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Mollington Parish Council

 
Text Box: Mollington Parish Council  Annual Report 2007/2008 Organisation In the past year, two Councillors, John Megginson and Fiona MacSween have found it necessary to resign owing to outside pressures. We are very grateful for their contributions. There were no nominations for replacements and Keith Hilton of Meadow Court has been co-opted. There is still an immediate vacancy. In the next year it will be a priority to find potential Councillors since other vacancies are likely to arise. There is considerable uncertainty about how the imposed local government reorganisation will affect Parish Councils. The Council has responded in writing to a steady stream of consultation documents about local government in general and the activities of parish councils. The only certainty is that the term of office for councils like Mollington, which were elected in 2006, is to be extended to May 2011 instead of 2010. The role of Parish Councils has still to be decided. With one "unitary authority" (West Cheshire) there will be a big gap between it and the parishes: indeed many areas still have no parish representation at all. As the administrative burden on Parish Councils steadily increases the Council has benefited greatly from the professional support of the Clerk. Development Control As always, planning consultations have required many hours of Councillors’ time, in particular for the Councillor co-ordinating the responses. The Parish Council continues to support the enforcement of National and Local Green Belt policies without being unduly pedantic. Of the 24 planning applications and appeals notified, there were no objections to nine which mostly involved alterations and small extensions compatible with plot size and location. Conditions for permission were suggested for two proposals. It was considered that fuller justifications were required for a proposal to create a Care Home instead of the offices etc approved for the second stage of the Grange Farm complex. This would be contrary to Green Belt Policy, although not significantly different externally. The Council was not properly consulted before full permission was given for demolition and replacement of Willow Farmhouse. It has made formal complaints to the City Council which have yet to be resolved. There were three planning applications by Mollington Grange Golf Club to which the Parish Council objected on Green Belt grounds. All were refused by the City Council and subsequent appeals were dismissed by a Government Inspector. At the same hearing, appeals against three enforcement actions concerning the Golf Club were respectively withdrawn, refused and allowed with conditions. The last involved alteration to the mounding, where the Council is still pressing for an “as-built” plan to control future development. Recent waste imports have been referred to the Environment Agency. "Mollington in Bloom" The Council has continued to encourage improvements to the appearance of the village. Planting, coordinated by the Vice-Chairman, has been extended on and near the village green, at the recess in the wall in Well Lane and by the Coronation Tree. Much of the work has been done by members of the Women's Institute and our thanks go to Janet Brown and the ladies. It would wrong not to record thanks to the anonymous volunteers who have done their bit on verges and near the fingerpost. The Lord Mayor of Chester presented the prizes for the annual garden competition. Our congratulations go to the winners, Mr & Mrs Mee (large garden), Mr Eaton (small garden) and Mr & Mrs McEnery (hanging baskets) A grant from the Gowy-North Area committee supplemented the contribution to the programme from the precept. A small grant from Cheshire’s Year of Gardens 08 has been obtained towards planting in the coming year. We must record our appreciation of the work of our amenity cleaner who combats the never-ending litter thrown from cars on the through roads. Fly-tipping in the lanes remains a serious problem, but the City Council has responded and cleared the worst examples promptly. Highways The state of the roads and verges in the Parish is not acceptable but the County Council Highways plead poverty. The Parish Council will continue to press for improvements. The state of the Cheshire Railings at the entrance to the village by the fingerpost is also not acceptable. The Parish Council has now taken on the role of facilitator and has got an estimate for repair of the section damaged by a car – previously this responsibility was accepted by the County Council. The car owner's insurance company has accepted the estimate and repairs have been authorised. Mollington Parish Council has supported persistent lobbying by Backford Parish Council and others which has provoked the County Council into making a trial partial closure to the A41 – Station Road cross roads and to bringing forward a reduced speed limit on the A41 through Backford. The last is still to be implemented. Feed-back from users will influence whether the partial closure modification is made permanent. The Parish Council has reported an apparent breach of planning policies where an attempt is being to create a parking site and entrance on the A540 opposite the Car Rentals business. The City Council enforcement officers are investigating. Parish Plan The development of the Parish Plan has been held up by time shortages. However, the responses to the all households questionnaire have been collated and used to support the Council’s responses and initiatives in development control, road safety, waste, village hall, local government etc. Finance The parish precept for 2008/9 is unchanged at £3450. This results in a "Parish Tax" of £10-06 for a Band D dwelling. The Council has always aimed to minimise the precept and still maintain the level of service expected. There are uncertainties about the level of grants from the new Unitary Authority (eg for the cleaner and double rating relief), so some change, up or down, may be expected in future. Communications The Council does its best to keep everyone regularly informed of its activities. The draft minutes of Parish Council meetings are routinely posted on the two noticeboards Summary reports of the meetings appear in the St Oswald’s, Backford, Parish Magazine, on the village website, www.mollingtonvillages.co and occasionally in the Chester Chronicle. Our thanks go to Christine Surfleet, the editor of the Parish magazine, to Carl Stagg, the webmaster, and to the Residents' Association for kindly agreeing to distribute this report with their "Open Line" newsletter. T.C.Charlesworth – Chairman for Mollington Parish Council.

I have just received the following message from Cheshire Police who have asked for it to be cascaded as widely as possible as it relates to a potentially very expensive scam.

 

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.

 

If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

 

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk

 

 

Pauline English

Tel: 0151 339 1405

Email: engy02@ntlworld.com