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Chairman's Report 2006-2007
Annual Parish Meeting, 26th March 2007
Chairman's Report for the period April 2006 - March 2007
The year under review has been challenging in many ways and takes the current council up to election time. It is known that two councillors have moved away from the parish and will not therefore be able to stand for re-election. In addition, the Rector, Rev. Paul Messenger retired from the Church at the end of December, and resigned his position with the council at the same time. He had served many years with Thakeham Parish Council and was presented with an award on behalf of the council at his farewell party in January.
It is important that I thank all the current councillors and our clerk for their hard work and diligence throughout the year. The council has sub committees and a number of working parties that extend far beyond the statutory meetings. The combined effort of all involved has enabled the council to deal with a fairly hefty workload. The clerk in particular coped with an unexpected and significant workload when the Annual Return that has to be completed for MAZARS was selected as part of their 5% spot-check sample calling for additional information.
The Open Spaces Committee is now a year old and is proving to be a great success. Under delegated powers, it is able to be expedient in issues that may require a rapid response such as safety issues in the play areas. It reports to full council and apart from the play areas, deals with footpaths and trees, management of the litter wardens, grass cutting and street cleaning. The grass cutting contract was awarded last year to the contractor that looks after the Churchyard on a best value for money basis. A successful application was made to the WSCC initiative - "Trees for Shade". They have agreed to meet the full cost of supplying 5 significant trees that will be planted within the High Bar Lane play area at the end of this month. The problem of Japanese Knotweed has now been recognised as a national problem, and Councillor Karen Dawes has been instrumental in raising awareness as well as the implementation of a notification procedure within Thakeham parish.
Back at the beginning of April last year, a formal tree planting and unveiling of a plaque took place to honour the memory of Margaret Denyer. This was held at the entrance to the Church car park, in the area that is now known as Thakeham Halt. The Parochial Church Council commissioned and installed a wooden sign last summer to identify the location as Thakeham Halt and complete the general makeover and car park upgrade. It was unfortunate that the sign was not met with complete approval and appreciation, but the council investigated complaints to ensure that correct procedures had been followed and that planning policy had not been contravened. The council commissioned a Margaret Denyer Trophy, which will be awarded each term at Thakeham First School based on community service criteria. At the invitation of Mrs Sue King, the Head teacher, I went along at the end of the summer term to award the trophy for the first time. It was presented to Victoria Menzies, for her fundraising achievements and general willingness to help with tasks around the school.
The May Day Walk was again an extremely popular event with many parishioners of all ages taking part. Thakeham was nominated and subsequently short listed as a "Best Place" at the Horsham and Southdown's Best Awards, also in May. I was at the awards ceremony to collect the Certificate on behalf of Thakeham, and copies have been displayed on the parish notice boards.
Village Day took place on June 17th, once again raising considerable sums for both the Thakeham First School and the Village Hall. This event has become enshrined in Thakeham's culture and it is noted that the organising committee is in need of new members to enable it to continue into the future.
Thakeham's planning committee has been working assiduously to process all the applications it receives as a statutory consultee. Some of these have been difficult to deal with and whilst the council does not make the final decisions, it does monitor performance in terms of its recommendations made versus the final decision by HDC. Thakeham's planning team take their responsibilities very seriously and will often go back over HDC's decisions where they are in conflict with their own recommendations. The Planning Chairman, Claire Goring and I attended a Planning Obligations Seminar at HDC last summer, and Ray Wright from HDC's Development Control came along to the council's October meeting to give background as to how decisions are reached. The Chief Executive of Horsham District Council, Mr. Tom Crowley gave an address to our June meeting as part of his objective of visiting and getting to know all parish councils within the HDC area.
The parish council laid a wreath at the Remembrance Day service remembering those from the parish that fell as a mark of respect and in maintaining an important tradition. The service was well attended by councillors and parishioners alike.
The parish council has registered its deepest concern at the potential downgrading of local hospitals, and has raised the matter with MP - Nick Herbert.
The annual Christmas dinner was again a sell-out with about 70 people from the village attending. It was viewed with considerable regret when Heveco went into administration in September 2006. It is understood that the major fire that they suffered in June was a contributory factor. The parish council was pleased to learn however that mushroom farming would be continued by Sussex Mushrooms on the main site, although on a reduced scale. This presents the council with a substantially different scenario to that faced prior to Heveco's demise where it was a possibility that the mushroom farm might relocate in totality, leading to redundancy of both sites - main site and Abingworth Farm. The parish council, through a Joint Working Party with Horsham District Council, is actively looking at ways of dealing with the long standing uncertainty over the future of these sites, and this is expected to progress to a public consultation in the near future.
The parish council approved the forming of an advisory committee and its terms of reference in August to consider the ongoing provision of a parish office and the retention of playing fields for use by the parish. This was considered necessary in light of significantly changed circumstances. The committee presented its findings and resultant proposals to the January meeting and the work that arose is ongoing.
The long running issue of the footpath connecting Furze Common Road and High Bar Lane, which was closed by the neighbouring homeowner, still awaits resolution and is due to be settled by Public Enquiry. Both County Councillor Pat Arculus and Nick Herbert MP have supported the council in progressing the earliest possible reopening of this important right of way. Another closed footpath, this time at Townhouse Corner, had the closure notice lifted in September after engineering works on the steps leading down to the edge of the highway had been completed and the legal requirements met. Appropriate warning signs for approaching motorists have also been installed. The council had to lobby hard to get this footpath reopened.
The county's waste plan restarted last year and representatives from the parish council along with other parishioners attended Waste Area Forums that had been organised as part of the process. Regrettably, it was confirmed towards the end of 2006, when the plan started addressing sites, that Laybrook be included as a potential site for landfill in the preferred options. As a result, the parish council hosted a public meeting on the 5th of December to brief the community on the plan and the effect. The meeting was exceptionally well attended, raising awareness and helping a process to oppose the plan on technical and factual grounds. The parish council has an undertaking from the brickworks that it, and the wider community, will be involved in discussions about their ideas before any proposals are finalised or submitted to the planning authority.
Road safety is high in the concerns of the parish council. After a lot of lobbying by the council, supported by Pat Arculus, chevrons were finally installed at Snapes corner to warn unfamiliar users of the severity of the bend. The council has also pushed for an extension northwards of the 30mph limit to be beyond the corner. This is now under consultation by County and can be reasonably anticipated to go ahead into a schedule of works. As reported last year, the council committed to SID - the speed indicator device - to help deal with speeding in restricted areas. The council was very grateful for 8 volunteers that came forward for full training in SID's use last July. The equipment has been used in both 30mph zones and data has been compiled. The clerk keeps a record of all road accidents that are reported to him and the cumulative record was presented to the July meeting of the council. This data will be helpful to the council, particularly when needing to present evidence to support concerns that the parish has about defending the character and safety of our local roads in respect of their use by certain vehicle types whose movements may increase as a result of future development proposals.
Following previous success with the Purple Bus initiative - a mobile meeting point for our young parishioners - further scheduled visits took place and the parish council accordingly made a contribution to help maintain the facility. Contributions were also made to the Cricket and Squash clubs in recognition of Thakeham youngsters' involvement in these activities.
As mentioned earlier in this report, the Rev. Paul Messenger has now retired. Thakeham does not currently have a particularly large congregation, so the parish is fortunate that the Bishop of Horsham has confirmed the appointment of a Priest in Charge for a period of five years. The parish council has written to the Bishop welcoming the decision and to see how it is considered that the council may be able to help toward securing the future of the Church. There is no doubt that the parish could be at risk of losing St. Mary's as a working Church if the new priest is unable to increase not just the congregation but funds as well.
The parish council has communicated with parishioners through newsletters produced on a quarterly basis and via the parish notice boards. Council meetings have generally been well attended by members of the public and the press alike. I record the council's thanks to the press for coverage given to various issues that have arisen during the year.
Finally, I hope that the good work achieved by the current council can be continued and built upon in the future. The council looks forward to new members with new ideas, views and input to serve the parish in the challenges ahead. Dave Berry Chairman, Thakeham Parish Council
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