In March, the council held a Community Open Day at the parish hall that was well attended by residents and supported by a whole host of clubs and businesses that operate in the parish. It was a most successful day, and my thanks go to all those who helped to make it informative and enjoyable.

What the Council have done in the last 5 years

• Repaired the steps to the church
• Maintained the Garden of Remembrance, Old Burial Ground and New Burial Ground
• Refurbished Pattishall and Eastcote notice boards and a new noticeboard for Eastcote
• Installed Multi Use Games Equipment at Booth Close play area & signage for play areas.
• New dog bins for Blacksmiths Close, School Road, Pattishall, and High Street, Astcote
• Planters by the school and a Commemorative stone for Eastcote Camp
• New hedging in the Old Burial Ground & tree surgery on the site.
• Implemented the Gayton and Tiffield bus service
• Refurbished benches and a new bench in Booth Close play area
• Started Pattishall Parish Council  Facebook
• Supported the school and community events
• Completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a major upgrade of street lighting
• The start of improvements to Festival Road and Leys Road surfaces
• Temporary speed awareness signage around the parish
• Installed a defibrillator for the parish at Pattishall School
• Received a £500 grant for the hall hire of the Community Cafe
• Organised volunteers to help parishioners during the pandemic
• Planted fruit trees for the Platinum Jubilee

What we plan to do in the next 5 years

• Install new play equipment at Booth Close, Butchers Lane and Pattishall Playing Field
• Improve road safety with a 40mph speed limit on Banbury Lane near Millfield Business Park
• Upgrade and install new Speed Indicator Devices
• Yellow lines to be painted at Fosters Booth/A5 junction
• Conduct a survey of trees owned by the Parish Council
• Continue with upgrading the street lighting
• Acquire new burial plots for the parish
• Continue to press for improved safety measures on the A5
• Continue to press for improvements and repair to walkways and roads
• Replace stiles with kissing gates where allowed
• Complete Festival Road and Leys Road surfaces (WNC Highways budget allowing)
• Monitor the church boundary wall and repair when required

Parish Highways developments and actions over the last year: (Nigel Banister)

Temporary 30 MPH / Watch Your Speed signs have been purchased and are periodically moved around the parish.

We have requested Andrea Leadsom’s help in asking for support from National Highways, to add extra calming measures on the A5 through Fosters Booth.

We have requested and had approved a 40-mph speed limit from Millfield Business Park to the existing 30 mph limit on Banbury Lane – this is going through a highways process to be installed.

We have requested and had approved double yellow lines at the top of Fosters Booth Road. This is to support the National Highways Clearway for both sides of this road and onto the A5 which is often ignored, causing traffic problems when this happens. This has cleared the first two steps of formal approval and is now out for public consultation. There is a sign on the lamppost to read at the top of Fosters Booth Road for all residents to view.

Working with Kier (WNC’s highways contractor) we have managed to have significant patching carried out on several parish roads. This includes the worst of the subsidence on Banbury Lane out towards the Dalscote / Bugbrooke crossroads.

Following a meeting with the most senior WNC leader for highways; we have been supported in having the part concrete part tarmac surfaces on Festival Road and the lower section of Leys Road made ready for a final re-surface. This is still awaiting WNC budget approval, and all residents will be advised of the outcome of this decision ASAP.

Street Lighting (Fiona Mytton)

We spend more on street lighting than on any other item in our budget.  We are upgrading our streetlights on a phased basis and have just completed the second year of the programme, during which we have invested £23k.  This year we have replaced 43 sodium lanterns by LED lanterns and installed 43-part night cells.  90% of our lanterns are now LED and 66 % of our lanterns have part night cells.

LED lanterns are more energy efficient and require less maintenance.  Part night cells further reduce the energy the lanterns burn.  We are pleased to report that a recent return from National Grid shows that our streetlights now burn 70% less electricity than they burnt in the period before we began to install LED lanterns.  This reduction has very largely been achieved through the installation of the LED lanterns and part night cells.  This is very good news as energy prices have continued to be high this year.

In recognition that some parishioners expressed concern about the potential increase in crime from part night street lighting, last autumn we analysed crime statistics for the parish provided by Northamptonshire Police.  The analysis showed that there is no evidence to date that the introduction of part night cells has led to an increase in crime in any part of the parish, a finding in line with the experience of other local authorities.  We will complete the upgrading of the streetlights in the next financial year.

Planning and the Parish Council (David Keeble)

We review all local Planning Applications and Determinations each week from the summary issued by West Northants Council. We particularly focus on all those within our Parish, but also consider those in the wider West Northants area which may have an impact on Pattishall.

We discuss Planning Applications at our Parish Council Meetings which members of the public can attend and share their thoughts on Planning Applications. If the Parish Councillors agree we officially comment (Support / Object) on Planning Applications to the Case Officer and our responses are visible on the WNC Planning Portal.

For large local Planning Applications (e.g. DHL at Towcester) we have submitted comments (Objections) on behalf of the Parish during the year and shared updates on our Facebook page and Website.

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a charge levied by the local authority (for us WNC) on new developments. The charge is based on the floor area of the buildings and WNC use the CIL to invest in the infrastructure needed to support new development in their area. As a Parish Council we receive 15% of CIL monies from qualifying developments in Pattishall Parish.

We have received CIL monies from recent developments in Fosters Booth (Watling St) and Butchers Lane, and we hope to receive further CIL monies from other developments in our Parish during 2024 and 2025. The way we can use these CIL monies is defined by legislation and includes the provision, improvement, replacement, operation, and maintenance of our Parish infrastructure, for example roads and footpaths, and sporting and recreational facilities. We will use our CIL money to support the delivery of our Parish 5 Year Plan.

Links with communities, parish infrastructure and environment: School liaison, grants, noticeboards, play equipment, defibrillator, dog bins, wildflower garden, burial plots. (Iris Illingworth)

The Parish Council has continued to maintain links with Pattishall school and take an interest in the activities at the school and its work for the community.

The Parish Council received a grant of £500 towards the Community Cafe for the hire of the hall.

The WI run the cafe with volunteers and an average of 40-50 people attend each session at this successful and well used facility.

Parish notices have been posted on the village notice boards and the parish website is regularly updated with notices.

Three suppliers of play equipment have visited the play areas and submitted quotes for replacement play equipment . The young people of the parish have been consulted and their suggestions have been noted.

The defibrillator has been regularly checked and maintained . It is registered on the map for location by anyone needing it through an emergency 999 call.

Additional dog bins have been installed in the parish.

The churchyard has been planted with more spring bulbs and the canopy has been raised on two large trees.

Maintenance (John Russell)

The following has been completed.

Repaired the steps to the church

Maintained the Garden of Remembrance, Old Burial Ground and New Burial Ground

Refurbished Pattishall and Eastcote notice boards and a new noticeboard for Eastcote

Refurbished benches and a new bench in Booth Close play area

Maintenance to play equipment and tensioning of the Zip Wire on Pattishall Play Area

New signage for play areas

Regularly walked the footpaths (PROWs) and cleared stiles/gates of undergrowth, as necessary.

Repaired broken stiles and reported any major issues to the Rights of Way officer at Kier.

The Plans to undertake the following

Continue refurbishing benches & carry out or arrange for village maintenance when noted.

Monitor the church boundary wall and repair as necessary

Carry out maintenance/repairs to play equipment when noted

Investigate changing some stiles for kissing gates subject to landlord approval

 The council will be displaying red poppies at the Parish Hall in recognition of the 80th anniversary of D Day and the landings at Normandy on 6th June 2024. It is hoped that there will be a peal of bells to signify the day. Further information of any other events will be posted on village notice boards, on the parish website and Facebook pages nearer the time. My thanks are extended to all of those who help and support activities within the parish which fosters a community spirit which makes Pattishall parish a better place to be. Particular thanks go to Linda Hemmings our neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, Andy Stewert for producing Around Pattishall and Bob Illingworth for managing the parish website.

Barry H Evans April 2024