Chairman’s Report for 2008 Annual Parish Meeting

Council membership
Since our last annual meeting we have had three changes to the parish council. Two seats were left vacant after the election and Mrs Beryl Lammas stepped down due to leaving the area. The council has been fortunate to co-opt Mr David Baldwin and Mr Duncan Burtoft and, later in the year, Mr Geoff Day.
The Parish Council now comprises Mr Don Cheetham (Chairman), Mr Malcolm Argyle (Vice Chairman) Mr Ed Beever, Mr Charles Tucker, Mr John Mills, Mr Jon Morrison, Mr David Baldwin, Mr Duncan Burtoft and Mr Geoff Day. The Clerk to the Parish Council is Mrs Carolyn Morris, to whom the council would like to record their thanks for all the work she has done in managing the affairs of the Parish.

Flooding
The summer flooding as we all know was by far the worst on record.
The Parish council is still putting as much pressure as it can to get the best possible solution to try to defend properties from further flooding in the future. The parish council are investigating the possibility of routing flood water away from the village rather than through the village.

Lengthsman
As you may know, the PC has appointed a lengthsman – a sort of local highways officer – and any specific problems with drains or blockages can be reported to him, via the clerk. He can then either deal with it or request action from the county highways teams.
He has completed a report on the poor state of the Bishampton pavements for the PC and we have just heard news that the major areas of concern are set to be repaired imminently, while many of the others areas pointed out have been included on the county’s longer-term schemes.

Eco Town
The Parish Council lobbied local people, raised awareness of the issue and made its views clear on why the Throckmorton site was unsuitable, to MP Peter Luff and the Minister involved. There were some outstanding letters written by members of the Parish, all these helped get the result the council believed we wanted. Thanks should also go to our local District and County Councillor Liz Tucker.
The PC is now trying to keep up to date with talks about the future of the airfield and with the regional housing plans, where the Government is ordering councils to plan for thousands of new homes in each district.

Junior Play area
The Parish Council has been working with the Village Hall Committee to raise money. This has proven to be difficult, however, funds are now in place and the equipment is on order and should be installed next month. Many thanks to all concerned.

First Response
This is probably the best £2,000 the Parish has spent. We now have a dedicated team which is capable of responding to serious medical conditions in a matter of minutes. The Village must thank all those that have undergone extensive training in their own time. Mr David Baldwin, is the co-ordinator of the scheme and is responsible of bringing it to the attention of the Parish Council. He will be giving us a talk about it later.

Newsletters
During the year a number of news letter have been produced by our Clerk. These have been well received and we hope to produce 3 or 4 a year. We are also considering doing an internet news letter but uncertain as whether many people would be able to receive it. The advantages would be that the news would be up to date and relatively inexpensive. We must thank our Clerk for the excellent work she has done in preparing these letters.

Village Clean up
Many thanks to all the parishioners who helped this year. The amount of rubbish collected was significantly higher compared to other years. It is, however, very disappointing to see the amount of litter that has been dropped since the excellent work was carried out .

Village Pub and Shop
The closure of the pub continues to be of concern to many villagers but the Parish Council could get no answer from the owners other than it was in their interest to open it as soon as they can. The latest information is that the brewery is undertaking renovation work and it is said it will be re-opened by Christmas 2008. Watch this space!
The shop is facing an uncertain future what with the Post Office closure plans which has left many local postmasters only able to wonder where the axe will fall. The council is investigating ways in which it could help if the worst-case scenario happens and the parish is faced with a closure of the business entirely. Ideas would be welcomed – or maybe some parishioners would even like to form a working group to look at the issues involved? We believe we’ll be looking at announcement of closures for this area in August.

Footpaths
A considerable amount of work has been carried out on Badgers lane by the landowners. The Parish Council now hopes to make further improvements to the lane this year. We also hope to improve other footpaths including the muddy area at the top of Jubillee walk. We are always on the lookout for footpath volunteers who could give feedback on the state of any paths they regularly walk – contact the clerk if you can help.

General
The PC has over the year also monitored local planning applications, liaised with the police and other local councils, helped with a local housing need survey, and passed on concerns to relevant bodies about speeding, crime, dog fouling and many other issues raised by villagers. It has helped fund the mowing of the parish churchyards, maintained the playgrounds in Bishampton and Throckmorton, funded daffodil and snowdrop planting around the village, given grants to local groups, charities and organisations, funded the costs of the carol singing at Christmas and provided a couple of new litter bins.
At the start of each meeting, there is always the chance for people to come and talk to the council and members are always keen to hear ideas about improvements which could be made in the parish or new projects which the council could pursue. Write, email or phone the clerk or speak to one of the councillors.
Thank you on behalf of the parish to all the councillors for giving up their time.

Finance
The PC accounts are complicated at present because of grants received and money set aside for the junior play area, which the parish council will ultimately pay for after receiving grants from all those who have been involved. Overall in 2007/08, the council received just under £25,000 in income during the year and spent roughly £16,750. The difference (about £8,125.00) between the two figures is mainly accounted for by the fact that the council had set aside £5,000 in its budget as a donation to the play area scheme, and this remains, along with provision for up to £5,000 in spending for the coming year. The council has also received a £2,000 grant from Wychavon to spend on flood alleviation measures, an extra £700 was received in interest because of the larger sums in the savings account than expected and there remains £300 of our footpath grant to spend.
The accounts are in the process of being audited at the moment, and anyone is welcome to see them if they ask the clerk. A full report and details of spending/income will be made in the next newsletter.

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