Tuesday 19th May at the Jessie
7.15pm for just 60 minutes only (coffee at 7.05pm)
- Come & listen to what we have been busy with over the past year and also the past 4years of the Parish Council’s work.
- With 2 councillors retiring, meet their replacements
- Get the latest on the exciting new Play Zone we have planned for the village.
- We have options on the next move to improve Road Safetyin the village; e.g Speed Bumps or 20mph zones. Have your say.
- Hear about our stance on Housing in the Parish; the future of the Millpool Picnic Area that we can now buy and many more areas of rural life.
- Come and have your say on the issues that you feel that the Parish Council should focus on over the next 4years.
PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR PARISH COUNCIL.
Just 60 minutesof your time!!
The meeting will be followed by the Council’s AGM and then the May normal meeting. Both are open to the public should you wish to stay.
1.0 News from your Parish Council
1.1 YOURPARISHCOUNCILLORS
We are extremely sorry to be losing Cllrs David Lilley and Mike Scott at the end of this 4year term of your Council. David has served for 15yrs and apart from being heavily involved in road safety matters, and planning decisions (due to his long experience of the village), he has represented our interests on the Oulton Park liaison team and done many of the smaller but just as important jobs such as keeping our Village Notice Board up to date and doing his share of leaflet distribution. Mike Scott joined the Council in 2011 and brought with him a wealth of experience from his time in the Land Management business which has helped the Council develop their knowledge in planning matters. He has masterminded the improvements to the Village Green area with his organisation (plus work with the shovel when needed) and been the contact for our team of litter pickers apart from sorting some of our drainage problems. We would like to thank both David and Mike for all the work that they have done and wish them well in whatever ventures they take up with their new “extra time”!!!
David and Mike will be replaced by Jade Plumbley of Kings Lane and Neil Thompson of Whalley Drive. We wish them both well and thank them for stepping up and volunteering to do their share of community work.
So the Parish Council will start off at the AGM on the 19th May as:
(The position of Chairman is decided at the AGM)
Cllr. Arthur Nicholas
Cllr. Julie O’Shea
Cllr. Jade Plumbley
Cllr. Simon Roberts
Cllr. Eddie Shaw
Cllr. Neil Thompson
Cllr. Mike Wilson
Parish Clerk: Alex Stubbs.
Please note: Alex wishes to retire as Clerk during the next year. This is a paid position and if anyone is interested they should contact Alex for details.
We would like to thank our Ward County Councillor (currently Eveleigh Moore Dutton) for the support that she has given to the Parish Council over the past 4years, attending most of our monthly meetings. Eveleigh is a candidate in the 7th May election.
1.2Visitors to our Parish Council Meetings
The Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, John Dwyerattended the February Parish Council Meeting. He gave a broad outline of his role and priorities, explaining that although he couldn’t financially support our current Road Safety projects, his fund was available for use by Parish Councils who had work to do in the areas that he did cover.
Representatives Andrew Arditti from Cheshire East/West CouncilsSuperfast Broadband plus Aaron Briggs, BT manager in charge of the role-out attended our April meeting. We had invited members of the Little Budworth Parish Council and together we pushed them for an answer on when our area was going to be improved. See 1.12 for an update.
1.3 Village Green and Surrounds plus Best Kept Village
Spring has brought a fine display of the daffodils planted by our gardening club 2 years ago and we hope that you enjoyed the crocus / snowdrop display which again was improved with the move of stock from another part of the village. Grass seeding has recently taken place in the areas of the old steps and bus stop. Cllr Scott has come up with a scheme to use wooden sleepers (currently housed behind the church) and a refurb of the sandstones to give a firm edge along the east side of the Green. Vehicles parking or cutting the corner have “mashed up” the turf in this area and Highways have given their support for this work to go ahead. Volunteers may be asked for!!! Again we are being judged in the “Community Pride Competition” so please help in making our village look good and litter free.
1.4Rushton Picnic Area (by the Millpool)
In the last Newsletter we reported our frustration at the time it takes to get things done once we have to involve departments outside of the village. This project at last appears to be making progress and once the ownership is transferred to the Parish Council as suggested,we will hold an open morning at the site so that the community can be involved in what we want to see in this area of great potential. If you have any ideas then contact Cllr Simon Roberts through Parish Clerk Alex Stubbs
1.5RoadSafety within the Parish.
The Eaton Road Safety Working Group(temporary group November 2014 to May 2015) have met twice since the last Newsletter and discussed the progress of work generated from the October 2014 Open Public Meeting. The new Vehicle Activated Sign is being erected opposite to the Red Lion site in the 40mph zone this coming week and includes the latest data recorder which will send the information gathered to chosen home computers in the village. This data will be analysed by resident Paul Healey and the results communicated to the police by Cllr Wilson. The display will show your actual speed with a thank you or not depending on your speed. This is a further measure to stop the rat-runners that speed through our village. A recent meeting with Highways and Cllr Eveleigh Moore Dutton made good progress on other areas under discussion and the possibility of a 20mph area certainly by the school but also on the other highly used non - pavement roads is also on the cards. How we improve the issue of heavy potato wagons and agricultural vehicles travelling through the village whilst accepting the benefits that economic farming has for our Parish is also under discussion.
1.6The Parish Website (& Twitter)
Slow improvements are taking place on our current web-site whilst work continues by our 2 teenagers on the parallel site which should come into operation later this year.
1.7Youth Club
The YC continues to work well and responses are coming in for holiday cover by adults as we don’t break during the summer. Mums/Dads – more help is required for the few weeks involved.
1.8 The New Play Zonefor the Community and School.
The result of our WREN grant bid came through last week. YES WE WERE AWARDED £39,000 FOR OUR PROJECT. This means that we have now gained major grants totalling £74,000 with the final £5,000 being raised locally by our own fund-raising efforts. Project Leader Cllr Wilson called a meeting last week to announce the good news and the team are now keen to finish the £5k local funding. In February there was fantastic community support for our Barn Dance that raised £850 and was thoroughly enjoyed by all with a great supper at half time. Dave Ball and the “Frog Walker” band played good stuff and with great prizes donated for the raffle and auction, many left with valuable prizes. The equipment supplier and final layout will be displayed at the Annual Parish Meeting on Tuesday 19th May. We are planning on a summer installation with much work yet to do.
Table Top Sale - Play-zone Fundraiser
Helen Thompson and our wonderful Play Zone Start Up Team have organised a table top sale on the 9th May (this Saturday!!) 10am - 12.30, mainly children’s items such as clothing, toys, push-chairs etc at Eaton Primary School. Also included will be craft stalls selling handbags, jewellery, jams, chutneys etc. Teas/coffees/cakes available to purchase Entrance is £2 per adult (children free). Please come along to support the play-zone project. Most tables have been taken up so buyers do come along and snap up some great bargains. For last minute tables, contact Helen on 07793961724
1.9 Electricity Sub-Station (a more secure supply)
The programme of work from Scottish Power has still not come through but we keep pushing and will publicise on receipt.
1.10 Oulton Park/ Parish Council Liaison Team
Villagers’ Day
This year Villagers Day is on Sunday 21stJune. For a nominal fee (which goes to the two Parishes of Rushton and Little Budworth) you can drive a 400hp BMW around the track, or have a go on the rally cross circuit and the four wheel drive course. Children are catered for with bouncy castle, face painting etc. Free lunch. You can invite a guest but they must accompany you on arrival. Bring your driving licence!
CARFEST NORTH2015 : 31st July; 1st & 2nd August
Planning by Chris Evans and his team continues for this the 3rd Carfest North to be held at Oulton Park. It is going to be bigger and better this year according to the website and the evening Main Stage line up includes The Boomtown Rats, Paul Heaton and Seasick Steve. This is a great fund-raiser for Children in Need with so many displays of vehicles, cooking, crafts and much more and is well worth a visit although tickets for this year are now probably gone. Remember resients who have annual free passes (live within a mile of the circuit) also get in for one day free of charge. To minimise disruption to our community, this well organised event is discussed in detail (particularly traffic and noise implications, by the liaison team which includes 2 of our councillors. The latest details can be seen on their website and clicking “NORTH”.
1.11 The Red Lion Site – Eaton Lane
Now demolished and at our request, new concrete posts added to stop travellers. Building work on the 3 houses and 1 bungalow not expected to start until later in the year. The meeting with the developer ref programme has not yet taken place.
1.12 Broadband Update – “Connecting Cheshire”
As stated earlier, we had a presentation and Q&A’s at our April Council meeting with Andrew ArdittiConnecting Cheshire PartnershipDigital Engagement ManagerCheshire East Council (also covering Cheshire West) assisted by Aaron Briggs – BT Manager. Questions were asked from those present from our parish plus those from Little Budworth Parish representatives that we had invited.
Summary (MW notes):
Phase 1 (£30m investment to 80,000 premises) is near completion (June 2015).
Tarporley has a new cabinet on the High Street giving high speeds to the town. However the distance of Eaton means that superfast speeds cannot be reached by the 730 numbers in the village. Improvement may be considered in Phase 2.
Little Budworth exchange has/is being worked on but this will affect the centre of the village only and no improvement is expected to those Rushton/Eaton premises with 760 numbers. Improvement may be considered in Phase 2.
Phase 2 (£6m investment to 10,000 premises with completion date of summer 2017) commences in Autumn 2015. Postcodes for phase 2 are being considered and announced in the next couple of months.
Those not selected for Phase 2 will be in Phase 3 which is currently un-funded although most parties in the upcoming election are promising more money for Rural Broadband.
Those present voiced their disappointment that despite Tarporley and Little Budworth villages being completed this summer, it now looked as those in Rushton Parish could be 2 or 3 years in the future. It was agreed that the 2 parish councils would continue to badger the Connecting Cheshire people and also our elected representatives and we encourage all residents to do the same.
1.13 Neighbourhood Watch
Many of you are on our list for the regular reports about crime in our area (if not email Ron on or call him on 733821). The Police continue to work on Rural Crime which needs all of our input if we see suspicious events. Call 101 for non-urgent reporting or 999 if appropriate.
For those that do not receive Inspector Keith Curbishley’s notes of advice, the editor has picked out 3 recent articles which he believes is of interest to us all:
- “Spring has definitely arrived and many people are spending time tidying their gardens up, which inevitably means opening sheds and garages and dusting off various forms of equipment. In doing so, please be mindful that criminals will use this opportunity to view what you have stored in your garage, whilst the door is open, or even seize the opportunity to take unattended equipment or sneak into a house whilst the occupant is busy in the garden. Please enjoy the nice weather, but do not make yourself vulnerable to becoming a victim of crime.”
- Last week there were youths going door to door selling cleaning products such as dusters, dish cloths etc from a holdall. Police located three of them in Clutton and Tiverton and seized their goods and will be reporting them for summons.The practise of these youths coming into our community often from far away is not lawful.
To sell door to door a 'Peddlers Licence' is required. They are in possession of "Hawkers Licences" which look genuine and official but they are not!If you are approached by anyone selling cleaning products at your front door please decline and call the police at the time on 101. If possible a description would be helpful - Recently there have been more telephone calls from someone alleging concern that you have a problem with your computer.Please do NOT respond to any such calls – they are inevitably scams, trying to access personal information about you. If possible, please try to record the phone number that called you and pass this on to Action Fraud (via 101), who are able to shut down such operations.
1.14Eaton Village – Rushton Parish – IN 10 yrs TIME!!!!!!
As you are aware, the Parish Council, through surveys through our Newsletter and Q&A’s in public meetings, have been gauging how the community would like the Parish to develop (or even stay the same!) with the contents of our 2008 Rushton Parish Plan being a major input. Currently all cities, towns and villages have “housing” as a key issue being discussed with some saying that in some areas, too many new houses are being built whilst others wish for more expansion. Consequently your Parish Council have been exploring whether more affordable housing could be considered for the Parish thus making it possible for younger couples to live here.Letters were sent out to some of our landowners to assess whether land was available and further to the discussions at the March monthly meeting of the Parish Council, a further meeting was held on 1st April attended by 6 of the councillors and the Parish Clerk. The meeting looked at the various issues surrounding future housing needs and possible development within the Parish and more particularly the role of the Parish Council in such matters. A conclusion of 5 statements was agreed as follows:
1.At this stage, Rushton Parish Council do not wish to take an active role in promoting and/or leading a new initiative regarding further housing development.
2.Looking at the evidence collected by the Parish Council over the past 2 years there does not appear to be a great need for the development of affordable housing in our Parish.
3.Over the next 2 years it is expected that there will be the addition of 4 (3+1 Red Lion) and 5 (Millpool) to the current housing stock i.e. 9 in 210 or 4.2%
4.The Parish Council would however want to be involved and would support future developments of open market or affordable housing particularly with regards to design and quantity (which would be small and to the appropriate scale of the parish).
5.The current local Plan Part 2 indicates that it is unlikely that Rushton would be considered for additional housing due to the criteria used for sustainability.
1.15 Pot-Holes; Non-Working Street Lights; Damaged
Road Signs.
Just a reminder that it is no use grumbling about a particular pot-hole or light that isn’t working unless you have reported it and received no action.There is an excellent reporting service on the Cheshire West website and it is far better that you report such problems (potholes, broken street lights, missing/broken signs etc) direct, rather than waiting for it being seen by the authorities. If you do not use a computer, call 0300 123 7036 (8am-7pm Mon-Fri). With a computer: