Northwood Parish Council

Posted by Admin on 26 February 2015, 10:50 pm

MEETINGS

Meetings of the Parish Council are held on the first Tuesday of the month, commencing at 6.30pm.
The meeting of the Planning Committee, if required, is held on the third Tuesday of the month, commencing at 6.30pm.

ALL MEETINGS ARE HELD AT
NORTHWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL, WYATTS LANE, NORTHWOOD

unless otherwise stated.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AND THE PRESS ARE VERY WELCOME TO ATTEND.

The comments made in the following articles represent the views of the individual contributors, rather than Northwood Parish Council

NORTHWOOD PARISH COUNCIL NEWS

FROM THE FEBRUARY 2015 MEETING

POLICE REPORT
Crime Update for January – Six crimes had occurred compared to four in January 2014. These related to one theft of a motor vehicle, one case of public order and harassment and four crimes of violence against a person. When questioned prior to the meeting Sgt Gary Knight had advised that the crimes of violence related to domestic incidents.
The police priority remained the prevention of cyclists riding along Cowes High Street. Four cyclists had been stopped during the month of January.
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WELL-BEING IN THE COMMUNITY
The Vice-Chairman welcomed Ms Anita Cameron-Smith, Director of Public Health and Community Well-Being and Mr Bryan Hurley, of the Public Health section to the meeting. Ms Cameron-Smith congratulated councillors on their desire to promote Community Well-Being within the parish. It was stressed there was no easy “Quick Fix”. The initiative should be based on the needs of the community, rather than on what officials deemed were required. The Parish Council was urged to initially undertake an asset mapping exercise in order to identify the talents and skills of the local population, including those community activists who would be willing to take the initiative forward. The exercise should also include those local businesses prepared to work in partnership with the Parish Council. Examples were outlined of how other groups had been able to engage within their local communities, particularly with those socially isolated or vulnerable.
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FUTURE OF THE POST OFFICE
Cllr J Nicholson referred to the meeting of January 13 which he had attended with Cllr Riddet, held on site at the Pallance Road post office with the current post mistress and representatives of the Post Office Ltd. They had both been reassured of the commitment to maintain a Post office service in Northwood. However, no firm expression of interest had been received. Although the current postmistress had offered to remain open for 3 mornings per week the Post office had considered this untenable, stating that the significant demand would be too much for such limited hours. She was due to retire on April 14. The response from Andrew Turner MP had been circulated to councillors. This advised of fresh interest. Unfortunately this had now not come to fruition, after all.
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VENNER AVENUE FOOTBALL PITCH
The IW Council had now received the additional football sockets and planned to install them soon, subject to weather conditions. Unfortunately, some local children had continued to remove the orange web fencing in order to play on the repaired area. This had caused some damage and now needed a period of strong growth in order to sustain a degree of wear and tear.
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PICNIC TABLES PLAY AREA
The clerk had made some enquiries with HMP Isle of Wight, who could supply a standard picnic table at a cost of £312 or an extra-large picnic table at £720. The benches at Gurnard Green were the extra-large type. Councillors noted that as they had some very urgent internal prison service work on at the moment they would not be able to produce these for 3-4 months. In addition, the clerk had contacted the Countryside, Parks and Open Spaces Manager to seek tentative permission to install one or two picnic tables, should councillors be so minded to progress the matter. Due to the current upheaval the department was under with how open spaces were going to be maintained and paid for after April, it was preferred to defer any sanctioning at this current moment. It was anticipated that in a couple of months’ time things would be clearer and a definitive response could then be given.