The 2007-2008 Annual Report of Colwall
Parish Council
John Mills- Chairman, Finance & General
Purposes Committee.
2007/08 was another financially
satisfactory year with financial performance comfortably ahead of Budget.
The Income and Expenditure statement
shows a surplus of £18,114. However
capital repayments of £13,073 on the Village Hall Loan must be financed from
this thus giving an operating surplus of £5,041. This compares with an
operating deficit last year of £782. The main reason for this change was the
£7,119 spent last year on renovations to the Clock Tower roof.
Notable
comparisons with last year show that:-
·
Bank
Interest was up by £1,321,
·
Various
additional grants were received totaling £1,330,
·
Miscellaneous
Income includes £794 donated by Colwall W. I. from their railway garden fund
for continued maintenance of that garden which is now the responsibility of the
council,
·
Loan
Interest continues to decrease as we near the end the Village Hall Loan,
·
Spending
on General Village Amenities was up by £1,200, spending on Recreation and Play
Areas was up by £1,380, and spending on special items for the village – seats,
a notice board, and the sensory garden - was up by £1,961.
Our allocated reserve funds are
comfortably adequate and our General Reserve of £23,019, practically the same
as last year, is still slightly higher than statutorily advised. This, however,
is expected to reduce considerably this coming year as we absorb the set up
costs of the Parish Office/Post Office from reserves rather than by adding
further to the precept.
In all, it was a successful and
satisfying year financially.
My thanks are due to all my fellow
councillors for their
appreciation of our finances and for the good sense and restraint with which
they have committed our community’s money; to Alison Grimshaw, our internal auditor; and to our
Parish Clerks, current and former,
for their stewardship of our accounts and the timely and accurate production of
information which has enabled us to make informed and positive decisions.
Barry Ashton – Chairman, Planning and Development
Committee
In the short period
since appointment as your Parish Planning Chairman, I note that every effort is
made to obtain the views of directly affected neighbours when a planning
application is made and I thank members of the Committee who give their time to
make such enquiries. The public may also
attend Parish Meetings and give their views prior to comments and
recommendations to Herefordshire Council.
The major issues which
have arisen include affordable housing and where and how such housing can be
achieved. Also whether it should be
inter-dispersed within future developments and whether there should be a
priority list of local families who may require this type of housing and
therefore should be given first chance of purchase. Also we need to ask the question how such
housing can be retained as affordable after the first buyers move. If we wish to retain our young people in the
village, this debate is vital.
The matter of the
proposed one way system at the junction of Brockhill Road, Old Church Road and
Walwyn Road, has proved to be controversial.
Herefordshire Council has chosen to ignore local views and comments, by
passing the plan as submitted. Only time
will tell if this was a wise move.
However, one can already witness the damage caused by heavy vehicles to
the green triangle.
The replacement
railway bridge is now proposed as a single track highway with wider footpaths
and traffic light control, which was announced in the local press. However, the official proposals have not yet
been passed to your Parish Council. When
they are received, I am sure they will stimulate further debate.
Whilst your Parish
Council can make comments regarding planning applications, the final decisions
are made by your elected Herefordshire Councillors or by planning officers
under delegated powers. So, lobbying your Herefordshire Councillors is well
worth while.
Helen Stace – Chairman, Countryside Committee
I believe it has been another successful 12 months for the Countryside Committee and I would like to thank those who have played their part during the year.
Footpaths
Again, the condition of the footpaths has generally been excellent, despite the difficult wet conditions last autumn and winter.
For this I have to mention and thank the team who put in considerable time and effort to keep everything in good order:
· David Togni, our Footpath Warden for walking the parish’s footpaths to check on the state of the paths and stiles.
· Steven Maund, our lengthsman, a very efficient operator, who clears paths and installs stiles and gates where needed.
· The team of other footpath checkers who patrol their patch, reporting in any problems.
· Our farmers and landowners who keep their paths clear, which allows the Parish Council to keep on top of the situation.
At our last Countryside Committee, we also heard from the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark, who are developing the Geopark Way - a long distance walk which will run through the parish. There will be further publicity and literature relating to the route in August this year.
I believe our parish footpaths are a valuable facility for the village and recommend you take time to explore them.
Charlie
Ballard Nature Reserve
At this time of year, the reserve springing back to life and within a few weeks the open spaces will be full of plant life.
The footbridges within the
reserve have now been replaced with new hand rails, to improve safety on the
reserve, and we have received compliments on these. Stephen West has been doing
an excellent job of continuing the alder and tree management put in place by
James Ferguson. We have installed a new
notice board at the main entrance to the reserve, so that we can provide
appropriate safety advice to all our visitors and put up information about the
wildlife to be found on the Reserve.
Behind the scenes, we have also undertaken a thorough review of our
health and safety procedures.
I would like to thank:
· Stephen West, who has been doing an excellent job of continuing the management put in place by James Ferguson, and for the recent article in the Easter Supplement of the Ledbury Reporter which featured the Nature Reserve
· Steven Maund who has done the footpath repairs, and
· Sue Scott-Wilson, in recognition of her continued voluntary work in Reserve.
Colwall
Orchard project
During the course of this year, the Parish Council kindly agreed to co-sponsor, with Colwall Greener, the Colwall orchard project. We had a very successful first year with highlights including:
· Assembling a band of 13 volunteers (with minimal advertising, numbers still rising)
· Identifying 41 potential orchards in the parish, of which 36 have been surveyed
· Getting in People’s Trust for Endangered Species to run a ‘noble chafer’ training day for volunteers, and then finding evidence of noble chafers on at least 2 sites.
· We have already been offered one orchard to manage as a community orchard, in association with the local prep school and at least 5 other orchards that we think would be suitable for various community events
I would particularly like to thank the volunteers for all their efforts and the orchard owners, almost all of whom have made us very welcome.
We are now seeking sponsorship for Phase 2 of this project to cover further orchard survey, training in orchard management and a range of events for the village.
We are also considering a survey to review the trees of the Parish, to improve the identification and protection of our important trees.
And last but not least, I would like to extend my thanks to our new clerk, who has been extremely efficient in helping all this to happen, and for being a great source of help and support
Jim Beard – Chairman, Village Amenities
Committee
Over
the last year the Amenities Committee has overseen the regular workload around
the village that falls under its remit.
The
Committee oversees the many areas in the village that provide recreational
facilities, play areas, Walwyn Meadow, and Colwall Green. The equipment,
village seats and litter bins are being maintained to the usual high standard
and all areas checked under the grass cutting regime.
The
only matter that seems to be ongoing is that of Aunt Alice and her repairs.
The
committee is fully committed to having the work done as soon as possible. However,
at the same time we are investigating some options top obtain grant funding so
that the cost of the repairs does not fall on the village. However, the
committee is committed to the repair work regardless of the grant funding
position and we expect to be in a position to get the work completed very soon.
This last twelve
months has been a difficult time for the village of Colwall and a testing time
for our new Parish Councillors and our new Parish Clerk.
The year started in
May 2007 with an election process. Only twelve stood for the election so this
meant that in June those elected unopposed were able to co-opt John Morris,
Barry Ashton and John Cooney onto the Council to fill the three vacancies.
Towards the end of
June I was notified that the Post Office was closing with very short notice.
The next few months took up a lot of my time talking to Post Office Limited,
potential landlords for a suitable property in which to re-open an Office,
along with helping individuals put in applications to run the Post Office.
Herefordshire Council as well as many individuals in the Parish has supported
the Parish Council in its efforts to re-open the Post Office, a process I hope
is nearing completion.
Just as the process
for the re-opening of a Post Office was starting, I heard through a telephone
call that the Railway Bridge was closing with immediate effect as it had failed
a safety inspection. I will not go through all the discussions that have taken
place since, as I am sure you already aware of all the problems that have
occurred. I can only repeat Network Rail’s statement that they hope to have a
replacement in by the end of March 2009, as to what standard, this is still
being debated.
As you will read in
the other Chairmen’s reports other issues that have occupied the Parish Council
has been a telecommunications mast alongside the telephone exchange. A proposed
affordable housing development at Orlin road as well as the additional building
at the Down’s school and its associated road priorities at the Walwyn road
junction.
In the Autumn three
long standing Councillors resigned, Phil Browning, Neil Bowring and Steve
Hockett. Michael Milne and Gwyneth Rees have been co-opted to fill two of these
vacancies and there is an election on May 8 to fill the third.
In the Autumn, our
experienced Clerk, Charlie Walker, moved to take on duties at Ledbury Town
Council. Since then, the Council has employed Karen Davis as their Clerk. Karen
is a very able individual and has risen to the challenges of this very active
village with its associated problems. She is undertaking training to become a
qualified Clerk to enable the Parish Council to aim for quality status.
The Parish Council
took on board comments to improve our communication so we have published two
newsletters and I hope that you have found them interesting.
Finally I would like
to thank all the villagers who have supported the Parish Council at the many
public meetings that were held this last year. As to the future who knows, so
much has happened in such a short time, I can only hope the next year will be a
positive time for this special village of Colwall.