ROLLESTON ON DOVE PARISH COUNCIL
DRAFT PARISH PLAN (January 2004)

INTRODUCTION

The plan presented here is based on the Appraisal carried out by the Village Design Statement Group for the Parish Council. It gives short, medium and long term objectives for the Parish Council to work towards and also outlines aims that will be borne in mind when decisions are taken by the Council. These aims and objectives have been set by the Parish Council itself, based on the Appraisal.

The plan incorporates the Parish Council’s vision of Rolleston in the future. It does not discuss every road and street but does treat every section of the village with equal weight. Later developments contribute to the nature and life of the village as much, albeit in a different way, as the central conservation area.

CONTENTS

1 The Village
2 Education
3 Youth and sports facilities
4 Public footpaths, cycle tracks and bridleways
5 Shops, services and amenities
6 Traffic, parking and village pavements
7 Environment
8 Flood prevention

1 THE VILLAGE

1.1 Village Character

During its normal business the Parish Council shall always bear in mind the preservation and enhancement of the essential character of the Village.

The following work is ongoing and all practical efforts will be made in order to achieve a successful conclusion:

• restoration and preservation of the road scene in Brookside, including the verges, the setts and the blue brick raised pavement,
• maintaining and improving the Alderbrook area, the playing areas and, with the Borough Council and Civic Trust, Brook Hollows; this to include close monitoring of the silting-up in Brook Hollows.

In the medium term the Parish Council will aim to:

• improve playing facilities on Elizabeth Avenue playing field,
• improve access for families and disabled people to Elizabeth Avenue play area and encourage greater passage of pedestrians across playing field area.

The Parish Council is continually looking to protect sensitive areas of the village and will continue to do so. When a specific threat or opportunity arises it will take advantage of the opportunity.

It will continue to:

• support improvements to the paths in Brook Hollows and
• carry on the progressive introduction of wild flowers into Brook Hollows and the Croft.

1.2 Development

The Parish Council will continue to lobby the Borough Council Planning Department strenuously in order to ensure that the views of the Council and the Village and the aims of the Village Design Statement are taken into account when any proposal for further development in the village is considered.

The Parish Council will continue to do all in its powers to support and encourage all Village organisations to maintain, promote and develop the amenities that Rolleston can provide for visitors. It will continue to attempt to strengthen barriers against encroaching development.

The Council will, in general, aim to prevent any further development within the Parish Boundaries unless the development provides specific improvement in amenities for the village. 

For any future development application the Council will carefully assess the probability of successful opposition to the application and if this is thought to be very low will work to ensure protection of the environment and character of the village and secure maximum compensatory benefit in the form of enhanced community facilities.

The Parish Council sees the Blue Cross site as a potential concern and will continue to monitor the situation and do all in its power to ensure that it is established as a horse sanctuary in accordance with the legacy conditions as soon as possible.

1.3 Co-operation with neighbouring parishes

In the short term the Parish Council will seek to develop relationships with adjoining Parishes. 

In the longer term the aim will be to try to develop common strategies on future developments within the Borough, providing this does not jeopardise any specific interest of Rolleston.

1.4 Housing

When considering any planning applications for new housing the Parish Council will press for:

• styles of new housing, even single properties, to reflect adjacent areas of the village; in the main smaller cottage type buildings should be preferred,
• a mix of housing to reflect the strong village opinion which emphasised the need for affordable housing, 
• any single large house to be built only to meet a need for such housing and to create architectural variety and interest and
• inclusion of some association housing in any development where possible.

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2 EDUCATION

2.1 Primary education

The Parish Council will have the long term aim of supporting improvements to the John of Rolleston School and ultimately its rebuilding on the present site, and will approach the County Council Education Department with the proposals set out in the Parish Plan. 

The Council will look favourably on the inclusion of all or part of the Elizabeth Avenue playing field in any new school development providing the overall plan includes improved amenities and community facilities for the village, for example a shared community hall and rooms.

The Council will press for any new school to have junior and elementary elements adjacent to each other but clearly separated.

Any proposal to rebuild a replacement school on an alternative site will be examined very closely as the Council foresees a number of serious disadvantages in this. Any such proposal would only be supported if it provided clear educational advantages, improved access and a significant enhancement to the facilities and character of the village.

2.2 Secondary education

Where appropriate the Parish Council will encourage and support de Ferrers School.

Whilst actively supporting de Ferrers the Council will press for a new secondary school to be established to the north west of Burton.

As part of improved cooperation with adjacent parishes Rolleston Parish Council will aim to develop joint objectives on secondary education as an important topic affecting all parishes in feeder areas.

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3 YOUTH AND SPORTS FACILITIES

3.1 Youth facilities

The Parish Council recognises that there is probably a shortage of youth facilities within the village. It also recognises that facilities available within rural areas will be different from those in urban areas.

The Council will do all in its power to help organisations aiming to provide facilities for the youth of the village. It is at present organising a scheme whereby any individual or village organisation setting up facilities for the youth of the village can apply to the Parish Council for a grant. 

In the short term the Council will commission a survey to determine exactly what facilities are available at present within the village and surrounding areas. It will publicise its findings to the youth of the village.

As a longer term aim it will encourage the formation of a youth club and when necessary provide some funding and assistance in obtaining other funding.

3.2 Sports and Leisure

The Parish Council will continue in its efforts to provide facilities at Craythorne field and to improve the playing surface for football teams. It will seek out grants to offset the considerable costs of this provision.

Rolleston Parish Council will aim to cooperate with adjacent Parish Councils to lobby for some smaller scale development of sports and leisure facilities to the North-West of Burton; the College playing fields would appear to be an ideal site.

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4 PUBLIC FOOTPATHS, CYCLE TRACKS AND BRIDLEWAYS

4.1 Public footpaths

The Parish Council will continue with its programme of stile improvement where appropriate. This includes making disabled access, replacing them with kissing gates and modifying high stiles to make them easier to negotiate.

Although it is not its responsibility, the Parish Council will continue its efforts to improve the surface and general maintenance of Fiddler’s Lane.

Although it is mainly the responsibility of the County Council, the Parish Council will press for better maintenance of footpaths, where necessary.

The Parish Council has a long term aim of establishing a path along the Dove from the new Sustrans path to Marston Lane and on to Tutbury.

4.2 Pavements outside the village

The Parish Council will continue its regular monitoring of verges and hedges of roads with no pavements and press the County Council for action when necessary. 

A long term aim is improving the safety of roads with no pavements, for example by allowing for footpaths on the verges where possible. Where there is insufficient width of verge to walk on, the Council will seek to establish alternative routes for walking.

4.3 Combined paths

There is increasing support for the Jinny Trail to be used as a cycle track. The Parish Council has regularly reviewed its stance on the nature of the Jinny Nature Trail and taken into account the views of the whole village and the long term effects of any change. It will continue to do this and will take careful notice of new evidence and opinions. 

The Parish Council are continuing discussions with Sustrans on the future of the Jinny Trail and actively supporting Sustrans in its efforts to complete the foot/cycle path from the Jinny Trail to the Dove. When all information is to hand the Parish Council will arrange a public meeting to discuss the future of the Jinny Trail. 

The Parish Council is progressing its long term aim of establishing general purpose paths from Elizabeth Avenue to Meadow View, Craythorne playing fields and the top of the new ‘college’ development. This is ongoing but is seen as probably a long term aim because some of the route is on private land.

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5 SHOPS SERVICES AND AMENITIES

5.1 Shops and Services

The Parish Council has regularly assessed the need for a Village Hall and will continue to do so in the light of changes in demand and existing facilities.

The Parish Council has no influence on businesses wishing to set up within the village. It does see the need for facilities within the village to retain the village identity. As and when the situation arises it will actively support proposals for new shops, a coffee shop and a surgery and/or pharmacy.

5.2 Transport

The Parish Council will commission a survey within the village to determine the transport needs of the residents.

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6 TRAFFIC, PARKING AND VILLAGE PAVEMENTS

6.1 Parking and pavements

The Parish Council has always held that parking of vehicles on pavements and verges is irresponsible. They will continue to take action to ensure that regulations are adhered to.

Many interesting points on traffic management were raised in the survey and outlined in the Appraisal including the restrictions in the Chapel Lane/School Lane area and parking changes around The Lawns/Brookside/Elizabeth Avenue area. 

The Council will:

• continue to press the police to enforce parking restrictions, especially around the Post Office area.
• continue to monitor the problems within the village arising from school traffic and will examine the ideas put forward in the Village Appraisal Report.
• discuss the various traffic issues raised in the Appraisal with the County Council and police with a view to implementing those thought to be feasible.
• continue to urge householders to ensure that trees and hedges do not obstruct the footways and where necessary take action to enforce this.

It is a long term aim of the Council to provide a village car park.

6.2 Traffic calming

The Parish Council will continue to press for the implementation of the promised traffic calming on Church Road.

When a traffic calming scheme is proposed, and where there is a divergence of opinion, the Council will take care to weigh the wishes and problems of the local residents against the general village opinion.

In judging the merits of a particular scheme, in addition to the effectiveness in slowing traffic, the Council will take into account other factors such as visual impact, noise generation and pollution.

The Council will continue to press strongly for enforcement of the 7.5 tonne limit through the village. 

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7 ENVIRONMENT

7.1 Dog fouling

The Council will continue to monitor this problem and encourage offending dog owners to be socially responsible.

7.2 Recycling

The Parish Council sees recycling as a very important issue and will continue to lobby the Borough Council to extend the amount of recycling.

The Parish Council will:

• continue in its efforts to get the blue bag paper collection extended to include the whole of Rolleston,
• press the Borough Council for implementation of a plastics recycling facility.

With the successful expansion of the kerbside collection within the village the Council will attempt to rationalise the recycling areas for material not collected at the roadside.

7.3 Noise

The Parish Council agrees that noise from a variety of sources can be a problem which can seriously reduce the quality of life of people affected.

The Parish Council will:

• continue to lobby for the sensible use of fireworks in a rural village,
• continue to work with the Derbyshire Airfield to maintain discipline in avoiding over-flying of the village by light aircraft,
• attempt to work with surrounding villages to ensure an effective lobby against increasing over-flying by East Midlands Airport air traffic,
• press the County Council on its long term aim of having main routes through the village coated with low noise road surface.

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8 FLOOD PREVENTION

There is a history of flooding in the centre of the village and on Station Road at South Hill. In an attempt to alleviate some of the problems, the Parish Council has been responsible for bringing together the various agencies involved ie Severn Trent, the Environment Agency, Staffordshire County Council and the Borough Council. As a result an action plan has been put into place. This includes clearing of the Alderbrook from Brookside to the Dove and surveying of the sewers in Burnside. Following this survey, work has been carried out to straighten pipes by taking out a “dog leg” in the Burnside sewer.

The Parish Council will continue to monitor the Action Plan and when necessary bring matters to the attention of the other agencies involved.

The Parish Council has drawn up its own Flood Plan which details areas of responsibility and gives useful information to those property owners whose homes may be flooded.

A number of Flood Wardens have volunteered to cover Brookside, Burnside and part of Station Road. They will be warned by the Environment Agency of imminent flooding and will pass on information to householders in their immediate neighbourhood. They will also liaise with the Parish Council on behalf of their neighbours.

The Parish Council will work to put in place a network of flood wardens to cover all areas of the village affected by flooding.

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Published by:
© Rolleston on Dove Parish Council, 55 The Lawns, Rolleston on Dove, Staffs, DE13 9DD
Under an initiative promoted and supported by the Countryside Agency

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