COUNCILLOR Bob Gallagher must have done something right in his year of office as chairman of the parish council for we happily re-elected him chairman for another year – something which rarely happens as we normally take turns!
A lot was due to his council achievements over the year, which included progressing, with Cllr Maxine Chew, the Big Lottery Fund application for renovating the village hall as well as setting up a new village hall committee. And it’s continuing that work that his re-election will prove to be so useful for.
It had been a particularly busy year generally, he told fellow councillors at our AGM, which preceded our parish council meeting on Thursday, 24th May 2012. Achievements included conducting the housing needs survey; forging good links with the police especially over traffic issues such as speeding; links with Cuadrilla and others over fracking; campaigning for better broadband; installing lights in the village hall car-park; not to mention installing the Christmas tree (donated by Koi Pool) and its lights; plus a host of other activities.
It was also the year we closed the Lodge Lane layby yet saw it invaded not once but twice by travellers, hence the blocks of stone put there by the county council as a temporary measure until bollards or others barriers can be installed.
Bob’s year had also seen the resignation of our former parish clerk and the appointment of Verena Henderson: he praised Verena’s work to date, especially her efforts in organising our archives and getting our accounts updated and accepted by the auditor.
Cllr Mick Smith was elected vice-chairman, a role which dovetails neatly with his chairmanship of the new village hall committee.
Speeding figures updated
OUR monthly meeting opened straight after the AGM closed, with no members of the public, sadly, and traffic once again was a key issue as we heard that the ‘Golden River’ survey of traffic had now been more thoroughly analysed and showed average speeds rising to near 40mph through The Village.
We were delighted to hear that our speeding issues have been given a ‘code red’ assignation by the county council, which means, hopefully, that something can now be done.
At the next PACT meeting, on 1st June at Elswick, starting at 11am, traffic will be one of the issues Cllr Chris Bailey and Maxine will be raising again. But they also want to discuss with police the issue of cold-calling in Miller Crescent, highlighted recently by some repeat calls to one of the Crescent’s residents.
Cuadrilla meeting
Local residents should have received letters from Cuadrilla inviting them to an information session in the village hall. Cuadrilla’s geophysical survey is now ending, with so much of their cabling now being removed from the roads around the parish.
Incidentally, Cuadrilla has nothing to do with the cryptic marks appearing along Mains Lane and around the service station on the A585 – that’s being done by United Utilities, which is conducting a topographical survey and taking soil samples with a view to installing first time sewerage drainage for Mains Lane as well as installing two large storm tanks along Mains Lane, in two years’ time, to stop the overflow of raw sewerage into the river.
Other issues
Thanks to a letter from Janet Pawson we agreed to donate £100 towards the Gala.
We’ve added a page to this blog to help AGE UK announce services which may be of interest to our residents.
We’re also hoping to forge better links with the Richard Dumbreck Singleton Trust, thanks to a meeting councillors are having with the Trust this week.
Our next parish council meeting is on Thursday, 28th June 2012, in the church vestry as usual, and starting at 7.30pm as usual. Parish residents are welcome, as usual.