Wraxall & Failand Parish Council
Chairman’s Report for period 2007/2008
Presented
to the;
Annual
Parish Meeting, Thursday 26th April 2007 at 7.30 pm in Failand
Village Hall
Ladies
and Gentlemen, Residents of Wraxall and Failand.
I
must begin with “Thank You”
Thank
you to our Clerk and Councillors for their support over the past year.
To
our Clerk, Freda Shattock, for her patience, forbearance and quiet ability and
in particular for the considerable extra work and time she puts in on behalf of
the Council and the residents for no additional reward.
To the Councillors who give their time freely and carry out their
duties with enthusiasm, considerable ability and passion and sometimes a fair
bit of emotion.
They
give of their hearts and minds.
The
hearts and emotion wing is represented by our Vice Chairman, Richard King who
picks up the rumours and feelings of many in Failand and relays them to the
Parish Council with considerable passion.
The
minds and evidential wing is represented by Roger Sykes with his knowledge,
analytical ability and choice of words.
Roger
is standing down this year after an 8 year stint including 2 years as Chairman.
We
will miss his infectious enthusiasm and guidance. Thank you
Roger.
Roger
is considering taking a more active role in the PROW committee which would be a
tremendous help.
Also
standing down this year is Stephen Down.
Stephen
is the “listener” at the table. He takes everything in and his quiet
contributions are incisive and compelling. Thank you Stephen.
We
are also losing Peter Sapsed.
Peter
is a charming man with an assertive style and tenacity to see issues through.
The Cross Tree monument restoration is a fine example and it is primarily down
to Peter. We all thank you for that.
Peter
has a hearing aid which in Council meetings I am convinced he has “tuned” to
detect the slightest error in the logic of an argument. We will miss your
input. Thank you Peter.
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However,
we won’t lose Peter’s input altogether as he has joined the Parish Plan
Steering Group.
We
also lost Sue Parsons earlier in the year due to work pressures.
I
must also say a very big thank you to David Shattock, Freda’s wonderful
“gopher” He is the best “gopher” in the business, totally reliable, without him
our costs for stamps alone would be astronomical.
David
gives of his time in support of Freda freely, and with enthusiasm and with a
remarkable commitment. He does not charge for his time or his mileage or the
wear and tear on his car. A big thank you David.
And, thank you to Pat Shaw, Gillian Moon, Bob Sheppard, Tom Sage, and
Richard Delmas with whom, on a Sunday morning over the past year, we shared
numerous cups of coffee as we considered the many planning applications.
These
are your Parish Councillors who between them offer a wide and diverse range of
views. They are modern, dynamic and a visible form of local leadership.
A
particular thank you must go to Tony Tavener, no longer on the council, often,
just for being there or for his advice and local knowledge.
We
also have to thank Pat Shaw for the Refreshments this evening. Thank you Pat.
Without
all these people your Parish Council would not function.
I
also wish to thank our District Councillors Bob Cook and Howard Roberts and our
liaison officer Sally Varley who attend our council meetings regularly. Their
support, guidance, advice and intercession with NSC is
very much appreciated.
Personally,
It has meant a great deal to me to have all this
support as it has
encouraged me to do that bit more as your Chairman.
I
trust I have discharged my duties honestly and fairly in representing W&F
PC.
Thank
you all.
Moving
on;
You
have a hand out which contains all the statistics and information for the year.
So I will not repeat them. Please feel free to ask questions.
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On
going Actions;
-Pot
Holes – we continue to be plagued by them. Freda reports them nearly daily.
NSC
passes the information to their contractor who seem to take an age to get round
to filling them?
It
would seem that there are three categories; (I must emphasize these are my
interpretations)
Category
1) The pot hole
has been marked with paint therefore it is deemed to be
repaired.
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Road closure notices go up warning of up to18months closure but stating
the exact 5days to do the work. The repairs are usually well done but take
longer than residents think necessary.
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Repairs are identified but not bad enough for intervention.
-In-filling
or garden grabbing – We continue to resist all, excessive in-filling or over
development.
Fortunately we now have assistance from a
reference H7 which limits in-filling in rural areas.
-Link
Roads – The PC is aware of the proposal for a link road from the M5 at the
Clevedon Junction to the A370 at Long Ashton. This needs to be continually
monitored.
-
And, more locally the difficulties outside the
Some
Achievements;
-The
Elms nursing home is going ahead with the amendments the PC and the residents
requested.
-The
Affordable Housing Survey is completed with 29 returns. We now have to await
the interpretation of the need and find suitable locations for a small number
of houses.
-The
T Mobile Mast application for Failand was successfully resisted and an
alternative site proposed.
-Wraxall
Service Station was approved against our recommendation but the improvements we
sought were accommodated. We must monitor developments.
-The
B3130 Road Safety Measures for Wraxall village have been proposed.
-The
Some
further work is to be undertaken by Paul’s team to dig out the remaining
embedded litter and restore the kerb edging.
-We
have successfully obtained a grant to undertake the Parish Plan and have set up
a steering Committee. Some of the members are here this evening.
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Concerns;
-The
PC has a real difficulty communicating with all residents quickly and
economically.
-We
have to find away of making technology work for us to improve community involvement.
Probably web based with a bespoke consultation data base.
An
example might be the Tesco retail outlet on the Elms, which has planning
approval but where an application could be slipped in for a Take Away.
Future
Issues;
-There
have been changes to the law and enforcement concerning, Dog Fouling; Litter;
and Speeding. The PC is now being asked to consider undertaking these tasks
which could mean employing orderlies or wardens to carry out enforcement and speedwatch.
It
is worth noting that the Conservatives want Parish Councils to have their own
crime fighting budget.
-These
issues could well form part of the Parish Plan Actions.
Consultations;
-We
continue to be consulted on many topics. However, Availability of sufficient
time to study the issues is often a difficulty together with a lack of
councillors with appropriate knowledge.
-We
recently responded to the Rubbish /Resource Consultation.
The
documents issued were informative but incomplete in many areas making an
informed decision impossible.
Finance;
The
precept increased this year by between £3 and £5 a year per household.
This
reflected the need to catch up with inflation, and cover increased costs for
grants and subscriptions to charities and statutory authorities and insurance.
Note;
It is important that I point out that; if we paid the Clerk for the actual
costs incurred in terms of salary for hours worked, office provision, mileage,
and gratuity. The Precept would double.
However,
the Clerk has agreed to cap her salary and not to charge for the other items.
So
until we have to employ a new Clerk we the residents benefit from her largesse.
Appeal;
The
PC is short of three councillors.
Ideally
we would like representation from the Grove – another from the Elms and another
from the Tower House Ridge to provide a good balance and geographical spread of
contacts.
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Mindful
of a recent story in the Parish Magazine I will now ask for volunteers to
please stand whilst we play the national anthem.
The
Parish Plan Steering Committee is also in need of volunteers to assist with
specific tasks or offer their skills, many and varied are needed. So if you can
offer just one hour occasionally it will help.
Parish
Plan;
Shortly
we will have a presentation from Fay MacIntyre of NSC
and John Blain from Abbots Leigh and I would like to take the opportunity to
put the Parish Councils position.
The
Parish Council represents two geographically separate parishes in a rural area
close to major centres with their attendant pressures.
Both
areas have similar socio-economic groupings and needs yet may be generically
different.
The
PC’s response to an issue is primarily reactive particularly noticeable when an
emotive single issue arises.
We
have no mandate from the residents and we find our actions are extremely
limited.
It
is imperative that we find a way to be more proactive and be more aware of the
residents and communities concerns and in so doing represent the two
communities more fully.
We
therefore need to address this issue and choose whether to remain reactive and
for the most part impotent and passive or seek the views of the community,
establish the issues and set a plan to take more control of our lives.
I
believe a “breakthrough” is needed in our mind set which could see us improve
the service we offer our community by improving our communication systems,
generating more community involvement, and being more effective in having our
decisions implemented.
This
is undoubtedly a challenge, can we rise to it?
Finally;
It
has been an honour to be the Chairman of Wraxall and Failand Parish Council for
the last year and I appreciate your kindness in listening to my report.
Chris
Ambrose
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