Announcements - Pirton Parish Council

Diamond Jubilee Orchard Planting - A big Thank You!

posted 27 Feb 2012 03:00 by Pirton Parish Clerk [ updated ]

A very big thank you to all those parishioners who turned out for the first of our

two Diamond Jubilee Orchard Planting Days which took place on Middle Green

(Colemans Close) on Saturday 25 February. The sun shone, the temperature was

the mildest so far this year and around fifty willing volunteers equipped with spades

and wheelbarrows enthusiastically helped to plant ten fruit trees in the corner of

Middle Green.

It was wonderful to see so many helpers - from babes in arms, grandchildren

accompanied by grandparents, families, friends and Parish Councillors. A great

community event!

With particular thanks to Tree Warden Steve Kitchiner for his help with the planning

and layout, and to Dan Neuteboom of Real English Trees for his advice on varieties

and planting. Funding for the trees had been secured with a grant from the North

Herts Rural Community Pot funding scheme.

The ten trees were carefully selected for their cross pollination benefits and to

provide a variety of different fruit species including two pear trees because of

their association with Pirton. (The first reference to the village of Pirton is in the

Domesday Book (1086 AD) and was originally referred to as Peritone (peri – pear

tree, ton – homestead).

For those who would like more detail, the ten varieties planted are as follows:

Apple ‘Braeburn’

Apple ‘Egremont Russet’

Apple ‘Ellison’s Orange’

Apple ‘Lord Lambourne’

Apple ‘Red Falstaff’

Cherry ‘Stella Compact’

Greengage ‘Cambridge Gage’

Pear ‘Buerre Hardy’

Pear ‘Packhams Triumph’

Plum ‘Victoria’

Our second orchard planting day will take place at the Recreation Ground later in the

year. The date will be advertised on the Parish Council website and in the Parish

Magazine. Watch out for further news of this event!

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who made the first Orchard Planting Day

so successful.

Pictures of the day have been posted on the photo page

Fruit Tree Planting - Middle Green - Sat 25th Feb from 1pm

posted 22 Feb 2012 07:16 by Pirton Parish Clerk

To commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year, we are creating our very own fruit orchard!

Please come along and help

Saturday 25th February Middle Green ~ Colemans Close ~ 1pm

All Welcome ~ Children accompanied by adults please.. Please bring your own spades / gloves / etc

Your Village Needs You!

posted 11 Feb 2012 11:11 by Pirton Parish Clerk [ updated 17 Feb 2012 08:29 ]

Help with the Parish Plan is needed in the form of “Street Monitors”. Monitors would be responsible for delivering questionnaires, giving assistance with completion when required, and then collecting the questionnaires at the end of a set period. Each monitor will be responsible for around 15 houses. If you can help, please contact Rodney Marshall (711023) or Diane Bailey (712340).

| Attachments: monitor poster (2).pdf

Latest position regarding the proposed expansion plans at Luton Airport

posted 11 Feb 2012 10:31 by Pirton Parish Clerk

The consultation period opens on the 13^th February and runs for 6 weeks. An exhibition of the plans has been arranged for the 17^th February at Hitchin Town Hall.

For further information on plans and future exhibition dates, go to www.futureLuToN.co.uk

Pirton Community Awards Cancelled

posted 6 Feb 2012 14:37 by Pirton Parish Clerk

The Council received only 37 nominations from a total of 19 nominees (residents) spread over the 8 categories.

This level of response was discussed at the recent Parish Council meeting and Councillors reluctantly agreed that not enough nominations had been put forward to give an accurate representation of the good works or achievements that take place in the village, and therefore the planned awards presentation evening and dinner will not, unfortunately, go ahead.

Although it has been decided to shelve the awards for this year, the Parish Council will try to establish resident’s appetite and support for such a scheme by “asking the question” in a new, comprehensive Parish Plan questionnaire which should be delivered to all households in the spring.

Should there be a positive response, the awards will be re-introduced for 2012.

We'd like to thank those that submitted nominations for the Pirton Community Awards scheme this time round.

Volunteers Needed Please!

posted 3 Feb 2012 07:59 by Pirton Parish Clerk

There will be a working party on Toot Hill on Sunday 26th February 2012, 9.30am - 12.30pm.

The purpose is to reduce the heights of the tree stumps left on the strips of cleared vegetation by our previous work.

Please bring your own tools, especially saws.

Many thanks

Gil Burleigh

Chairman

Pirton Bury Trust

Village Boundaries, Planning, Housing, Site 64 etc.

posted 25 Jan 2012 07:07 by Pirton Parish Clerk [ updated 25 Jan 2012 07:09 ]

Some residents have expressed concern regarding possible changes they have heard about regarding the above subjects.

To clarify the situation, we asked NHDC for the current position and we have received the following information from the Planning Office:

"We did begin a review of village boundaries through our Local Development Framework, but this work has yet to come into force, and has been put on the back burner due to wider reforms the Government has introduced. In 2007 our draft Core Strategy reviewed our list of which villages have development boundaries. It concluded that some villages (such as Weston and Breachwood Green) should be given boundaries where they do not have one under the Local Plan, whereas others (such as Holwell) no longer have the facilities to justify having the boundary they currently have. Pirton was unaffected by the changes - it was held to still justify having a boundary.

In 2008 we published a Land Allocations consultation with sites that the Council thought might be suitable for development. Part of that consultation included asking if any other pieces of land should be allocated for development or brought within town or village boundaries. One site was suggested at Pirton, which we subsequently consulted upon in 2009 as part of the Land Allocations Additional Suggested Sites consultation - it was numbered site 64 and covered the area west of the village bounded by Priors Hill and Shillington Road.

The new Government has made various changes to the planning system since May 2010, and we have had to concentrate instead on questions such as establishing our own locally-derived housing targets for when our current targets (contained in the East of England Plan) are abolished. A consultation on housing targets is being considered by the Council's Cabinet this evening, with a view to formally launching the public consultation on 17th February. All parish councils will be notified about that consultation.

Only once we have established how many houses the district should be accommodating will we be able to resume work on the detail of where those houses should go, and therefore whether any amendments are needed to existing town and village boundaries. We currently hope that in the summer we will be in a position to resume work on the Land Allocations document, which will include giving an indicative answer to whether we think the Pirton boundary should be enlarged to include Site 64."

The Parish Council will endeavour to keep residents informed via this website.

Luton Airport Expansion Pre-planning Application Consultation

posted 17 Jan 2012 09:02 by Pirton Parish Clerk

The recently announced proposed expansion of London Luton Airport and subsequent public consultation is being undertaken by London Luton Airport Limited (LLAL). To facilitate any enquiries they have set up a dedicated website containing relevant contact details and the option to leave feedback. This can be found at www.futureluton.co.uk opening 6th February 2012.

Village Fruit Tree Planting Day - Sat 25th Feb 1pm onwards

posted 16 Jan 2012 04:53 by Alan Scott

Come along and help create Pirton’s own fruit orchard!

Saturday 25th February
Middle Green ~ Colemans Close ~ 1pm
All Welcome ~ Children accompanied by adults please..

Please bring your own spades / gloves / etc

Holwell Turn Application Turned Down

posted 12 Jan 2012 13:54 by Alan Scott [ updated 25 Jan 2012 06:43 by Pirton Parish Clerk ]

The application for the development of the land at Holwell Turn was turned down at the Planning Control Committee meeting earlier this evening.

The reasons given were:


1) The site lies within the Rural Area beyond the Green Belt where such development is not normally acceptable, unless it would meet an identified rural housing need in compliance with Policy 29 - Rural Housing Needs, of North Hertfordshire District Council Local Plan No 2 with Alterations. In the opinion of the Council the development would be contrary to Policy 29, specifically criteria i, ii, v, vii and viii and, as such, would also be contrary to Policy 6 - Rural Areas beyond the Green Belt.


2) The Highway aspects of the proposal have not been adequately addressed and would, therefore, be prejudicial to general provisions of highway safety and convenience.