Tag Archives: Dinnington St Johns Town Council

Plans Revealed for Birkdale Avenue Playing Field

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The developer Taylor Wimpey has revealed it’s plans to develop the Rotherham Council owned playing field at the end of Birkdale Avenue.

BirkdalePlot

To summarise they plan to build a load of houses over it and replace it with a much smaller open space a long way from where local children play currently.

This is where the plot lies:

219Plan

Having been previously told by the developer that they had no interest in the playing field I am not happy, I am also less than thrilled with Rotherham Council who seem to be willing to see what little recreational land we have left built on.

Well last week I handed in 150 evidence forms claiming the footpaths that people currently use on that land, so I hope the owners of the new houses will be OK with me walking through their back gardens and riding my bike through their dining room.

Full PDF plans are available here and here.

Dinnington’s Broken Relationship with RMBC

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At a time when national politics is focussing on our (possibly?) broken relationship with Europe, Dinnington and Anston politics, I feel should be looking towards our most definitely broken relationship with Rotherham Borough Council.

It feels to me like RMBC are essentially pulling out of Dinnington and Anston, they are closing the Service Centre, we have no public swimming or leisure centre and the state of our roads gets worse every year. Dinnington is supposed to be a town but has a very rural bus service!

Our Borough Councillors are not helping matters, Councillors Falvey and Havenhand in Dinnington and Dalton and Burton in Anston should be off fighting our cause in Rotherham, instead they are basically told what will happen to Dinnington and sent back to tell us all the bad news and trot out the Labour party line.

They act like Imperial Viceroys reigning over us while the real decisions are taken at the Borough by their political masters, any awkward questions at Dinnington Town Council or Anston Parish are brushed off by political guff from RMBC crib sheets and sly complacent smiles.

We don’t want Councillors who care first and foremost for their own standing in their political party, we want them to be fighting for us! Has anyone noticed how all these “consultations” RMBC launch in Dinnington and Anston invariably end the same way? With RMBC doing what they were going to do anyway?

We are a “Principal Township” when it comes to building new houses on our countryside. When it comes to library hours, service centres and leisure facilities it’s all forgotten.

The only way to break this cycle of events is for us to change the way we vote, that’s the only language the comrades in Rotherham will understand. Anston saw a glimmer of hope last year when Clive Jepson defeated the every so slightly slimy Darren Hughes. We need the same thing to happen again and I would call on anyone who would like to stand as an independent candidate in next years elections and put the people first to do just that. Many people in Dinnington and Anston would support them.

And it would send the right message to Rotherham, don’t take us for granted or you will end up with another bloody nose.

Dinnington Town Council AGM 13/05/2013

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It’s Monday the thirteenth which may be unlucky for some, but surely not for us as we are off to Dinnington Town Council which is usually a civilised affair.

If we were off to the Parish Hall I’d be packing my body armour and taking at least 12 sick bags, but these cares are far from our heart in the lovely Lyric.

There’s a good-ish attendance as the Cllrs roll in, Judy Dalton has paid us a visit as a member of the public as have Bodie and Doyle, aka Cllrs Jepson and Thornton. Judy hasn’t brought her fan club with her, must be their night off. We also have Save our Greenbelt and Dave Smith and Mr Lewis present, so here we go!

This is the AGM so the Chair Cllr Pauline Davies kicks off with a brief summary of the year past, she also announces she will not be standing for another term and so her reign ends. The torch and the chain passes to Cllr Ralph McIver, Pauline volunteers to move down the bench to Vice Chair so they have essentially swapped places.

We move on to the public forum with a question from Save our Greenbelt who ask the Council to request a clean-up of the Timber Yard building site.

My question is whether or not the Council will consider obtaining two RMBC assets that the Borough seem to want rid of, the Birkdale Playing Fields and RMBC Service Centre.

Dave Smith is next and starts with a stinging attack on the way the meeting is being conducted. No minutes or agenda are provided on the web site and the public and Cllrs are having to share agendas at the meeting or the public would have had nothing to look at. He welcomes the socialist spirit of sharing present in the room, however.

He continues with his actual question: What do the Council think to the closure of the Service Centre?

Cllr Jepson (the Dinno one) jumps in and says the consultation was a sham and the Borough had made their minds up before it started. Comments are made but the Borough Cllrs Falvey and Havenhand are made very conspicuous by their silence.

Only when directly asked by Mr Smith does Cllr Falvey jump to their defence and says they constantly fight for Dinnington and it could have been worse.

Cllr Russell defends the two Borough Cllrs, but this doesn’t go down very well with the public and frankly I don’t blame them. Labour Borough Cllrs in this part of the world act like Imperial Viceroys, commands are handed down from the Borough and they come back to take their seats in Dinnington and break the bad news to us. It’s something we are seeing again and again, instead of aggressively representing our cause at the Borough they are merely Labour policy apologists and it’s high time it changed.

The public session ends with Save our Greenbelt protesting that they have not been allowed to speak, ooops move on!

The state of the roads are mentioned and lamented, however Cllr Falvey jumps in here as well to defend the Borough, oh God.

Cllr Tweed has arrived by now to bring the Boroughs up to full strength so on we plough.

Next up the Parishes in the south of the Borough have joined up and requested that RMBC improve their communications to all concerned. The request was made in April and no reply has been forthcoming. An incredulous silence is only broken when Dave Smith asks for clarification  as even he can’t believe what he just heard.

The Local Plan is discussed and Cllrs informed that the RMBC road show on 20 June will be accompanied by additional days at the Lyric put on by the Town Council to make sure everyone gets to hear of the plans.

Cllr Jepson asks if cabinet members from RMBC might also be invited but Cllr Falvey again jumps in and says the existing arrangements are OK. She also appeared to suggest at one stage that Council officers attending the event would be expressing Council opinion rather than just providing facts and listening to residents. When challenged by Mr Smith she said this was not what she intended to say.

This does raise an interesting question as she definitely did say something along the lines of “Cllrs and officers can give the public information to help them form their own opinion, rather than the opinions of others.”

This does seem a possible dig at the various protest groups which have been campaigning against the plans for some time now. If anyone feels I’m wrong here please feel free to comment.

Lastly the possibility of the Town Council acquiring the RMBC Service Centre, the Council is split on this, some like Cllr Wardle say that we should not have to buy what is provided free to other towns. Good point.

Cllr Tweed says it could be a good opportunity for Dinnington to acquire an excellent resource. OK, yep good point.

The now Vice Chair Cllr Davies says that RMBC should give it away to Dinnington. Bloody good point!

Cllr Wardle laments at the lack of support shown to Dinnington and once again the tiresome Cllr Falvey is there to defend the Borough. Sorry but it’s getting boring.

The public half of the meeting ends as the Cllrs descend to private session, we advise Ralph to get a few more links on his chain, Ali G is mentioned at one point but it’s all in good fun as we depart for the post meeting post mortem on the pavement.

A full helping of debate and intrigue with none of the nastiness and poison spitting that you usually find over the border  Hurrah.

Dinnington Town Council Meeting 8 April 2013

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It’s a lovely evening in Dinnington, and as Maggie Thatcher dominates the evening news we turn our attention to another fantabulous Town Council meeting!

The lovely Lyric Theatre welcomes us as we settle down, Mr Lewis is the only heckler present and he seems in a mellow mood, The news of maggie’s passing hasn’t devastated him too much. Some wag asks if the bar will be open later, memories of maggie run deep here.

The public seats are packed with myself, Mr Lewis, one lady from the press and two councillors from over the border in Anston. It’s a bit depressing that no one else is here.

We kick off with two questions, one from Clive which I didn’t catch, must ask him what it was when I see next time! My question is on buses and whether SYPTE should be invited to a meeting in the near future to discuss improvements.

All present agreed that the current service is inadequate, a recent consultation at the bus station seemed to have been ineffective, and we are left wondering what is the point of a bus station with no decent buses. My thoughts are that we need to see a better service into Sheffield in particular, I think the young unemployed of Dinnington would perhaps be able to benefit from the jobs I see there so often snatched away by East European migrant workers,

We are continually told by RMBC that we are the principal town in the borough, but this is usually when they are interesting in building houses. When it comes to essential services we are too often left with a distinctly rural service.

The state of the roads is discussed and we are told that RMBC plans no road repairs in Dinnington this year. Quite depressing as all local residents will agree as our potholed roads take on an almost Sheffieldesque appearance!

RMBC are also criticised for dodging their responsibilities in the area of street cleanliness. It’s a recurring theme at Town Council meetings, the borough should be doing this but they aren’t, or the borough won’t do that, very frustrating,

The public session closes and I leave feeling a bit depressed, what is the point in paying our council taxes to a borough council who struggle to provide the most basic services to 10% of their population. Surely we are entitled to receive the same 10% of the budget for road repairs, cleaning and public transport?

I for one am getting sick of the broken relationship between Dinnington and the Rotherham Borough who seem to treat us as some kind of forgotten outpost. They are always so eager to plunder our countryside when they have a housebuilding quota to meet, but hesitate when we need buses, street cleaners, libraries and highway maintenance.

Something is rotten here and change is needed!

Rough Guide to Dinnington Politics

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Welcome to our guide to the local and not so local politics of the Dinnington and Anston area.

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Let’s start at the grass roots and work our way up…

Dinnington St John’s Town Council

A Town or Parish Council takes care of the ultra-local side of things, they do NOT take care of stuff like planning and highways, although they can send their opinions to the people who do. Dinnington is a town nowadays rather then a parish so we have ourselves a town council. Meetings are held at the Lyric once a month and are open to the public for the first half when residents are allowed to ask questions. The second half is held in private. You can find details about the councillors and the Council as a whole here.

Anston Parish Council

If you are an Anstonian you are living in a parish and the parish council web site can be found here. Meetings are once a month at the Parish Hall.

Rother Valley South Area Assembly

Is our part of the greater Rotherham area. They also meet regularly and might be a good place to raise issues which aren’t borough wide but extend beyond Dinnington. Details are here.

Rother Valley South Safer Neighbourhood Team

Is our local division of South Yorkshire Police, obviously not political, but handy to know if you want to raise something with the boys in blue. They have regular meetings in Anston Parish Hall, details are here.

Rotherham Borough Council

RMBC are the primary authority for our area and take care of the heavier duty things like planning and emptying bins. Planning and Highways are often contentious subjects and are handled here at the Borough level.
Dinno has 3 borough councillors and Anston shares a further 3 with Woodsetts.

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

A new one this, and takes the place of the old Police Authority. You can raise issues of Police policy with the SYPCC, but day to day running of the Police is still with the Chief Constable.

Member of Parliament

If you want to take things to the top our man in Westminster is Kevin Barron. He holds a surgery on alternate Saturdays at his office in Dinnington and his website is here. He is your man if you want the law changed or something raising in the house.

Europe!

Nothing divides opinion like this subject! I offer no opinions on European politics, just note we are part of the Yorkshire and the Humber region in the European parliament and more info is here.

Dinnington Town Council Meeting 11 March 2013

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It’s severe weather as polar conditions batter Dinnington, but nothing will keep me in tonight because it’s Dinnington St John’s Town Council Meeting! Hoorah!

A good attendance at this little get together, very friendly and not a single police officer in sight. Even the (in)famous Mr Lewis manages to get in the door without a blue light escort.

It marks the return of Simon Tweed from a bout of poorly-ness and with his fellow Borough Councillors in tow as well.

We kick off with a presentation by the “Groundwork Creswell, Ashfield and Mansfield” group, an environmental charity with quite a wide range of work to their name. More about them here

They are questioned quite thoroughly by a member of Save our Greenbelt (who I am not associated with in any way in case people don’t know) about their work, their funding and how they tackle various problems.

And so starts the meeting proper…

First question is on certain expenditure in the last budget and the chair answers explaining and giving details.

A question from the public on the shop frontages on Dinnington main street and who is responsible for their upkeep and preventing them from encroaching on the pavement. RMBC Highway and Env Health says Simon, but Cllr Wardle points out that if the blockage is on private land little can be done.

Litter is also on the agenda, RMBC accused of paying little attention to Dinnington, but borough is defended by Cllr Havenhand who says their guy does his best but it is a losing battle. Someone comments that people ought to stop dropping the flipping stuff and it’s hard to argue with that! The chair promises to raise with borough and see if more can be done.

Save Our Greenbelt ask about the total number of houses RMBC are now going to build in Dinno, is it 1100, is it 1300, does it include this or that? Borough Councillors say it is 1300 and Simon promises to get written clarification. I point out that the borough tend to lie a lot and any written reply is fit only for arse wiping. The chair shoots me down for calling people liars and I scurry away before her wrath.

It gets a bit shouty and then we come to my question, how about a field trip onto Dinnington East to find out some facts on the ground. This is greeted with enthusiasm by many and I am told to arrange a date and call the press, job done!

I also sort of hint that only one of the three Borough Councillors have been helping so far and get a right earful back. I invite them to prove me wrong and then duck as verbal Tomahawk missiles are aimed in my direction.

Save Our Greenbelt make one last point (which I don’t fully understand) about the objections made to RMBC by the Town Council, the clerk answers and the public session is closed! I make a hasty retreat to my car outside which has been left with the engine running the whole time!

A nice bit of good honest debate after the snakish nastiness of Anston and I live to complain another day!

Job done, cushty, off we trot!