OLD SOMERBY PARISH COUNCIL
Chairman’s Report to the Annual Parish Meeting, 10th May 2017
This is my first report to the Parish, not only as Chair, but as a Councillor.
The last 12 months has been eventful for the Council, and arguably, last 3, the most eventful. I've started to make notes for this report on at least half a dozen occasions, and then scrapped it.
Recently, for various reasons the Council has lost half of its members - I didn't think I was that difficult to work with!
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Councillors that have left during the last 12 months for their contribution to the Parish and village. It is easy to sit and just moan about things, and about people who are trying their best to make improvements, it's a very different thing to come forward, put your head above the parapet and try to make a genuine difference.
We have two new Councillors joining us from this evening, Sally Skelton and Simon Lowndes - welcome to you both.
I'd also like to thank Adrian, our Clerk, who has joined us in the last 12 months, and is making a big difference to the administration and governance of what we do.
When I first moved to Old Somerby, I used to go to Parish Council meetings and observe, and I was surprised, and frankly a little disappointed that I was the only person who did so. This lack of public attendance suggested a level of apathy, disinterest and disengagement, and I hope that this changes over the coming 12 months - we want to see people who live here, our neighbours, taking part in this process of the Council working on your behalf. Public attendance at Council meetings, is visible and tangible evidence of that happening.
Before I made the decision to join the Council, I envisaged that it would undergo a significant number of changes, and, unfortunately, as much as we might like to think of any Parish Council as a quintessentially, quaint village institution, the reality in 2017 has to be very different. With successive Governments moving responsibilities down the local governance chain, and District/County Council budgets being squeezed, the Parish Council of today has to wrestle with more issues than it ever has before, and it must operate in an effective, representative and professional way.
Having said that the Parish Council is taking over more responsibility than ever before, it is important that the Council is clear on its responsibilities and remits, and it should ensure that it holds other agencies to account where they have responsibility for matters. This is one of the biggest challenges the Council faces - simply getting others to do what they are supposed to.
Traffic Speeds.
You will all have seen the flashing speed sign, in place along Grantham Road, the Council brought it just over 12 months ago, and throughout that time, the speeds of vehicles and traffic flow information has been collected. The sign records actual and average speeds by time, and these figures have regularly been supplied to both LCC, Lincolnshire Police and the Road Safety Partnership.
Consistently the figures show that hundreds of drivers every month, completely ignore the 30mph maximum speed limit. On a daily basis people drive along Grantham Road, through the village at 50/60/70mph. Regularly speeds in excess of 70mph are recorded, and the maximum so far is 95mph - and that was at around 2pm on working day.
The Council have made repeated requests for enforcement and assistance, the Road Safety Partnership have responded, they put up their own speed recording box in School Lane and Grantham Road. They found that nearly 45% of motorists were exceeding the speed limit along Grantham Road, and nearly 25% in School Lane.
As a result, we have been promised regular and intensive enforcement until September 2017, when the situation will be reviewed. The Council will keep recording data throughout that period, and at the end of it, we may well press for a more permanent solution.
Highways Issues.
Drainage continues to be a problem, particularly along Grantham Road.
We have been in constant dialogue with LCC Highways and initially we are trying to get them to even admit that there is an issue. Despite numerous reports of faults, so far, they have not even been out to inspect the drains, and have refused to meet with the Parish Council on site. We have requested a meeting at their offices, and await their response.
In the mean time, please look at the LCC website, and I would urge all parishioners to report any Highways faults to LCC via their own reporting web page.
Over 12 months ago, a request was made for the footpath at the top of School Lane to be altered, this was to improve safety at the junction, specifically for School age children who have to cross the road at that point in order to walk to and from the bus stop.
The work was agreed, planned and scheduled, the sharp eyed amongst you will even have noticed the white marks painted on the road in preparation.
However, very recently, there has been a reorganisation within LCC Highways, and a site inspection was done, and, after nearly 18 months, someone actually realised that in order to protect the workforce, it was likely that some traffic lights would be needed. This would mean a bigger time slot for the work to be completed that had been allocated - and so it was cancelled. We have been assured, that the work will be reallocated as a priority, we have written for the new dates for the work to be done.
You will recall at the beginning of this, I indicated that one of our biggest challenges was to get other agencies to do what they are supposed to do - LCC Highways are by far our biggest challenge in this respect.
Dog Fouling.
This has been regularly reported to us, and, you would think, it would be fairly easy to solve. We have contacted SKDC to request some bins, apparently SKDC won't install bins, unless they can "evidence" that there is a problem.
The Parish Council could purchase some bins of its own, however, if we do that, we are responsible for emptying them.
We haven't completely discounted this option, however, there is a financial implication for the Parish, and frankly, other villages and parts of the district are serviced in this regard by SKDC, so I don't see why we should be treated any differently here.
The simplest solution to the problem of dog fouling however, lies with all of us.
If you walk your dog, and it makes a mess - pick it up. Don't be lazy, and don't be inconsiderate, and please - if you do pick it up, don't bag it and hang it on a hedge - the stupidity of that action is frankly mind boggling.
Simply, pick it up, take it home and put it in your bin.
Grass Cutting and Flower Troughs
We are undertaking the amenity grass cut again this year, and are including a few extra areas, we have the same contractor as last year, Rick Webster. The feedback we got was positive, and I see no reason for that not to be the case this year.
This year, we are asking for donations of summer bedding plants, perennial plants and small shrubs to put in the two planters at the village entrances, they always look lovely, but this year, it would be good if planting them up became a community effort - so, if you want to help and take part, please leave any donations outside my cottage.
Obviously, any really nice plants will go straight into my garden, and the remainder will go into the Troughs.
Youth Council
Recently, we have (following an idea from one of the children in the village), been considering the younger people that live here, and are beginning to look into the idea of a Youth Council. We are hoping to progress that, but, in order to do so, the Council felt it crucial that we should put in place our own safeguarding policy. Sam Baskerville ( prior to leaving the Council) has been liaising with the local safeguarding board, and we now close to having a policy that we can adopt.
Once we have this in place, we will be able to consider organising some events for children, and perhaps move forward with the youth council project.
Neighbourhood Plan
Recent problems that the NP steering group have encountered have been well documented and discussed. We will be discussing the NP directly after this meeting at the normal Parish Council Meeting.
Litter.
We are relatively lucky in Old Somerby, in that litter is not a major problem, that said we are hoping to re-establish and supplement the current voluntary litter pickers, and there will be an update on that in the July PC meeting.
Again, we can all do our bit to keep the Parish tidy, please don't drop any litter yourselves and, if you see some rubbish, if it's reasonable, safe and practical to do so, please pick it up and put it in your own bin.
In relation to the dog mess issue I mentioned earlier, should we get bins, people will be able to put general rubbish into them as well as dog waste.
General.
As I've mentioned, we've 2 new Councillors with us this evening, and this still leaves us with a vacancy for one other - if anyone is interested in the post, or would like a little more information, please make contact and we can give you an idea of what's involved.
We have a number of possible projects to look into in the coming months, these include revisiting the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, considering the possibility of obtaining and siting a traditional village sign, and also publishing our own Parish newsletter. Early days for that, and whilst we do have the website for people to visit for information, we are keen to increase engagement and interest in the Council and the village. Our initial thoughts are that something interesting and informative to read, that is delivered through your front door is a good way to do that, and we will be exploring that idea in the coming months.