Parish Council News - October 2012

Councillors agreed to fund the balance to improve the BMX track at the playing field. Councillor Holden reported that he has obtained grants for the bulk of the project. It is also hoped that the windows at the Pavilion can be replaced shortly.

It has been a long drawn out process to obtain views from the County Council regarding the possibility of having a seat by the bus stop at the Church. This is still ongoing and hopefully there will be news about this soon.

A dropped kerb has been placed by the Reading Room, allowing better access from the western approach, and this has been funded out of County Councillor Kelly’s budget. At the request of the Parish Council, he has also been liaising with the County Council looking into the possibility of parking bays behind the Church. The Parish Council are keen to preserve the historical element but would like the area tidied up and feel that parking bays could minimise access problems.  

At the time of writing this, it is very likely that there will be no meeting in December, which is always a busy time for most people. However, this cannot be confirmed for definite so do please check Notice Boards and the website nearer the time.

It has been a hectic year for the Council, as ever, and on their behalf, I wish you all a Happy Christmas and Best wishes for 2013.

Margaret Davenport
Clerk to Ovingham Parish Council

Country Park - Half Term Activities

Click on the image to find details of the activities on offer at the Riverside Park during half term.

Parking at the back of the Church

On Tuesday 23rd of October, we met on the North side of the Church to discuss the problems with vehicles that arise there. Paul Kelly (Northumberland County Counsellor) would like to channel some funds towards getting the parking in this area sorted out. He was there, along with a roads Engineer, three parish counsellors and a representative of the Church.

A new surface is badly needed. Apart from the obvious puddles that form, a lack of marked parking bays causes haphazard parking that blocks not just residents and visitor cars, but bin collections, ambulances and fire appliances. All these services have encountered problems...when a fire was started in a cottage in the Dene, the fire service were unable to get to it and it burned to the ground.

Unfortunately, this isn't an easy nut to crack. Further investigations are required to establish who actually owns the land. The parish council, the Church or the County Highways. Further complications arise from the foundations of old cottages that used to stand on the site. Currently the stones are at ground level and provide a nice historical feature that adds character to Ovingham and a link to the past. It would be a pity to loose these, but tarmac is costly and costs more when it has to be spread in and out of old stoneworks.

Further problems emerged...the length and width of a standard parking bay, plus the space needed to enter and exit, is far larger than the space available. The engineer will make detailed measurements and attempt to come up with a layout that fits, and leaves room for passing.

There will no doubt be more discussion on this subject at Parish meetings in the next few months.

At last, a new youth club session!

It's taken a long time but at last we have now managed to get a new session set up for youngsters based on the playing field.
Ashley and Sarah are pitching up every Thursday from 5pm to 7pm with their newly kitted out mobile youth centre . WNYS (West Northumberland Youth Service) is the NCC youth service that now covers our area.

The bus has state-of-the-art video games, heating, games equipment and much, much more. They will use it in conjunction with the pavilion where pool, toast and soft drinks will be available. As the word goes round, it's hoped that more and more youngsters will come along and enjoy the activities on offer.
The parish council has funded several visits and it is hoped to secure more funding to extend these visits even further.

Parish Council News - September 2012

September brought a lively meeting with many issues being discussed.

Cllr Jordon gave an update on the impact on the flooding in the Village but unfortunately, since the meeting, further heavy rain has led to flooding down Horsley Road and by the Schools. The latter problem has been confirmed as arising from a drainage pipe on St. Andrews Lane that has caused run off down the fields. This has been reported to Northumberland County Council. The stepping-stones have been damaged and this has also been reported.  

The results of the parish plan questionnaire are available on the website. The Action plan is also available to view. [Ed: See previous post on where to find the links].

Expenditure was a main topic and figures are being obtained for next year’s precept allowance. In the meantime, it is hoped that the windows in the Pavilion can be replaced soon and possibly improvements made to the BMX track. The Community Officer for Northumbria Police has requested a donation for a mobile speeding device and he has been invited to the next meeting to give the Councillors more details.  

The November meeting has been put back a week due to elections being held on 15^th November in the Reading Room (for the Police & Crime Commissioner) and therefore the next meeting will take place on 22^nd November at 7.15pm.

Margaret Davenport

Village Questionnaire

The response to the village questionnaire was excellent with nearly 200 being returned. It's taken us quite some time to collate the responses and formulate an action plan but you can now see the results.
If you go to the 'What We Do' page on the website, there are three links which (providing you've got Adobe Reader or similar) will download (a) the collated results from the questionnaires (b) the analysis and commentary and (c) the action plan which the council has drawn up.

The exercise is important to the parish council as it enables us to focus on issues which are of general concern to residents.

Parish Council News 2 - August 2012

Due to there being no meeting in August, and as I am writing this before the September meeting it has been a fairly quiet period for the Parish Council.

The standard of grass cutting or lack of it, in the village continues to be closely monitored. The Councillors know this is one area which causes more complaints from the residents than anything and there have been letters, emails, meetings and phone calls made to both ISOS and Northumberland County Council as a result.  

Following on from the recent flood in Castle View Estate, Northumbrian Water has discovered some of the drains were blocked. Once these have been cleared, which should help minimise risk of flooding in future, it is hoped that a similar operation will be carried out in the Dene Garth Area. Thanks to those residents who have put the time and effort in assisting with the Councillors and authorities.

Having marvelled at the Olympics and the Paralympics, one of our brave Councillors took part in the recent Ovington Water Races, representing the Parish of Ovingham. Despite a hard fought race, the victor was the Parish of Ovington. Training will start early for next year.

Margaret Davenport