NOTICE OF CONCLUSION OF AUDIT

& RIGHT TO INSPECT THE ANNUAL RETURN

The audit of accounts for Barkestone, Plungar and Redmile Parish Council for the year ended 31 March 2008 has been concluded.

The annual return is available for inspection by any local government elector for the area of the Council on application to:-

The Clerk, 1, Main Street, Redmile, Nottingham. NG13 0GA
(Tel. 01949 843577 for an appointment)

Between 10 am and 8 pm on Mondays to Fridays (excluding public holidays), when any local government elector may make copies of the annual return.

Copies of the statement of accounts will be provided to any local government elector on payment of 20p for each A4 copy of the annual return.

K.J. Brockway ( Clerk to Parish Council)

31st July 2008

Barkestone-le-Vale has requested to make use of the Community Speed Watch Scheme run by Leicestershire County Council in cooperation with Leicestershire Constabulary and supported by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Road Safety Partnership.
The basis of the scheme is that volunteers will use speed detection equipment and will monitor traffic passing through the village at pre-selected locations.

The details of vehicles exceeding the speed limit are passed through to the Police who send out letters to the registered keeper outlining the concerns of the local residents and requesting that they keep to the limit in future. The volunteers do not get to know who the drivers are.

A pledge document has been filled in to show that either 200 or 20% your village/area support this scheme and I hope that you will give your support to the volunteers.
If you would like to assist in this scheme please contact me by telephone or the e-mail address shown on this leaflet and I will let the local coordinator have your details.
This scheme will run for four weeks starting within the next month.
There will be signs at the entrances to the village area, usually where there is a change in the speed limit, an example of which appears alongside. Kill your I This will tell you that the scheme is either about to commence or has started.

Mike Wilson
Community Speed Watch Co-ordinator for Leicestershire
Tel. 0116 305 7336
Email speedwatch@leics.gov.uk

The next meeting for you to have your say is on Monday 12th May, starting at 7pm in Plungar Village Hall.

The Annual Parish Meeting (APM) is an opportunity for registered electors of the parish to have their say.

See Meetings Calendar for details. Guest of the meeting will be Mike Sheldrake from Leicestershire County Council Highways so if you have a question to raise be there to put it to Mike in person.

Following on from the APM is a Parish Council meeting where the Chairman will be elected to serve until May 2009. Operations of the parish council will be reviewed and recently received planning applications will be inspected and comments agreed for submission to Melton Borough Council.

You are welcome to stay and observe proceedings.

Melton Borough Council is holding a Spring Clean week to rid Melton Mowbray and the surrounding villages and countryside of litter.

Spring Clean Week will commence on Monday 19th May 2008 and run until Sunday 25" May 2008 across the Borough.

During the week Melton Borough Council will be loaning out Council litter packs consisting of one wheeled bin, litter pickers, gloves, high visibility waistcoats and black bin liners. Waste will be collected free of charge.

The aim of the Spring Clean is to tackle all aspects of litter ranging from:

• Litter from cars and vehicles
• Fly tipping
• Abandoned vehicles
• Litter on the roads across the Borough
• Chewing gum
• Cigarette ends
• Dog Fouling
• Fly posting
• Graffiti.

Alongside the Spring Clean, last year's successful Grot Spots clean up will be repeated. If you are aware of a particular Grot Spot in the Borough, please pass on the information to Melton Borough Council, Tel. 01664 502502. They promise to clean up the area within 5 working days. How that for service?

In a letter to the parish council dated 8th April 2008 British Waterways report:-

REDMILE EMBANKMENT TOWPATH REPAIR WORKS
I would like to inform you that the towpath repair works at Redmile Embankment are now substantially complete.
There will be a further temporary closure of the towpath to enable the installation of a piece of equipment that will be used to monitor the embankment's stability. This should have been installed as part of the main works but had to be postponed as the method used proved unsuitable.
A revised method of installation for the equipment is being prepared and the works will be undertaken soon. This will require a closure for a few hours. Appropriate signage will be used at the bridge in Redmile and the Barkestone Lane access to avoid inconveniencing the public. Any minor works to tidy up the site can be completed without impeding towpath users. The storage units in the lay-by area on Barkestone Lane will also be removed.

The Grantham canal towpath at Redmile has reopened after being officially closed for eighteen months. Eight years ago major work was carried out to stabilise the embankment which had been slipping leaving the canal in danger of breaching.

At that time the canal was drained along the affected section of the Redmile embankment then long steel piles were driven in at the water's edge. At the same time the towpath was surfaced and on reopening it became a popular walk for locals and visitors, especially those with small children in pushchairs.

Unfortunately the embankment continued to slip. While the piles ensured the canal could not breach, the towpath moved and wide cracks appeared. They were initially filled but eventually the towpath was closed on the grounds of safety as the ground continued to move.

Extensive repairs have now been carried out and the towpath has been reopened providing a safe off road walk with excellent views across the countryside from this raised vantage point.

Melton Borough Council have given notice that the special deal on composting bins for local residents ends on 31st March.
From 1st April the cost will increase. To benefit from the discounted rate place your order NOW.

220 litre bins now £8.00 will increase to £17.00
330 litre bins now £10.00 will increase to £30.00.

To order telephone 0845 077 0757 before 31st March.

Big decisions need to be made by councillors at the meeting of the Parish Council on Monday 10th March. As always the meeting is open to the public and residents are given to opportunity to have their say, during a break in the formal meeting. Redmile PCC have given notice that they wish to relinquish responsibility for the churchyard. The Parish Council must now decide if they wish to retain local control over future maintenance or pass the possible burden to Melton Borough Council.

We have also received preliminary notice of proposals for another wind farm at Palmers Hollow Bottesford. We are invited to submit issues to be addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment.

At the Parish Council meeting Monday 12th November 2007 in Plungar Village Hall a request was passed to councillors from a residents of Plungar for the rough verge on Highgate Lane to be kerbed, creating a lay-by for parking.

It was agreed that this request be supported by the Parish Council and passed to the Highway Authority, Leicestershire County Council.

A reply from Mr Sheldrake, North Eastern Team Manager, has now been received and offers some encouragement. Mr Sheldrake says.

"I see no reason why we could not formalise and further protect the "lay-by" that has evolved on Highgate Lane. However, we do have a number of outstanding requests for similar provisions, including various passing bays, and therefore before making a definite commitment to carry out this work I think I will need to more carefully review all of our similar requests and establish clearer priorities. I will discuss this in more detail with a colleague and advise you more definitely of our intentions in due course. It is certainly the case that no work will take place before the next financial year and in fact I would doubt we would carry out the work until later in the summer. Perhaps I could therefore update you on our intentions at the meeting in May."

Diane Lees of Redmile takes up the post of Director-General of the Imperial War Museum in October 2008 on the retirement of Sir Robert Crawford and at an exciting time as the Museum marks the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Culture Minister Margaret Hodge said: "Diane Lees has done an amazing job at the Museum of Childhood. I am sure she will be excellent in leading the Imperial War Museum in its exciting next phase of development and I'm delighted to see another woman join the ranks of the leaders in the museums sector. I wish her all the best as our newest national museum director."

For more information click on the heading

The Highways Agency will be carrying out major maintenance on the A52 between Bingham and Barrowby from Monday, 21 January until the end of April.

The £2m improvements involve the resurfacing and partial reconstruction of both carriageways on a 2.5 kilometre section of road between Whatton Prison and Elton Road bridge, strengthening the bridge over the River Smite at Whatton and renewing signs and road markings on various sections along the entire 21 kilometre route.

To minimise disruption to road users, the works will only be carried out overnight, from 8pm to 6am, and at weekends, when traffic flows are lightest.

There will also be full closures of the A52 between Bingham and Barrowby on some weekday nights and full 24 hour closures between the same points on three weekends.

The weekend closures will take place 24hours a day from 10pm Friday until 6am Monday on 8 to 11, 15 to 18 and 22 to 25 February.

Dates for the overnight weekday closures have yet to be confirmed but will be published on the Highways Agency website, by the roadside and in the media. Click on the heading for more information

The parish council has received notice that a section of Long Lane will be closed for three days for carriageway resurfacing. The actual days have not yet been set but when the road is closed between Redmile Cross Roads and Castle View Road traffic will be diverted through Redmile to Elton and along the A52 a considerable extension to the journey resulting in more greenhouse gasses being emitted in the area. If possible plan an alternative route to minimise the length of your journey.

After a long delay Barkestone finally got waste bins for dog owners to use. Two bins have been provided by the parish council, one on Wood Lane and another on Jericho Lane. While the bins are provided by the parish council they will be emptied by Melton Borough Council. If you find a bin full please report this to Melton Borough Council. Any damage to the bin should be reported to the parish clerk.

The date of the first parish meeting in 2008 is 14 January. See the calendar for further information including, when appropriate, the agenda and minutes. For the agendas and minutes of previous meetings see the Minutes archive.

The election process was extended after insufficient candidates stood for election on May 3rd 2007. Only two names were put forward, John Meads for Redmile and Debbie Lees for Barkestone. While it was possible to elect a new Chairman at our Parish Council Meeting on 14th May 2007 this process immediately ceased operations of the council until more seats were filled. Melton Borough Council chose to re-advertise the election and the parish clerk prepared a newsletter. Together with much talk around the villages interest was stimulated and the two seats for Plungar were filled by Nick Flatt and Roger Smith. In Barkestone ward there was frenetic last minute interest with four nominations, but only two were valid. This was still too many so an election was held on Thursday 21st June at which Michael Poyser was elected. Finally at the Parish Council Meeting 9th July 2007 Michael Hague was co-opted to fill the Redmile vacancy. Contact details of all councillors can be found on the Parish Councillors page.