector’s discretion, give your views.

All comments that you have previously made on the application will have already been considered and the Parish Council will be sending in a statement to be read out at the hearing.