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Chairmans Report 2006 /2007
MATHERN COMMMUNITY COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT 2007
This is the Chairman's Annual Report for Mathern Community Council for the past twelve months from the Annual General Meeting of 8th May 2006 until tonight.
Everybody in this community will have had posted through their letter boxes a more detailed report on the activities of the Council over the last twelve months, so I hope you will excuse me, if I appear to skim over the surface, but I do not want to appear to be writing and reading things out just for the sake of it - I feel that there are already enough elected people doing that already.
I would like to place on record my thanks and appreciation to our Clerk Liz Davies for all the hard work she has put in - a good Clerk makes a good Council, indeed it is my view that the Clerk is the Council.
To all my fellow Councillors - thank you for all your efforts over the past twelve months, I know what you have done and tried to do for this community, and I would add - it is a thankless task.
I have not been a hands on Chairman due to other commitments, indeed I was a very reluctant acceptee twelve months ago when I stressed how difficult it was going to be for me to do the job - and so again - a great deal of thanks goes to both my vice Chairman - Councillor Ovenden and also Councillor Morton, who have both, on more than one occasion, chaired meetings.
Contrary to belief amongst some in our Community, this Council has very few responsibilities that are anything other than advisory - we have no authority to grant planning applications, change roadspeeds or alter road signs etc - but we are responsible for the War Memorial, to which I must place on record a big thank you to Mr Richard Marendaz for the work he puts in on its upkeep, bus shelters, several community seats around the wards, some noticeboards where we try to keep the community informed of Council activities - some commemorative stones and the fencing and area around St Tewdrics Well and in the last twelve months, our Clerk, since she is now employed by the Council rather than self-employed. All these are regularly risk assessed to make sure that we are aware of any problems that need to be dealt with.
There are people in this community, including I may add several ex-Councillors, who feel and say, some extremely vocally, that we, as a group, are letting this community down - I disagree - we are doing everything we can, we know, the roads, footpaths, stiles, finger posts, fly tipping, rubbish, long grass, speeding, Garden Centre overspill, fishing lake safety issues etc are all read issues of concern to everybody but I stress we can only recommend to Monmouthshire County Council the actions that we, as a Council feel are for the good of this community - whether Monmouthshire County Council responds to our letters, or telephone calls on your behalf, is another matter.
Monmouthshire County Council's representative in this community is Mr Graham Down who frequently sits at meetings with us, however, even his efforts appear to have failed to bear fruit - I wonder whether there are now just too many beaurocrats passing around needless bits of paper, trying to justify the wages we pay them and not enough actual physical workers out there, doing the jobs that the communities need done.
It would be the easiest thing going for the more able bodied of us to go and mend a stile or fence post as used to be the case, but now, with all the legislation, should, woe betide, somebody slip and be injured, it just isn't worth the risk.
Three years ago Mathern was promised measures to slow vehicles entering and leaving the village. Everything was set up, prices agreed from tenders, we are still waiting and cars continue to speed - one day it will be too late for somebody.
A lot in the community are upset about the appearance of the Garden Centre, and the various signs advertising this and that on the A48 from Pwllmeyric to Hayes Gate. We were not the elected Councillors who voted for the Garden Centre to be built - indeed, to my knowledge, every Community Council voted against it - the County Council approved and my personal view is, it has been a huge success, as a business - indeed nobody disapproves during the summer months when - due in part to the proprietor Mr James Boyle, these wards do so well in the ‘Wales in Bloom' and ‘Best Kept Garden' competitions.
One success story this year - although again it is in the hands of the County Council - after many years of hassle - this Council has finally come to an agreement on the building of a bund to deflect future noise levels and other interference from the nearby Newhouse Industrial Estate - this has been an ongoing matter spread over the lifespan of several councils, but following the sale of the land to a new developer, things finally appear to have reached a conclusion and we look forward to the bund being built - before any other building work can take place.
To conclude this Annual Report - the finances of this Council are healthy as we prepare for next May's elections, although you will have noticed a small increase for this community through your already high Council Tax - just what does the County Council do with our tax - which is the highest in Wales.
The past year has been an interesting experience and not one that I look forward to doing again for some time as I feel the Chairperson should be someone who can devote endless time to the role - something I have been unable to do - so for that reason, I shall be relinquishing my position once this AGM is concluded and my fellow Councillors have appointed a new Chairperson.
Thank you.
S SmithChairman Mathern Community Council
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