Annual Report 2010-2011
Parish Councillors
Shaun Ambrose-Jones (Chairman)
21 Fox Road, Castle Donington. DE74 2UN. Telephone: 01332-811308
Wendy Bird
48 Queensway, Castle Donington DE74 2XQ. Telephone: 07812 667535 (afternoons)
Colin Burton (Chairman Recreation)
1 Harcourt Place, Castle Donington, Derby. DE74 2XJ. Telephone: 01332-850577
Gerald Dalby
Dalbie House, 72 High Street, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2PP.
Telephone: 01332-810210
Neil Daykin
12 Salter Close, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2XD. Telephone: 01332-850552
Robert Else
Hall Farm House, 9 High Street, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2PP.
Telephone: 01332-812813
Chris Hills
7 Hemington Hill, Hemington, Derby DE74 2RA. Telephone: 01332-850290
Gary Roberts
The Old Slaughterhouse, Park Lane, Castle Donington, DE74 2RS.
Telephone: 01332-812696
Tony Saffell (Vice- Chairman and Amenities Chairman)
6, Barn Close Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2XQ. Telephone: 01332-810706
Darran Snow
The Old Bakery, 57/59 Bondgate, Castle Donington. DE74 2NR.
Telephone: 01332-391044
Angus Sowter (Chairman Planning)
10 Clapgun Street, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2LE. Telephone: 01332-810273
Courtney Vaughan,
30 Hall Farm Close, Castle Donington, DE74 2NG, Telephone: 01332-853922
Derek Wintle
17 Routh Avenue, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74. Telephone: 01332-811079
Council Staff
Fiona Palmer (Parish Clerk)
01332 810432, clerk@cdpc.org.uk
Jan Reeder-Hills (Admin Assistant)
01332-810432, admin@cdpc.org.uk
Martyn Lee (Cemetery caretaker and Groundsman)
077773810242
Barbara Atkin (Spital Pavilion caretaker and bookings officer)
07941559951, bookingscdpc@googlemail.com
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
1
Summary of Accounts 01/04/2010 to 31/03/2011
Income
Bank Interest
Precept
Grounds Maintenance
Admin
Staff salaries
Allotments
Cemetery
Parish Functions
Recreation
Capital Programmes
House Rent
Total Income
Year End
31/3/11 (£)
409.41
151,536.00
60.00
213.54
0.00
3,336.31
9,114.80
8,827.42
11,577.68
27,641.25
1,950.00
214,666.41
Expenditure
Bank Interest
Grounds Maintenance Contract
Dog Bin Contract
Admin
Staff salaries
Allotments
Fuel
Cemetery
Parish Functions
S137
Recreation
Capital Programmes
Provisions for bad Debts
Total Expenditure
0.64
22,946.08
2,927.12
25,782.91
68,080.72
2,062.51
558.27
3,341.24
15,326.34
3,710.00
20,745.31
32,231.89
0.00
197,713.03
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
2
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Having attended several of these meetings in the past it has struck me that, by nature,
they do tend to be rather dull affairs. I may also have a quirky sense of humour but it but
it has also struck me that these meetings bear a striking resemblance to a scene from
the Monty Python movie, The Life of Brian, namely the one where the Israelites, in
rebellious mood, aggressively ask, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” and then
proceed with an impressive list which includes, health & sanitation improvements,
running water, better roads, education etc.
I do not wish to be flippant but in a similar style I want to start with the rhetorical
question, “What has Castle Donington Parish Council ever done for us?”
Well the Parish Council provides and maintains twelve children’s play areas, a skate
park and four formal recreational sports grounds. It takes care of a multitude of litter and
dog bins on Parish Council land. It manages and maintains the Barroon Cemetery and
nearly two hundred Turf Allotments off Delven Lane. It provides floral displays in the
guise of hanging baskets in the Summer and the festive lighting at Christmas. It makes
grant donations for the upkeep of St Edward’s Church clock and lights as well as other
deserving institutions including the Museum, Volunteer Bureau and First Responders. It
works with the police on issues such as the nuisance of car cruising through the village.
It represents the community in dealings with the airport constantly trying to encourage
them to become better neighbours and ensures the race track adheres to its operational
licences. As a formal consultative body the Parish Council leads from the front on all
planning issues investing a huge amount of time for example in understanding and
portraying local concerns with the 275 house development north of Park Lane, the even
larger 925 house development north and south of Park Lane and in trying to restrict the
height of the new, half mile wide, million square feet, M&S Building on EMDC.
Apart from all that, “What else have Castle Donington Parish Council ever done for us?”
Well the most significant thing left, for me personally, is the most rewarding: The Parish
Council spends a great of energy and effort in promoting a sense of community, most
notably through four annual events, which in chronological order are: The Mediaeval May
Market; Music in the Park; The Wakes Fair and the Christmas Cheer Event. If promoting
a sense of community in these increasingly, broken society times, isn’t a worthy notion
then I’m not sure what is. Without the Parish Council working hard and most of the
Councillors themselves devoting their own free time to set up and steward these events,
they simply couldn’t happen.
So in a marginal drift from the context, “Well apart from all that what has Castle
Donington Parish Council actually done for us in the last year?”
Excluding the almost incessant work on the specific planning applications already
mentioned. There’s been our support of the residents’ concerns regarding the Towles
Pastures development and our fight to make the best of the, on balance, rather botched
job of so called improvements to our bus station. Currently underway is the removal of
the old NWLDC toilets which should allow the land to be passed to the Parish Council so
we can add another bus shelter, a bin and a local finger-signpost. Planning remains for
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
3
me the most frustrating of responsibilities as we do tend to be ignored by the Planning
Officers at NWLDC even though history suggests we have valuable input. For example
this Parish Council foresaw the problems of having a play area directly in front of
properties on Glover Road, a mistake they seem to be making again at Towles Pastures.
Frustrating though it is we still put the effort in to make our case and we live in hope that
the proposed changes to Planning Laws make the future situation better and not worse.
This year has also seen the re-opening of Donington Park race track. We know and
acknowledge that there are concerns regarding noise and traffic but on the whole an
active circuit is largely considered a good thing for the village as it stimulates and
enhances the local economy. This in turn provides us villagers with more choices of
shops and restaurants and no doubt has helped in having Borough Street full of active
businesses again. This is a very welcome sight. If the heart of a village doesn’t thrive we
can’t expect much else to.
With the race track re-opening we have been able to renegotiate the Sunday Market
rent. Although markets are no longer as “marketable” as they once were, especially if we
discourage counterfeiters, this rent supplements the income the Parish Council has to
spend allowing us to take on bigger projects such as fixing the bowing wall on the Pig
Alley jitty. This is a current priority for us.
“Okay well apart from all that what has the Castle Donington Parish Council done for us
this year?”
Well we were credited with being the major instigator of the change of policy from
Leicestershire County Council with regard to gypsy and traveller encampments. The
head of the newly set up, Multi Agency on Gypsy and Traveller Unit, which works with
the police in this county to liaise more effectively with landowners and quickly move
illegal travellers on was set up primarily thanks to the efforts of Castle Donington Parish
Council. Positively and beneficially effecting new policy for the whole County! Our
influence has also seen both the surgery and Clapgun Street car park steps repaired
when for months NWLDC simply ignored the issues.
In the last year we have also spent hours on some less glamorous work such as totally
reviewing our standing orders and financial regulations plus more recently tweaking them
further having listened to a couple of our now very much increased list of approved
potential contractors.
As budgets tighten and local Government spending cuts start to dig deep the Parish
Council kept the local precept increase to just 5p/week per band D household. Yes it
would have been possible to have had no increase whatsoever but the Parish Council
has already seen additional funding requests being made on us as other local services
and many grant award routes are cut. If all we can do is ensure the Volunteer bus can
still take elderly residents to hospital appointments then we felt it was a small price to
pay.
We have also been actively involved in exploring the creation of a local “Hub”; As
finances for District Councils fall away it makes sense for the Government to look for
cheaper ways of delivering services and as Parish Councillors receive no pay for what
they do, Parish Councils remain, potentially, the most cost effective conduit for the
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
4
delivery of local public services. As the only active Parish Council on this topic in the
district, Castle Donington has been earmarked money to explore the setting up of a
community building to house the library, Volunteer Bureau, Police and Parish Council.
This is likely to lead to the Castle Donington Parish Council probably serving the whole
of the wider “Valley” Community. This topic Councillor Hills will cover in more detail later
this evening.
So having hopefully justified some of the worthiness of Castle Donington Parish Council I
would also like to finish with some personal acknowledgements: Firstly I would like to
thank the police; both Glenn Musgrove and PCSA Tim Hulse are forged with a
community spirit and do so much more than their basic job. Castle Donington is certainly
a much better place because of them.
I would also like to thank all those people who worked for the “Big Society” before the
expression was even coined. This country just wouldn’t be the same place without the
unflinching efforts of the few. All those School Governors, Scout Leaders, Sports’
Coaches, Museum Committee members, Community Organisers and everyone else who
freely gives of their personal time to help others. I thank and salute you.
Also, as part of this “Big Society” group, I’d like to thank my fellow Parish Councillors for
their support this year. I can not say we have been without politics with a small “p” but I
do believe the Council has been more united than in many recent years. So I’d like to
thank you all for that and enhance my gratitude for those who very actively supported the
Community Events.
It would be wrong too to let the year end without expressing my personal thanks to the
Parish Council team of Martyn Lee who does sterling work in maintaining the grounds
and being the much appreciated village handyman. To Jan Reeder-Hills our Admin
Assistant who is the font of all planning knowledge and quite a lot else besides and to
Fiona Palmer our Clerk who gives up countless evenings to listen to a bunch of old
cronies, sorry I mean Councillors, trying to resolve various local matters, which she then
has the job of activating as her day job. I did want to add that Fiona, with some
encouragement from the Chairman, has now completed 20 of the 24 modules required to
achieve CILCA status. This I hope my successor continues to encourage as with a fully
qualified Clerk we should be able to move to become accredited as a Quality Council
and hopefully have even greater influence on our local issues.
Following on from this we will hear reports from the Chairs of our individual committees,
Planning, Recreation and Amenities plus an update on the local Hub. Not everything we
do is scintillating but I remain hopeful that if you ever hear a question along the lines of,
“What has Castle Donington Parish Council ever done for us?” you remember that
actually, there is a constructive answer.
Thank you
Shaun Ambrose-Jones
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
7th April 2011
5
COUNCILLORS ATTENDANCE 2010-11
Full Council
Councillor
S Ambrose-Jones: Chairman
A C Saffell: Vice-Chairman
C Burton
C G Dalby
N Daykin
W Bird
R Else
C Hills
P Lynch
G Roberts
D Snow
A G Sowter
C Vaughan
D H Wintle
attendance
91%
100%
82%
91%
82%
64%
55%
73%
9%
91%
55%
100%
18%
91%
Overall
attendance
97%
97%
92%
79%
79%
78%
74%
82%
9%
87%
53%
95%
42%
87%
RECREATION COMMITTEE
I would like to report on the activities of the Recreation Committee for the past Council
year 2010/2011. The Committee is responsible for all areas judged as for recreational
activities within the Parish of Castle Donington.
The largest financial outlay within the Recreational budget is ground work and mowing
which is carried out by the contactors, White Lodge Ground Care who are now in the
third year of a four year contract. They are responsible for the mowing and groundwork
for all the parish’s open spaces, play areas, St Edward’s churchyard, Barroon Cemetery,
Spital park and the Turf Garden allotments; also this year, 2011, the Parish Council has
agreed to mow and maintain both north and south entrances to the Village.
As outlined in last year’s Report, the Recreation Committee initiated a 4 – year forward
plan for the improvement and upgrading of all play areas. I am pleased to announce that
this is now underway: Bosworth Road play area has had new equipment installed which
was part funded by the Valley Forum initiative; we have also now approved work to be
undertaken on both the Stonehill and Grange Drive play areas.
It was reported at last year’s meeting that a working party be formed to look at the
enhancement of the Moira Dale facilities. This is still progressing and has the inclusion
of extra parking spaces.
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
6
The Spital Pavilion is, I am pleased to say, being used much more than this time last
year with bookings from a variety of non-sporting areas. The Pavilion, albeit new, has
had a few teething problems and currently we are having to assess damage caused by a
severe water leak that has put two changing rooms out of use.
The Spital pitches are also still well used and the programme of pitch maintenance and
improvement as initiated last year has started and is now ongoing.
The allotments are still in great demand. It was reported last year that new plots were to
be created: overall 19 new plots were formed and, along with the natural turnover of
tenants, the then waiting list of 35 prospective tenants was reduced to nil, however we
currently have a further 14 currently on the waiting list. There is now 5 vacant plots
recently rotovated, given up by tenants, plus 6 that the tenants will be asked to vacate
due to continuous poor maintenance/
Finally I would like to thank the Recreation Committee for their support, our Cemetery
Caretaker cum general handyman Martyn for all the hard work he has put in, much of it
in his own time; also to thank Fiona our Clerk and Jan our Admin for all the hard work
and support they have given, along with the many hours of their unpaid homework.
Thank you
April 2011
Councillor Colin Burton
AMENITIES COMMITTEE
This year we have had a number of successful events and I am sure these will continue.
As long as the Council manages to provide these at zero cost for the Council Tax payer,
our Fun Events have to be self funding by resolution of the Council.
Our first Event was Music in the Park on 12th September, it is only the second of these
full afternoon events and we decided to change things around a little to make better use
of the “sponsorship” money we receive principally from Live Nation, the company behind
the “Download Festival”, but also East Midlands Airport and Rolls-Royce. The show
again was composed of 6 bands in 6 hours running from 12 noon until just after 6pm.
With money saved from finding a much cheaper supplier for the Stage and Sound
system, we were able to spend far more on the acts. We were able to tie up with
Henderson Management, who supplied both a Michael Jackson and Take That Tribute
Bands. They both proved a huge hit with the large crowd. The support acts were Funk
House (a local Band of Teenagers), Leicester Co-op Brass Band, Tin Soldier (local
ageing Rock Legends) and the Judy Nicol Big Band (A collection of Musicians from the
Loughborough area playing Big Band Jazz). This is a real Community Event which
everyone who attends enjoys as a Sunday Afternoon Picnic with Entertainment. The
Council has now decided to make this an Annual event and we are already making
preparations for the next one which will be earlier in the year in early July. We will be
following a similar formula as last year and Henderson Management have again come
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
7
up with 2 great acts, we also have a mysterious entertainer called Lionel Vinyl who will
be linking the show together.
In October we again welcomed the Annual Wakes, once again the public came out in
their hundreds to enjoy one of the most popular street fairs in the area. The whole event
was well policed and marshalled, consequently there was no trouble to report.
The Christmas Cheer Event was next on the first Friday in December. This followed the
well established formula with Children singing Carols and Father Christmas putting in an
appearance. I still think we have to find a way of producing snow on demand. This year
it was very cold, we needed to clear snow away to make the Market Place safe for the
crowds. As chairman of the organising committee I think everyone involved deserves a
big thank you for the amount of effort put in to making this particular event a success in
very difficult conditions.
We are also planning the 2011 May Market which is now a well established event. It’s a
great event for village charities to make some money and nearly everyone joins in the
atmosphere by dressing up. Our two photographers take dozens of photographs and
various websites are full of photos of Our May Market.
The War Memorial has had its restoration work completed and is now listed.
The night time illumination of St. Edwards Church continues to show one of our oldest
buildings in a good light and both the Church Yard and Cemetery are among the best
kept in the area.
It has once again been a very busy year for my committee and in a short report it is not
possible to list everything so these are just some of the main items or events.
I would therefore like to thank publicly our Staff and Contractors, particularly Fiona, Jan
and Martyn for all their help and advice. There is also a hardy band of Councillors who
turn up and help at every event and again I would particularly mention Chris, Colin,
Robert, Gary and Shaun.
It has been a pleasure to work with such a great team, for the benefit of our Community.
Tony Saffell
April 2011
PLANNING COMMITTEE
The last 12 months has seen a decline in individual residential planning applications,
reflecting the national economic climate, but the Parish has seen significant
developments with outline planning permission coming forward highlighting our location
in the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ and pointing to an imminent, if slow, economic
recovery. The Council must continue to be vigilant and work and plan to mitigate the
effect of these large scale developments on the community.
We must monitor all variation submissions to ensure we don’t end up with a development
substantially different from that which was given planning permission. To aid the Parish
Council to more easily comment on proposed variations to both domestic plans, large
scale development plans and commercial conditions the North West Leicestershire
District Council Planning Dept, has been asked to instruct all applicants to highlight in lay
terms the exact nature of variations when submitting revised plans.
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
8
Significant changes in the planning system are being introduced which should give local
councils more input into the planning process and we should use this localism and the
devolved powers to attempt to restrict the relentless demand to yield to unsolicited
development pressures, especially where premium agricultural land is under threat. This
having been said, I believe there is an obligation to consider our advantageous and
strategic location and accept a finite share of future development, this should be
considered when all alternatives have been fully investigated and be driven by need
NOT greed.
This year planning permissions have been granted for the extension of the runway at
East Midlands Airport, the construction of a 1,000,000 sq ft warehouse facility for Marks
& Spencer on the East Midlands Distribution Centre, and the construction of 275 homes
in the north west quarter of the village. Future proposals, which may well turn into a firm
application during the coming year, are for a further 900 houses in the south west quarter
of the village, expansion of industrial development within Donington Park Motor Racing
Circuit and a possible extension of unsilenced racing and testing days and further
encroachment into the countryside by the East Midlands Airport Authority, which is
acquiring land all around the current boundary; it is at an advanced proposal stage for a
25,000 photo-voltaic panel solar energy farm south of the A453 (contrary to our Council
policy) and also supports the creation of a Strategic Rail Freight Interchange and
Distribution Site between the airport, A453, M1, A50 and Castle Donington.
Looking out from the Chairman’s perspective I believe as a policy for the foreseeable
future we should resist at domestic, residential level the division of existing plots so that
a mix of house and garden sizes is retained for future generations.
As regards future residential development I believe the Council may have to yield to an
amount of new build in the south west quarter of the village to help provide and part fund
a much needed western relief road. However the Council should seek to phase this
development over a longer period than currently being talked about. The Western
Perimeter Road should then become just that with green spaces being declared
sacrosanct to the west of that road; as should be the green buffers between the village
and the Motor Racing Circuit, the Airport, Hemington and Lockington and the A50. The
only other residential development, which then may be acceptable, would be a possible
social housing / retirement village on a brown field site (suggest current factory units half
empty and of Victorian origin) around Victoria Street.
I think that this Parish has accepted more than its fair share of industrial development
and once the current Willow Farm, EMDC, EMA within its 2009 boundaries and strictly
for airport related use, and Donington Park within its current boundaries and strictly for
motor sport related development, NO FURTHER INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
SHOULD BE ENTERTAINED OR SUPPORTED WITHIN 5km of Castle Donington
centre.
I make no apology for not reporting the minutiae of the past year, which is adequately
minuted, in the belief that it is in the year ahead that the Planning Committee’s efforts,
and indeed those of the full Council must be concentrated to maintain our large village /
small town identity in the face of enormous outside pressures.
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
9
Cllr Angus Sowter
Planning Committee Chairman 2010-11
Approved by Full Council 30/6/2011
10