Dear neighbours,
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in our recent public consultation with residents and for setting out your priorities for our community over the next few years. It is wonderful to receive this positive feedback and to hear how highly our residents appreciate the work of the Parish Council.
Our community is a wonderful place to live, work and visit and the sense of community spirit and amazing civic pride simply would not be possible without the extraordinary voluntary work of our Parish Councillors, the Craster Community Trust, Craster WI, the Church, RNLI, lifeboat club, local businesses and so many others.
I am particularly heartened to hear of residents’ appreciation for the Craster Trail and the new mobile phone mast in the quarry car park; both spearheaded by the Parish Council alongside our colleagues at iNorthumberland and our tireless County Councillor Wendy Pattison.
A number of the issues raised during the consultation will certainly involve support from other agencies, not least support from our Member of Parliament. We are particularly keen to highlight the issues of holiday let proliferation, sustainability and ensuring that all mobile network operators are operating from our mast with our MP David Smith at a meeting this February. It is vitally important to us that every resident, no matter what network they use for their mobile phone, is able to take advantage of this service.
It is clear from responses received that residents want the Parish Council to focus primarily on the physical wellbeing and enhancement of our area and this will form a key part of the Parish Council’s work moving forwards. I am delighted that our contractor Steve Ternent has already commenced work improving a number of the footpaths around the parish and we are looking to enhance Steve’s work further with the Parish Council by expanding the excellent work he does in keeping our public grassed areas nicely cut.
With enormous appreciation for the volunteers who also work so tirelessly with us collecting from the community donation boxes, we hope to expand the number of plants and florals in public spaces too. Keeping our area clean and green are of paramount importance to us in Craster and Dunstan. We will also be looking to repair and, if necessary, replace a number of the public bins around the area too.
We are equally pleased that the long-awaited refurbishment of the toilets in Craster will be taking place during the financial year 2025-26. Meanwhile, the new entrance scheme to the village, to be delivered by NCC, is due to commence in February and we look forward to finally seeing the barrels removed and the new entrance scheme our community asked for, finally in place.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to express the Parish Council’s heartfelt thanks to the Community Trust for its dedication and hard work in maintaining Craster’s play park. The work that the Trust has carried out for over 25 years on our community’s behalf has ensured that this important community facility remains a welcoming and enjoyable space for both local families and visitors to Craster; creating a safe and enjoyable environment for young children to play and contributing to Craster’s charm as a family-friendly destination. This is in addition to the work the Trust does to maintain and enhance our wonderful Community Hall.
On local highways matters, the extension of the double yellow lines leading up Tower Bank will be carried out in the coming weeks. This formed part of the Parish Council’s Local Transport Plan priorities and we look forward to seeing this installed as there have been issues of displaced and inconsiderate parking at the top of Tower Bank. We are also lobbying NCC on our other Local Transport Plan priorities, in particular the resurfacing of the road at Heugh Wynd.
Northumberland is famed for its beautiful environment and this ranked highly in what residents told us they particularly like about our community. Our dark skies form a major part of this. Whilst the Parish Council fully supports the AONB Management Plan which champions this issue, I would like to take this opportunity to remind residents and holiday let owners to please ensure that outside lights are switched off and not left on throughout the night.
Thank you also to everyone who submitted nominations for our blue plaques initiative. I am pleased to say that, with funding support from our holiday let owners, we hope to deliver two blue plaques in our community as a further way to highlight the fantastic heritage of our community.
We look forward to community events this year, including coming together to mark the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II, Lifeboat Day and Remembrance Day to name but a few. I would encourage everyone to take an active role in these events and to show your support. Again, a tremendous thanks to all involved in the work to deliver these events.
With our heartfelt appreciation to you all for making this community the best in Northumberland.
Yours faithfully,
Councillor Martin Smith
Chair of Craster Parish Council