|
CHAIRMANS REPORT 2011
This is the second year that I have had the privilege of Chairing the Parish Council, having been voted into post in November 2009, as Chair I am pleased to report the following:
The Parish Council and its progress:
The last year has again seen a number of changes for this council including a re-election of all members this May.
In year we saw the Rev Roger Chamberlain replace Keith Hodson as the new Vicar of St Nicholas Church. Roger has been co-opted on to the Council for several months and will hopefully join us as a full member in August when he has been both employed and a resident in the village for a year.
Martin Sharp also sadly resigned in February this year, his increasing work commitments preventing him dedicating as much time to the Council as he would wish. He has only now been replaced by Antony Payne who will be our youngest member on the Council. Welcome Anthony and our thanks to Martin for the two years spent with us.
In January 2011 Mike Maher joined us, again a positive for the Council as Mike like the Vicar has access to a broader group of local people which will, we hope, enable us to communicate better with young people, young families and older adults. Both Mike and Roger will also, we hope, be invaluable in both shaping and agreeing priorities for the soon to be agreed 4yr agenda for this Council.
Lastly Geoff Taylor our new parish Clerk has replaced Ian Galbraith. Ian had been with us for 9 years and retired through ill health. Geoff has worked long hours helping this Council update and improve its financial position, realise its assets and produce and provide detailed accounts for the various holdings, i.e. Village Hall, Recreation Ground, Allotments.
In addressing the Council last year I thanked you all for your hard work in what had been a difficult year. I again thank you but in advance now of what for us needs to be 4 year life of this Council.
In the last year we have held our financial position as a Council through a climate of recession, committing to seek external funding to continue to improve local services rather than increase precept. Clarity in both our finances and a more accurate position in respect of the Councils commitments and assets has resulted in this year the Council increasing precept by 5% overall, in part in preparation for the election, but overall to cover higher costs of services necessary to maintain buildings and services provided locally.
We are fortunate to own the Speedwell Lane Recreation site, with its Pavilion and Play Area. Last year as you know we secure funding to replace the old play equipment and it has been great to see children from surrounding villages use the site to its maximum potential.
As promised this year we have continued to apply for funding, this time to improve the area around the tennis courts, the greenery and trees around the courts were cleared free of charge for us by Friends of the Common to both open up the site and more specifically to increase visibility and in doing so reduce vandalism. Thank you FOC for your time and energy. We have also applied to WREN for funding for a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA). This will enable us to bring in revenue through hire agreements with local clubs, to offset our own maintenance costs. If successful with our bid this month we will begin work on the site in July 2011.
The Rec now has new gates and we have secured a grant to improve the inside of the Pavilion which now has a set of steel anti vandal doors. We do have a major water leak between the road and the site but this will be repaired shortly.
The maintenance of this site is a major drain on the precept due primarily this year to both freezing temperatures in December but more specifically to extensive vandalism from both local and visiting young people. Damage has been in excess of £8k some of which has been covered by insurance. With this in mind we now have a Recreation Ground committee who are working to both improve facilities and to reduce local costs. The Parish Council are in addition offering a reward of £100 for any prosecution of people causing damage to the Rec site ( or Village Hall site) as part of our zero tolerance policy.
Likewise the Village Hall Management Committee continues to support the Council in its work. This year we will be applying for major funding to improve both the heating and internal fabric of the Hall which will in turn hopefully increase use and improve leisure and social and health services available locally.
In realising our assets and delivering local agendas in a time of cuts to local and central services it is essential that this Council develop and deliver a comprehensive plan of work to maximise external funding and reduce overheads locally, whilst continuing to develop and improve local services within available resources.
For us, this will mean that all councillors will need to support the Chair in taking forward a 4 year plan of agreed goals, these will include completing specific work areas from this past year, i.e. Quality Status, preparing and letting of the new allotment site at Newlands Road, improvement of assets like the Village Hall and Recreation ground and Pavilion.
As Chair I would also like to see us establish better communication and working links with the neighbouring parishes of Baxterley Bentley Merevale and Grendon to both improve services locally but more specifically to jointly challenge and question cuts in services and proposals for changes locally.
As stated this year has seen an increase for the first time in 4 years of our precept; this comes at a time when most households are cutting back. In increasing the precept I feel as Parish councillors it is our duty to improve on our performance last year which will mean that we must work harder for the community.
We are all volunteers with the exception of the Clerk who already works above the hours we currently pay him. I know we all give out time freely and I thank you all for that time and commitment again this year. We will however all need to dig deep if we are to share the increased workload across our membershipl to stay on top of the programme of work we will need to undertake this next year.
In readiness for this I thank you now for both the hard work you have put in in the last year and the work still to come.
Lorna Ferguson
Chair
|
