Village Voice - 16th June 2005
CHURCH SERVICES
This Sunday at Preston Capes church: Holy Communion at 9.30am.
VILLAGE FETE
Our annual village fete – in aid of the church and village hall – takes place in church square and the gardens of City Cottage on Sunday, 26th June, which is just over a week away. Please take another look at your green flyer and see what you can contribute to make this event an even greater success. Stallholders are waiting for your donations of books, bric-a-bric, cakes, home produce and plants, while items are required for the tombola, as well as new/pristine condition soft toys for the children’s tombola.
OPEN GARDENS
Our annual open gardens day took place on 5th June. Whilst we didn’t get the hot and sunny weather we had hoped for, a dry and warm day encouraged almost 400 people to visit the six gardens that were open. Lunches and teas did a brisk trade all afternoon, and these, together with plant sales, raised approximately £1,000 for the church. A similar amount was raised for the National Gardens Scheme from entrance charges.
Our Preston Capes “webmaster” was busy taking photographs during the afternoon, and these will appear on our village website – www.prestoncapes.org.uk - in due course.
Those villagers who opened their gardens would like to thank everyone who came along – it was an excellent afternoon. Thanks must also go the excellent “support team” – those who manned the carparks all afternoon, everyone who was involved with the lunches and teas, and also friends and relatives who were drafted in to help with taking money, selling plants etc.!
ANNUAL VILLAGE MEETING
As promised in my column last week, here is a report on the annual village meeting held at the end of last month (concentrating primarily on items directly relating to our village).
Chairman’s Report – Gavin Cowan started his report by thanking parish clerk, Rosemary Bowden, for all her hard work throughout the year. He also thanked Claire Hughes for deputising when necessary. There had been a number of new residents in the village over the last twelve months, and also several new babies, and it was encouraging to see that most people in the village are willing to get involved in village matters. Parishioners are vigilant and helpful, which makes our village a safe and pleasant place to live.
There will be a parish council election next year.
Regarding planning applications, the parish council encourages applicants to consult with neighbours, but will not become involved with disputes.
The parish council had won the small claims court case brought by Topps Landscapes concerning disputed grass-mowing last year. This had cost the parish council £100 in costs.
Regarding speed limits, it had been suggested that villagers should be trained in the use of speed cameras, although it was felt inappropriate for residents to police their own village as this could lead to vigilante action. Anyone caught speeding in this way would receive a warning letter – there would be no prosecution. A resident of the High Street pointed out that there was still a large number of cars going over the speed limit in this area of the village. It was also agreed that speed limits on the Maidford/Charwelton road and through Little Preston were continuing to be ignored – the parish council will continue to ask for a safety camera team to attend at morning/evening rush hours. It was also pointed out that there had been several instances of large lorries/coaches using the Newnham road, and that perhaps the use of “Access Only” combined with weight limit signs could help this situation.
A letter had been received from Anglian Water confirming that a new generator will be installed at the water tower, which will hopefully solve the problem of the water supply being affected during power cuts.
The parish council have been contacted by Age Concern who wish to update their records of any contacts in the village.
The situation regarding water running down the High Street was queried, and it was confirmed that this comes from a natural spring. Discussions with NCC have been ongoing for a year to get this directed into drains further down the road.
County Councillor ’s Report - Gina Ogden was welcomed to the meeting and confirmed that this year’s budget is £670 million, which will result in a 3.9% council tax increase. The police budget is now £101 million, with 1,333 police, 198 special constables and 12 community service officers.
An additional £25 million has been added to the roads budget. 192 kilometres of roads have been repaired, but this still leaves 4,000 kilometres of road in the county which are in a very bad conditions, many with potholes.
90,000 new homes will be built in Daventry, Towcester and Northampton by 2021 and there is concern over the necessary infrastructure.
Prevention is now a priority in improving community safety, with district liaison officers working in partnership with district councils, police and social services. Free smoke alarms and safety advice are available.
District Councillor’s Report - David Griffin reported that he currently serves on the planning and licensing committees, and is also involved in waste management, travel tokens, the fire panel and the “Explore Northamptonshire” website. He was concerned about last year regarding postal voting and advised that there have still been some problems in the recent elections. The DDC chief executive has recently left the council and has been replaced with the current directors who are now a corporate board. It is likely that council tax will be capped to 14p per week – there will be further discussion in June/July and amended bills will be sent out, if necessary.
Unfortunately, my copy deadline has caught up with me – see next week’s column for the rest of this report (to include neighbourhood watch, highways, the village hall, the educational charity, footpaths, trees and broadband internet access!