NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2007
It is now halfway through your Community Council's working year so it seems a good opportunity to tell you, the residents of Mathern, Mounton and Pwllmeyric about some of the things the Community Council has been doing on your behalf in the last six months. It has been a busy time and, as ever, bureaucratic red tape often makes results slow to appear. However, be assured that the Councillors are continuing to do their very best to make the three villages pleasant places in which to live.
We began our year in May without a Clerk. Several very good candidates applied for the post and Mrs Jane Kelley was appointed. She has set about her task with huge enthusiasm and we are already wondering how we managed without her! The Clerk to any Community Council is its backbone and every Councillor is dependant on the hard work he or she does. Jane has already made herself indispensable.
The upkeep and management of local footpaths regularly appears on our agenda. Councillors do their best to walk the paths but rely on you, too, to let us know when there is a problem. Due to lack of funds, Monmouthshire County Council intend to devolve the responsibility for maintenance of these rights of way to local communities. We have been trying in vain to get a Footpaths Officer to come and talk to us, to clarify the situation, but it has proved impossible. However, the way forward, so the County Council tells us, is to set up a group of local volunteers to monitor, sustain and improve our network of paths. They offer training in various types of maintenance work and if anyone is interested in becoming involved, please let me know: an afternoon meeting with the County Council's Project Warden will hopefully take place in January and you would be welcome to come along.
Supported by Graham Down, our County Councillor, the Community Council has built up a good working relationship with Frontier Estates, the new owners of the Newhouse development. We have frequently visited the site and checked on the progress of the work. Our last visit was in late October, when we found the bund nearing completion. It is an awesome construction (the biggest of its kind in Europe) and well worth a visit. Sadly, the autumn planting season has been missed : archaeological remains were found in the course of excavations and the investigation of these put work 5 weeks behind schedule. Planting of the bund with native tree species will go ahead in the spring however and a 3-year replacement programme for saplings that do not survive will operate.
This year, the Community Council is attempting several special projects and seeking grants to help pay for some of them. St. Tewdric's Well is sorely in need of renovation and repair and, although the County Council has already refused us one grant application, we are trying for others so that we hope to undertake the work in 2008. Similarly, new names need to be added to the War Memorial and maintenance carried out to the base of the surrounding railings. Grant aid is again being sought. (The railings will also need re-painting. Again, any volunteers?)
Erosion of the Village Green turf has been causing concern for some time now. With the backing of Mathern PCC, it is hoped that work will shortly be undertaken here to prevent more damage to a particularly lovely part of the village.
Whilst grants may be available for projects like these, they only pay for part of the necessary work. Community Council funds are limited - in 2007, just over 11p of your annual Community Charge went to the Community Council. The upkeep of all locally-owned assets - those above and others, such as bus shelters, seats, notice boards and grass-mowing at the War Memorial and St Tewdric's Well are only part of the expenses that have to be funded from this. It is not possible to maintain the villages, let alone improve them (for example, by upgrading the bus shelters) if we do not have the money. The County Council does not make money available for this sort of work so, in 2008, we are considering requesting a sum that will be slightly more than the usual rate of inflation increase.
On a positive note, I am delighted to be able to report that, as I write, Mathern Community Council is setting up a Web site. This has enormous potential as it can be expanded to include other village organisations and allow local businesses to advertise. At present, the site only carries minutes and agendas for our meetings but it is being enlarged as time allows. Your ideas to build it up would be most welcome. It can be found on the Web, using links to "Mathern", via http://www.thelocalchannel.co.uk/. Please have a look at it and also, perhaps, Shirenewton's site. This has been in existence for longer and shows the kind of development we have in mind.
As we all await the long-promised traffic calming measures for Mathern, I should like to end on a high note by passing on congratulations to everyone involved in the success of the villages in this years floral competitions. Despite a summer of disappointing weather, Mathern's floral displays looked superb for the Wales in Bloom competition and the awards received were thoroughly deserved. The Village Hall was a winner in the Best Kept Village competition and Mounton the runner-up in the hamlet category. Mrs. Nicky Pine won the prize for both the Best Kept Garden and the Most Improved Garden with a stunning display. Our thanks go to Mrs Stella Caws for judging these latter two competitions. Well done, everyone - it was a tremendous success!
Finally, may I remind everybody that 2008 is Election Year for the Community Council. Anyone over the age of 18 can stand, so please give consideration to the idea if you think you would like to become elected as a Community Councillor. Why not come along to one of our regular meetings, which are always open to you, to see what is involved? Dates of meetings and agendas are posted on the village notice boards. You will find that there is much more going on than you may have thought. In November alone, Councillors represented you at four additional regional meetings, covering topics such as flood prevention and waste management. There were also on-site planning meetings, inspection of the Newhouse bund and checks on some of the footpaths. If you think you can make a difference to the way your community operates, then one way of doing just that is to stand for election.
In conclusion, please do contact myself or any of the Councillors if you need our help. Our contact details are displayed on all the noticeboards.
May I wish everyone a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. Let us all look forward to a successfully blooming 2008, with our villages unblighted by the dangers of speeding traffic. Sadly, everyone's desire for roads without pot-holes is probably a wish too far. Be assured though, that your Community Council will keep on doing their best to persuade the County Council how much work needs to be done to this aspect of our community life.
Carolyn Ovenden
Chairman, Mathern Community Council
The Linnets Farm
Mounton Email MathernCC&googlemail.com