Chairman’s Report - Annual Parish Assembly - 2009

This report summarises the activities of the Parish Council during the past year and looks to the future.

It has been another eventful, and quite successful, year for the Bolney Parish Council during which time there have been a number of significant changes within the Council since our Annual Assembly last May 2008.

In December our Vice-Chairman, Patrick George, decided that he had to leave the Council for health reasons. Patrick has always made a great contribution to the quality and development of the Council throughout his seven years of service, particularly as Vice-Chairman, and then acting Chairman when the previous Chairman, and the Clerk, departed in September 2007. Patrick has been a great loss to not only the Council, but to me personally, and I would like to thank him and pay tribute to his service to Bolney on behalf of the Parish and all of the Councillors

Our complement had remained short of one councillor for almost the whole of the past year and this was extended to two following Patrick’s departure. However, we have been very fortunate to have recently gained the services of two new Councillors; Brenda Sands and Anthony [Tony] Smith, and so for the first time in over two years we are at the full complement of nine Councillors.

The Council now comprises;
            Joy Dennis                                Eddie Hazel
            Peter Hopgood                           Keith Mayer
            Annabel Moir                             Brenda Sands
            Tony Smith                                Frank White
            David Willams

    Debbie Thomas – Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer

We have also benefitted greatly from the services of our Clerk, Debbie Thomas, who has proved to be an excellent choice, and the Parish Council are most fortunate to have her services as Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer.

Debbie has re-defined the role of Clerk and Chief Financial Officer and has regularised practically all of the procedures, processes and documentation of the Council. I thank her personally, and also on behalf of my fellow Councillors and the Parish, for all she has done for us in the past year or so.

Training - As previously advised, recognised training for the role they perform is acknowledged and expected, and all Councillors have undertaken the appropriate Sussex Association of Local Councils (SALC) Training Courses.

The two newly appointed Councillors have affirmed their commitment to training and will undertake the SALC course, and also Code of Conduct training, as soon as this can be arranged.

Our Clerk, Debbie, who took on the role without previous experience just over a year ago, has undertaken the SALC Clerk training course and is currently addressing ‘Working with your Council’ to progress to the advanced training for her Certificate in Local Council Administration (CILCA) qualification.

Bolney therefore continues to have a trained and experienced team to serve you on the Parish Council, and is well equipped to move forward to address more issues and initiatives for the benefit of everyone who resides in the Parish.

Monthly Meetings; Council and Planning – have been held as usual on the third Tuesday of each month with the appropriate time allowed for questions from the attending members of the public before the formal proceedings commence.

The attendance and support of our County and District Councillors, Peter Griffiths and Sue Seward, has been invaluable and we look forward to their continued support in the coming year.

All Parishioners are welcome at our meetings, and we would like to see more than the few who regularly attend other than when key issues are to be addressed.

Finance – With the indefinite suspension of the New Village Hall project retention of the council tax collected for the related Public Works Loan was no longer deemed appropriate.

It was therefore established with the Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) that the procedure for returning the council tax collected was to reduce the current year precept by the amount accumulated, and this has now been done.

In addition, careful management of the Council functions, and savings made in certain areas, meant that we could keep the underlying Precept amount at the same level as the previous year and therefore no percentage increase has been applied for 2009/10.

Planning Applications - we have reviewed and responded to 46 applications this year, an increase of 17 (57%) on last year. 46 received our blessing and it may be of interest that Mid Sussex Planning agreed with us on all but one of them. 3  applications were withdrawn prior to the MSDC decision.

Website – www.bolney.com ­- recently problems have again been experienced with the website hosting service providers.

We were considering a new website and hosting service, which would have been easier to operate and maintain, and had identified a potential new company to host the site. We had also worked on simplifying the structure to make it easier to navigate and to maintain.

This was being undertaken by Patrick and following his departure unfortunately it was not possible to complete the new arrangements before the current contract had to be renewed.

Continuity of the website and service is essential, however it is still the intention to complete this review process and make the changes.

The website continues to function and is in quite good shape. If it is not up to date in any particular area this is probably because we have not been advised of changes. Please let us know of your amendments.

The New Hall Project – regrettably this continued to be a controversial issue. The Parish Council, consistent with their commitment and responsibility to respond to the wishes and the best interests of the majority of Parishioners, had made a significant contribution towards maintaining the new hall project, regrettably to no avail.

After so much effort the Rawson Hall Management Committee (RHMC) decided, last October, that the prevailing circumstances determined that the project had to be suspended indefinitely.

What else has been done so far?

Benches – five new benches have been provided around the parish in response to the request, and the need, of parishioners. This involved obtaining permission and licences from West Sussex County Council.

Also, following the changes to the Post Office location, the bench donated to the Parish by the Over 60’s club was re-located from outside the old Post Office to Drovers for the use of residents with the kind permission of the housing management group.

The New Sewer – the Parish Council fully engaged with Southern Water & Hollerans (the Contractors) to ensure that the necessary sewer works project in the Village caused as little disruption as possible to residents while the work was being undertaken.Also we ensured that appropriate communication was maintained between the contractors and residents through meetings, hand delivered letters, the parish magazine and posters.

The impromptu intention to use the Marylands land as an alternative contractors’ site with access off the A23/London Road roundabout, which would have caused more disruption and problems in this area, was dealt with and stopped.

Post Office – Full support has been provided to ensure that there continues to be a Post Office service in Bolney. Also adequate and effective communication regarding the closing and re-opening of the Post Office service in The Street has been achieved by articles in the parish magazine, posters, Mid Sussex Times and directly with the Post Office.

During the temporary period of closure transport was provided, for those who needed it, to other nearby Post Offices and we thank those who voluntarily undertook this necessary service.

Highways & Roads Maintenance – the relevant personnel within WSCC Highways, from the head of department down have been identified and relationships with them established.

Meetings have been held to review issues with pedestrian footways around the parish to ensure adequate maintenance is carried out by the WSCC Highway Rangers.

Attention has also been given to the Roads and Highways within the Parish. The process and procedure for identifying and dealing with problems and issues is fully understood and will be rigourously applied to ensure, as much as possible, that we get our fair share of attention and service.

Fingerposts – These also fall under the aegis of WSCC Highways.

An extensive review of fingerposts in the Parish has been undertaken to identify where refurbishment or replacement work is needed.

The procedure and responsibility for the maintenance and care of the fingerposts has been established with WSCC Highways and a new Protocol Document has now been agreed by them, and issued. WSCC have agreed to fully replace two fingerposts which are their ‘historic’ responsibility and the remainder will fall to be dealt with under a joint County & Parish initiative.

It is the Council’s intention that all of our fingerposts, which are both an attractive ‘characteristic’ feature of the Parish and directional necessity, will be fully restored as soon as possible.

Footpaths – an extensive review of all footpaths in the Parish was undertaken and was related to an up to date map of the footpaths in the Parish. A meeting has also been held with the WSCC Footpath Ranger for our area and a report provided to focus and prioritise attention to the work needed.

More work is needed in this area and volunteer parishioners to assist with footpath checking would be most welcome.

Police – a good working relationship with our local police has been established and developed. This had been complemented by

A presentation by our local officers at a Parish Council meeting followed by Village and home visit opportunities were also arranged.

Village day – the Parish Council is taking an active part in the planning of this event with a representative on the Committee for the 2009 Village Day and will again run a stall at the event. The funds raised by the Parish Council last year were donated to the Rendezvous Club.

Buses – buses travelling along The Street have been a controversial issue for some time. There has been a great deal of endeavour, particularly by one of the Councillors, in conjunction with WSCC, to re-route all buses so that they all travel in the same direction along The Street. This should improve the safety of pedestrians and other road users and also prevent hold ups and congestion.

Batchelor’s Field – regrettably Batchelor’s Field has been out of use for over a year due to the intended new hall project. Now that the project has been suspended it is essential that Batchelor’s field is again used regularly for all of the previous activities, and more. This has caused a loss of income to the Parish, an amount of which will take some time to recover.
Discussions have been held with MSDC Leisure to reinstate the use of the facility as soon as possible and it is encouraging that the Village Day will return to Batchelor’s Field this year.   

Pavilion on Batchelor’s Field – discussions have also been held with MSDC Leisure to have the Pavilion refurbished and upgraded, incorporating toilet facilities. This should greatly improve the attraction and use of Batchelor’s Field in the absence of a new hall.
The Parish Council is working with MSDC to expedite the work and in the meantime to keep the toilet facilities open to the public.

Toilets on Batchelor’s Field – having secured the future of the public toilets some years ago, the Parish Council have taken steps to ensure that they are clean and maintained in a proper manner by securing the services of a Parishioner and by providing the necessary funding for that purpose.

We would particularly like to acknowledge and thank Elaine Newington for her support in keeping this facility operational.
However, during the winter it was necessary to engage with MSDC Leisure to get them to respond to frozen pipes and associated water heating and electrical problems to keep the toilets open.

With the anticipated Pavilion upgrade it is hoped that this will provide integral toilet facilities, and public access, so that this service be can more easily managed and maintained.

Local Issues - a number of incidents have been reported to our County and District Councils, such as;

We will continue to address these, and other, local matters as and when they arise to ensure the quality of the Parish environment. We therefore ask all parishioners to help by reporting all incidents or such matters to our Clerk.

MSDC and WSCC Meetings – During the past year the Parish Council has represented Bolney at most of the key meetings on local and national issues, such as;

The profile of Bolney has been significantly raised across the board to ensure that we are not overlooked, that our opinion is sought and considered, and that we get our fair share of attention. 

Highways Authority – we have continued to represent the interest of Bolney on the A23 widening scheme at Handcross Hill and with various A272 developments and requirements.

Dog Bins review and Signage – there has been increased attention to the emotive matter of dog fouling with improved signage, posters displayed, articles published in the Mid Sussex Times and a large notice on the website.
It is hoped that this will encourage all owners to take the necessary responsible attitude to this matter.

Councillor’s Allowances – although there is an entitlement to claim an allowance and expenses for serving on a Parish Council all of our Councillors have foregone the allowance and they have not claimed personal expenses.

We all serve on the Parish Council on a purely voluntary basis.

Serco; Waste and Fly Tipping etc – Our Clerk, Debbie, attended a meeting with SERCO to explore how we can work with them better and has gathered excellent information to help us manage this area of activity.

Posters have been displayed and information provided on our website and also in the Parish Magazine and the Mid Sussex Times.

Grants –  payments have been made on behalf of the Parish to Village Societies and Charities; Bolney PCC Churchyard costs               

Bolney Village Day 
 Rawson Hall                                                   
Bolney Youth Club                              

Key Contacts – in providing services to the Parish by the activities and involvements mentioned earlier in this report, more key contacts have been identified, their responsibilities established within their respective organisations, and relationships have been built viz;

    -         WSCC Highways and Rangers

-         WSCC Highways Lighting

-         MSDC; Core Strategy, Rural Issues, Planning, Waste Management, Leisure etc

-         SALC

With these enhanced communication channels now established, speedier responses to problems and issues we may have within the Parish are more likely.

The coming year - as well as continuing with the activities we are already addressing it is our intention to concentrate our efforts on the following issues;

·         Housing needs and Development Land in the Parish;
 to continue to determine the need for and, if appropriate, create a
 Parish Design Statement and also undertake a Housing Needs
 Survey

·        Parish Fingerposts; to undertake the restoration of all of the Fingerposts in the Parish.

·        Highways and Roads; establish and apply a rigourous procedure to identify and rectify defects and also to consider improvements.

·        Communication (with Parishioners and Parish & Village Organisations); to develop closer links and to understand what they want and expect from the Parish Council, and from the Parish.

Particular thanks are due to those Parishioners who continue to work tirelessly in various ways to serve Bolney and make a significant contribution to the community living and well being in the Parish and Village of Bolney.

Parishioner Involvement - of course we realise that we still have much to do and cannot achieve our goals and objectives without help and support.

Parishioners’ involvement and input into what we do, particularly working with the Focus Groups, is needed and we welcome everyone and anyone who is able and willing to join us in our endeavours.

It is your Parish and Village so please get involved, particularly with the Focus Groups – there is so much more we can achieve by working together for the benefit of Bolney.

This concludes my Report for 2009.
 

But first please remember - Your Bolney Still Needs You!

Eddie Hazel - 19 May 2009