Village news
Sutton Bonington Mike Elliott 0115 937 6506 elliottnews@btconnect.com
WHIST DRIVE RESTART. The weekly whist drive is restarting on Monday, January 22 at 7.30 in the Village Hall.
The running of the event has been taken over by the Sutton Bonington Bowls Club.
A charge of £2.50 per player will be made and your support will be greatly appreciated.
PRIMARY SCHOOL CAMPUS CONNECTION. The successful close connection that Sutton Bonington primary school has with the village campus of Nottingham University came to the fore again in the run-up to Christmas.
The school sales stall was a real success at the Christmas Farmers’ Market on campus. All of the classes produced some festive products to sell, and they raised £370 in total!
Said headmaster Mr Mark Brumwell: “With all of our Key Stage 2 children visiting the market too, it’s a great opportunity for the school to be part of the wider village community.”
And then the school music group were involved in the very successful SB Orchestra and Singers, Christmas Concert.
Said Mr Brumwell: “Well done to Mrs Gray’s music group, who performed a piece as part of the university orchestra and choir’s recent Christmas concert.
“It was a great experience for the children to play to a large audience and to be alongside so many talented musicians.”
BOUND BOOKS DATING BACK TO 1895. Two very interesting bound books have been given to Sutton Bonington’s parish churches which show some of their activities over 100 years ago.
The bounds books - in six volumes - have ben donated by David and Dawn Berridge and are of Deanery Magazines published for the period 1895 to 1901.
They will be show on a bookcase in St Michael’s Church for everyone to look through but are for reference only, and not FOR taking away.
Besides the village reports which appear in the magazines, the books also contain general information provided by the publishers, stories, poems and general information for each month.
The parishes that are covered the magazines - not just Sutton Bonington - are Barton in Fabis, Bunny, Costock, Gotham, East Leake, Normanton on Soar, Ratcliffe on Soar, Ruddington, Sutton Bonington, Sutton St Anne’s, Thrumpton, Wilford, West Bridgford, Clifton, Edwalton, Kingston on Soar, West Leake, Plumtree, Stanford on Soar, and Tollerton.
It is known that the books originally belonged to George Dutton, who was a Parish Councillor, Overseer of the Poor and Church Warden during the 1890s. He was born in Sutton Bonington, the fourth of eight children, and was named after his father who was a corn carrier and later a market gardener. George senior died when the eigth child was still a baby and his widow, Mary, provided for the family by running the market garden with the help of their eldest son, William and a young lad who lived in.
Later George helped his mother and eventually took over cultivating the land where Willow Poole Lane and Shepherd’s Close are now built.
He married another Mary and there was sufficient work to employ someone. They had one son, Harry. Mary died in 1904 aged 53 and George died in 1924 aged 82. In the Local History Booklet ‘ Work and Leisure’ there is a photo of George with son Harry outside their house on 77 Park Lane.
Harry married Henrietta (known as Hetty). They lived at 85 Park Lane and Harry worked on the railway, with a time spent living and working in Derby. Hetty was Kay Berridge’s aunt and Kay inherited the magazines in due course.
And then 30 years ago Kay lent the Deanery magazines to the Local History Society and to Parish Lines, so extracts were used from them for these publications. Later the volumes passed to Kay’s son, David, and now they are available in St Michael’s for all to read.
Churchwarden Mrs Beth Clarke has given many thanks to the donors..
SOAR VALLEY U3A MEETING. The next meeting of the Soar Valley U3A, with a good number of members from Sutton Bonington, will be at 2pm on Tuesday 23 January at Normanton-onSoar Village Hall.
Guest speaker for the meeting will be Steve ‘Ely’ Allen who will be entertaining those attending with an illustrated and musical talk on ‘the History of 19 and 20 Century Folk Music’.
He will have his guitar, which could be just the thing to cheer everyone up on a cold January day!
Soar Valley U3A provides relaxed learning and leisure activities for retired people in your area.
For more information, contact Membership Secretary, Lorna Orton, on 01332 811030 or visit our website: www.u3asi-tes.org.uk/ soar-valley
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Having had no meeting in December, Sutton Bonington Horticultural Society get back into the swing of them tomorrow ( Thursday 18th January) at 7.30pm, at the Village Hall Library
Dr R J Gornall, director of Leicester University Botanic Garden, will give an illustrated talk on Saving and Protecting Wild Flowers.
NO SUPPORT FOR STOP SIGN. Notts County Council highways manager Kendra Hourd has told the parish council at Sutton Bonington that both herself and the Accident Investigation Team that they do not support a parish request for the existing ‘Give Way’ sign on Station Road to be changed to a ‘Stop’ sign.
They have pointed out to the parish that the junction does not meet the visibility criteria for the junction to be changed to a ‘Stop’ junction and that visibility is much better than the criteria required by the Dft.
They have reminded the council that road markings have recently repainted and foliage that was restricting views has been cut back.
Students at the Sutton Bonington campus of Nottingham University have been signing an online petition regarding changing the junction to a ‘Stop’ junction.
HAIRDRESSING SALON PLAN. No objection has been made by the parish council at Sutton Bonington to a planning application for a change of use from hairdressing salon (A1 Retail) to beauty treatment room and reinstate residential use of the property at 92a Main Street in the village.
CHECKS ON WATER PIPE SYSTEM. Parish councillors at Sutton Bonington have been told that Severn Trent Water have carried out intensive checks on the water pipe system in part of the village following concerns over blockage problems.
Mr Adams Geest, from the company, confirmed to members that CCTV surveys from Park lane to Pasture Lane had been carried out looking at hot spots regarding sewers and flooding, and said some pipe defects were identified and as a result some improvement work was carried out.
He told the meeting of the council that cleansing work on the main sewer on Park Lane will be looked at on a quarterly basis and that a 10% silt build up in the pipes had been found.
The planned cleansing will be audited and results will be presented to members.
The section between 70 – 68 Park Lane is to be surveyed again with previous surveys having showed that the section is now free flowing.
It was noted that the highway reinstatement had sunk again and requires looking at. Information on the pipe sizes is to be given to councillors.
The council was told by Mr Geest that outfalls were also looked and were found to be in good order.
In respect of Pasture Lane, it is understood Severn Trent Water’s responsibility ends at the outfall – from then on the responsibility will either be the landowners, Nottinghamshire County Council or the Environment Agency.
An efficiency test was carried out some time ago on the Pump Station and this did reveal some problems with the flow monitor.
The meeting also discussed development on Park Lane and the impact on the existing drainage.
Mr Geest said he would be concerned about the amount of dirty water going into the sewers and whether they would be able to cope with the increased capacity. With regard to the draft Local Plan, concern was raised that the Local Authority had not asked Severn Trent Water the question.
Mr Geest stated that any housing proposal would require detailed modelling of the sewers to see if the existing sewers would cope with any further development.
Willoughby on the Wolds
PARISH COUNCIL REPORT. All organisations and groups in Willoughby on the Wolds are being contacted by the parish council to be invited to be part of a group being set up to make arrangements for a commemoration event to mark the ending of the First World War in 1918.
The council have written to 12 groups and are planning a meeting before the end of the month.
It is likely the event will include a bonfire on November 11, being lit at 7pm as will others all over the country.
The January meeting of the council was addressed by Jeremy Rochfort on behalf of the Willoughby Community Park Association and presented to members the cost estimates for maintenance work on the park, amounting to £3,285 for the coming 12-month period. The figures would be presented to the council later in the meeting.
Another matter raised involved a dogs problem in the Community Park with regular reports of dogs being allowed to roam free in the park and not on a lead, as they should.
Mr Rochfort said a proposal they were looking at involved a suggestion to utilize the rough grass area immediately at the end of Field Farm Close by fencing it off and making it secure. Dog owners could exercise their animals in the area, controlled but off the lead.
Coun Cottee would investigate on behalf of the Association the ownership of the land in question, which was thought to be the county itself.
The question of sewage pollution in the village brook was raised, with a suggestion the pumping station between Wysall and Willoughby was working to capacity and periods of heavy rain meant at times it could not cope. It was claimed the water course was in a poor state along certain sections of it with obstacles being prominent in it. Coun. Cottee was to raise the matter with Sue Jacques at County Hall. Contact would be made with the owners of the land alongside the affected areas of the water course.
The clerk, Mike Elliot, said Goodacre Close has been accepted as name for the new housing development off London Lane.
A Mobile ramp has been purchased by the village hall for the emergency exit at the hall. It had cost £94 and the village hall committee had agreed to pay half the cost, with the parish council meeting the other half.
The council did not agree with Notts County Council who had said they did not feel the possible development at Six Hills would have any serious impact in Nottinghamshire. .
Report from Borough and County Council member: Coun. Cottee reported he had highways as one of the responsibilities at County Hall.
He said an announcement would be made shortly in regard to current suggestions they had for future treatment of rural roads. The meeting was told by Coun. Cottee the borough were planning to impose a 200 per cent council tax on any property empty for more than six month as well as an increase in the Borough precept.
Keep Britain Tidy Group advised of a litter pick weekend for March 2-4 but members said it did not feel able to take part, preferring to choose its own dates.
Notts County Council highways officer Paula Johnson wrote in regard to highway signs on Church Lane, saying they were felt to be adequate. The clerk was to write to say the area of concern was at the point where spring loaded gates on the route catered for those using the right of way across the lane.
The council confirmed their support for the need for an extra highways warning sign on Back Lane. Notts County Council CVS team funding for Great War commemorations paperwork was to be forwarded to the parish church.
The clerk said the matter of the way a parish council was to deal with the question of new Data Protection Regulations and the need for the Appointment of Data Protection Officer was still not clear and he was asked to approach the authorities for the necessary clarification.
Notts County Council Local Improvement Scheme was discussed and the clerk was asked to contact them with a view to seek funding for new spring loaded gates for the footpath across Church Lane.
Coun. Ivan Stockley raised the question of the system used by the council for making planning decisions by use of email comments and said when a majority of members had the same opinion on an application he was happy that constituted a decision but wished to see any relevant comments that may be expressed being shown when the return was made to the Borough.
Finance: Budget and precept: Members discussed a budget report presented by the clerk and after detailed changes involving agreement of a figure of £1000 to be set aside for possible grant funding to the village hall and a figure of £700 for hedge laying work on the parish field instead of a suggested £1200, a precept requirement of £10,606 was proposed, seconded and approved unanimously as the 2018-9 requirement.
Neighbourhood Plan: A letter from Jenny Kirkwood outlining the suggested requirements for the progress of establishing a Neighbourhood Plan scheme was discussed. It was agreed to call a public meeting to test the interest from the village. When arranged, the date would be made known in the Three Ws magazine and Mrs Kirkwood would be asked to provide an article outlining the reasons for the meeting. Notices would be displayed on the website and Facebook as well as on notice boards. The question of a leaflet drop was also to be considered.
Parish field: The council accepted the contents of the letter to be agreed with Mr Mike Needham as the new tenant of the Parish Field. He had intimated he would not be looking to allow use of intended hides by other people. The agreement would operate from January 1, 2018. The question of the gate to the field was that the current one be left in situ at least for the time being.
Commemoration of the end of WW1: Coun. Don Aldiss said letters had been sent to 12 organisations/groups. Coun. Aldiss was to be one of the parish council representatives on the proposed village group and Coun. Neil Clifton was to be invited to be the second.
SPONSORED SLEEPOVER. The parish church of St Mary and All Saints at Willoughby on the Wolds are to stage a sponsored sleepover in their church in support of Framework Homelessness Sunday.
The sleepover will take place in church on Friday, January 26, with those supporting the effort being asked to take a sleeping bag with them.
Sponsor forms and details available from Celtria wotwchurch@gmail.com or 01509 880932.
Wymeswold
DECEMBER REPORT FROM WYMESWOLD PARISH COUNCIL. Police Report. During the month of December 2017 we are pleased to report there were no crimes reported in Wymeswold. Wymeswold Pharmacy. The December pharmacy report shows that they were only 26 items short of their target, put into context that is fewer than 20 people a month, 5 a week so keep supporting your pharmacy to help it stay open! No.8 Bus Update The County Council has a number of long term contracts for local bus services which come to an end early this year. The Council is developing a new Passenger Transport Policy (PTP) to seek to ensure that it achieves best value for money in supporting public transport services and meets essential travel needs in the most effective way. It is anticipated that consultations on a draft PTP will take place in Spring/Summer 2018, with adoption of a final PTP in Autumn 2018 and full implementation from 1st April 2019.
The period between adoption and full implementation will allow existing supported passenger transport services to be reviewed against the new PTP.
In the meantime, where contracts for supported services are due to expire before that date, the County Council has made the operational decision to renew them until June 2019. This is good news for Wymeswold as the contract with Centrebus for the number 8 service had been due to expire at the end of March 2018 but will now continue until June 2019. Airfield Noise. The Parish Council is still collecting signatures for a petition to be presented to Charnwood Borough Council. The petition is available in the pharmacy and Granvilles for you to sign.
If you are affected by the noise and consider it a nuisance please do make the effort to sign our petition. If you cannot access the two locations please get in touch with the clerk - Alice Gardam, wymeswoldpc@ hotmail.co.uk or telephone 01509 881664.
The next meeting of Wymeswold Parish Council will be held on Monday, February 5, in the Sports Pavilion, Burton Lane, Wymeswold, starting at 7pm. All parishioners are welcome to attend.