As the Chairman of Bolney Parish Council for the year ending on the 3^rd May 2007 I will give a brief report on the business transacted during this period.

I feel I must first express my sadness to the untimely death of David Gardner in February this year. David proved to be a valuable and conscientious member of the Council and of many other organisations in the village. His contribution to the work of the Parish Council is missed and the gap that he left will be hard to fill.

Meetings

12 Council Meetings have been held on the third Tuesday of every month preceded by a Planning Meeting with the occasional interim Planning Meeting.

District

Cllr Mrs Seward has continued to serve us on Mid Sussex DC but with her Cabinet Post has been unable to attend all meetings. She still is a member of South Area Planning Committee and can offer very useful guidance to the Council

County

Peter Griffiths has been able to attend a number of meetings keeping us informed at events at County Level and taking up grievances in particular for Highways, drainage and street lighting.

He is also a member of the South Mid Sussex County Local Committee which is setup by WSCC and has its own budget to assist with funding for local projects of which two organisations in Bolney have made successful bids.

Volunteers

It is very important for us to recognise the contributions of the volunteers in the village who assist the PC.

Alan Hunt for tending the War Memorial, Mrs Duplock and Cyril Lucas for the bus shelters, Martin Burgess Tree Warden and Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator, Peter Bourne cutting grass around village sign, Peter Freer Ash honorary auditor.

In particular this year for Jane Thompson and Elaine Newington and others for their assistance to enable the PC to keep the public toilets clean and open to the public.

Public Toilets

As a result of lengthy negotiations with MSDC the PC managed to get the Public Toilets on Batchelors Field re-opened with only a relatively small impact on the precept.

However this could not have been achieved without the assistance and enthusiasm of the community volunteers.

That is not the most pleasant of jobs so for their help the PC is extremely grateful. 

Rawson Institute

Once again issues surrounding the prospective rebuilding and funding of the Rawson Institute on Batchelors Field have placed unprecedented pressure on Councillors, and much of the criticism has been totally unjustified.

As the previous Chairman tried to explain in his report last year, the PC has tried to be positive, and is broadly supportive of the project, but it has to be sure that before approving requests for funding from the RIMC it has confidence in the information provided.

The responsibility for raising funding by way of the precept falls to the Parish Council. The PC are answerable to the residents, the RIMC are not.

After the Open Meeting of the RIMC at the end of March 2007 the PC felt that it had to clarify its position by sending a letter to all residents.

In April the RIMC applied for full planning permission and the application was deferred by the MSDC Planning Committee.

MSDC then called a meeting with representatives from the PC, RIMC, MSDC Leisure and Planning and WSCC Childrens Services at the end of April to try and find a way forward with both planning and funding issues.

Design, operational layout, timescales, finance, business plan and procurement were all discussed.

It was agreed that the PC would consider a village Poll at its May meeting. It was also agreed that if a Poll for Public Works Loan went ahead it would be for a maximum of £150,000.

 Officers from MSDC would assist in preparing a balanced presentation for residents to consider during the Poll.

Highways and Footpaths

We appreciate the help from our residents in reporting obstructions to the footpath network, blocked drains and failed street lights.

The parish council has had input to the survey relating to the speed management scheme on the A272 and recently signs have been erected drawing drivers attention to the potential dangers on this stretch of road.

I believe more safety measures have yet to be carried out.

We are still pursuing improvements to the junction of Old London Road and the A272 which we now know is the responsibility of the Highways Agency.

Finance

On the recommendation of the finance committee the precept was raised to £17000

Website

We are continuing to try to improve the community website Bolney.com and still require updated contributions from village organisations.

The PC continues to fund the computer with access to the internet available to all in the Post Office during opening hours.

Sewage Infrastructure

Last year the Chairman reported the PC concerns to the adequacy of the sewage system in the village and the serious problems that affected certain properties. I am pleased to report that Southern Water are at present in the process of conducting a feasibility study, and the system will be hopefully upgraded soon.

At the present time it is hoped that the refuse freighter will continue visit twice a year at the weekend

I am sure people will have noticed that we have recently erected 2 very smart litter bins by the Bus Shelters opposite the Post Office and on the Old London Road.

If residents are aware of any incidents of fly-tipping please report them directly to MSDC. The faster these incidents are removed will ensure that our village remains a pleasant place to live.

The New PC

The PC has had many changes of members over the past four years and it is noticeable there are only two remaining members of four years ago that are members of the present parish council. They are myself and Patrick George. I am pleased to report the Patrick has agreed to be VC for the coming year. At the present time there are four vacancies.

Ian Denyer, Jane Allardice, Dorothy Drake and Alan Morris have decided not to stand for re-election.

I thank them all for giving their time and valuable contributions.

I would like to pay particular tribute to Ian Denyer and thank him both personally and from the PC for his 16 years of service to the Parish. Ian served as a Vice Chairman and Chairman, and under whose guidance I was privileged to serve.

The support of Jane Allardice who acted as Vice Chairman for the past year also deserves recognition, as well her excellent service in co-ordinating planning.

My deep thanks to you both.

It is with great sadness that these two councillors decided not to offer themselves for election this time. They have valuable qualities that are important to small parishes but the continual and unnecessary pressure that they have been subjected to has meant that the Parish Council has lost intelligent thoughtful people who served this council with the best interests of the community and a complete lack of self interest.

I would like to record my thanks to my fellow serving councillors for their contributions over the past year, as well as the many residents who attended meetings and contributed to the work of the PC.

Finally I must thank Janet Wright our Clerk for the excellent work she does for the PC. Throughout the time she has been in office the PC has been going through a challenging period, and she has handled everything that has come to her with great tact and professionalism.