Mr A H Peach (Vice Chairman)

Mr R Bazeley

Mr J Caswell

Mr N Cooper

Mrs M Edwards

Mr D Huffadine-Smith

Mrs S Ingram

Mr P Riches

Mr C Riley

Mrs E Tavener

There were no declarations of interest.

Most of the members of the public attending the meeting had come to comment about the questionnaire the Parish Council had sent out to consult residents about what facilities they would like to see in Errington Park for young people. Several concerns were raised by members of the public, in summary:

The Chairman thanked the members of the public from attending and 15 left the meeting.

PC Brown reported. The following is a summary:

The minutes of the full Council meeting held on 10^th January 2002 were proposed by Mr Caswell and seconded by Mr Peach as a correct record and duly signed by the Chairman.

PC02/2/28 (Finance - monthly management review) Minutes of Parish Council meetings

The owner of the estate agent at Bordeaux Close had agreed to keep copies of minutes for members of the public to take if they wished, for a trial period.

PC02/2/29 Finance - model code of conduct

The Clerk had been asked to check if this conflicted in any way with existing Standing Orders. She confirmed that it did not.

Environment: Mrs Ingram reported as follows:

The Environment Working Party had carefully considered the possible options for play equipment for teenagers. Where to site the equipment was an issue. It had been agreed to do the following:

Mr Caswell also mentioned the possibility of second hand play equipment that he had been looking into.

No comments had been received from members of the public about this, so it was agreed to go out to tender.

A timetable for the plastic and cans collection plus information about the success of paper recycling had been requested from the Recycling Officer.

The bent light had been straightened but the path was still dark. The possibility of a different light was being looked into.

The Borough Council had said that it could not turn the shelter around to make more space on the pavement because there were service pipes and cables near to the surface. Mr Caswell suggested putting a narrow service strip of tarmac on the verge; it was agreed to consider this in more detail.

Mr Caswell had asked the County Council to consider upgrading the crossing.

A solicitors' letter on behalf of the neighbour, requesting the Parish Council to reconsider the issue of the neighbour building steps through one of the raised beds, was discussed. The Borough Council's initial comments about the solicitors' letter were tabled and noted.

Mrs Tavener expressed her concern about the rose garden, and it was agreed that there should be as little further delay in upgrading the rose garden as possible. The resident's letter was felt to be reasonable and showed that he wanted the issue resolved too. The Borough Council's advice on the legal details of who owns the land and who owns which wall needed resolving, and were delaying any further improvements to the rose garden. Mr Huffadine-Smith felt that any decision until the legal situation had been clarified was premature.

It was proposed by Mrs Tavener and seconded by Mr Cooper and duly

Resolved: that this Council is happy to allow the access through the rose garden if that section of wall is owned by the resident and subject to the agreement of the design details with the Parish Council. No monetary consideration would be required, but it would be hoped that the resident would co-operate with the re-design of the rose garden. (Five in favour; six abstentions).

It was proposed by Mr Peach and seconded by Mr Riley and duly

Resolved: that all of the invoices presented for payment were approved for payment.

The budget was on line. It was noted that there were still some grants that needed to be claimed.

PC02/2/40 Local Government White Paper 'Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services - the Way Forward for Parishes'

It was noted that it is proposed by central government to reform the financial regime for parishes.

PC02/2/41 Model code of conduct

This would be further discussed at a future meeting.

PC02/2/42 Parish Council representative to the Borough Council's Standards Committee

Resolved: That Mr Collins or Mrs Edwards should attend the meeting with the other parish councils within the Borough, and that they were granted delegated powers to vote on behalf of Duston Parish Council for a representative to the Borough Council's Standards Committee.

The Chairman asked if any of the Duston councillors wished to stand as representative to this committee, but there were no nominations. Mr Collins also thanked Mrs Edwards for attending the meeting at the Guildhall with the Borough Solicitor at short notice.

The minutes of the previous two meetings were received by all councillors and Mr Peach reported as follows:

A separate Planning meeting had been held this month as agreed , and Mr Peach did feel that it had been worthwhile, as there was longer to discuss each application.

Of the five residential planning applications discussed, it had been agreed there were no concerns. The date for Golby's appeal had been noted. The following information had also been noted:

Of the five residential planning applications discussed, it had been agreed there were no concerns. There had been very little information with the following, but it had been felt that as the plans had been reduced to two smaller properties they were now more realistic for the size of the site:

PC02/2/44 St Crispin site

Mr Caswell had reported that the contact from Wilcon specifically for the St Crispin site was Phil Leggett.

The Borough Surveyor hoped to carry out a survey of the social club buildings imminently.

It was noted that Duston Oils had been successful in their appeal against refusal of their retrospective application to move their chimney.

The replies received so far from local community groups to the letter asking them if were planning any events to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee showed that a few small events were being planned. Mr Huffadine-Smith had been very disappointed by the reaction of members of the public to the proposal to install play equipment for older children in Errington Park, and felt that the idea of this being the Jubilee project should be re-assessed by the Environment Working Party.

It was agreed to look at the idea of providing commemorative mugs or similar for local children.

Mrs Ingram proposed a vote of thanks to Mr R Tavener for putting up the attractive display outside the library about the Parish Council's Jubilee bulb planting event.

PC02/2/48 Area committees

Mrs Tavener reported that the County Council was reviewing the initialprogress of its area committees. She had stressed at the meeting` the need to work with the parishes. Various items had been discussed, including travellers and improvements to youth facilities.

PC02/2/49 Northamptonshire County Council - Quality Schools for the 21^st Century - latest proposals for local schools

Mrs Tavener reported that DUS are planning a strategic conference for Autumn 2002. They would be asking members of the community what they expected from the school. It was agreed in principle that the Parish Council would like to be involved.