Parish Assembly

Note you can see past minutes and PDF’s of past Chairman’s reports on the profile page

 

14 April 2023 Parish Assembly – 2022/23 Chairman’s Report

It is good to see so many of you here this evening at our annual community event.

The Parish Council consists of myself as the Chair, I am the Council representative on the West Trust; lead the Speed Watch Team and I am on the Bedfordshire Association of Town and Parish Councils;    Ken Green who is the Vice Chair and heads up the Footpaths Committee, Peter Warburton leads the Planning Committee, looks after our website and organises the Litter Picking activities; Kevin Ludgate, Harvey Greenwood  who is responsible for Police Liaison and is not only our newest member but also the youngest member of the team and of course our Clerk Lesley Smith.  Jan Day and Frances Masters have stepped down from the Council and we would like to thank them for their work.

We work on a voluntary basis trying to do as much as we can for our local community. As well as our monthly meetings and individual responsibilities we attend local and area meetings where decisions can made that affect our Parish. We lobby MP’s and local councillors, we defend the rural nature of our community, we encourage and support local activities, we look for ways of improving facilities and the infrastructure, we strive to keep our community spirit and, as your representatives, we listen to you.

Our Precept this year is £8,664.00. About a quarter of the precept goes straight back into our community in the form of grants and awards – we are limited to the amount we are allowed to allocate for grants. We keep a third for contingencies and the rest is used in the running of the Council activities.

The accounts can be viewed on our website or via the Clerk.

Our work over the past year included reporting fly-tipping and potholes, reviewing planning applications, keeping footpaths clear, keeping gulley’s clear and much more.

We have two solar farms to be developed in our Parish. We are in conversation with the developers of both solar farms to discuss community benefit or funding for projects in the Parish.

We are pressing for a site meeting with CBC Highways to discuss more substantial traffic calming measures and protection for One Home Farm on the first bend on the Toddington Road. That property has been hit by speeding cars six times over the years.

The Speed Watch Team are out once a month in Tebworth and Wingfield to remind drivers of the speed limit.

We are aware that the sight lines coming out of Chalgrave Road onto the B5120 are not good. The bushes are overgrown, and we are tracing and contacting the landowner to ask that they cut them back.

We are in contact with the planning department about the development at Ivy Farm. The building is not what was in the original agreed planning application. The building should have larch or oak cladding on it which would soften the look of the building. The building at the moment looks nothing like the artist’s impression on the boards outside.

We are looking into rewilding some of the verges in the Parish and to do something with the land opposite the Queens Head.

We are fortunate to live in a low crime area. However, there are break-ins and burglaries so please make sure that doors and windows are locked and outbuildings are secure. It is important to report anything that you think is suspicious and report any crimes.

The Millennium Youth and the Community Awards for the past year. We need nominations. Both awards are to recognise a significant achievement or community service. The Millennium Youth Award is for 18 years and under and is a ‘well done’ for academic or sporting achievement, contribution to the community, overcoming difficulties, or other significant achievement The Community Award is for over eighteens and is a ‘thank you’ for service to the community. If you have a nomination please contact the Clerk, Lesley Smith, or any of the councillors.

Just want to say a brief word about West Educational Trust. The Trust gives grants towards the cost of any educational activity for young people 25 years and under – this could be music lessons, dance, sporting activity, educational school trips, cubs, brownies, scouts, grants to students in full-time higher education, anything educational. Grants are given twice a year – applications need to handed into the Clerk at the end of June and end of December. Full details and application form are on the Chalgrave Parish Council website under Organisations.

Finally, there is a community event coming up – on Sunday 7th May in the afternoon, there will be a Street Party in the Lane to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III

You are invited to any of our meetings. They are usually on the third Tuesday of the month in the Memorial Hall at 7:30. Minutes of our meetings are posted on the Chalgrave Parish Council website and on the notice boards.

Phil Parry
Chair

 

2018 Chairman’s Report

The Parish Council consists of myself as the Chairman and I am the Council representative on the West Trust; Ken Green who is the Vice Chairman and heads up the Footpaths Committee and has responsibility for the Website; Debbie Levy leads the Planning Committee; Mike Wells who runs our Speedwatch activities and also works on our website, Paul Whitton who has responsibility to monitor Fly Tipping, Kevin Ludgate who is responsible for Police Liaison, Lesley Smith who is our Parish Clerk and  new Councillor Janet Day who replaces Barbara Jackson.

We work on a voluntary basis trying to do as much as we can for our local community.  As well as our monthly meetings and individual responsibilities we attend local and area meetings where decisions can be made that affect our Parish. We lobby MP’s and local councillors, we defend the rural nature of our community, we encourage and support local activities, we look for ways of improving facilities and the infrastructure, we strive to keep our community spirit and, as your representatives, we listen to you.

Our Precept this year is £7,217. About a quarter of our precept we receive from you goes straight back into our community in the form of grants and awards. We keep a third for contingencies and the rest is used in the running of the Council activities. The accounts can be viewed on our website or via the Clerk.

The Great Pond of Tebworth has taken up much of our time over the past 18 months. To keep you up to date – the PC has been at odds with a resident living next door to the Great Pond.  We believed the issue was around privacy but now the PC knows that the issue was always about ownership. The resident is now claiming ownership of nearly half of the pond area through ‘Adverse Possession’. Adverse Possession has two elements – (1) that the resident has been solely dealing with that land and nobody else has for ten years, (2) there has been an intention to possess the land for ten years. The PC had not realised until recently that there was intent to possess the land. The resident has denied on at least two occasions over the years that he was intending to own part of the land surrounding the Pond. We are very disappointed that someone is trying to claim a piece of land that has been part of the Parish and a public amenity for hundreds of years. The issue will be going to Land Registry Mediation and then possibly Tribunal.

Mike is leading our Speedwatch Campaign.  We are out on Toddington Road, Wingfield Road and Tebworth Road. We are limited to where we can use the speed sign because of Health and Safety. Please speak to Mike if you want to know more or to volunteer. We are aware that the VAS on Toddington Road is not working.  We are looking at the cost of repair or replacement but as I mentioned last year we waited until we knew if there will be a 20 MPH speed limit through Tebworth now that the Link Road is open – as discussed with CBC. We were somewhat taken aback when there was a proposal from CBC, completely unexpectedly, to increase the speed limit to 40 MPH! Fortunately, because of a backlash from residents, the PC and a nudge from Mark Versallion, they have withdrawn the proposal and it will remain 30mph going down to20mph on the bends.  The 20mph will be advisory.

The A5/M1 link road has made a significant difference to the number of vehicles – particularly lorries – coming through our Parish.  I don’t have the numbers in front of me but when we do Speedwatch I believe it has cut the numbers by over a half.

Fly tipping has always been a problem in the Parish. Cllr. Paul Whitton has been doing a splendid job of trying to find the source of any fly tipping by looking through it for evidence of addresses.  He has had success – one person has been fined and there are two more cases going to court. Please contact Paul to report fly tipping so that he has a chance to investigate.

We continue to work on an Emergency Plan.  This is planning for any emergency that might occur in our Parish such as a long-term power outage.  The plan will include a list of the more vulnerable in our Parish, transport volunteers, availability of such items like generators, 4-wheel drive vehicles, etc.  The Plan can be used when we have problems with snow as we did early this year –  Cllrs Green and Whitton with the help of Barbara Jackson contacted members of the community to ask if they needed anything. It resulted in a run to the shops for supplies in Pauls 4-wheel drive.

We are always concerned about Planning.  There are several houses being built in the Parish – down The Lane, behind Ivy Farm and on College Farm.  This increases our housing stock by about 10%. We recognise that there is a need for new houses, but we strive to maintain the rural nature of our Parish. So, we look very hard at any planning application and make sure that planning rules are not broken.

We are fortunate to live in a low crime area.  However, there are break-ins and burglaries so please make sure that doors and windows are locked and outbuildings are secure.  Please report anything that you think is suspicious and report any crimes.

Central Beds Council have a number of on-line consultations over the year on a variety of subjects. We respond to them on your behalf, but we are concerned that one or two of them should also be responded to by individuals.  There is currently a consultation on Waste and Recycling – you should have received a leaflet about the proposals. Please comment before the 20th April.  The PC is concerned about a three-week black bin collection and a charge for green bins.  We feel that the charge may lead to an increase in fly tipping.

We are concerned with the parking at the bottom of Wingfield Road.  Cars are parking too close to the corner making visibility difficult. It is in fact illegal but we don’t want to go down the route of yellow lines but would prefer people to be considerate.

We are aware of the potholes and continue to press CBC on a regular basis.

We are still trying to get the streetlamp at the end of St Marys Close working.  It has been years now, but we are still trying!

Finally the Millennium Youth and the Community Awards for the past year. We need nominations. Both awards are to recognise a significant achievement or community service. The Millennium Youth Award is for 18 years and under and is a ‘well done’  for academic or sporting achievement, contribution to the community, overcoming difficulties, or other significant achievements The Community Award is for over 18s and is a ‘thank you’ for service to the community.  If you have a nomination please contact the Clerk, Lesley Smith, or any of the councillors.

You are invited to any of our meetings. They are usually on the third Tuesday of the month in the Memorial Hall at 7:30. Minutes of our meetings are posted on the Chalgrave Parish Council website and on the notice boards.

Phil Parry
Chairman


2017 Chairman’s Report

The Parish Council consists of myself as the Chairman and I am also one of the Council representatives on the West Trust; Ken Green who is the Vice Chairman and heads up the Footpaths Committee and has responsibility for the Website; Debbie Levy leads the Planning Committee; Mike Wells who runs our Speedwatch activities and also works on our website, Paul Whitton who monitors Fly Tipping, Barbara Jackson who leads the pond restoration project and our Defibrillator team, and Lesley Smith who is our Parish Clerk. We also have a new Councillor, Kevin Ludgate, who having lived in the Parish all his life brings a wealth of knowledge to the Council. Kevin’s responsibility is Police liaison.

As always the past year has been a very active one for the Parish Council. In case you are not aware we do a lot of work behind the scenes. We work on a voluntary basis trying to do as much as we can for our local community. As well as our monthly meetings and individual responsibilities we attend local and area meetings where decisions can made that affect our Parish. We lobby MP’s and local councillors, we defend the rural nature of our community, we encourage and support local activities, we look for ways of improving facilities and the infrastructure, we strive to keep our community spirit and, as your representatives, we listen to you. We continue to pressure Highways to repair our roads, get our street lights working, cut back overgrown bushes and trees and clear pathways. It is a constant battle with CBC to get work done – we have street lights that have been not working for years, potholes in Church Lane not filled, other potholes in the Parish, etc. As a Council, we do all we can to get the work done.

Our Precept this year is £7,020. About a quarter of our precept we receive from you goes straight back into our community in the form of grants and awards. We keep a third for contingencies and the rest is used in the running of the Council activities.The accounts can be viewed on our website or via the Clerk.

Mike is leading our Speedwatch Campaign. We are out on Toddington Road, Wingfield Road and Tebworth Road. We are limited to where we can use the speed sign because of Health and Safety. Please speak to Mike if you want to know more or to volunteer. We are aware that the VAS on Toddington Road is not working. We are looking at the cost of repair or replacement but we will wait until we know if there will be a 20 MPH speed limit through Tebworth when the Link Road is open. The A5/M1 link will be opened this year and there will be a 7.5 tonne weight limit through our Parish and surrounding area. It will not happen immediately as Highways have to put up 5000 signs in South Beds.

You may be aware of the controversy with Tebworth Great Pond. The Parish Council strongly feel that the pond belongs to our community. We have lots of evidence going back to 1950 of community groups working on the Pond. We have done – or I should say Lesley Smith has done – extensive research on the ownership of the pond and have discovered that no one owns the Pond The Parish Council has put in an application with Land Registry to own the Pond on behalf of the community. Once that happens we can then complete our planned work. We have a small team working on this – if you would like to help please speak to Barbara.

We are fortunate to live in a low crime area. However, there are break-ins and burglaries so please make sure that doors and windows are locked and outbuildings are secure. Please report anything that you think is suspicious and report any crimes. Central Beds Council have a number of on-line consultations over the year on a variety of subjects. We respond to them on your behalf but we are concerned that one or two of them should also be responded to by individuals.

Finally the Millennium Youth and the Community Awards for the past year. We need nominations. Both awards are to recognise a significant achievement or community service. The Millennium Youth Award is for 18 years and under and is a ‘well done’ for academic or sporting achievement, contribution to the community, overcoming difficulties, or other significant achievements. The Community Award is for over 18s and is a ‘thank you’ for service to the community. If you have a nomination please contact the Clerk, Lesley Smith, or any of the councillors.

You are invited to any of our meetings. They are usually on the third Tuesday of the month in the Memorial Hall at 7:30. Minutes of our meetings are posted on the Chalgrave Parish Council website and on the notice boards.
Phil Parry
Chairman


2016 Chairman’s Report

The Parish Council consists of myself as the Chairman and I am also one of the Council representatives on the West Trust; Ken Green who is the Vice Chairman and heads up the Footpaths Committee and has responsibility for the Website; Debbie Hampson who is on the Planning Committee; Mike Wells who runs our Speedwatch activities and also works on our website, Paul Whitton who monitors Fly Tipping, Barbara Jackson who leads the pond restoration project and our Defibrillator team, and Lesley Smith who is our Parish Clerk.

One name not mentioned is Dan Osborn.  Unfortunately for us, Dan is stepping down from the Council. With a growing family, his work and other commitments he finds it difficult to find time to be a parish Councillor.  We really regret his departure and thank him for his 14 years of service to the Parish.

It does mean that there will be a need for a new councillor. If you are interested in joining the PC please contact Lesley or any member of the Council.

As always the past year has been a very active one for the Parish Council.  In case you are not aware we do a lot of work behind the scenes.  We work on a voluntary basis trying to do as much as we can for our local community.  As well as our monthly meetings and individual responsibilities we attend local and area meetings where decisions can made that affect our Parish. We lobby MP’s and local councillors, we defend the rural nature of our community, we encourage and support local activities, we look for ways of improving facilities and the infrastructure, we strive to keep our community spirit and, as your representatives, we listen to you.

We continue to pressure Highways to repair our roads, get our street lights working, cut back overgrown bushes and trees and clear pathways.

We also deal with unexpected issues like the sudden closure of Hockliffe Road in the centre of Tebworth while they worked on a water main – diverting traffic down The Lane! Or when Lords Hill was closed and HGV’s were diverted down Tebworth/Wingfield Road.

Our Precept is this year is £7,020. Between a quarter and a third of our precept we receive from you goes straight back into our community in the form of grants and awards. We keep a third for contingencies and the rest is used in the running of the Council activities.

The accounts can be viewed on our website or via the Clerk as can minutes of our meetings.

Planning is one of our many concerns, both at a Parish and County level. At a County and National level we are very vocal in our determination to protect the Green Belt – we want to maintain the rural nature of our Parish.

Mike is leading our Speedwatch Campaign.  We are out on Toddington Road and Tebworth Road. We are limited to where we can use the speed sign because of Health and Safety. Please speak to Mike if you want to know more or to volunteer.

We are aware that the VAS on Toddington Road is erratic and we are looking into it.

When the A5/M1 link is opened there will be 7.5 tonne weight limit through our Parish and surrounding roads. We also hope to have a 20 MPH speed limit through Tebworth.

I hope you agree that the work on the pond in Tebworth so far is good.  Had we not dredged the pond it would now be land. We are next going to work on the banks and do some planting.  We have a small team working on this – if you would like to help please speak to Barbara.

We are fortunate to live in a low crime area.  However, there are break-ins and burglary so please sure that doors and windows are locked and outbuildings are secure.  Please report anything that you think is suspicious and report any crimes.  We are considering setting up Street Watch in the Parish – this will be run by small group of volunteers.

Central Beds Council have a number of on-line consultations over the year on a variety of subjects. We respond to them on your behalf but we are concerned that one or two of them should also be responded by individuals. There is currently a consultation on bus services.

If you are with someone having a cardiac arrest in the village – you can’t leave them.  You’re job is to call 999 and perform CPR until the emergency services arrive.  In the meantime, someone needs to bring the defibrillator to you.  We have a small group of volunteers who are willing be called if they are in the village and able to collect the defibrillator.   We are also looking into the possibility of The East of England Ambulance service training “First Responders” in basic first aid.  This training is free so if anyone is interested in either becoming a First Responder or volunteering to be called to collect the defibrillator, please contact Barbara Jackson after the meeting.

Finally the Millennium Youth and the Community Awards for 2015. We have some nominations which is great. Both awards are to recognise a significant achievement or community service. The Millennium Youth Award is for 18 years and under and is a ‘well done’  for academic or sporting achievement, contribution to the community, overcoming difficulties, or other significant achievement The Community Award is for over 18s and is a ‘thank you’ for service to the community.  If you have a nomination please contact the Clerk, Lesley Smith, or any of the councillors.

You are invited to any of our meetings. They are usually on the third Tuesday of the month in the Memorial Hall at 7:30.

Phil Parry

Chairman