Hempnall Parish Council

Chairman’s report by Geoff Moulton for Annual Parish Meeting,

Tuesday, 15 March 2006

I can reflect on another enjoyable and satisfying year in the life of our Parish Council.

Youth Shelter

It was good to see the Youth Shelter project finally reach a conclusion with the recent arrival of the shelter, albeit in kit form, in the village. With so many interested parties entitled to have a say in the planning stages, it did sometimes seem a distant reality. I would like to express my gratitude and congratulations to David Lincoln for his hard work and dedication in this project, David has been at the front end of the discussions between the young people of our village, Parish Council and suppliers. A big thank also to the families of Gavin and Gina for their drive and enthusiasm for this project. I look forward to seeing this taking pride of place on the playing field and may it serve as a lasting memorial to them both.

Planning issues

As always, one of the most interesting parts of our Parish Council work involves planning issues. With the advent of the Local Development Framework (LDF), which is replacing the Local Plan, our council has been very active in gaining an understanding of the issues involved, ensuring that the decision makers at the District Council are only too aware of our wish that the rural charm of our village is not changed by large scale development. We will continue to do all we can to protect the rural values we all enjoy.

We look forward to seeing the plans for our village school. Whilst supporting the ethos of this project, we will also endeavour to encourage the governors and developers to be sympathetic in its design, being in a conservation area and also to ensure that the project has minimal impact on the overall appearance of The Street.

Road Safety

We have been very encouraged by the progress made over the last year in terms of speeding traffic. We have received a very positive response from Norfolk County Council who have carried out a survey on traffic speed at four locations in the village. As a result of this initiative, we are to benefit from visits from the Smiley Sam team at two locations where it was proved that we had unacceptable levels of non compliance to the speed limits. If these are successful in reducing the speed of traffic, we will probably look to resurrect our plans for fixed flashing speed signs.

The increased presence of police with speed cameras has also been appreciated.

Hempnall’s BAFTAs

Many thanks to all of my Parish Council colleagues for their support and enthusiasm through the year. I believe that their decision to move our meetings to Wednesdays was one of their better ones during the year and will probably mean that Liz and I do not have to send Ian a sick note when the Canaries are at home on a Tuesday!

Sincere thanks as always to Ian Nelson, our clerk, for his sterling contribution within the council, his professionalism knows no boundaries. Ian has been an enormous support to me as chairman through the year and for this I am exceedingly grateful.

We are still fortunate to benefit from the good work done by Derek Cracknell in his weekly rubbish collecting sorties around the village and Colin Bailey for his participation in our internal audit. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to them both.