Annual Parish Meeting 2009

April 22nd 2009

The Annual Parish Meeting for Helmdon was held on Wednesday 22nd April 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Reading Room.

Approximately twenty members of the public attended the meeting, which featured an interesting and packed agenda.

Cllr. Peter Burns, chairman of Helmdon Parish Council, chaired the meeting and gave a brief report on the activities of the Parish Council during the past twelve months. The focus has been on addressing flooding issues in the centre of the village and good progress has been made. The Parish Council has worked with the Highways Agency, Anglian Water and residents to find solutions. Cllr Burns is confident that some of the minor improvements will add up to make a real difference but added “of course we won’t know until we have more heavy rain”.

Parish Council Clerk, Liz Hart then gave a report on the Council’s finances for the year ending 31 March 2009. The Council spent £20,285 in the year and finished with £16,951 in the bank. £7,381 was spent refurbishing play equipment on the school field with a further £2,000 granted to the school for equipment. The precept for 09/10 is £10,279, unchanged from 08/09.

PC Gez Shillito then gave a report on the crime figures for the village, which continue to be extremely low:

The high number of criminal damage crimes were related to a single incident on Station Road in September 2008.

PC Shillito said that police were dealing with a number of thefts in the Brackley area of heating fuel and lead from roofs – both of which are attractive and saleable materials in the current economic climate.

Following the departure of PCSO Suzanne Bourne the Brackley Rural Team will shortly be bolstered by the addition of PCSO Charlotte Whitehead, who will make herself known to villagers and will attend the Reading Room on Thursdays for the Drop-In.

If anyone wishes to get more involved in local policing the Brackley Rural Team have set up a Community Panel, which meets alternately in Croughton and Syresham. The meetings discuss the issues currently causing concern in the area and agree with local people the three community priorities to work on during subsequent weeks. The meetings are open to everyone and the next one will be on Tuesday 2 June at Croughton Village Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Cllr Andrew Grant, Helmdon’s county councillor, gave a short presentation on what was happening on a county-wide basis. He said he was delighted to be able to use part of his £10,000 Councillor Empowerment funding in Helmdon supporting the development of the play equipment at the school and also making a small grant to Helmdon Acorns. Cllr Grant also gave a commitment to help Helmdon secure its fair share of the £1.5 million Rightracks funding, which aims to make roads in the area, including the B4525, safer. Northamptonshire County Council has been awarded the grant under a government scheme to reduce road casualties and the Rightracks zone includes some of the areas most problematical routes. Cllr. Grant also indicated that if and when legislation was changed to allow 20 mph zones to be enforceable that the County Council would be looking at the possibility of introducing these outside primary schools.

Helmdon’s district councillor, Cllr Robin Digby, then outlined the reorganisation and restructuring that SNC has been going through in the past twelve months, which has resulted in efficiency savings of £900,000. Cllr. Digby, who is portfolio holder for planning and development control, said that SNC had a target of building 330 houses per year for the next five years in the district, a proportion of which must be affordable social housing. This represents significant development pressure for the area and although Helmdon is not currently earmarked for any significant development all villages are likely to be affected in one way or another. Cllr. Digby said that South Northants Homes are considering a site in the village for a small affordable housing development but no firm proposals have yet been made.

Eleven village groups and organisations then gave a quick update on their activities for the year. The biggest news was the announcement by John Coatsworth from the Helmdon Carnival Committee that there will be no Helmdon Carnival in 2009 due to lack of people coming forward to help organise it. John said that a public meeting would be held in the autumn to see if people wanted to hold a Carnival in 2010 or whether the event had run its course. All the activities in Helmdon require public support and it can’t all be done by the same “usual suspects” year in year out.

The Annual Parish Meeting is a great opportunity to celebrate all that is good about Helmdon and it was evident from all the reports just how much goes on in the parish. There is literally something for everyone, so whether you are 2 years old or 90 years old you’ll find a group that caters for you – you can find all the details on the Village Organisations page.

Peter Burns concluded the meeting by reminding everyone that the Village of the Year judges’ visit will take place on Monday 27th April at 10:00 a.m. at the school. All village representatives welcome. He also drew people’s attention to the special St George’s Day service at the church on Sunday 26th April.

I came away from this year’s Annual Parish Meeting with a very warm feeling. It could have been the wine and nibbles generously laid on by Helmdon Parish Council, but it could also have been the annual reminder of just what a splendid place Helmdon is!

Next year’s meeting will be held on 28th April 2010, so put the date in your diary now!

Danny Moody

Links in this section >>
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2008
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2007
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2006
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2005
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2004
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2003
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2002
Report on the Annual Parish Meeting in 2001