Parish Council Bulletins

Bulletin March 2025

Hi Folks, Steve here as usual with a quick round up of Parish Council news.

Two of our 3 Ward Councillors were trying to get some MKC Council budget decisions changed including the proposed siting of the recycling centre (which will be the other side of MK for our residents). Unfortunately it appears they have been unsuccessful. The current “tip” is likely to close during 2026. They also reported that the MK Connect service will no longer run on a Sunday nor after 8pm on other days. These are all cost saving measures by MKCC.

It was encouraging to hear that more PC’s and PCSO’s are being recruited by Thames Valley Police but disappointing to learn that the lack of police vehicles was hampering the work they could do and stopped them being “proactive”. I’m sure I’m not the only one to think it’s a bit daft to recruit new people but not give them the tools to do the job you’ve recruited them to do!

There are two trees halfway down Castle Lane (the footpath from the High St to Kilpin Green which runs alongside Castle Cottage) that are showing signs of disease. We are arranging for them to be substantially reduced in an attempt to save them as they are fairly mature trees which we are keen to see survive.

I reported last month that we are exploring the idea of 20mph speed limits for the areas currently designated as 30mph. Instead of moving straight to a house to house petition we have decided to organise a Public Meeting on Saturday April 12th where residents can raise any issues directly with the PC and, if in favour, can sign the petition there and then. We will then set up (and publicise) an electronic petition which people can complete on line if they have the facility. Once these two steps have been completed we can then identify how many more residents need to be visited to produce a majority result either in favour or not.

Some of the PC are meeting our local MP, Chris Curtis on 7th March so he can introduce himself to the local areas. We hope to raise a number issues with him including the pressure on GP’s practices with the increasing development surrounding Newport Pagnell and the closing of the local recycling centres. We feel it is imperative that the infrastructure to support communities is available in tandem with the growth of those communities. Too often it seems to be “sell houses first then provide the infrastructure” which can lead to a deterioration of vital services.

At last! The Speed Indicator Devices are due to be installed on 18th March and 3 Councillors are receiving training on how to set them up, retrieve data, interpret it and pass it on to the relevant authorities. This first tranche of SID’s are the direct result of a donation from a resident for which we are most grateful. We hope to install more once we have a result from the funding bid we have applied for.

Finally some residents may know that Sue and I will be leaving North Crawley later this year after living in the village for 47 years. This is so we can move to be closer to family. I will remain as a Councillor whilst we still live here but will step down as Chair in May when that post is normally appointed. I’m most grateful to all my colleagues on the Parish Council for all their hard work and diligence. We are all unpaid volunteers who give freely of our time for the benefit of our community. As there will be a vacancy when I leave please consider joining us to continue our important work.

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