The Parish

Annual Parish Meeting

This is NOT a council meeting.  Every parish is required to hold an annual meeting and where a Parish Council exists, the Parish Council facilitates the meeting by providing the location, preparing the agenda, chairing the meeting and taking the minutes.  The first entry in the current meeting book is 2nd July 1858.

The meeting must be held between 1st March and 1st June each year.

The Annual Parish Meeting is an opportunity for registered members of the electorate to raise issues and hold discussions between themselves about local issues.

The Annual Parish Meeting in Dean and Shelton is usually held in May.  If you would like a topic placed on the agenda, please contact the Parish Council.

The Parish Council will also invite local groups (Dalton Trust, Chelveston Wind Farm trustees) to give a brief report on their activities during the previous 12 months.  If your group would like to be included, please notify the clerk.

If requested, the Parish Council can invite speakers to the meetings, such as the police, highways officers, etc.   It is YOUR meeting.

Local Walking, Riding & Cycling

There are two Dean and Shelton Walking groups Striders and Strollers, organising longer and  shorter walks in the local area.  For more information see the Clubs and Groups in the Parish page

New Years Day Walk 

Join us every January 1st for the village walk. As those of you who regularly support this walk will know it has become a compulsive way of clearing the post celebratory heads of those who participate. The walk starts from the Eileen Wade school car park Upper Dean at 11.00am and circles the three villages, ending at the church in Upper Dean for mince pies

Leaflet on new walks over and around the old Chelveston Airfield

This leaflet has been produced by Dean & Shelton and Chelveston-cum-Cadecott Parish Councils with the assistance of Bedford Borough Council. Please click on this link to open: Chelveston Walks

 

Chelveston Renewable Energy Community Benefit Fund

As one of the conditions for achieving planning consent for the Chelveston Wind Farm, its owners have signed an agreement called a Section 106 agreement agreeing to pay £25,650 per annum into a trust to be used for the benefit of the four parishes affected, namely Chelveston-cum-Caldecott, Hargrave, Melchbourne & Yelden and Dean & Shelton.  The payments begun2014 and will continue, annually, for the life of the wind farm, expected to be about twenty years.

The trust is not accountable to Dean and Shelton Parish Council, but we have the right to appoint two trustees from the parish out of the total of eight (two for each parish).  Each Trustee serves for a term of four years.  Currently the Trustees for Dean and Shelton are Mr Jean-Luc Janet and Mr John Reynolds.

The trust is tasked to ensure that, over time, each of the four parishes receives an equal share of the trust’s capital and income.  However, this does not mean that each parish will receive 25% of this each and every year.  This is to give the trustees some flexibility in spending the money wisely.  For example, if one year one parish comes up with a project that costs more than its quarter share, and another parish puts forward nothing for the same year, it makes sense for the first parish to receive the full amount in one go, rather than having to wait while the other parish sits on unused cash.  However, over time, it is clear that Dean and Shelton is supposed to receive its full 25% so long as it comes up with suitable projects.

If the Parish Council decides that the parish is not being treated fairly by the trust, there is a break clause every five years enabling the trust to be broken up so that Dean & Shelton can manage its own share independently.  We consider this unlikely, but this provides us with a safety net in the event of unfair treatment.

To see further details of the Trust Deed and Grants awarded to date, please follow this link to the Trust’s website www.windfarmtrust.chelveston.org.uk

To see information on how to apply and criteria for selection please click HERE

Dalton Charity and Trustees

The Trustees for the Dalton Charity that administers Dalton Hall are:

Mr N. Barrett (Chair), Mrs C. Pattison (Treasurer), Mrs S. Brett (Secretary), Mr J. Gamblen, Mrs J. Moodie and Mrs J. Wordsall

Dalton Charity History & Purpose 

  • Ellen Margaret Fitzgerald Dalton died in 1980 and in her will stipulated that some of her estate be used to set up a Trust for the benefit of the villagers of Upper and Lower Dean. She requested that the Parish Council would consider using her bequest  WITHOUT legal obligation in the any way.
  • The Deed of Trust for the Dalton Charity was signed on 14/02/1984, the playing field land purchased and Hall completed in 1989.
  • On 13 December 1994 Dean & Shelton Social Association was set up to act as the day-to-day management committee for the hall.  It was felt that after nearly five years since the halls opening, such a management structure change was needed to ensure its continued smooth operation.
  • In 2010 Dalton Charity and the DSSA considered remerging in light of changing usage patterns, shrinking levels of village volunteers to help in the hall operation, and an imminent major hall renovation program.  Both groups therefore decided to have joint meetings for a year before finalizing such a change.
  • 2011 saw the kitchen redevelopment program start after hard work by DSSA and Parish Council representatives, who obtained a large grant from WREN.  The Borough Council, Art at Dean, the Parish Council and the Dalton Charity also provided considerable financial support on this project.
  • In 2012 the proposal to re-merge the Dalton & the DSSA was agreed by the Parish Council and it was agreed that the number of Trustees be increased from 5 to 7.  The Charity Commission have now given their approval to these changes and the remerger effectively took place on the 31st of March 2012.
  • This Process in no way changes the Dalton Charities position within the Dean Village community as it reverts to the original Dalton Charity Deed of Trust.

To contact the Dalton Charity write to the Secretary of the Dalton Trustees.  Address information can be obtained from this website Dalton Hall Trustees

Click for Nomination Form for the Election of Management Trustee