Chairman’s Report 2009/2010

Last updated: Tuesday, 25 May 2010, 01:00 PM

This is my seventh Hardwick Parish Council Chairman's Report and it is once again my responsibility to talk about some of the things that have taken place in the Village and discussed in the Parish Council's Meetings.

As always, I must start my Report by thanking various people and organisations. My first thanks go to the Parish Council's Vice Chairman, Grenville Chamberlain. I thank him for all his help and encouragement and to all the other Parish Councillors who give up their precious time to do this UNPAID work. To keep beaurocricy down, we only have one Sub-Committee and that is "Planning". Tony Gill and Grenville must be thanked for the way in which they check all "Applications" before they come to the full Council Meeting with their recommendations. The Play Areas in the village are a very important asset for our youngsters, and to make sure that they are safe for the Village children to play on, Tejinder Bhachu, Alan Freeman and Jim Stewart check them monthly and submit reports. My thanks also to Jeremy Dyer who picks up all the litter that is dropped around the village and of course to Gail Stoehr, our Parish Council Clerk, and her team for taking the Council Minutes each month and for doing all the vital backroom work that goes into keeping us legal, within the ever-increasing rules, and for carrying out all the requirements of the Council.

I am sure that all villagers would like to join me in thanking our County and District Councillors, Fiona Whelan and Jim Stewart for their very hard on behalf of Hardwick.

Thanking people in the village for their hard work on behalf of all of us goes on further, and it is only right and proper to do so. All these folk together give their time and energy to make Hardwick the successful village that it is. There's Enid Ingstone-Brewer and her helpers who do great work in producing the "Hardwick Happenings Magazine", the Scouts and Guide Leaders, the Committees of the Cricket and Football clubs, the Committee of the Sports and Social Club, and the Allotment Society, and I thank them for giving of their time, for free, to help others. If I have missed any organisation and its people out, please forgive me.

So, what has the Parish Council been up to during 2009/10?

Last August, the Recreation Ground had a lot of work done to improve the drainage. For many years the field was prone to flooding, due to the clay subsoil on which Hardwick stands. There was some drainage put in many many years ago, but it was not good enough to meet the demands of our ever-successful football and cricket teams and for the extra use of the villagers. With money from the F.A. Trust in partnership with the Cambridgeshire F.A., South Cambridgeshire District Council and this Parish Council, work was completed in a couple of weeks and it is very evident that it has worked.

The worked did cause some problems however in that it was deemed not safe to play on the football pitches due to the ridges left by the drainage work, and our thanks go to Caldecote Parish Council for allowing our teams to play their games there.

Members of your Parish Council are regular attendees at Parish Planning meetings at S.C.D.C. and the quarterly liaison meetings held with the Police.

We are very pleased that we have a new "Webmaster" for our village site, James Bowen. James has shown his commitment to the village by also applying for, and taking, the vacancy on the Parish Council which was created by Sue Cripps leaving Hardwick to live in Suffolk. Sue was a very good Council member and we thank her and wish her well in her new home.

In my last Report I pointed out that the car parks, at the Club and on Egremont Road, have been lined for better parking and two "Disabled Driver" bays have been created. I am greatly disappointed that some drivers who have not got a disability, other than laziness, often use these "Disabled Bays".

The Parish Council is now working with the Police in the "Speedwatch" scheme, and to this end, we have purchased our own equipment which we have already put into use. We are very hopeful that this scheme will reduce the amount of speeding in the village.

To help further with safety, and especially our younger villagers, we have had two sets of "Wig-Wags" installed on Cambridge Road near to the school. These are the flashing lights telling motorists to slow down to 20 miles per hour and are activated before school starts in the morning and as it ends in the afternoon.

The Parish Council has had a new streetlight erected near to the Church to illuminate this previously dark area of Main Street.

New and replacement Dog Poo and Litterbins have been sited around the recreation Field.

The Parish Council is still negotiating with other agencies to sort out the traffic problems on Cambridge Road, but in spite of the fact that we have "ring fenced" £50,000 of Parish Council money towards this project, I am afraid that due to budget cuts and lack of recourses elsewhere, this will not be remedied any time soon.

During the last year we have done some work on the village pond. The nasty Green Algae has been removed and this has allowed oxygen to get to the water and fish can now be seen swimming around.

Some last thoughts.

From time to time, I and other Councillors are told that we spend too much time and money looking after the youngsters of the village and do not do enough for the older citizens. It is true that we do support the football and cricket clubs, who have lots of young people in their ranks, but the whole village benefits from this. I am sure that the reduction of anti-social behaviour in Hardwick can be put down in a large way to the hard work these "clubs" put in with the youth of the village, both boys and girls. I should point out the these clubs get a lot more money in Grants from their "Associations" than we donate, this is because they run very successful teams and organisations. The same goes for the Scouts and Guides.

Now that summer is finally upon us and the vegetation is growing, can I please ask that all householders have a look at their front gardens. There are many houses where hedges etc. are growing over the pavements causing pedestrians to walk into the road, if this is happening at your house, can I please ask that you cut back the offending greenery.

And finally. Yes once again this year, in spite of all the rises in Council Taxes etc., there was not an increase in the Hardwick Parish Precept thanks to the hard work of your unpaid, voluntary, Parish Council.

Ian Storr (Chairman of Hardwick Parish Council)

May 2010