Annual Report

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Chair's Annual Report

The Chair of the Parish Council, Philip Ayles, issued his Annual Report to the village
at the Annual Parish Meeting on Monday 12 May 2025. which you can read below.
Click on the picture below to watch the video of the meeting.

I would like to start by paying tribute to Ian Markham, who recently passed away. He had been one of our longest serving councillors and a villager born and bred.
He has consistently contributed to the well-being of the village. He was involved in the initial stages of the village shop. He was

responsible for planting many of our trees and for monitoring their health.
Perhaps his greatest contribution was to the sports ground where he supported its development and maintenance over the 25 years of its existence. He will be greatly missed.

The Pavilion
The main focus of the Parish Council’s work in the past year has been the construction of The Pavilion and, in partnership with Castlethorpe Community Space CIC (CCS), equipping it and finally letting it to Clare Vachell to operate as a café, bar and restaurant.
We first concentrated on the cricket pavilion side to make sure the new changing rooms were available for the 2024 cricket season. The pavilion side was extensively remodelled to provide new toilets, cupboards, enlarged changing rooms and a small Parish Office.
Our contractor, Hickfords, then constructed the new social side and, in September, we were able to hold an Open Day to let villagers see their new facility.
Unfortunately, our ambition to open in the Autumn was frustrated because we were initially unsuccessful in obtaining some large grants but we were able to re-apply to the

National Lottery and, in November, were told we had been successful. At the same time, we had launched an appeal to the village and received generous donations.
We then had to equip the social area, serving area and kitchen jointly with CCS and, in parallel, advertise and interview prospective tenants and, as you will all know, Clare opened The Pavilion on 1st March and our local MP, Chris Curtis, and I formally opened it on 22nd March.The Parish Council also bid for and was successful in obtaining a National Lottery grant for a ‘monkey climbing wall’ which is at the back of The Pavilion’s garden area.
This was a very intensive project that took over two years and I would like to thank Lawrence Chapman, Chair of CCS, Steve Bradbury, Gordon Fleming, Russell Forgham, Ian Horne and Luke Jefferies for their huge commitment and effort and, of course, wish Clare every success for the future with The Pavilion.

Village Shop
Udi and Dina have been the victims of their own success and the shop needed enlarging to continue to serve the needs of the village. This was dependent on acquiring the land in front of the shop and we had been negotiating for five years with MKCC to acquire the land.
With the availability of some S106 funding (planning gain), we had one further push and they agreed to sell it to the Parish Council. In parallel, the shop association, CVSA, had plans drawn up and obtained planning permission.

As you all know, the extension has been completed and new fridges and freezers purchased to replace the original equipment which was 17 years old and no longer under warranty(!)
The village’s thanks are due to the CVSA Board which is David Scott (Chair), Nicky Birchall, John Keane (and me). Peter Clarke took over as Company Secretary and managed the construction work which was undertaken by Andy Webster and our particular thanks are due to Peter.

Public Art
There is also some S106 money for Public Art and some meetings were held to discuss potential projects. Unfortunately, the lady at MKCC who was helping us passed away suddenly and we have not been able to engage fully with her successor.

There are two projects we would like to fund; a new village sign and some artwork in the bus shelters. Hopefully, now the Pavilion and village shop developments have been completed, we will have more time to progress these projects..

Best Kept Village
We weren’t so fortunate in BKV in 2024 with perhaps harsher scoring in the category for the previous year’s winners. Not quite sure how we respond to their comment that the general appearance of the village ‘suffers from the main train line running through’? Re-route the West Coast Mainline to HS2?
As an aside, the Hanslope and Castlethorpe Beavers and Cubs did a litter pick on Station Rd and collected six bags of rubbish. Amazing and many thanks to them.

The Parish Council has litter picking tools and hi-viz jackets if anyone else is willing to keep our village tidy.
As an aside to an aside, the Beavers and Cubs also paraded at the annual Remembrance Day service in November which was greatly appreciated and we hope will be the start of an annual presence.
Best Kept Village is run every June and we have entered again this year so any help would be appreciated.

Highways
Highways maintenance remains unsatisfactory. This is due to limited funding. Fortunately, some of the worst potholes especially in Bullington End Road have been repaired (after a number of damaged tyres and wheels) and the Parish Council maintains a list of problems, including missing or damaged kerbstones, faded signs and leaning posts but MKCC basically, with their acute financial problems, are only attending to issues which are unsafe.
Ironically, West Northants, through our Ward Councillors with the neighbouring West Northants Councillor, have repaired the worst of the potholes by the Navigation and even resurfaced an area (oh that MKCC would do the same in Bullington End Road). Unfortunately, heavy traffic has caused damage to one of the bridges and the traffic lights will be there for the foreseeable future while West Northants assess the problem, decide on a solution and then find the funds to repair it.

The Parish Council has asked our Ward Councillors to liaise with the West Northants councillor to see if a weight limit would be practical.
Inconsiderate parking remains a problem in several parts of the village but particularly in South Street and joining roads such as the entrances to Maltings Field and School Lane. It is difficult to park when many of our older houses preceded the car but please consider others.
We have now purchased a ‘child bollard’ to control parking at the entrance to School Lane after a successful trial. We have also put down marked parking spaces in a section of South Street and have asked MKCC to quote for doing more.
As Spring has arrived and trees and bushes are growing again, could I ask residents with streetlights on their boundary to ensure that their herbage does not obstruct the light especially where the pavements are illuminated,

Planning
You may remember that Parish Councillor Kay Sawbridge and resident Peter Clarke led a campaign to get Gobbeys Field registered as a ‘Village Green’ to retain its use as an area widely used by the village for recreational purposes. We warned that this would be a long process and so it has proved. We check periodically but the news is ‘no further progress’.
MKCC’s new Local Plan, the next stage of consultation

(called Regulation 19) for the New City Plan (NCP) will begin in September this year with submission of the plan to the Secretary of State for Examination proposed for March 2026.
A Local Plan, among other things, designates land for housing but the situation remains as last year which is that we are not expecting land for development in Castlethorpe to be allocated in the NCP.

Ward Boundaries Review
The Local Government Boundaries Commission for England (LGBCE) has recommended that the number of MKCC Ward Councillors be increased from 57 to 60 to reflect the growth of MK. They have also proposed changing the Ward boundaries to ensure each Ward has approximately the same number of electors.
Because the rural part of MK is not quite big enough to

populate two Wards, they have to include some urban areas and Hanslope, Castlethorpe and Haversham have been put into a Ward which includes New Bradwell, Bradville and Oakridge Park.
We think this is highly inappropriate (as does New Bradwell) as the issues and interests of urban and rural areas are quite different and all the above parishes have written to LGBCE to ask them to reconsider.

Communi-tea
We are continuing to run free afternoon teas every other Wednesday in the village hall from 2pm to 4pm. We call it Communi-tea and we lay out tables together so that residents and their friends can talk.
Do come but also, if you know someone in the village who doesn’t get out often and would welcome some

company, perhaps you could bring them.
So, we have done a lot this past year to make Castlethorpe a better place to live and I hope we will continue, with your support, in this coming year.
Philip Ayles,
Chair, Castlethorpe Parish Council

The following reports were also presented at the meeting.

Ward Councillors' Report
Ward Cllr Alison Andrew has been working with West Northants Council to ensure we are kept informed about works taking place on Station Road towards the Navigation. The current works taking place are a structural repair and the possible introduction of a weight limit on the bridges will be discussed at the next public realm meeting.
S106 process – a review of how decisions are made will be requested as the current process is proving very difficult and help to navigate the process was offered, if needed, with our Public Arts project.
Hanslope Surgery – A meeting has taken place with Northampton Integrated Care Board, this is the care board Castlethorpe falls under due to the surgery’s head office being in Northamptonshire. This has caused problems with residents being taken to or referred to the wrong hospital, not having transport arranged etc.
The meeting was held with the head of the ICB, emergency care, primary care and end of life care and they are working on a project to improve these issues, working with both the

a project to improve these issues, working with both the ambulance service to ensure patients are taken to the geographically correct hospital, as long as it is clinically ok to do so, and the referrals teams to again sure patients are referred to the correct hospital.
A pilot scheme is also being introduced initially for the over 65’s whereby their wishes on where they would like to be treated are recorded on their records.
The project to extend the surgery should restart shortly, funding and planning permission is in place for these works.
New City Plan – the next stage of consultation starts in September, and although Castlethorpe doesn’t appear to have any development coming, it is expected that the developers will contest this so transparency has been requested from MKCC to see the comments developers are making which will be shared when available.
Please continue to report potholes etc. via the ‘report it’ section of the MKCC website.
Councillor Alison Andrew

Youth Club
Now in its 36th year, Castlethorpe Youth Club is the longest running youth club in Buckinghamshire and was open to children from school year 6 onwards.
Attendance levels were good with lots of great activities and trips and with members supporting events such as the Duck Race and Carols on the Green raising over £200 for Willen Hospice. However, recently number have declined both in children and youth leaders who are required to support activities. Three leaders are needed per session with a mix of male and female.
Youth Club was meeting weekly but due to reduced numbers this was revised to fortnightly and even then, one of the sessions only had three attendees. Before Christmas a big push was made to try and establish whether a Youth Club was still actually wanted and if so requested that new leaders come forward, this resulted in only two volunteers, one of which was not able to proceed and the other was only available temporarily.
However, at the AGM current leaders remained positive and wanted to carry on, the age was reduced to include children in year 5 and a marketing strategy was put in place which

has seen numbers increase to 10-15 and the club is back to be being held weekly for this current summer term.
At the AGM two new leaders joined but sadly these leaders will be replacing two that are leaving so there isn’t an overall increase in youth leaders.
Added to this both the Chair and Secretary are stepping down, after many years of service, although both have agreed to stay in position until the end of the summer term.
So the Youth Club will continue weekly for the summer term but if no volunteers come forward for the roles of Chair and Secretary (which are a requirement in line with the Youth Club constitution) as well as Youth Leaders the youth club will have no option but to close its doors at the end of July.
Youth Club is held in the Village Hall from 7.30 until 9.00 on Tuesday evenings during term time, youth leaders are asked to join a rota so aren’t required every week and obviously the more leaders volunteering the less each has to do. Please volunteer if you can.
Please contact tonycjrltd@gmail.com to find out more.
Tony Rice

Women’s Institute
Yvonne Hands, President of Castlethorpe WI, gave the following report of last year’s meetings:
March 2024 – Easter crafts run by committee member Jan Newman Bracey – we had a great time making Easter bonnets
April 2024 – Games night – as we had only a few members this meeting we talked about hobbies, collections and holiday souvenirs
May 2024 – no meeting as members were at Ascension Day service in Church
June 2024 – Michelle and John Gerrard talked about their holiday and tour of Madagascar with slides of the island and the famous lemurs, together with the awful bug most of the tour group picked up. Their donation went to Willen Hospice.
July 2024 – Andy Harding told us about moths of the English country garden and the 2,800 different varieties
August 2024 – Scott Humphries was due to do a walk and talk in Castle field but unfortunately he was taken ill so we enjoyed cakes made by a member Julie Clayton
September 2024 – Evening cream tea at Lodge Farm café was enjoyed by all.

October 2024 – Kevin Varty gave a talk called ‘Pictures in the Parlour’ the story of the magic lantern from its invention in the 1650’s, its heyday in Victorian times and its demise in the 1950’s. He showed us lots of slides and explained how these were made by painting on glass.
November 2024 – Jean Yates told us about ‘The Ladies of the Grand Tour’ and its intrepid wives, widows and mistresses
December 2024 – Christmas Party with a buffet supplied by ‘The Cake Tin’ in Hanslope. Every member received a gift of a note book and pen plus chocolates with donations from the raffle going to Willen Hospice.
January 2025 – Games evening which was very enjoyable.
February 2025 – AGM and puddings – members were asked to bring a favourite pudding for us to enjoy.
March 2025 – ‘D Pizza Guy’ – Howard D’Silva gave a talk and made pizzas, we went home a little full after many tastings.
We have a raffle which is well supported and refreshments every month.
We meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 7.30 pm in the village hall – please come along, all are welcome.

Cricket Club
The club having suffered relegation last season from the Premiership to Division 1 now has the opportunity to rebuild and hopefully encourage a wider circle of players, young and not so young, to join. After several seasons of perhaps over achieving in the Premiership the lesser pressure with competing in Division 1 could be ‘a blessing in disguise’.
The club has started the season in fine form. After several weeks of indoor nets under the guidance of a qualified coach they have won their first two matches, ne being a friendly and the other a convincing win over Hanslope in their first league match.
Alongside the league programme they continue to play Sunday friendlies which is a good format for new players to get acquainted with club members and enjoy a game of cricket.
The village now has the added attraction of a meeting place/cafe bar at the ground for players and supporters to use.
The partnership with Stony Stratford Cricket Club is on-going, with CCC hosting a number of junior boys and girls games on Sunday mornings and Monday evenings. The members of SSCC have been very complimentary about the club's facilities.

For present players and new players outdoor net sessions take place at the ground on Tuesday evenings. Please contact club captain - Ed Tate 07791 241773 for further information if you are interested.
To maintain playing standards the club request that the public please keep off the cricket square (in the centre of the sports ground) and do not tamper with any cricket equipment e.g. the roller, the practice net or the plastic storage container behind the net area. This is being brought to your attention as the club have already had issues.
Home games are advertised on the Notice Board at the main entrance of the Sports Ground in Thrupp Close, and can also be found on ‘Castlethorpe Play-Cricket’ website.
The Cricket Club enjoys a social environment which includes quiz nights, curry nights and get togethers with our sponsors.
Please get in touch if you wish to be part of this long-standing village tradition.
David Spinelli
Club Chairman 07889 215786

Dance Fitness
My dance fitness class takes place at the Village Hall on Thursday evenings at 6 pm. We are now in our 15th year and new faces are always welcome.
The class is 45 minutes of fun, easy-to-follow, low impact routines in a variety of dance styles including Latin, jazz, flamenco, rock, disco and Charleston to name a few.

Classes are £6.50 pay-as-you-go or you can buy a 5-class pass for £30, cash only.
No need to book, just turn up and have a go. Wear comfortable layers with trainers, preferably with smooth soles, and bring water. Come and join us!
Nicky Burchall