Wincham Word Spring 2016
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WINCHAM WORD SPRING 2016 From Wincham Parish Council Delivered free to every home & business in Wincham News and information about our village and close neighbours Photograph by Tim Whillans Chairman’s Words by Councillor Annie Makepeace, Chairman of Wincham Parish Council More things are happening to make our village even better: at the Community Centre we will be having a publicly-accessible defibrillator, also office facilities for our PCSO. The interactive speed signs will soon be installed. There are many other changes in the pipeline, but some are not going to be as quick as we deserve—like resolving the future of the Black Greyhound. The best way we can move forwards with any project is through effective communication, so please share your opinions with us—contact details are on the back of this newsletter. Please come to meetings of your Parish Council, you will be very welcome. We value your support and feedback. On a lighter note, we have Morgan and West, Time Travelling Magicians, performing here in April—details inside this newsletter. Book now, as 30% of tickets are already sold. Happy New Year to you all and let’s make 2016 the best ever for Wincham. Wincham Parish Council Meetings Our monthly Parish Council meetings are open to the public. We have a public forum at 7.15pm before the meeting starts at 7.30pm. All residents who wish to voice their concerns about any issue or who want to discuss issues with a councillor or councillors are encouraged to do so at the Public Forum. Wednesday 17th February—Wincham Community Centre Wednesday 16th March—Witton Albion Wednesday 20th April—Wincham Community Centre Wednesday 18th May—Wincham Community Centre Minutes and Agendas of the meeting can be found at www.winchamvillage.co.uk 2 Black Greyhound—The Latest Since our last edition the roof has been torn off at the Bengal Dynasty. This happened in the January storms. Cheshire West and Chester Council were contacted due to safety concerns. Currently the site remains as is. Where are the “plans” up to? Countrywide Investments sought permission last summer to demolish the Black Greyhound and build 17 houses, but withdrew the scheme with the view to revised plans being submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council. They have not yet submitted a revised scheme, however they have drawn up a suggested plan for the site, showing 7 houses and a 2-storey building which could house a GP surgery, dentist or pharmacy; the upstairs could have 4 flats. (See plans overleaf) Where “we” are up to? A public meeting was held organised by Wincham Parish Council in January which allowed people a chance to view and comment on the “suggested plans” and raise concerns around building on Green Belt. Potentially by offering to build a surgery/dentist or public amenity, it may give rise to extenuating circumstances to build in the Green Belt. If the developers were then unable to find someone for the surgery/dentist they may seek to vary the planning permission to change the use of that part of the site to housing. Countrywide Investments were invited to the meeting. They declined as they were awaiting 3D graphics which they wish to use for their presentation to the council or at a public meeting. Watch this space and we will keep you updated with any news. As soon as we hear anything we will let you know via Facebook and the Noticeboards. The Parish Council would like to thank the indoor bowling club for giving up their evening on January 20th so we could use the big hall for the public meeting. 3 4 CURRENT SITE 5 Wincham Community Centre Update Following the Annual General Meeting in November, we have a new Chair, Tony Henshall, a lifelong resident of Wincham. We also welcome new members to the Management Committee: Julie Reade (Village Rep), Cllr Dom Turner (WPC), and Chris Cenac (Village Rep). Other Management Committee members who were re- elected are: Laura White (Old Friends Rep), Lesley Greenwood (Village Rep), Joan Webb (Vice Chair) , Diane Palin (School), Carl Bridge (Governors) and Sarah Henshall (PTA Rep) We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Joan Webb, outgoing Chair who has been involved with the Community Centre for many years. Joan has kindly agreed to stay on as Vice-Chair this year. Some of the highlights so far this year are: Office space for PCSO Hambleton—which means he can spend more of his working time in Wincham Broadband & WiFi for the Centre New Facebook Page— Facebook.com/Wincham Community Centre A defibrillator will be fitted on the wall of the Community Centre Wincham Community Centre is a registered Charity. Our objective is“ to provide a Village Hall to be held in trust for the use of the inhabitants of the parish of Wincham without distinction of political, religious or other opinions, including use for meetings, lectures and classes, and for other forms of recreation and leisure time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.” With that in mind, we want to engage with the village to explore opportunities to further use the Community Centre for the benefit of the village. We now have a Facebook page where you can contact us with any ideas or suggestions. Also, you can e-mail us at [email protected] and we will discuss them at the next meeting. Finally, we want to thank Suzanne and Malcolm who continue to keep things running smoothly for us all. For information about what’s on at the centre please turn to page 18 & 19. 6 Changes to Wincham Post Office Plans to change the Post Office to a “new-style” local branch—with all services being offered from “a low-screened, open plan-style service point integrated into the retail counter” have been shared with the public. Other changes include potentially extending the opening hours to 7am-10pm every day. We know that many residents did put their comments to the post office. A number of people have concerns regarding the relocation of the post office counter to the main retail counter and the lack of privacy that may give. These changes, and the changes inevitably to Spar, are due to take place in March/ April. It is likely to be shut for up to 7 days whilst the changes occur. We are told a poster will go up in the branch at least 2 weeks before the planned changes detailing the date of work and nearest alternative post office. We will share the dates on Facebook as soon as we hear. Wincham Parish Precept The 2016/17 Wincham Parish Precept has been agreed —this is the part of the Council Tax that is set and spent by the Parish Council. The Precept is used for a number of things, including Cost of the PCSO, Park Expenses, Communications, Village Improvements, Clerk’s Salary amongst other things. The Finance Sub-Committee of the Parish Council met in early January to recommend to set the 2016/17 Precept at £28,377. This figure was chosen after due consideration of the recommendations of Cheshire Association of Local Councils and the notification that the Council Tax Reduction Scheme grant from CW&C to top up the Precept for next year will again be reduced. Last financial year, the grant was reduced by 13%: the reduction for 2016/17 will be for a further 11% less. This was then voted on and agreed at the January Parish Council Meeting Adding the reduced Council Tax Reduction Scheme Grant of £1,234 will give a total budget for Wincham for 2016/17 of £29,611. The Local Tax Base (the number of households in Wincham currently paying Council Tax) is currently 756. For a Band D property for 2016/17 the amount payable would be £37.54 – an increase of 31p on last year. 7 Update from the Bat Team Road Safety Update The working group involving the Bat Team, Parish Council, School & PCSO is regularly meeting to discuss issues across the village. Here is an update on some of the issues we’re working on: Highways are finalising the position for the interactive signs on Church Street and Pickmere Lane —they should be erected in the next few weeks. Thank you to Wincham School and Mrs Miller’s class for the campaign for a zebra crossing on Linnards Lane. Pupils made their case for the crossing directly to Highways Officers from Cheshire West and Chester Council. The visit was made following a flood of letters from Year 6 pupils to Highways. Update: Wincham is unlikely to automatically qualify for a zebra crossing. The cost (if it was possible to have a zebra crossing) would be around £20,000. A survey could potentially be done at a cost. We are now looking at other options to make crossing roads safer. Please can residents look at their hedges and trim back accordingly if they are causing obstruction to road or pavement users. Thank you to all those who have cut back hedges as it really makes a huge difference. We are still looking at how pedestrians can cross safely at the Black Greyhound junction. The current sequencing of the lights makes it unsafe for pedestrians to cross. A polite request to drivers to park responsibly across the village. Think carefully around Spar and parking on pavements/near junctions. A notice went out in the Wincham School Newsletter reminding parents and carers to park considerately. There have been a few instances of parents being blocked in and having to wait for the other car owner to return.