Chairman S Report

Chairman’s Report

by Cllr Steve Cluff

If there was one word used to describe the last 12 months of Burton Joyce Parish Council it would be "progression". The essential day to day running of our high quality three parks and cemetery seems almost to have gone unnoticed alongside the many other projects we have been involved with this year.

The £372k addition of a new floodlit All Weather 3G Pitch at the Poplars Sports Ground has provided a superb state of the art facility for our young footballers and also provided a sound financial footing for all the clubs at the Poplars to grow and encourage more sport, better played with greater diversity within our village.

I have been delighted that many of our Councillors have engaged in new projects of concern to the village. Significant works has been done in response to the troubling Mineral Plan at Shelford and the start of a Neighbourhood Plan to shape our future area. We have continued to branch out into the community with the very successful Christmas Fair, Village Venture Performances and organised litter picking. We have continued to enjoy working with Burton Joyce Primary School as it transits to an Academy.

We have also welcomed new local staff to help cope with the busy operational requirements of this year and they join a great team who have excelled themselves this year much to the appreciation of the Council.

2016 brings further progression with the acquisition of the Old School Building in the village and its development to improve the centre of Burton Joyce for all the community. With a planned 61% increase in turnover next year, it's unlikely the pace will slacken but the BJPC will be well placed to respond effectively to current issues and to serve this wonderful village we live in.

Cllr Steve Cluff

Amenities Committee

by Cllr Pat Blandamer (Chair)

The Amenities Committee continues to oversee facilities within Burton Joyce that are managed directly by the Parish Council. Maintained to a very high standard by a small Ground & Amenities team led by David List, the Parish Council provides the Roberts Recreation Ground, Cemetery, Allotments, the Grove, Christmas lights and floral displays. Over the past couple of years the Parish Council has also accepted responsibility for the mowing of grass verges throughout the village to ensure that they are cut more frequently than the Notts County Council schedule would allow.

It is heartening to see the play equipment at the Roberts Recreation Ground so well used by local children and their families. Apart from regular daily inspections and routine maintenance there is little work to do on the park now as the play equipment provided as part of the 2013/14 refurbishment is still amongst the finest provided in Nottinghamshire. The land which used to be the site of the old toilet block has still to be formally transferred over from the Borough Council to the Parish Council and this will continue to be pursued.

The Cemetery is a tranquil and beautiful space which has seen much work during the past year. The slate communal memorial plaque was replaced at a cost of £1,280 and this should now stand firm for a good few years to come. A number of headstones had to be reluctantly laid flat as they were deemed to be dangerous and in danger of toppling over. This action was avoided wherever possible by contacting relatives of the deceased to carry out repairs. This highlighted the importance of families keeping their contact details updated with the Parish Office if they move away from the village so that we can keep them informed and involved with the care of their family memorials.

There were quite a few changes in tenancy of the allotments during the year. The waiting list remains relatively low and the Parish Council continues to work with the Garden Holders’ Association who offer support to allotment holders.

Each year the Parish Council looks to improve the Christmas Lights and floral displays in the village and grateful thanks go to the Parish Council’s ground and amenities staff who contribute greatly to the pleasant environment we all enjoy.

Planning Committee

by Cllr Terry Hazard (Chair)

This has been an exceptionally busy year for planning issues in Burton Joyce, with a number of major planning proposals being put forward for consideration. There has been significant interest in planning matters from residents and it has been gratifying to see more people attending the planning meetings than in previous years.

Following a very well attended consultation event to establish residents views on where and how many new houses of what type should be provided in Burton Joyce the Borough Council has issued its draft Local Plan (Housing & Local Green Space) which will be available for public consultation for a 6 week period from the 23rd May 2016. Two sites have been included in the draft plan – land to the North of Orchard Close and Mill Field Close. The Borough Council has already granted outline planning permission for dwellings on Mill Field Close. The Parish Council has previously advised Gedling Borough Council of its preference for affordable, smaller sized accommodation and will be meeting to discuss the draft plan and how best to respond.

70 members of the public (an unprecedented number) attended a Parish Council Planning Meeting in April to express their views on an outline planning application for up to 45 new residential dwellings at Glebe Farm. After careful consideration of all the points raised, it was agreed that the Parish Council would object to the development as the site is designated green belt land in a mature landscape area; risk of flooding from surface water run-off; inadequate traffic/access arrangements and lack of availability of local school places.

During the year, the Parish Council’s Planning Committee was also invited to comment on a proposal by Severn Trent Water to convert 25 buildings at their grade 2 listed site at Bulcote Farm into residential units and to build a further 39 new dwellings on the site under Enabling Development to subsidise the cost of the conversion. The Parish Council registered an objection with Newark & Sherwood Council on the grounds of the unsustainable pressure that such a large scale development would have on Burton Joyce resources e.g GP surgeries, local schools and roads.

In light of all these proposed developments, the Planning Committee has been tasked with the process of developing a Neighbourhood Plan for Burton Joyce. In simple terms this is a document written by the local community that sets out planning policies for the village. Once completed, the plan will become a powerful tool to ensure that the right type of development happens in the right places. The project, which is due to start in June 2016 and expected to take 12 months to complete, will be steered by a small working group made up of parish councillors and other volunteers.

Over the course of the year covered by this Report, the Planning Committee received 40 planning applications. Although the number of applications was slightly down on the previous year, 4 related to significant new developments either in the village or close by. The majority of applications received were for extensions or other work and over a third of the total applications came from Lambley Lane or Bridle Road.

Communities Committee Report

by Cllr Jeanette Johnson (Chair)

Writing this Report, two things strike me – first, how quickly this year has flown by and secondly, just how much has been undertaken by this Committee during the last 12 months.

One of the most contentious issues for the village continues to be the parking situation. Councillors have met regularly with Notts County Council Highways Officers to try and find solutions to the problems which will not simply move the problem elsewhere. Particular concerns were raised about the safety of pedestrians crossing on Main Street and requests which had been made for a formal pedestrian crossing. The County Council’s response was that Main Street had an excellent safety record, with only two reported accidents in the last 10 years. Perversely, the parking along Main Street was cited as an aid to road safety as it was alleged that vehicles were forced to drive more slowly and carefully to accommodate it. The Highways Department concluded that there was insufficient need to provide a crossing and that the cost would be prohibitive.

In order to try and establish the reasons behind the inappropriate parking the Parish Council has commissioned a parking survey at specific locations in the centre of the village to establish if there are any patterns. Once the information has been collated and analysed the Parish Council will be working with the Highway’s Department to look at possible, long-term solutions.

The Communities Committee has Highways issues as a standard agenda item at its meetings and continues to lobby Notts County Council Highway’s Department for improvements to the village’s roads and pavements. During the year, the Parish Council was advised that the resurfacing of Main Street was on the reserve list programme with no timescale specified. The resurfacing of Padley’s Lane was in the Capital programme for 2016/17 but, at the time of writing, we understand that this has been withdrawn from the 2016/17 schedule due to lack of funding.

The Village ‘Clean Up’ Campaign continues to grow from strength to strength. The Parish Council is extremely grateful to all of the volunteers who have adopted specific roads and areas throughout the village to keep them litter free on a regular basis. A map of the village showing the roads adopted/unadopted is on permanent display in the Parish Office window and anybody interested in volunteering for the Scheme should contact the Parish Clerk in the first instance. Continuing the theme of litter, the Parish Council is also grateful to the children and staff from Burton Joyce Primary School, to councillors and to community volunteers who turn out with enthusiasm twice a year to take part in the big village clean up. This is a particularly useful initiative as the Borough Council has continued to reduce the amount of street cleaning they do.

The Parish Council has been very pro-active throughout the year with the campaign to prevent the possibility of large-scale mineral extraction across the river at Shelford. Despite these best efforts, the site was included in Nottinghamshire County Council’s Draft Local Minerals Plan. During the further period of public consultation, the Parish Council wrote to the Planning Inspectorate challenging the legal soundness of the decision to include the Shelford site in the draft plan. The key reasons for the objection remain that:

·  The demand for minerals has been regularly overstated, that there is no need for further quarrying at this site and the figures submitted need to be re-evaluated

·  The proposal to transport materials from the site at Shelford via barges to avoid over-burdening local roads is unhelpful as this would only result in a short river journey following which it would be moved along the A612

·  The intention to limit considerations of environmental issues to the area within 200m of the extraction site is not sound as hundreds of homes are only just beyond that boundary

·  The site is in a high risk flood area and the data needs to be re-assessed

·  The intention to restore the area to wetland after exhaustion of the Shelford site does not meet the need for a sound biodiversity-led restoration and there is already an over-supply of wetland in the Trent Valley

Subject to the outcome of the Planning Inspectorate’s report it is anticipated that Nottinghamshire County Council will look to adopt the Minerals Local Plan during late 2016. Should the site at Shelford still be included in the Plan after the Planning Inspectorate’s report then the next stage will be to challenge any subsequent planning application submissions.

The anticipated single 100m Wind Turbine’s has been erected by Severn Trent Water on their land at Stoke Bardolph. The Parish Council continues to oversee the conditions imposed by Gedling Borough Council planners to ensure that the developer takes appropriate measures to address issues such as noise, ground contamination and flood risks.

The Parish Council continues to enjoy a strong connection with the Burton Joyce Primary School. Cllr Terry Hazard is the designated Parish Council liaison with the School and has regularly attended meetings of the School Council. The highlight of the Annual Meeting held on Tuesday 12th May 2015, was a presentation by pupils and staff about the initiatives they were taking part in – including redesigning a school badge, campaigns about anti-bullying, parking and litter, new gardening and wildlife clubs and suggestions for improvements at the Grove and the Roberts Recreation Ground.

This year saw the re-introduction of Village Ventures with two sold out events. In November the After Hours Rauchestra brought the sounds of the roaring twenties to Burton Joyce and in February the Kimber’s Men, hailed to be the finest and funniest purveyors of sea shanties in Europe, ‘sang up a storm’ to a capacity crowd at the Village Hall.

The Annual Christmas Fair and Festive Light Switch-on is a highlight of the community calendar and this year was no exception. In spite of the gale force winds on the morning of the 5th December, which threatened to see the event cancelled, a small group of Parish Council staff, councillors and volunteers worked hard to ensure that proceedings went ahead more-or-less as planned. The number of tents had to be reduced and the remaining ones were huddled around the car park wall for shelter but everyone who had booked a stall was accommodated. The number of people who attended the event was slightly down on previous years due to the weather but nevertheless it is estimated that 1500 people came along to join in the festivities and to watch Santa arrive into the village on the back of a Harley Davidson. Footage of the Christmas Fair can be found on Burton Joyce TV https://www.youtube.com/BurtonJoyceTv