Up for Auction

Well if you have some money to buy the old council depot, the auction is on the 29th January 2015, unless somebody has the brass to spend earlier.  Guide price is £80,000 to £100,000, which I suppose is peanuts for some developers, apart from the fact there is an uplift clause on it.  This I believe means that if you do develop the site, Nottinghamshire County Council wants a slice of the action.  You could of course treat yourself to a bit of extra garage space.  I heard one rumour that Balfour Beatty were interested, although I suppose there will be a few of those around now.  What about A1 housing opening up their piggy bank? 

More Houses?

Well I suppose it had to happen eventually, the Council Depot in Misterton is up for sale.  So what will go there, houses probably, although it seems a shame to knock down perfectly good buildings.  I suppose I was hoping that they would reopen the depot in the fullness of time since we seem to have a logistical problem with council workers travelling all the way to the opposite side of the county to where they work, which to me loses money and man hours.  You can guarantee a private business would be run a lot more cleverly with their time management and fuel use.

So, do we have a fight by developers for the right to build at the side of the Chesterfield Canal and have a few more posh pricey houses or do we get some reasonably priced houses, although not town houses, we've had enough of them.

Filled your application in yet to join the parish council, if not get on with it and have a chance to vote on what happens in the village and how the money is spent.  Younger the better is what is wanted, fresh ideas etc., etc.

Well, are you up for it then?

I wonder if you need to read The Casual Vacancy before applying.  Shame I rather fancied getting my voting finger in action again.

Money in the Bank

Now I don't want to appear pushy but since the sale of the Victoria Institute we have heard nothing about the fate of the funds.  No update on the net amount received, no update on what they intend to do with the proceeds, absolute silence.  Has the parish council asked them, there are still members of the parish council who are trustees so it must have been discussed at some point.  Since village residents are the  beneficiaries we have a right to have full information.

One would assume that where a charity is concerned they produce minutes of every meeting, so if so, why haven't they been published.  I for one hope that this is not going to be another cash pot where you have to practically beg for cash and fill forms in.  Ask us what we want to do with it, I'm sure they will get plenty of idea on how to blow the cash in one go on something useful.  Public toilet maybe?

In case you want a reminder of who is in charge of the purse keys to get some action, the list.  In fact looking at one of  those trustees, 8 members of the community, well one isn't, a resignation please should be the first thing that happens.

Unwanted Visitors

It can't be hard to miss that we have been having unwanted visitors in the village, the kind that decide that your precious goods are there for them to steal.  I say visitors because I have always been of the belief that most people of this persuasion work on the principle of not shitting in their own backyard.  If they are not and are residents of the village, then we are in trouble, or rather they are.

A friend of mine lives in an area that has a terrible reputation.  Anything of value that you keep in a shed has to be riveted to the floor or it gets stolen.  Thankfully things aren't that bad in this neck of the woods,  but it makes you wonder if the lack of street lighting in the early hours of the morning is helping these thieves. Better get that shed alarm now instead of later

Anti social behaviour also seems to be on the rise again, so much so that a resident has set up a Facebook page - Stamp out Mistertons antisocial behavior - The Pudge seems to be the main magnet for these little thugs.  So if you want to name and shame, pay the site a visit.  It might be nice and quiet where you live in the village but others are having some real problems. 

Just a thought, but the parish council newsletter indicates that due to the success of catching people in the speed watch traps, the police have raised the bar for reporting speeding to 43 miles an hour.  Would it not have been more prudent to keep this little snippet of information to themselves.

Two buses at once

Blimey, what's going off, or is it the Bowling Club saga that has set things moving?  Two resignations from the parish council, both Wilkinsons; I always thought there was a bit of a conflict of interest in that dispute.  Now bearing in mind that they had asked somebody from the Bowls Club to turn up to a meeting, one would assume the discussion did not go well on the parish council's side, which resulted in a couple of dummies being thrown out. It doesn't sit well with me having  a spouse and partner sitting on the parish council because when push comes to shove they always back the same side and that's not good when you only have 13 people voting. 

So what next, another election, will the other David stand and who else? It's about time we had more younger people on the council to get involved in our parish affairs.  We haven't been mentioned in the despatches in a long time, we used to be an award winning village, what happened?

The VI still lays untouched, I suspect that they might have a problem with working on it, no room for manoeuvre.  The parish council could of course sort that out quite easily since they have bought the old library site.  No one wants that building to fall into total dereliction and it could happen if people don't do the right thing.

Massacre of the signs

Well if you have been down Gringley Road you will see that our fancy village sign has taken a battering, along with the next sign relating to the speed limit.  A drunken driver possibly or someone who did it deliberately.  The damage is quite high up on the village sign so probably a lorry did it, the other is down on its knees now.  Who ever it was who dunnit I doubt they will own up, unless of course some beady eyed resident saw it happen.  We shall have to see what happens.

There are a couple of items on the October agenda for the parish council, the agenda of course, appearing after the meeting has taken place, which could cause some controversy in certain quarters.

You would think some people would quit while they are ahead and avoid a battle, which will only end in disaster or tears.  Stopping elder residents from using a well used facility is a non starter and not what the parish council is about, particularly as there is little on offer as it is for older residents. 
Those creating the trouble might care to take on board that when it comes to creating an army of support, they are on the wrong side of the battle field.  Still it will be nice to see a bloody nose or two.

Election Results

Well I am amazed, the turnout was a lot higher than I imagined for a small parish council election.  Must have been the coffee morning that did it.  Well a David got elected, just as I thought.

Moving on, Network Rail have still not taken all their toys away, which must be costing a fortune for having them sat racking rent up.  Still it should be enough to pay for a holiday or two for the lucky residents.

I'm a bit concerned though about the bridge on Soss Lane.  The lane has been deepened under the bridge and so far not been filled in.  Now it did flood before, now it will flood even more. Has it been forgotten?

Finally the planning permission on 123 Station Road that has caused the trouble with neighbours.  Makes a change for things to turn out right.

Road Works and other stuff

 
Well appears the road closures are due to resurfacing on the road to Gainsborough, at the piece just out of the village, which at the moment is a bit of a dogs breakfast.  From memory it wasn't that bad, in fact there are roads in the area far worse that this was but there you go, the powers to be say it wants doing and it is done.  Maybe there is a Tour de Notts coming?

Of course there is that other piece of breaking news, you can  film the parish council in action.  Hopefully it might increase the number of residents who turn up for meetings from the usual 3.  It also might stop the bickering although one would hope they have turned over a new leaf since the shenanigans prior to the last election.   Now I know there is nothing new in parish councillors falling out, par for the course I suppose, but when malice creeps in then that is plain loutish behaviour.

It might make a nice little project for junior film makers, watch democracy in action.  Lets hope no spicy meetings find their way onto YouTube to give us some mirth.

If you keep an eye on the Bassetlaw website, you can see that there have been some objections to the planning application for Station Road.  In fact, it would appear that there has been a bit of land grabbing in action.  Personally I think that replacing three houses where there was an attached one is over the top, in fact two is too many.  It's alright building in your garden if it doesn't affect the natives but if it blocks their view, makes the area unattractive then you are asking for trouble.  If they want to build make em do it on the square footage as the piece being dropped.

Finally of course it is the election on Thursday with our two contenders.  What I like about this, is that not so long ago the parish council had trouble recruiting residents to join.  In fact I seem to remember at one point there were at least five vacancies on offer with no takers.  Let's hope it is not too low a vote count.  

Cutting Corners

Well there is a parish council election but you are not going to get a polling card because those few that make the decisions have decided that democracy is too expensive and you can't have one.  This means of course that there will be even fewer residents voting, because they probably will not know about it.  Since there are only two candidates for this vacancy there might be an ulterior motive for this move.  Where democracy is concerned, cost should not be  an issue and let's face it, we are one of the few countries that has a genuine democracy.

So if you would like to cast your vote you'll have to make a note in your diary, outlook calendar or whatever for a week on Thursday, 9th October.

Network Rail

As you will see if you pass by, they are packing up their toys and going home, although I must admit they have done a sterling job.  Pity it has cost so much.  Next bit of upset comes when they do the little bridge coming up to the sewage works, which has a very fancy name but I'm dammed if  I can remember it.  Fortunately the road is closed in the evenings so not too much upset.