Ufford Parish Council Report
1.    The City Council`s Design and Development consultation document was discussed.  It includes some general village policies and each of the 10 villages which had in the past prepared a Village Design Statement, including Ufford, has its own policies which will be used as a Supplementary Planning Document when decisions are being made about planning applications.  The parish council agreed to ask for an additional policy relating to tandem, backland and piecemeal development because this is not included as a general policy.  Please ask one of the councillors if you would like to see this important new planning document.

2.    The Speed Signs are now promised by the end of March.

3.    An additional weapon to slow down speeding traffic is the Speed Watch system.  This equipment, bought by Barnack Ward, is being shared with neighbouring villages and team leaders have now been trained.  More volunteers would be very welcome, so please let Marian know if you would like to volunteer.

4.    There was another reported near-miss at the King Street and Marholm Road junction a week ago.  Road safety at this junction is already being investigated by the parish council.  This latest event has been reported to Norm who asks us to make a note of times and dates.  Please do this and let Keith know so that we have some detailed evidence.

5.     Dog fouling on verges, public footpaths and even on non-dog-owning-residents` lawns is being reported to the parish council and we are researching signs and dog waste bins.   Would anyone with a camera like to volunteer as a dog warden as we need some action photographs? The next UPC meeting will be on Tuesday April 12th at 7.30pm.   

Southorpe Parish Council
The Parish Council met on Monday 7 March; David Over has advised that PC Norm McCallum has now taken on responsibility for policing at the new Peterborough hospital and so will not be available to the villages for as many hours. With an increase in crime in the village, this is of some alarm and the Clerk will write to the Chief Constable to express concern.

The 2010 Peterborough City Council Environmental Projects Grant has been used to buy bird boxes for the playing field and £500 from the Parish Environmental Funds have been used to purchase 42 nest boxes for residents. The boxes were offered to all villagers and a successful distribution day took place one weekend in February, all the boxes were found willing new owners.

The proposed pond on Walcot estate land is expected to be dug very soon, it will be sited within 5 metres of the footpath and it’s hoped it will provide a valuable wildlife habitat. Natural England has approved the plan.
The benches in the parish playing field and the notice board in Main Street are looking worn and will be given a coat of preservative.  The Clerk will investigate the cost of replacing the old notice board in the bus shelter on Walcot Road with a new glazed board.

Planning Services at PCC are carrying out a survey of listed buildings for the local buildings at risk register and have asked if there are any buildings known to be in a poor condition in the village; none have been identified.

The next Parish Council meeting will take place on Monday 16 May at Farrendon starting at 6.30pm and will be followed at 7pm by the AGM and the Annual Meeting. All residents are welcome to attend.

Barnack Parish Council
The Barnack Annual Village Assembly was held on Monday 14 March, when reports from the Parish Council, PC Norman McCallum, The Tree Warden, Barnack Methodist Church, Barnack Baptist Church, Barnack Parish Church, Barnack Pre School, The Friends of Barnack Church, The Horticultural Show and The Outdoor Bowls Club were presented. The Pre School spoke of their future plans and showed pictures of their new building, which is now in use. The Parish Council report included the many areas of village development this year, the Airey House site development in Uffington Road, where the new road will be called Paynes Close, the new village pavilion, which is now nearing completion, and will be available for hire by the village in the same way as the village hall is hired, but with the cricket club having priority use during their playing season, and the replacement of the churchyard path where work will begin in the very near future. The B1443 weight limit is now permanent and the 29 m.p.h. speed limit in School Road, Millstone Lane and the western end of Bainton Road will soon be installed. Apologies were received from Councillor David Over, City Councillor, Mr Stuart Wainwright, the head of Barnack School, and Dr. Ian Burrows and Mr Harry Brassey, parish councillors. Reports from The Women’s Institute and the Bridge Club had been sent. Refreshments were served before the meeting and the date of the next Village Assembly will be Monday 12 March 2012. The March meeting of the Parish Council followed the Village Assembly.

The speedwatch co-ordinators had met during the month and the speed watch camera will now be in use in Barnack and Pilsgate every month. More volunteers are still needed for this work and PC Norman McCallum will give training in the use of the equipment to all new volunteers. Please contact either the Parish Clerk, PC Norman McCallum or the Barnack speedwatch co-ordinator, Mr Mike Cannon, if you would be prepared to help with this important work. It will not take a great deal of your time but with more volunteers the speedwatch programme will become more effective in cutting the speeding traffic through Barnack and Pilsgate. There has unfortunately been consistent vandalism to the newly planted trees between Pilsgate and Pilsgate Hill. Please will all residents be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to PC Norman McCallum as vandalism is a criminal offence. Planning consent has been granted by PCC for advertisement flags at the Uffington Road Development and the new entrance doors at Barnack School.  Plans for a rabbit breeding barn, a polytunnel and a septic tank were refused for open farm land to the west of the Uffington Road.  A tree planning application was presented for the pruning of trees in the garden of Treasham Lodge. There were no objections. The financial statement, the budget control and bank reconciliation sheets were approved and reports presented from the Sports Pavilion committee and PC Norman McCallam. A number of village maintenance items and areas needing attention were raised in Highways and Village matters and the Open Forum, which will all be address by the parish council before the next meeting.

The next Parish Council meeting will take place in the Village Hall at 7.30 p.m on Mon 11 April 2011

Policing in our villages
Barnack Parish Council has learned that in a reorganisation of police time PC Norman McCallum now has to spend a third of his time at Peterborough City Hospital as it is apparently considered that the very low crime rate in the rural areas does not justify a full time police presence. Therefore it is essential that we all report any suspicious behaviour and all crimes, however small, to Thorpe Wood Police Station, so that a crime number is allocated as these crime numbers are used as evidence for the requirements of police time. Often in rural villages incidents happen that residents just deal themselves with or overlook, but in future all crimes need to be reported so that we do not lose a police presence in our villages altogether. If there is no police presence the crime rate will soon soar, but by then it will be too late. We thankfully have a low crime rate due to the hard work and constant vigilance of PC McCallum.

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