CHAIRMAN'S ANNUAL REPORT 2005

My report covers the period May 2004 - April 2005

Firstly I would like to thank you the parishioners for coming this evening to your Parish meeting its very encouraging for us councillors to see that some people do actually take an interest in what we do for our local community. A warm welcome also to Sgt Gregory, County Cllr Avril Davies and District Cllr Pauline Hannelly.

In my last report I mentioned that we would be setting up a committee to sort out the vehicle access to the cemetery, this actually now comes under the umbrella of the General Purpose Committee and progress has been made. A new gate and fence have been erected replacing the broken one at the lower access to the Cemetery. Work has commenced on the Chancel of the Church and it will remain closed until March 2006. The War Memorial has been weeded and repointed and we have received several favourable comments, our thanks go again to Jack and Joan Horne for keeping and eye on the Church and custodian of the keys.

We have two half plots vacant on Edlesborough green site and we have one plot available on Cow Lane, none at Dagnall but several at Northall. The Cow Lane gate has been repaired. I would like to thank Dagnall Gardening Society who continue to provide an excellent service to gardeners in and out of the Parish from their hut which is open on Sunday mornings throughout the summer months.

Memorial Hall

Bookings for the hall continue to flourish just as well, due to the fact we have to pay business rates on the premises although thanks to new legislation we have received some rate relief for this year. We are in the process of investigating the condition of the floor so as to ascertain what repairs need to be carried out if any before a new floor is laid.

We were pleased, once again to host The St Mary’s Church fete on the green, the annual fete continues to grow successful, with many local organisations benefiting from donations, the parish council received £100.00. The green continues to be used throughout the winter months by local football teams ranging from 8 years to adults. In the summer months we can enjoy our local cricket team and of course throughout the year Tennis is enjoyed by all age groups. The children’s playground also continues to be well used and enjoyed by the younger members of our Parish

The pavilion is put to good use by the local sports clubs and we have recently drawn up and issued user guidelines. New keys are being given to regular users and a key register has been set up so enabling us to keep a track of who has keys.

Unfortunately at the moment we have a vandal and graffiti problem but thanks to the hard work and effort of John Parker, who checks the pavilion every morning and removes the graffiti as necessary, not an easy and very time consuming job, it hasn’t been to noticeable, but it has been very costly. Thanks John on behalf of the parish for your efforts. When the culprits are caught you can rest assured that the Council will prosecute

We have three beat officers at the moment P.Cs. Lacey, Rands and Crossland who look after our patch. Unfortunately I haven’t met them yet but I hope to in the very near future, as a meeting has been arranged in May for all the Local Councils to meet with the Police and discuss maters that are of concern to us. Crime seems to have raised its ugly head again throughout our Parish in the form of burglaries and car thefts but I am pleased to report the Police seem to be having some results. We have also requested the police to do speeding checks etc. so watch this space.

We continue to report areas of concern on our parish roads and footpaths, the fact that parishioners can now report holes etc. directly to Bucks C.C. certainly speeds up the actions taken, we continue to report danger spots.

Traffic calming continues to be our No1 priority. A Petition signed by over 200 Edlesborough residents was presented to Bucks County Council by Cllr Avril Davis this has been responded to at The local Committee meeting held last Thursday 14^th April, the response will be fully discussed at the Parish Council meeting which follows later this evening. S.I.D. was used in the Parish last October and again in March this year for 2 weeks. The latest results haven’t yet been discussed. We also participated in ‘Make the Commitment Campaign’ organised by Bucks C.C. On a cold Saturday morning in March, over 70 Edlesborough residents signed the pledge and made the commitment to obey the speed limit,. Both schools in the Parish kindly sent home leaflets with the pledge for parents to sign and return free post. Dagnall also sent a petition signed by over 170 residents to Bucks C.C.

Dagnall School has a very successful Travel Plan in operation which is updated regularly for Safer Routes for School. Edlesborough School is also showing interest in the Safer Routes to School scheme.. A ‘Kill your Speed campaign’ has been set up by local residents and ‘I Slow Down for Children’ initiative is also in operation, everyone working to achieve the same aim a safer Parish for all our residents. Work is now completed providing a hard standing area outside Knolls View, Northall to make it safer for the school buses to pick up and drop off our children travelling to Wing and Aylesbury Schools. 20mph signs have been requested for South End Lane Northall and Studham Lane Dagnall although it seems possible they may become ‘Quiet Lanes’, and a request for Northall to become a 30mph zone has been put forward for discussion at the forthcoming Bucks C.C. Speed Limit Review

Mr & Mrs Webster are the PPP representatives who keep a watchful eye on our footpaths. The Chiltern society along with Bucks C.C. continue to repair and keep the footpaths walkable as necessary

Rubbish Dumping still continues to be a major problem in the parish. Aylesbury Vale are very helpful and remove the larger loads very quickly. The freighter service is still being provided at the moment and is well used. Many thanks to Gill Woodhouse, Sue

Parker and Julie Morgan who continue to pick up litter two or three times a week in and around Edlesborough Village,. The green garden sack system is still very successful and sacks can be purchased from Mrs Sue Parker

We still maintain this service throughout are Parish as we feel its important to keep our environment mess free.

The lease has at long last been completed and a boundary fence has been erected. The path is not open as work still has to be completed. Bucks C.C. have agreed in principal to providing a safe access to the path which will include a barrier.

We have had a problem with the accounts due to a change in their format, requested by central Government. I am pleased to report thanks to the many hours of work put in by Cllr Kevin Cubbage and our Clerk they are now completed.

We once again supported Dagnall & Northall village halls to the sum of £1,000.00 each . We gave £250 to the local Scout Group to enable them to brick up their windows and £150 to the I Slow Down for Children initiative

Our County Councillor Mrs Avril Davies continues to work on our behalf on all maters concerning Bucks C.C. and for that we thank her.

District Councillor

Mrs Pauline Hannelly continues to represent us at the District Council. Pauline attends our meetings on a regular basis and is a stalwart within the parish.

The General Purpose Committee is a new committee that we set up last year to take some pressure off the Council meetings. The G.P.C. is chaired by Cllr David Brown it was formed initially to deal with all matters concerning the Memorial Hall, Pavilion, The Green, Edlesborough Churchyard and Cemetery, Lighting and the allotments..

It has been very useful and successful thanks to David’s contribution and input.

The committee is made up of Cllrs Marilyn Prys -Jones, who is the Deputy Chairman, Kevin Cubbage, John Wilkinson, Sue & John Parker Co-opted non voting members and myself, the Clerk takes the minutes etc.

A big thank you must also go to Cllr John Wilkinson for all the committees he attends regularly on our behalf. He represents us on P.A.I.N.. Aylesbury Vales ‘The Local

Committee’, he also responds and keeps us all up to date with the South East Plan as well as dealing with all Edlesborough planning matters and the G.P.C.

The second anniversary of our web site has recently passed and thanks to Cllr Kevin Cubbage is kept up to date, this is quite an onerous task but one Kevin obviously enjoys, Kevin has also been responsible for Northall planning and as previously mentioned the Accounts and the G.P.C. thank you yet again Kevin for all your hard work.

I would also like to thank all the Councillors not previously mentioned who all work tirelessly for the Parish, some have very busy lives and the time they can give is limited but their contribution is vital to the successful running of the Council.

It is with regret I must report the resignation of our Dagnall representative Cllr Geoff Spencer. Geoff has been a councillor for over 20 years his main roll being overseeing planning and serving on the board of Governors at Dagnall School. Geoff is also a great historian and has written a book about Dagnall history. Geoff you will be sorely missed by us all but no doubt you will be called on for your knowledge and advice in the not to distant future. On behalf of all your parishioners I thank you for your total commitment and wish you well in your retirement.

Last but not least I would like to introduce to you our relatively new Clerk Lin Sargeant. It has been a very difficult time for Lin to get to grips with the very diverse job of Parish Clerk but she has excelled herself. I can honestly say no one on the Council had any idea just how diverse the job is, until Sue Parker resigned.. Lin your enthusiasm is there for all to see, you are doing a fantastic job please stay with us for many years.

We have tried this year to make ourselves as a Council, more accessible to you, the Parishioners. We have had stalls at both the Edlesborough Carnival and Dagnall fete and we will have them again at both these events in 2005, so please come and see us and let us know your views and comments and remember you are always welcome at Council meetings which are held on the third Thursday of the month I look forward to seeing you there. This concludes my report.

Anne Thompson    Chairman - Edlesborough Parish Council     21st April 2005