Parish Council Newsletter
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Parish Council Newsletter Summer 2016 An update from the Chairman Jim Wright Summer is at last on its way to us. With the village looking exceptional at this time thanks to the hard work by a number of groups and individuals in the village. Deanshanger in Bloom – The heritage society - Our village technician – The Deanshanger sports club, to name just a few. It has been a very busy time with our village AGM just been held in the community centre. The start of the new year for the parish council with some more changes and challenges for the coming year. As you can see from the header of this newsletter, the chair of the parish has changed as Claire Kennedy has stepped down from the council, this was a very difficult decision for her and while she has stepped down she will still be involved in some of the projects in the parish. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for the hard work and way that she conducted herself while a member of the council and as chair. I was nominated at the May Full council meeting and was very proud and honoured to accepted the role of chairman, while I have not served very long on DPC I have been very active in various issues and with a number of groups in the village, and will work hard to make a positive change in our village and what affects our village. We now have a village technician who works for the parish council repairing and maintaining our street furniture etc in the village area. The work carried out so far, repair and maintain equipment and signage in Springfield. Litter picking, painting the signage outside the council offices, spotting and reporting any issues that cannot be resolved by the technician, and the list is ongoing. The feedback we have had back so far is that he is doing an outstanding job and that our residents are noticing the difference he is making. Some of my aims and goals for the coming year. To fully support the new Neighbourhood watch scheme recently set up in the village, so far this has been an amazing success with a large number of residents signing up to this scheme. Supporting the Day Care Centre held in the community centre, this is an extremely valuable service run by volunteers, who work tirelessly to make sure the residents who attend the club on Thursday have an opportunity to meet and chat with others from the village, and to also have a hot meal at least once a week. They are desperate for support and volunteers to make sure this service continues. If you have a few hours to spare on a Thursday, they will make you very welcome and will be more than happy with any support you can give. To continue our focus on the dog fouling and litter issues around our village. My request to you all scoop it bag it bin it!! Please place litter in the bins provided, if no bin available take it home. To constantly review the available club’s equipment and support for our local children, to give them something to do while they are out and about, to listen to their issues and concerns, while making it clear it is our village as well as their village so should be treated with respect and to reduce anti-social behaviour together. An update from the Chairman – Jim Wright Continued… I aim to be available to you all, to help or answer any questions about village issues, please note while the DPC Although the parish council has limited powers, we do have certain responsibility’s which we all take for granted like when a street light is not working, planning applications, assisting were possible in giving grants for local organisations, and generally trying to make the village a better place for all of our residents. And visitors to our friendly welcoming village if I cannot answer a question or resolve an issue I am sure we can find someone who can. However, it is extremely hard to please everyone, so some of my replies may be disappointing however I promise to give an honest and open response at all times. However, I promise to listen and more importantly respond to your questions concerns etc. My last and final point is my concern of speeding on the approach roads to the village and around our village roads streets etc, we are getting into the summer with more villagers walking and enjoying our amenities, with summer school holidays approaching there will be more children about, can I ask please reduce your speed drive safely for the sake of our fellow villagers. Have a great summer and thank you for your continued support in making our village a much better safer pleasant place to live and enjoy, Cllr Jim Wright Farewell from Chairman Claire Kennedy As Jim said in his update I have stepped down from the role of Chairman of Deanshanger Parish council. I have been in this role for a year and it’s time to let someone else continue to lead the council forward. The council has come on a long way in the last couple of years and this has been a challenging journey. It is good practice to have change in this role, share the responsibility and ensure that the council keeps up to date with the process for running the council. Thank you to the councillors for the support over the last year in my role as Chairman. We live in a village with strong community spirit and values with many groups and resources enjoyed. With the funds in place, the infrastructure and our community spirit we can continue to make improvements for many to enjoy. The council have seen a challenging year with a very new council learning the rules, responsibilities and understanding the roles to then make effective decisions as required. Seeing a new Clerk and RFO, working with the community, police, service 6 and employing a handyman are just a few of the many items we have worked on. A day in the life of a Parish Councillor Gina Wooding I have lived in the village all my life and have always been a very community spirited person. I help out at Deanshanger Primary school every week with the cooking lessons and I have been a member of the PTA for the last 8 years. I am very proud of the fundraising the PTA has raised over the years and I hope you all enjoyed the Primary School fete that was organised by the PTA None of my children are in Primary school anymore but I still very much enjoy being involved with the children and the Primary School. I am also on the Deanshanger Colts Committee and take the subs every Saturday so it was a natural progression to join the Parish Council making my life just one long meeting (or so it seems sometimes!) I have 3 teenage boys and a 12 year old daughter so I am aware of the lack of facilities in the village for their age, however I am on the Open Spaces working Party which is a group set up to look at our open spaces. We hope to utilise the spaces for the good of all and are currently looking to place some 8+ equipment in the open spaces for the use of children ages 8 upwards. We are always looking to improve these spaces so any ideas please do not hesitate to contact me or the clerk and if you want to join in please do the more the merrier!. I am also a member of the planning committee which is very interesting. We look at plans submitted to South Northants Council and we formulate responses to these plans. We can either, support, object or comment on these plans as we have the local knowledge. Our responses go off to South Northants however they have the final say on any planning application. Even though the village has trebled in size since I was child I truly believe we still have a very close knit community and all of us on the Parish Council are committed to keeping it a happy and great place to live. Ways to contact your local Parish Council All councillors have an email address so you are welcome to email us anytime & we will look to support you or point you in the direction of someone who can. There is the website that should hold up to date meeting dates, minutes & useful information Parish councils have powers to provide some facilities themselves, or they can contribute towards their provision by others. There are large variations in the services provided by parishes depending on the size & location. Parish councils have the power to precept (tax) their residents to support their operations & to carry out local projects. The exercise of powers is at the discretion of the council, but they are legally obliged to exercise duties. Attending formal meetings The meetings are to conduct council business, these are formal & a code of conduct is to be followed. The public are welcome to attend the meetings, there is a section of the meetings which is closed & a 15 minute public forum is opened. We welcome you to come & listen, take part in the public forum & hear first-hand the decisions that are made based on the work performed outside the meetings. Deanshanger Parish Council Formal meetings Full Council meeting Finance Committee Meeting Highways & Planning meeting You will see the meetings advertised on the 11 notice boards in the village as well as on the Parish website http://www.deanshangerpc.net/ Holy Trinity Holiday Club Holy Trinity Holiday Club for those going into Yrs 1-7 in September 2016.