Yapton Parish Council
This report
covers the period since the last Annual Parish Meeting on 14th May 2007. It was the start of the new 4 year term of office
for Parish Councillors following an uncontested election held earlier in the
month. It is also my first report to you as Chairman of the Council.
Over the last 12
months there have been six meetings of the full Parish Council and a number of
meetings of the Planning Committee have also taken place. The Planning Committee normally meets to
consider any planning applications on the same evening as the Parish Council
but on occasions special meetings may be called to deal with important issues such
as the proposed crematorium.
At the annual
Parish Council meeting in May I was elected as Chairman with Andy Faulkner being appointed as Vice-Chairman. There have been just two changes in the membership of the Parish
Council during the last 12 months.
Firstly we were pleased to welcome Laura
Wallbridge onto the Council in May. Laura took the place of Michael Fellows, the outgoing Chairman,
who had decided not to seek re-election.
Sadly, the other change I have to report was the untimely death in
December 2007 of Eunice Abbott who
had only joined the Council the previous January.
Last year we also
bid farewell to Gordon Diggance, a
former Parish Councillor, who was very well known throughout the village and
was the last owner of the Old Post Office premises in Main Road. Gordon died in
September at the age of 89.
Over the last
year we have had the continued support of Christina
Freeman, our local County Councillor.
Christina has also attended our meetings when able to do so. In May
2007, at the District Council elections, Christopher
Forester and I were elected to serve as the two members representing the
Yapton ward. Since then, due to ill
health, unfortunately Christopher has had to resign. Emma Neno was elected
in his place at a by-election held in March.
Last year’s precept
It goes without saying that the cost of
running local services always figures prominently in everyone’s minds. I am pleased to report that the Council
last year kept the precept (this is the sum which is set aside in the Council
tax for parish services) at £40,000 for the 4th year running. This was without any diminution in the
quality of services provided. Indeed by careful housekeeping coupled with successful
grant applications we have continued to maintain to a high quality, and where
we could, improve the facilities provided in the village for the benefit of the
whole community.
Planning issues
over the last year seem to have dominated the agenda with a renewed submission
by Mercia Crematoria Limited to build a crematorium on agricultural land at
Bilsham just north of Comet Corner. The
renewed application once again met with widespread opposition locally and,
following a public meeting, the Parish Council, through its Planning Committee,
ably chaired by Andy Faulkner, again
submitted a detailed letter of objection to the proposal. Subsequently the company wrote to the Parish
Council stating that it had withdrawn its application to develop the site and
did not intend to pursue it further. The letter went on to say that the
decision to withdraw had been strongly influenced by the level of local
opposition. A victory for “people
power”!
Yet another
planning application was submitted for development of the Church House site in
Church Road which is in the Yapton conservation area. This time just one extra
house on the site was proposed but the objections and concerns of residents
remained the same and following representations by the Parish Council, the
District Council refused the application.
However, following an appeal the application was allowed by the Planning
Inspector on the grounds, amongst other things, that the proposal would not be
“detrimental to the character and appearance of the conservation area and the
setting of the listed building”.
A proposal to
build 59 houses on the Bilsham Road Industrial Site also came forward last year
and met significant opposition from local residents. The site is outside the designated development area and the
Planning Committee shared the concerns of the residents about this and
registered a strong objection. The
application was subsequently refused by the District Council but the latest
news is that the developer, Glaydale, is taking the case to appeal and the
matter will now be determined by the Planning Inspectorate on the basis of a
public inquiry.
The recreational
facilities provided on the playing field for our children and young people
continue to be popular and well used.
Unfortunately a proposal we had to enhance the children’s play area by
the provision of new dual-purpose equipment suitable for able-bodied as well as
disabled children has had to be put on hold following an unsuccessful grant
application to the SITA Trust. However
the project we completed last year to enclose the Arena Sports Area has proved
to be worthwhile with the facility now seeing much greater use by youngsters
than before. We now have plans in hand
to provide floodlights for the area so that the facility can be used during
evenings throughout the year.
Working with the Neighbourhood Police Team
Support from the
local police has been good with regular liaison meetings now taking place
involving representatives from the parishes of Yapton, Ford and Clymping. Neil
Billingham joined the local neighbourhood police team last year as a Police Community Support
Officer and he is now established as the main point of contact for policing
issues in the village. Anti-social
behaviour and incidents of vandalism unfortunately continue to arise from time
to time. These often concern the “usual
suspects” and seem to be centred around problems caused by under-age
drinking. The Parish Council is not
however complacent; we will continue to work closely with the police and other
agencies to address the issues and ensure that those responsible are brought to
account.
Yapton & Ford Village Hall
Whilst still
regretting the decision of the Village Hall Management Committee last year not to
accommodate the new Children’s Centre in the Club Room, the Parish Council has
continued to support the village hall in a number of ways including financing
the cost of maintaining the external fabric of the building. We have three representatives who serve on
the Management Committee – John Bryan,
Laura Wallbridge and myself – John has been actively
involved in drawing up a Health & Safety policy and Laura has recently
organised a very successful Race Night to raise funds for the village
hall.
Keeping the village tidy
It would be
remiss of me in writing this report not to mention and publicly thank Jo
Smithers and her husband Alan for the excellent work they do on our behalf to
keep the village looking so tidy.
Litter collection is surely a task which many of us would shy away from
but Jo and Alan do it with great spirit and enthusiasm throughout the year and
in all weathers. They are to be warmly
commended for their efforts.
Yapton News & Views
Also to be warmly
thanked are the volunteers who help to deliver the Council’s newsletter, Yapton News & Views, to households
around village. There are still one or
two roads in the village which are not covered and where we would appreciate
help. The newsletter is now of course
well established and we believe it is well read and appreciated by
residents. Do please support the local
businesses who advertise in the newsletter as they obviously help to defray
some of the production costs.
The Clerk who
edits the newsletter for us is always pleased to receive articles on village
life and photographs from residents and in particular would like to hear of the
activities of the various clubs and other organisations who regularly meet in
the village. It was good to hear
incidentally from Stuart Nolan who
contacted us from Australia. As a boy,
Stuart lived in Yapton but emigrated many years ago. As a result of an article we published in Yapton News & Views, Stuart and his wife made contact and
subsequently met up with relatives who they didn’t know existed. It’s certainly a small world these
days!
Conclusion
Finally, in
closing, I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to all members of the Parish Council not
only for their support to myself as Chairman but also for the interest they
have shown in various ways in the needs of the village over the past year.
Looking to the
immediate future we will obviously be monitoring very closely the plans for
Site 6 development at Felpham and the impact of the proposed new Relief Road on
residents of Hoe Lane very closely. We
now know also of the Government’s decision to short-list the proposal to
establish an Eco-town on the Ford Airfield site and this clearly will figure
highly on the agenda of our meetings in the immediate future. We will strive to represent your views on
these and on other important matters which are concern to local residents.
Our meetings are
well advertised and members of the public are welcome to attend. Always included on the agenda there is a
Public Question Time when residents can air their views or question councillors
on any matters of concern. We hope
you will follow with interest the work of your
Quality Parish Council via our newsletter and our website and we look forward to
seeing you at future meetings of the Parish Council.
Stephen Haymes
Chairman of the
Parish Council
12 May 2008