Hempnall Parish Council
Chairman’s report by Geoff Moulton for Annual Parish
Meeting,
The
last twelve months of Parish Council life have been relatively quiet, with probably
the main part of our business being related to planning issues. Some of these
have been controversial and inevitably our response to such planning applications,
whether to recommend approval or refusal will guarantee us a “few comments” from
some of our parishioners.
However,
our approach to all planning applications is geared to fairness, consistency and
a basic respect for, and understanding of,our planning laws.
Other
items and events in the year of the Parish Council include:
Personnel
After
a collective service in excess of 50 years, Malcolm Dye and Hugh Tweeddale retired
from Hempnall Parish Council last May. I am sure that I speak for the whole of
our community when I thank them, most sincerely for their contribution to village
life. From a personal point of view, I have a profound respect for the honest
and passionate values they upheld in their roles as parish councillors.
A
commemorative bench has been purchased by the Parish Council and is to be installed
near the tennis courts in recognition of their service.
The
retirement of Hugh and Malcolm gave rise to the election of John Nolan and Hamish
Rose to our Parish Council and it was a pleasure to welcome them “on board”.
At
a District Council level, we saw Michael Windridge elected to represent us at
South Norfolk Council and it has been a pleasure to welcome him to our bi-monthly
meetings
Affordable
Housing
After
a false start two years ago with another housing association, we have instructed
Hastoe Housing to pursue our wish to provide a solution to affordable housing in our village. We
are committed to this scheme and look forward to being able to make such housing
available to local first time buyers in the not too distant future.
Speed
limits
Further
to numerous complaints from residents regarding speeding vehicles in the village,
we are seeking a review with Norfolk County Highways in an attempt to adopt measures
to encourage speed compliance and extend the boundaries for the speed limits.
We shall continue in our efforts to make the roads in our village safer.
Parish
Remuneration
At
the end of last year, our Parish Council was given the opportunity by the South
Norfolk Remuneration Panel to pay Parish Basic Allowances to our councillors,
these ranged from £100 - £250 per councillor per annum.
It
was agreed unanimously to reject this initiative.
Personnel
Training
Our
Parish Clerk, Ian Nelson, has recently started work on an AQA Quality Parish Scheme
which, when completed will give us a formal quality status. I am very grateful
for Ian’s input to this project which will give our council a more transparent
and accountable standing.
Many
thanks:
To all of my colleagues on the Parish Council for their attendance
to our bi-monthly meetings, not to mention the varying site meetings throughout
the year. I thank them for their passion, commitment and enthusiasm to the wide variety of
debates we engage in during the year and the humour which is never far away during
our discussions.
To Ian Nelson, our clerk. Once again, Ian has provided us with
a dedicated and professional approach to our administrative needs and I am very
grateful to him for all of his high quality work.
To Derek Cracknell, for his weekly sorties around the village
and maintaining a high level of tidiness, his efforts on this
front are very much appreciated.
And finally,to
Colin Bailey, who fulfils our need for internal audit purposes, I am most grateful
to Colin for his assistance.
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Councillor |
Telephone No. |
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Geoffrey Moulton – Chairman |
01508 498331 |
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David Hook – Vice Chairman |
01508 498187 |
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Liz Allen |
01508 499357 |
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Kevin Cunningham |
01508 499502 |
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Richard Delf |
01508 499788 |
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John Ellis |
01508 499415 |
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John Nolan |
01508 499641 |
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Hamish Rose |
01508 498486 |
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| Peter Workman |
01508 499729
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Ian Nelson - Clerk |
01508 498467 |
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