Todwick Parish Plan

Todwick Parish Plan Newsletter

No. 1, 14 October 2011

As you may recall, earlier in the year the Parish Council distributed a questionnaire to every household seeking views/opinions on issues relating to the village. Since that time a huge amount of work has been undertaken in collating all the feedback and preparing a Parish Plan Report and Action Plan.

You will be pleased to know that the Parish Plan Report which includes the Action Plan is now in the final stages of being drafted and will be sent to the printers at the end of October. Once the Report is printed it is intended that a master copy will be put onto the village website - www.todwick.org.uk.

At the same time as working on the actual Report, Councillors have also started to action some of the items on the Action Plan and the purpose of this Bulletin is to give you an up-date on progress made relating to those actions we have outcomes/updates for, as below.

The Parish Plan Action Plan will, for the foreseeable future, now be a standing item on the Parish Council monthly agenda and minuted accordingly - minutes can be viewed by logging onto the village website - www.todwick.org.uk.

In addition, as actions are progressed, Bulletins similar to this one will be prepared and posted through your letterbox so that you are kept up-to-date on the work being undertaken.

If you wish to volunteer to become involved with any of the projects being undertaken, please get in touch with any Todwick Parish Councillor - details on the website - we'd be pleased to hear from you.

BULLETIN 1 - Swimming

Quite a few people were very interested in using the swimming pool located in the grounds of Todwick Primary School.

We have looked seriously into seeing whether this was a possibility but regretfully it is not.

Whilst the school management was not against the idea in principle, advice was sought from Mr. Dean Fenton, RMBC, who has overall responsibility for the facility. A summary of his comments is as follows:

1. The main problem lies with the contract with DC Leisure who operate the pool and which categorically states that RMBC cannot lease out this pool for private adult sessions.
2. The pool was built specifically as a children's educational resource.
3. The pool is quite tiny and is restricted to a maximum of 15 children at any one time. This would need to be reduced to, say, 10 adults which limits its usefulness.
4. There are two changing rooms - both quite small but with no screening etc. and these would probably not meet required modern standards for lease to the public.
5. Adults would not be able to use the pool without appropriate supervision/lifeguard attendance, which would significantly affect costings.
6. Public liability insurances would need to be extended - again adding to costs.

BULLETIN 2 - The "Hairdressers" Shop

Many of you commented on the disgraceful state of the former hairdresser's shop. Despite the Parish Council having made previous attempts to engage with the landlord so far it has not been met with any success. The Clerk has now written - again - with photographic evidence of the condition of the shop and its forecourt asking that the landlord take urgent action in dealing with these issues. We will keep you informed of any developments in this regard.

BULLETIN 3 - Energy Saving products and schemes

In response to the interest in information on solar energy, PV panels, the governments Feed-In-Tariff scheme and Renewable-Heat-Incentive scheme etc, etc, a presentation has been arranged to take place in the Village Hall (Hall 2) on 2 dates: Thursday, 27 October at 7.00 pm and Friday 4 November at 3.00 pm.

If anyone is interested, please reserve a place with Brian White on 01909 770817 or 07928 013054.

BULLETIN 4 - Todwick Book Swap

The red Telephone Box on Goosecarr Lane was purchased by TPC for the sum of £1.

It is just one of 350 old boxes handed over to Parish Councils throughout the country. The box has been cleaned, painted and shelved for the use of Todwick residents as a community book swap and will be stocked up and running by the end of October.

We are hoping to offer a good range of books from modern novels to classics, cookery to flower arranging, books of general interest and children's books.

To begin with the books will not be arranged in any particular genre but in alphabetical order by author. Each book will contain a plain sheet of paper in the front for residents to write any comments they may wish to make about the book, thus helping others to decide whether they might like to read the book or not. It would also be helpful if the date of borrowing could be added.

If anyone wishes to retain the book they have borrowed or simply just pass it on to a friend, that is fine but please try to replace the book with another so that stocks are kept up.

The Telephone Box will be open 24 hours a day seven days a week and is lit at night. A regular check will be kept on the box to make sure that stocks are kept fresh and interesting.

A Notice Board will also be placed in the box for useful local information. Please use this if you have an event or anything you wish to publicise.

TPC hope that Todwick residents will consider the Telephone Box a useful village facility and will use it regularly but request that users be mindful that the box is situated directly outside the homes of some residents and to respect their peace and privacy.

If anyone has any books they wish to donate, please contact Eileen on 770050.

BULLETIN 5 - Mobile Library

As many of you will be aware, Rotherham MBC have to make considerable savings to meet the Government's reduced financial budgets over the coming years. As such, there are services currently provided which may be in jeopardy of being reduced/rescinded if not used.

With that in mind we want to take the opportunity to remind you of a service which Todwick currently has - the mobile library service - which may become vulnerable in the future if it is not fully utilised.

Below are details of the times and village locations that the Mobile Library is available to villagers on every alternate Wednesday afternoon:

• The Meadows (between Mill Hills and Mill Fields) 3.45 pm - 4.05 pm
• Rayls Road: 4.10 pm - 4.30 pm
• The Pastures Shopping Centre: 4.35 pm - 4.55 pm
• Hardwick Farm: 5.00 pm - 5.30 pm

Please help us retain this valuable service by making use of it every time it comes into the village.