You might be interested in what your Parish Councillors do, so we hope to fill you in on our activities from time to time. I have been very busy with one thing and another. If you want more information about any of this, please contact the Clerk and she’ll help.
The Chair’s October
Hello Everyone.
I kept meaning to update you on our activities, but we have been rather busy. Quite a lot of what Councillors do is behind the scenes. We are often to be found rummaging around amongst the planning applications on the BDC website (anyone can see them, just enter the application number or address). We often drive past properties that have an application and sometimes talk to the homeowners. In this way we are able to get an idea about how the community might respond to a new garage, extension, or to the trimming of a tree. The Parish Council doesn’t make the final decision, but we can object, support, give neutral comments, or perhaps suggestions about implementation of the decision.
Remember the Code of Conduct training at the beginning of the month? Any councillor who puts in an application, or is affected by an application must declare an interest and will not be part of the discussion on how the Parish Council will respond. This month we have all been busy with the Braintree District Local Plan review. I am sure that many of you will have responded and are aware how much reading there is associated with this document, from the Review itself, to the linked Infrastructure Delivery Plans and Transport assessments, to name but two. We have been through these on your behalf, and we discussed our response at a Planning Working Group meeting on 28 October.
The Sole Trustee of the Community Centre held a meeting on 13 October. We meet every 2 months to monitor the finances, discuss the centre and improvements, and review events planning. Decisions at October’s meeting ranged from agreeing quotes for fire doors in the kitchen, refurbishment of the Oak room floor, replacement of the Acorn room floor, new taps in the toilets, the fire alarm contract and the replacement of some worn-out tables. Lisa and Cathy have been busy sourcing grant funding for as much of this as possible and have already acquired the money for the tables from Cllr Thorogood, who has County Councillor funding for local projects. We are also reviewing our Health and Safety procedures and risk assessments. We have a meeting dedicated just to this on 12 Nov.
In all, I had 10 meetings and activities in my diary in October, including the Rivenhall Incinerator Liaison Group (15th), a Christmas Fayre planning meeting (13th), a full Parish Council meeting (20th) , and of course the wonderful Feering Community Centre Quiz Night (17th). I also had great fun with the Monday Community Living Room on 26th when we discussed how to encourage hard-to-reach members of the community to join in. I also listened to lots of comments about Monks Farm and Kings Dene planning applications, which was informative prior to our planning discussion 2 days later.
As ever, if you have any comments, just contact us and we’ll get back to you.
This was my October, but other councillors and our Clerks are often involved in training and community activities. We hope to keep you informed of all the ways in which we try to support the community, listen to your voices and maintain a well-trained council team.