The Pattishall Parish plan report provides a record of the planning process completed in 2007. It documents needs, aspirations and opportunities, setting out how, as a community, we intend to progress our objective to improve our Parish for everyone.

The report includes the feedback from the Open Forum and results of the survey questionnaire completed in November 2007. For completeness the report Appendix includes a location map, demographic context, a short history and a copy of the current village directory.

The planning process began in February 2007 at an open meeting hosted by the Parish Council and sponsored by Northamptonshire ACRE (Action within Communities in Rural England). More than 50 residents attended the meeting when it was agreed to adopt parish planning concept and set up a Steering Committee of volunteers to drive the process on behalf of the Parish Council.

(Pattishall Parish Plan Chairman)

Following three years in partnership with Northamptonshire Police and with the help of a number of willing volunteers from the village we have at last installed two Speed Indicator Units along Butchers/Banbury Lane.

In the past and in many surrounding villages the County Council installed these at their cost or at a highly subsidised rate, unfortunately County Council Budget cuts scuppered this system and so this project had to be self funded.
Your Parish Council recognised the urgency and the need, we have official figures documented by the Police of 17,000+ vehicle movements along Butchers/Banbury Lane in a seven day period of which 70% exceeded the prescribed speed restriction! Unfortunately many of these vehicles were from the Parish.

We have experienced many 'near misses' at the Zebra Crossing with youngsters on there way to school with adults at-hand! We have tried so hard to provide some form of speed control before there is a fatality and that has now been achieved. Please take heed of your speed, in many cases it is your children we are trying to protect!

This was the final outstanding project of the Pattishall Parish Plan Committee, The Plan was published in 2008 with three outstanding items; the re-development of the Parish Hall, the entry to Fosters Booth Road and Speed Control. The Parish Hall redevelopment is due to be underway shortly and everything else has now been achieved and so in its current form, the Pattishall Parish Plan Management Committee is standing down.

I would like to record my thanks on your behalf to everyone who has helped conclude this project. It was a major task involving the whole community and managed by a few with an excellent conclusion, success.

Parishes are now being encourage to formulate a Neighbourhood Plan, this will be instigated by the Parish Council and more details will be available before the end of the year and this too is likely to involve the whole community.

Roger Clarke

Parish Plan Summary June 2012

The Parish Plan continues to influence and progress issues that members of the community expressed as concerning them or requiring improvement.

There were 3 key issues highlighted by the Parish Plan, the need to refurbish the Parish Hall, installing a permanent means of controlling speeding traffic and environmental improvements.

The Parish Hall continues to show step by step progress as funds become available. The introduction of an electronically controlled speed warning system is taking longer than expected owing to the withdrawal of County Council funds, but by some means we will try to raise the necessary funds to install equipment and hopefully avoid that fatality that we all dread. The environmental issues include the improvement of the two entrances to the Parish from the A5 - one to Astcote the other into Fosters Booth Road - and of course a Pocket Park.

I am very pleased to announce that towards the end of last year we applied for a BITESIZE grant from Northamptonshire ACRE and were awarded £440 this together with the generous donations of 4 parishioners in the vicinity gave us a total of £480 to spend on improving the road verge into Fosters Booth Road. A month ago work to clear the old and dead plants/trees was completed. The area to be planted was cleared chemically of weeds and compost spread throughout. 90 plants have been planted and I am grateful to those volunteers who helped, firstly clearing the area and then with the planting. I am further grateful to Ray Goviar who is undertaking the watering programme to insure the plants get a sound start.

I hope all those who drive into Foster Booth Road will enjoy the improvements as they nurture and grow into maturing colourful plants, it has been done for your benefit and now I hope you take some responsibility in insuring their safe-keeping!

On behalf of the Parish Plan Committee we have spent time with the children at Pattishall School extolling the virtues of self-sufficiency, saving energy and the environment. The result was that the children encouraged their parents to have Allotments. They took home equipment to monitor electrical usage and realised how much money they could save by switching lights off and we explained the virtues of planting trees and improving the entrance to the village off Fosters Booth Road to improve the environment.

All these activities enabled us to register in; The Climate Friendly Communities Competition. The results have just been announced at the Northamptonshire Home Energy Efficient Partnership (NHEEP) and we achieved the runners-up prize of £500.The prize is to be spent on climate friendly community activities.

'In the background lots of things happen for the benefit of our community'!

Roger Clarke

Chairman Parish Plan Committee