OPC Meeting June 2025 Cancelled
The OPC meeting in June has been cancelled due to councillor’s being unavailable. There will be no meeting in June (originally scheduled for 25th) and the next meeting will be on Wednesday 30th July.
Orston Primary School – Governor Vacancies
Do you care about children’s education and have ever wondered how you could be involved? Becoming a school governor enables members of our local community help the passionate educators at Orston Primary provide the best learning environment. The school has started the process of joining a local academy so it is an exciting time to join the team. The Governing body should have a spread of skills and experience to ensure the school team is supported in the widest way and candidates don’t need to have a connection with the school. If becoming a governor is of interest please get in touch for more information.
Contact: nikki.crosby@orston.notts.sch.uk
Express Interest By: 30th April 2025
Proposed Telecommunications Site – Station Road Orston
If you have any views on the attached proposal then please email Wendy Wakefield clerk@orstonparish.co.uk by Wednesday 5th Feb in order to consult with the company on the 6th.
Cornerstone and the operator are in the process of identifying a new radio base station site to address network deficits in problem coverage areas and ‘Not Spots’ (an Ofcom term that Local Planning Authorities and Councils will be familiar with), i.e. areas where mobile signal is too weak and where network users suffer dropped call, poor connectivity and buffering. This matter is particularly important in more remote and rural communities where mobile coverage may be limited. Following the refusal of an initial proposal, as dealt with under planning reference 19/01756, the area has been revisited by the operator in the hope of identifying a more acceptable solution. However, the same conclusion has been reached in that a street furniture style base station along Station Road strikes the best available balance between operational and planning considerations.
Flood Customer Service Line
Following the tour of the Notts C.C. Flood protection team they have sent a message to Orston reiterating their priority ‘Customer Service Line’ 0300 500 80 80
They say that flood risk properties e.g. those at risk of flooding on High Street, can have delivery of sandbags, “deployed as quickly as they can be sent to assist” to the home addresses.
Keep this number to hand to ring when a flood problem seems likely to occur.
Flood Prevention Team
On Tuesday 29th September a senior team from Nottinghamshire County Council flood prevention team, led by Dr Josh Wells (centre), came, as promised, to assess the drainage and flood risks in Orston. Their inspection had been prompted by strongly felt concerns raised by the Parish Council, which thanked them for their thorough approach. They walked the Bon Moor drain, inspected and discussed culverts, drains, gulleys and blockages on Mill Lane, Loughbon, Lombard Street and High Street. They complimented the residents of Orston who undertook cutting back and clearing of obstructions in the Bon Moor drain. After two hours inspection they left with plans to discuss drainage issues with VIA, (their ‘Roads and Gulleys arm’), and to investigate riparian owner issues relating to drainage.
The Parish Council hopes that this inspection and subsequent discussions will prove advantageous to Orston.
Bon Moor Drain
The Parish Council has been in diplomatic negotiations with Nottinghamshire County Council regarding our request for formal management protocols for the upper reaches of the Bon Moor Drain (“Stink Dyke”). This drain is redundant and dry for most of the year and sprouts abundant vegetation which blocks it. This greatly increases flood risk to Orston when the drain is suddenly overwhelmed with water from heavy rainfall and drainage from higher land.
The Inland Drainage Board (IDB) is adamant that the cleansing of this drain is legally the responsibility of ‘riparian owners’, i.e. All the residents/landowners who abut the drain, or if they are tenants – their landlords.
Whilst the Parish Council hopes and expects riparian owners to meet their legal responsibilities some are elderly and/or infirm and cannot realistically be expected to struggle in the drain with cutting implements. The ‘Grafters’ have done sterling work in trying to clear the ‘Bon Moor’ for years to allow flood water passage but THEY, also, are not in the ‘first flush of youth’.
The Inland Drainage Board has been extremely helpful in trying to keep the Bon Moor Drain free of vegetation and rubbish.
The dyke when clear of vegetation
The IDB does this as a ‘favour’ but, as such, it is not the major priority for them as they have a full and busy schedule of work that IS specified as their priority. A great deal of time is spent by O.P.C. in trying to ‘call in’ this favour at appropriate times to minimise our flood risk.
At the time of writing this, to keep you informed, we are working with Dr. Josh Wells, the Principal Officer for Flood Risk Management, Highways and Transport for Nottinghamshire County Council.
We will keep you informed of any developments in this important matter.
Meantime, if your property has been affected by flooding please can you contact Gerry McMahon on 07971 443346 or email cllrgerrymcmahon@orstonparish.co.uk
For more help and advice about flooding please visit this Nottinghamshire County Council webpage https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKNOTTSCC/bulletins/3b6b947
Thank you
O.P.C.