10th May 2018

CHAIRMAN'S ANNUAL REPORT 10th May 2018

Here we are at the end of another year and reading back over the minutes of the last 12 months and Sally's Chairmans report for 2016/17 the issues that arise at most meetings are very similar.

Planning, Highways, Road signs, in the last two cases it seems more and more responsibility is being passed onto the Parish to deal with as cuts to council budgets mean that they are no longer top of the list of priorities or not at all.

Over the period we have had success in a number of areas. The new Pennymoor village sign has been erected. There is now a Defibrillator, thanks to donations from Nomansland residents, situated at The Mount Pleasant lnn. The hope of getting another defibrillator in Pennymoor is ongoing. The setting up of a working group of parishioners will hopefully see this materialise soon.

Another ongoing matter are road signs. The 30mph speed limit signs in Pennymoor may, if we have enough properties with frontage onto the highway, mean this is funded by the Highways Department. The state of the finger posts, with many in poor repair or damaged, has previously been highlighted. But without setting up a Road Warden Scheme with volunteers from the Parish it seems that they may stay that way.

ln December last year Sally stood down as Chairman due to moving out of the area. I was duly elected and am honoured to take on the role as Chairman. I would also like to welcome Richard Hill who was elected as a Parish Councillor in April.

The General Data Protection Regulations 2018 are soon to come in. To comply with this we will need to get permission from all parishioners we hold information on to continue to do so. The Clerk has already attended a briefing and I will be attending another on 30th May.

The Churchyard Grants have been increased this year with £300 for the Parish Church and £150 each to both Way Village and Nomansland Chapels.
The precept for 2018 has been set at £42OO. We have complied with all the statutory requirements.

Finally I would like to thank Viv Ray our Clerk for all her hard work, my fellow councillors, Mrs Colthorpe (District Council)and Mrs Squires (County Council).

Gavin Hall (Chairman)
10th May 2018