Helmdon Parish Council

The evening opened up with apologies of absence and the Chairman's report, kindly read by Danny. In his report, John shared many of the projects Helmdon had worked on over the past 12 months. These included the new village website, plans for a potential new village hall, installation of dog waste bins and many more. He also welcomed our two latest members of the Parish Council, Andrea and Emma, and said he was pleased to see some female councillors on the team. John thanked all the councillors for their hard work and commitment throughout the past year. We then received the financial statement from Clerk Helen DuBois, which will be available to download from the village website.

Our first guest speaker of the evening was Rebecca Breakwell from Northants ACRE. Rebecca shared with us the Rural Wellbeing Service project which ACRE worked on and discussed ways in which Helmdon may benefit for from setting up their own scheme. More information about the Rural Wellbeing service can be found on the ACRE website. https://www.northantsacre.org.uk/rural-wellbeing-service

Danny then shared with the village the success of the new radar project which has recently been setup and put into operation. Due to John's absence, Danny was unable to provide the latest information on the radar, however this will be available soon.

Steve Wheeler gave a report about the future of the village lighting and gave feedback on potential ideas regarding the possibility of changing bulbs of whole units. Steve discussed both the pro's and con's of the different possibilities. Since visiting a workshop,

Steve fed back his ideas to the council and we have decided to install two new bulbs into two units in the village. More information can be found below:

Across the country Parish Councils are upgrading their street lights to new LED units to save both electricity and cost. The orange glow of Helmdon's street lights is produced by a sodium light bulb which is outdated and no longer manufactured. Rather than jump straight into replacing the entire lanterns, the Council has decided to trial switching the old sodium bulbs with a new LED bulb from TrueForce. These new bulbs work in our existing street lights but use more than 50% less electricity and have a much longer lifespan so they will help to reduce our impact on the environment and save ££.

We have replaced the bulbs in two street lights so far: one in the street light at the top of Shortlands Close and the other in the street light at the edge of the village on the Wappenham Road. At the same time the lanterns themselves have been given a much needed spring clean.

Danny then welcomed SNC district councillor Paul Wiltshire to speak, followed by SNC County Councillor Ian Morris. They both gave reports about their councils and what changes have occurred over the past year. Both councillors have agreed to provide a report following the meeting. Issues discussed involved loss of the county bus service, the road surface at Radstone estate, a Unitary Authority update from South Northants Council as well as many other topics. More information will become available in the meeting minutes.

The meeting closed with questions and comments from members of the public, and Danny kindly thanked the evening's speakers, members of the parish council and the public for attending. Overall, it was felt the evening was successful and informative and kept villagers up to date with the villages they live in. » Less