Present: Marshall Ferguson - chair, Ailsa Dempster, Paul Seaton, Andrew Royle, Tim Fox, Phil Bromhall - Borough councillor - part, Stan Heggs - County Councillor - part, Lucy Fox - Jnr. Councillor - part, Phil Oram - clerk, two members of the public.

1      Apologies - Barrie Woolley, Terri Meechan, Vic Clark.

2      Meeting open to the public

A request was made that the children's playground be extended; the playground had advised that there was money available from Corby Borough Council or Catalyst Corby. After a full discussion it was agreed that the clerk write to Lloyd Baines-Davies asking him for information similar to that he supplied to Rockingham and that the parents group get together to produce a "wish list". It was hoped this information would be available for the next meeting on 8 August.

Jnr. Councillor again brought up the problem of overhanging brambles and trees in Caistor Rd and High St. Agreed that clerk would talk to the resident concerned in the High St and Marshall Ferguson would look at the brambles in Caistor Rd. These two items were also the subject of a letter sent to the P.C.

3      Declaration of Councillors' Interests

Chairman reminded Councillors that they should declare an interest where this was involved.

4      Minutes of meetings held 16 May and 13 June 2005 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the chairman.

5      Report from Borough Councillor

Phil Bromhall reported that Karl Grimmer is leaving C.B.C.

He also reported that he had visited the Travellers site on Gretton Brook Rd, the site was untidy but he welcomed by the residents and the children were well behaved. The residents informed him that they were happy at the site and would be prepared to pay for the facilities; however when he said that the Council were looking to extend the site for "Itinerant Travellers" they were not happy with this and suggested they would not get on together. He also reported that some of the children went to Gretton School and others to schools in Kettering and Corby.

He also reported that the churchyard needs attention and Ian Hopewell will look at this problem.

He had a copy of the North Northants Strategy and asked if the Parish Council had received one, as answers to a questionnaire were soon needed.

6      Report from County Councillor

Stan Heggs reported that there was hope for major road works within the County during this coming year and that they would be looking at replacing road humps used for traffic calming with something more suitable.

He also reported that re-cycling needs to be sorted so that goods are available to be re-cycled and not put in with general rubbish. Chair reported that as from 1 July 2005 disposal of all electrical goods became the responsibility of the dealer or the owner, this would cause a problem and could an increase in fly-tipping.

He also reported that Weldon were not happy with being put together with Gretton in the suggested changes put forward by the Boundary Commission and suggested Gretton should with linked with the Welland Valley villages, this is the view taken by Gretton and notification has been sent to the Boundary Commission.

7      Matters Arising from Minutes

a      Reps required for Village of the Year Competition - Ailsa Dempster agreed to go to the presentation.

b      Casual Vacancy - notice had been put on notice board and in the Post Office and also C.B.C. had been notified. Three people had shown an interest in filling the vacancy; if no request for a ballot was received a notice would be put up asking for applications. The three people who had already expressed an interest would be notified of the procedure.

c      Birdcage Walk has not had any work carried out - clerk to pursue.

d      Mr Latham had cut down the offending branches on his trees.

e      A bin for collecting plastic for re-cycling had been put outside the sports & Social club, this is an extra bin but there are still problems with emptying bins at the Village Hall, Ailsa Dempster is writing to Ian Hopewell regarding this matter.

8      Village Plan

Terri Meechan had reported to the clerk that the Head Teacher of Gretton School said he would serve on the Recreation Ground committee, none of the other people she had e-mailed had replied; Tim Fox reported two people had informed him they were willing to serve on this committee. Tim Fox reported that he needed to convene a meeting of the Steering Group before any further report could be made.

9      Correspondence

a      Helping Hands Awards requesting details of how lottery funding has helped the community - as we did not receive this funding no further action taken.

b      DEFRA Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 - allow Parish Councils to issue fixed penalty notices and dog control orders - will commence Spring 2006.

c      Letter of thanks from Gretton Baptist Church for £350 grant.

d      Letter from Phil Hope MP detailing what has happened recently.

e      Letter from Peter Weston re state of the Village Green & War Memorial - this will be discussed further at next meeting.

f      Letter from Shirley Fursdon re hedges in Caistor Rd & High St - this was dealt with under item 2.

g      River Nene Catchment Flood Management Plan questionnaire - put in circulation file.

h      Rockingham Forum meeting 12 July at RMS - invite to attend - Paul Seaton will try to attend.

i      Conference for "Overcoming Rural Social Exclusion"26 Sept - put in circulation file.

j      Boundary Committee - acknowledgement of P.C. letter received.

k      Letter from Mel Jarvis re "Clinkers" footpath - agreed we should accept the offer to improve the footpath and also ask the bottom few steps and the drain be repaired.

l      Thanks from Village Hall for their grant.

Circulation file:

Creative sign Solutions

Corby Area committee 6 July.

Rural Area Forum 23 June

Clerks & Councils Direct

CBC Full Council meeting 14 July

PC minutes - Weldon, East Carlton, Cottingham, Stanion, Middleton.

10      Highway Matters

Reps Review May - to be put in circulation file.

11      Planning Matters

a      Two-storey extension to side - 34 Kirby Rd - permission granted subject to certain conditions.

b      Damp proof course - The Old Fox, 26A High St - listed building consent granted subject to certain conditions

c      Application for development at rear of Southfield Rd had been withdrawn before the Development Control meeting in June.

d      Tim Fox informed meeting that the Avenue Farm/Corby Rd development will be discussed at the Development Control meeting 26 July and he would be prepared to attend that meeting to speak for the Parish Council. He also gave further details of the development - there would be 57 houses plus those in the farm yard and 20% would be "affordable" houses. A grant of £2106 per house built would be given to County Council for help towards education in the village and a grant of £10,000 would be available to the village for community facilities. As Ailsa Dempster reported that the application for funds for the new village hall to Shanks had been turned down and their successor had said they have grants of £250,000 available subject to the village raising 10%, Tim Fox agreed to contact Brian Barber Associates to see if we could get more than the £10,000 on offer.

12      Finance Matters

	a	Current balance		14998.65
	b	Payments received	Bank Interest	3.38
	c	Payments due	Internal Audit Fee	25.00
			P A Oram - petty cash	20.35
			M. Sanders - paint for Clay Lane	56.39

13      Police Matters - there were no Police matters to report except that he is showing a high profile in the village.

14      Any Other Business

Marshall Ferguson asked if the grass on the corner of Southfield Rd & Latimer Close could be cut as it does not seem likely that our request for hard standing for car parking is being dealt with - clerk to pursue.

Andrew Royle suggested that the Pick Playing field might be used for a Tennis club - clerk was asked to look at deeds, if we have them, to find out if there would be any problems in using the field for this purpose.