Chairman’s Report 2010/2011

Last updated: Sunday, 01 May 2011, 07:22 PM

HARDWICK PARISH COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Here is my eighth Hardwick Parish Council Chairman's Report and it is 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 during the last year.

This Report as always starts by thanking various people and organisations. Thanks go to the Parish Council's Vice Chairman, Grenville Chamberlain. I thank him for all his help and encouragement and of course to all the other Parish Councillors who give up their precious time to do this UNPAID work. Hardwick Parish Council only has one Sub-Committee, and that is "Planning". "Applications" come in, and before they come to the full Council Meeting, Tony Gill and Grenville check through them, make site visits if necessary, and then bring their recommendations to full Council. We do however have Councillors covering other aspects of Parish Council life. Pauline Joslin liaises with the "Parish Paths Partnership" and also represents the Council at regular meetings with the Head of the village school. Tony Gill is our Trees Officer and James Bowen is the Webmaster for the Village Web site. 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 go to all of them for their work. My thanks to Jeremy Dyer, who picks up all the vast amount of litter that is dropped around the village. Why do we have so much litter when we have so many Litter Bins? Thanks also 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 need also to thank our County and District Councillors, Fiona Whelan and Jim Stewart for their very hard work on behalf of Hardwick.

We must also remember all those other people who give their time and energy to make Hardwick tick. Enid Ingstone-Brewer and her helpers who produce and distribute 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, I thank them all for giving of their time, for free, to help others.

Before I Report on 2010/2011, I think that I should mention the Precept for 2011/2012. You may well have noticed, that after many years of no increases, we have had to raise the village Precept for this new Financial Year. If you have noticed that, then you will also have noticed that due to statutory notices from the Government, all the other Authorities have not had any increase. The Parish Council thought hard and long about asking you for more money, but in the end have had too, to cover any problems that may arise in the Village from other Authorities cutting services. Even with our increase, a Band "C" property in Hardwick will only have to pay about 55p per month extra.

So, what has the Parish Council been up to during 2010/11?

You will remember that in August 2009, the Recreation Ground had a lot of work done to improve the drainage. This was very successful, but earlier this year problems became apparent at the Egremont Road end of the "field", i.e. a rather large "lake" appeared. We got this investigated and it appeared that tree roots had invaded the underground pipes blocking them, and thereby holding back the water causing the "lake". The offending roots have been cleared and the problem should now be ameliorated.

We were missing two trees on Cambridge Road, near to the corner of Egremont Road, and Tony Gill arranged for a couple of free specimen Ash trees to be planted there and undertook to look after them until they were well established. Tony is now pushing to get some trees, again free of charge, to fill in the gaps on the Limes Road side of the Recreation Field.

Meetings have been held between the Parish Council, as owners of the Pavilion, the Sports and Social Club, the Cricket Club and the Football Clubs in order to agree plans for the future development of the Pavilion. This will entail revamping the old changing rooms and adding new ones. The plans have been submitted to South Cambridgeshire District Council and the money for the building work is being sort by way of Grants from funding organisations.

The Parish Council has been very active in trying once again to get Millers Way adopted by the County Council so that it can be upgraded and maintained to a good standard. We are very hopeful that it will be added to the "Definitive Map" as a public right of way, but due to the fact that it has many and various owners, its adoption is not that straight forward.

In June last year we had a lot of work done on the Church Play Area. Dead trees were removed, as was the hill which had the large pipe running through it and the other hill was reduced by half. We also installed some new play equipment and had the ground levelled and re-seeded. All this work was paid for from S106 money that the Council received from the builders of Grace Crescent. We surveyed the residents of that development and we were told that they didn't want a play area there and so we spent the money on the nearest one to them.

In September, a group of volunteers from a large building company asked if we had any project that they could do for the Village. It was thought that for aesthetic and safety reasons, the removal of weeds, self-set bushes and litter at the entrance to the Pavilion Car Park would be the right thing to do. I hope that you will agree with me that that area is now better to look at and safer for cars entering and leaving the Car Park.

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.

I reported that last year we installed new and replaced Dog Poo and Litterbins around the Recreation Field. It is with great regret that I have to now report that there are still some very irresponsible dog owners who are not cleaning up after their dogs have defecated and that rubbish is still being left on the Field.

I am sure that all Villagers agree with the Parish Council, that the burnt out building at the junction of St. Neot's Road and Cambridge Road is an "eye sore" and has been now for many years. The Parish Council has continued to contact the owner of the site and we understand that he is now actively marketing it and that there is some interest being shown in purchasing it.

The Parish Council was very pleased to back all the hard work that Cllr Tumi Hawkins, District Councillor for Caldecote, and all her helpers did, in her campaign to bring a fast

broadband service to the area in the "BT Race to Infinity" competition. It has been confirmed that the Madingley Telephone Exchange will be upgraded to bring us fast fibre optic broadband early in 2012.

Some last thoughts.

Bad / fast drivers beware, as our Speedwatch initiative will soon be restarting. Don't forget that any-one caught speeding in Hardwick will be reported to the local Constabulary.

If you notice any trees or hedging on Parish Council land that needs pruning or cutting back because it / they are causing a problem, will you please notify the Parish Council Clerk. Her E-Mail address is:- hardwickpc@lgs-services.co.uk

Hardwick Primary School requires someone to fill a Governor vacancy. Please contact the school

if you are interested.

And finally. Hardwick Parish Council should be made up of 9 Councillors and we only have 8 at

this time. If you are interested in becoming a Parish Councillor, please send your details, with a

note of why you would like to join us, to our Parish Clerk, Gail Stoehr, at:-

Ian Storr (Chairman of Hardwick Parish Council)

May 2011