Update - the Herts County Council councillor for the area which includes Northfield Rd knows about this lethal pothole and we hope for action today, Wednesday 3rd.

In the meantime, a big Beware. (400 m after the roundabout towards Tring Station.)

Potholes are going to be one of the big things locally over the coming weeks - you can help to keep local people informed. see the following useful web site - there's a report about the bad pothole on Northfielf Rd (it's in Hertfordshire, just over the nrder from Bucks.)

www.fixmystreet.com/report/92054

Post youir own sightings on www.fixmystreet.com

A vacancy has arisen for a parish councillor within the village. Please find attached the application details.

You may not know what your parish council does, or ever considered getting involved in the running of your village. We asked a couple of parish councillors to tell us how they got involved and what being on the parish council means for them. You can see their comments in the attached document.

Please feel free to contact me with any queries.

Laurie Eagling
Clerk to Pitstone parish council

The Cold Snap is over - for the time being.

But if the cold weather returns, here are some web sites to help you.

For road and traffic news - http://www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/local/buckinghamshire.shtml

For schools closed in Bucks - http://apps.buckscc.gov.uk/eforms/schools/closure_list.aspx

You may also want to look at the two council web sites -

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc
See also www.avdc.co.uk

For more on school closures and traffic look at (or listen) to www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties.

And www.mix96.co.uk/news

Local people will be well aware of the danger of colliding with deer on local roads.

This is a big problem, at a number of different levels.

Firstly it is a serious road safety issue. About 12 people are killed annually in the UK in vehicle-deer collisions. Secondly it is distressing for deer which are struck and not immediately killed, and for the occupants of the vehicles involved.

The deer have been here - on the National Trust Ashridge estate, which extends now to the edge of Pitstone and Ivinghoe. -- since the 1500s, when this was royal hunting land. They have no predators and their population is controlled by trained marksmen culling deer to achieve the correct population balance.

The only other control, and one nobody wants, is on the roads, with several dozen deer killed in accidents throughout the estate every year.

In recent months (Nov and Dec 2009) 2 deer at least have been killed around the villages - on the B488 near the Silver Birch café, and on Northfield road just after the roundabout on the way to Tring Station. We are not aware of which vehicles were involved, and possible injuries and damage sustained.

There has been work to research the problem, and possible mitigation measures have been tested – read about the National Deer-Vehicle Collisions Projecton www.deercollisions.co.uk. Ashridge has been involved in this.

However measures taken, which include flashing lights activated by crossing deer, and measures to deter the deer from crossing, have not proved very successful. (Cutting back bushes and scrub at the sides of roads has some promise, to improve visibility.)

The best solution still seems to be for drivers to reduce their speed. And be aware that the deer could dart out from anywhere, at any time of day.

The deer problem is not going to go away. They will continue to be abundant locally (and the sight of them in the woods brings pleasure to many), and technology to control them, and make roads safer, may not work.

The best you can do to stay safe is be very aware - particularly at night - and expect the unexpected. And slow down if you can.

Problem areas are the whole of Northfield Rd, between Tring Station and the roundabout at the top of Castlemead on the B488 (particularly the "corridor" with dense tree cover on both sides just after the roundabout) . Then much of Vicarage Rd, Pitstone.
And the B488 itself, from the roundabout all the way to the Windmill car park. And anywhere in Ashridge.

Elaine Thorogood , known to her fledglings as Brown Owl, was the inaugural winner of Pitstone's 'Volunteer of the Year' for 2009.

Nominations are now invited for next year's award. The only rule is that nominees are or have worked on a voluntary basis with an organisation within the village of Pitstone. Entries are also invited from members of organisations based in Ivinghoe which serve both villages.

The closing date for entries will be the 15th January 2010. The successful candidate will be chosen, from a list of nominees, by Pitstone Parish Council prior to the Parish Council's Annual Assembly for 2010, where an award of £50.00, will be presented to the person chosen.

Nominations can be made by anyone living in the village, age is no barrier, so please post your nominations to our Parish Clerk, Laurie Eagling, along with your name, address and telephone number, with similar details for the person you wish to nominate together with the organisation they represent and the reason why you think they should be considered for special recognition. The Parish Council would like to encourage under-14's to write in with the name of someone they feel makes life better for the youth of the village.

Please feel free to put a name forward

The intention of this award is to recognise the hard work of all volunteers that support and run the various clubs and societies in the village. Thank you for all your effort.

[i][i]NB - the following link to Bucks Primary Care Trust now works.[/i][/i]


Bucks Primary Care Trust has released advice on how to respond to flu symptoms. One of the key items is to stay at home and contact NHS Direct rather than visiting your GP.

For further details click here - http://www.buckspct.nhs.uk/?page_id=1923

The Rose and Crown re-opened on Friday evening, 31st July, with music from The Beacon Community Choir, and an opening speech from the Speaker of the House of Commons.

The famous old pub had been closed for some time and there were very real fears for its future, until Alistair and Tracella bought it.

The inside has been totally made over, with a new bar, lots of mirrors, pine, leather armchairs and smart white walls and a slab floor. Everything in the upstairs restaurant area is new too. The builders have done a magnificent jobs and rejuvenated old pub deserves to be seen.

Mr Speaker Bercow, the local MP, gave a short speech in which he praised local facilities like this pub and the enthusiasm of local people to make it happen. The first pint was then drawn and long queues built up of people waiting to be served.

The Rose and Crown is now firmly back in the fabric of our villages serving real ale, a wide selection of wines and food. It is now up to us all to support this magnificent new asset to. www.roseandcrownivinghoe.com

And let’s remember that the villages have two other pubs, the Bell (opposite Brookmead School) and the Duke of Wellington at Cooks’ Wharf – just beyond the railway bridge on Cheddington Rd.

They both try very hard to make people welcome, serve good beers and food and deserve our support.

The very successful Ivinghoe Festival will be back in 2010, over the week end Friday (the Ball) Saturday (probably another "decade" night - it could be a 60s Night again, but we haven't decided), and Sunday, June 25, 26 and 27th.

Tickets for the Ball will be on sale in the Spring, probably on the first Saturday in March, as last year.

We will publish more details when we finalise them.

I'd like to thank everyone for the tremendous support given to me in the election. I have been returned as the County Councillor for Ivinghoe Division for the third time, with almost the same majority, but a smaller turnout this time. The two previous occasions coincided with the general election so more people voted. The County Council and District Council elections alternate every two years. For the County Council I represent ten villages. For the District I just represent Ivinghoe and Pitstone. I particularly would like to thank everyone who sent me messages of congratulation, as they were so unexpected. Usually it takes a while for the results to become known, but with the Bucks County Council and Bucks Herald running such good websites, not to mention the village websites which are extremely well used, and dare I say it, Twitter. Communications are so much faster today.

I got a lot of good ideas from talking to people during the campaign, and some very good ideas to take forward on a whole number of things. Standing for election isn't very enjoyable, but this time I do feel the campaign has been positively invigorating.

Local Area Forum July 2nd
This will probably be past before this is published, but the Forum needs as much publicity as possible as it is open to the public. This meeting is in Cheddington Village Hall at 7pm and is attended by representatives of all the Parish Councils in the County Divisions of Stoke Hammond, Wing and Ivinghoe. The forum is often taken up with highways issues, but we are moving on from that and in July London Midland trains are attending to tell us how they are going to improve the service, and answer questions. We are going to hear about the Childrens centres that are propsed for Ivinghoe and Wing, Adult Social care services locally, and very importantly Youth Services.

The next Forum will be on October 1st, provisionally in Stewkley, when we hope the local highways area technician will hold a drop in session for parish clerks and the public before the main meeting starts, where local potholes, drainage, signage etc can be sorted out.

You can find out more on www.buckscc.gov.uk/democracy

Election results for Ivinghoe Division
County Council - Thursday 4th June 2009

Avril Davies was elected
%
Avril Davies Liberal Democrat 1637 47.9%
Christopher Poll Conservative 1392 40.7%
Martin Norris UK Independence 389 11.4%

More results - http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/moderngov/mgElectionElectionAreaResults.aspx?Page=1&EID=6&RPID=31055341