Edlesborough Parish Council

Streetlights in Edlesborough, Dagnall and Northall

The installation of the new LED lights throughout the Parish should now be complete. These new lights come with a 6 year warranty and are much more energy efficient than the old SOX (orange) lights.

In the event of a light malfunctioning please report the nature of the failure and the location of the light to the Parish Clerk.

Reporting Potholes & Fly Tipping

Please report any pavement issues, potholes and fly tipping to transportforbucks.net/Tell-us.aspx. If possible please take a photo of the problem and upload it when making the report.

Church Floodlights

The Friends of the Church raised £310.19 for Children In Need on the Floodlighting switch-on evening. Thanks to everyone who attended.

Allotments

Edlesborough Parish Council currently has vacant allotments. Anyone wishing to take on an allotment should contact the Parish Clerk. Fees are £1:80 per pole and plots range in size from 5 – 20 poles.

Dogs on Dagnall Allotments

Following recent confusion over members of the public exercising their dogs on Dagnall Allotments the Council confirms that the Allotments are registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965 and consequently the land is shown as such on the appropriate Countryside Agency maps. This would indicate that it is "open access land" and that the general public have a "right to roam" under the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000.

However, Schedule 1 of the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000 identifies certain land where the "right to roam" is excluded. In total there are 13 categories of "Excepted Land" described in Schedule 1, one of which is parks and gardens. The description of the Allotments in the original common land registration (CL137) is "Allotment Gardens" and consequently the Council has determined that as a garden, it constitutes "Excepted Land" under Schedule 1. Furthermore, the access paths connecting the individual cultivated plots are considered to be part of that garden. This means that the general "right to roam" does not apply and public access is confined to the public footpath that runs from Chestnut Close to Studham Lane, identified as EDL/14/1 on the Bucks CC Public Rights of Way map. The following link to the GOV.UK website gov.uk/right-of-way-open-access-land/use-your-right-to-roam summarises the legal situation.

Therefore members of the general public wishing to walk between Main Road South and Studham Lane should use the footpath identified as EDL/15/1 on the Bucks CC Rights of Way map. The Council requests that when using the footpath dogs are kept on a short lead to prevent them from wandering onto the allotment plots.

Neighbourhood Plan

Public meetings took place in each village in January to share the requirements for a successful application to develop a Neighbourhood Plan. Once developed it will need a referendum of eligible parishioners and others to approve after submitting it for approval by a government inspector. If you were unable to attend and want to know more, please read the separate article in Focus from the Parish Council. Full details of the outcome of the meetings will appear on the parish website in February and a written account in the March edition of Focus.

Speedwatch

The EDaN Traffic Management team are looking for volunteers to help man their Sentinel device. If you have an interest in slowing down traffic in the villages or are concerned about Road Safety please contact Louise Turner on 01442 834123 or by email at [email protected]

Edlesborough Parish Council Meetings

The next Edlesborough Parish Council Meetings will take place in Edlesborough Memorial Hall on:

• Thursday 18th February 2016
• Thursday 17th March 2016

The meetings will commence at 7:30pm.

All Parishioners are welcome to attend and may ask questions, raise issues and give suggestions during the Open Forum before the formal start of the meeting. The full minutes of the Parish Council meetings are normally available to view on the website or from the Parish Clerk.