Parish Council Chairman’s Report
The Parish Council has had seven meetings during the year, the six regular bi-monthly meetings and a combined public meeting and extraordinary meeting held in November to discuss the Park Farm planning proposals. Fourteen residents attended the regular meetings at some point in the year, and sixty-one residents attended the public meeting.
Councillor Bruce Evans has continued to attend Parish Council meetings, and we have been pleased to welcome Raymond Theodoulou as the new County Councillor. We thank them for their support.
Janet Campbell has continued to act as the Parish Council’s Tree Warden, and comments on all tree works applications.
This year we have received and commented on 43 different applications – of these eight were for tree works and five were for Listed Building consents. The Parish Council objected to four applications, three from the Park Farms applications, and one from the owners of Fitzhammon House.
The District Council refused the application for Fitzhammon House. The Park Farm applications were withdrawn but are expected to be re-submitted later in the year.
The Council responds to every planning application. Even if there are no objections, constraints can be attached to the approval. If you have any concerns about a local planning matter, please contact the Chairman or your local Parish Councillor.
The grass-cutting contract has been awarded to the same contractor for the forthcoming financial year with a very competitive bid. Your views on the performance of the contractor would be welcomed.
A successful clean up day was held in the Burial Ground in October- thanks should go to Don Underwood and to the other volunteers who turned out to help. The dry stone wall was also rebuilt where it had collapsed. Thanks to David Ockwell for this work. Some of the gravestones were made safe last year by Dike and Sons.
There has been a significant problem with vandalism this year. Windows in the Lych Gate have been broken on three occasions. The Police were informed the second time this happened and spoke to several families in the village to ascertain the culprits. On the third occasion, the child responsible owned up, and the costs were paid by the parents.
The Council will contact the Police if this happens again. £150 has been paid in excess charges to the insurance company, and this money comes from the precept paid by every member of the electorate.
Expenditure last year exceeded the precept, but the Council felt it appropriate that the reserves should be used to cover some of the costs. The precept for this year (2002/03) has been set at £5000.
A new national audit regime has been introduced, allegedly to simplify the audit procedures. However, the Parish Council will be objecting to the new proposals as our auditing costs will increase significantly.
The Council has continued to make donations to specific organisations that would benefit residents. Donations were made to Junior Citizenship, the Humpty Dumpty Toddler Group, and towards the formation of a pétanque club in the village. £25 has been set aside for administration costs for the plans for a playground in the village.
Footpaths were closed until June 2001 to minimise the spread of foot and mouth. Footpaths were gradually marked out again towards the end of the year. Councillors will again walk the footpaths throughout the village and will continue to ensure that they are clearly marked out where they have been disturbed as a result of ploughing. The footpath map is available from the Church.
Neighbourhood Watch continues to operate throughout the village. It can be very effective, and the Council asks you to be as vigilant as possible.
The remaining benches in the village requiring repair were mended by Harold Stevens. The setts on Church Lane were also installed, and thanks should go to CDC’s Ward Project Fund, as without the £400 grant from them, the work would have been too expensive.
Fly tipping is still a problem in places – if you see it happening, please notify the District Council.
The Ampney Crucis Times continues to provide valuable and up to date information to the whole village. Our thanks must go to the editors: Elisabeth Gerber, David Vessey and Fran Huckle.
The village Website is also proving to be successful. The site now has more than 64 pages, and has had 6484 hits. More use could be made of it by village organisations, see the flyer on the home page or contact Frank Skinner.
The 2001 Village Directory continues to be available from any of the Councillors, or from the Parochial Church Council at a cost of £1.
The Parish Council intends that a new notice board will be in place this year outside the village hall, replacing the existing one which is not watertight.
Following complaints from residents, the Council contacted South Cerney barracks to complain about the constant noise of the aircraft involved in parachute training.
A reply advised that every effort would be made to improve the situation by varying flight patterns, and where possible avoiding flying over villages and towns. Nevertheless where there were operational requirements, e.g. major training exercises, these would continue to be held.
Following the huge success of the Millennium celebrations in the village, Councillor Sally Hebbs and a small working party are organising celebrations to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
The details have been circulated with the May edition of the Parish Newsletter to residents of Ampney Crucis and we hope everybody will make it a weekend to remember.
The ditch between the Burial Ground and the school has now been culverted and filled in. The Parish Council gave £500 towards this work. This should relieve some of the problems in this area. However, there is still a potential flooding risk from the fields at the back of Durncourt Cottages. This could be eased if the ditch at the back of the properties is kept clear. GCC have taken note of the state of the pavement on Hunt’s Hill and will partly replace the footpaths. However the drains on the hill, and the rest of the footpaths in this area still require substantial repair. Funds are inevitably limited for this kind of work but the Parish Council continues to lobby for further repair work in Ampney Crucis, and in particular for repairs to some of the roads in the parish that have suffered damage from heavy farm machinery.
Following concerns from residents, the Council wrote to the County Council asking whether double white lines could be placed on parts of the A417. Following this survey of the road, it would appear that new road markings could be in place during the forthcoming year.
A small working party, headed by Kim Hartshorne, has developed outline plans for the provision of a play area on Allotment Lane. The Parish Council was asked to support the scheme by arranging insurance, acting as banker for the purchase of equipment, and supporting future maintenance.
Ongoing costs will be reduced by buying quality equipment at the outset, and equipment with a long life cycle. Community Service groups can be used to install and maintain equipment, with costs for materials only. Grass cutting would be continued as present, if the site were not fenced.
Councillors agreed to support the establishment of a playground, and allocated a small amount of money in the reserves to help towards administrative costs.
Finally the Parish Council would like to thank all those who have contributed in any way to the life of the village in the last year - without their help the village would not be such a pleasant place to live in