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MOLLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN'S REPORT 2010-11 This is my first year as Chairman of Mollington Parish Council It is with much sadness that I have to report that during the year we lost Councillor Keith Hilton, our Vice-Chairman, who struggled with poor health throughout the year, and former Councillors Barry Kennedy and John Megginson. We also lost Mrs Pat Siddeley, former caretaker at St Oswald’s school. It is of some concern that we are to lose a number of councillors in May and I would be delighted if fellow parishioners came forward showing interest in taking up a role as councillor. Cheshire West and Chester (CWaC) Council The Parish Council received a number of consultation documents from CWaC throughout the year. The Council responded to some of these and noted others. We are continuing to establish relationships with the myriad of new officers, made more difficult by the lack of direct contact telephone numbers that have been made available to Parish Councils, who are asked to use the Parish Council’s hotline number 0300 123 7049. Ward Boundaries and Elections The Boundary Committee for England completed its review of the ward boundaries in Cheshire West. Mollington will sit within the single-member Saughall and Mollington ward along with the Backford parishes, Lea-by-Backford, Saughall & Shotwick Park and Capenhurst & Ledsham Parish Councils. The new boundaries will come into effect for the Borough and Parish elections on 5 May 2011. Our thanks go to our three ward Councillors, Brian Crowe, Eleanor Johnson and Andrew Storrar, for their help and support since the inception of Cheshire West and Chester Council in 2009. In 2010 Chester elected a new MP, Stephen Mosley, in place of Christine Russell. Stephen is a former Cheshire County and Chester City Councillor. Planning This was a relatively quiet year for domestic planning consultations, with only seven applications being referred to the Parish Council for comment. Of these, five received permission and two remain to be decided. The Parish Council objected to only one of these, an application for a Dementia Unit at Crabwall Hall, mainly on grounds of its intrusion into the Green Belt. Tarrant Lodge was finally sold and the Parish Council reminded the new owners of an ongoing boundary issue. The Parish Council responded to six of the consultation documents issued by Cheshire West and Chester in relation to the Local Development Framework (LDF) and, in doing so, uncovered an issue of concern relating to anonymous input into the LDF, which has now been addressed by CWaC. CWaC have installed a new system for accessing planning documents on-line, which is currently experiencing some teething problems. This new portal requires users to register before making comments or objections. We understand that from 1 April 2011 this is the only way in which planning documents can be viewed so hopefully the system will be working properly by then. Highways and Rights of Way The most significant issue during the year was the announcement by CWaC of the loss of the grant for the Amenity Cleaner, as from 1 April 2011, and the introduction of new Streetscene Service Standards. The Parish Council met Streetscene officers to discuss how these new standards would be implemented and decided that they would not come close to the service currently provided by our Amenity Cleaner, Jeff Davies. It was agreed to use some earmarked funds, some of the Parish Council’s reserves and a small rise in precept to enable us to offer a new contract to Jeff, albeit for fewer hours than before. Fortunately Jeff has agreed to this new contract so hopefully there should be no diminution of service. CWaC’s Rights of Way (now known as Greenspace) Team were relocated to the Station House on Hadlow Road, Willaston and a new officer, Mike Bolton, replaced Steve Holden as our local officer. The Parish Council arranged a site visit with Mike, who agreed to take action on any safety issues identified but advised that less urgent maintenance would have to await funding. In December 2010 Project Rural Matters, a project originally funded by Chester City Council and the Police to focus on community safety issues including speed management in rural areas, ceased to operate. We have not yet been told who is to take over these important issues. Finance The Parish Council set the precept for the year 2010-11 at £3,750, an increase of £300, mainly to offset the loss of the double taxation grant. For the second year we received a “clean” audit report from the Audit Commission, our external auditors. Amazingly, our insurance premium went down slightly, as we bought into a 3-year deal with our insurers, Came & Company. Garden Competition The Lord Mayor of Chester, Cllr Neil Ritchie, presented the annual Garden Competition prizes at our November meeting. First Prize went to Mr & Mrs Colegate of Beechwood, Townfield Lane, second prize to Mr & Mrs Harding of The White Cottage, Townfield Lane and third prize to Mr Harris and Ms Haslam of Walnut Tree Cottage Well Lane. The shield was presented to the Women’s Institute for their excellent ongoing work in the public areas of the Village. Our thanks to this year’s judge, Debbie Jones from Sycamore Park Garden Centre, and to LEMRA who presented the first prize. Post Box on Grove Road Early in the year the post box by the Village Green was demolished as a result of a road traffic accident. The post office advised that it could take several months to replace and that it was unlikely to be on a like-for-like basis. After much correspondence during the subsequent months, we were finally able to report to our January 2011 meeting that a new, very modern box had been installed before Christmas. As requested by the Parish Council, the aperture is wide enough to take A4 size mail. Communications After many years of service, LEMRA have finally decided to disband and will hand over the publication of the “Welcome to Lea and Mollington” leaflet and “Open Line” to the Parish Councils. David Braithwaite will continue to run Homewatch. I would like to thank both Carl Stagg, who maintains the community website www.mollingtonvillages.co.uk and Christine Surfleet, the editor of the St Oswald's parish magazine for their continued hard work. Bi-monthly reports of Parish Council meetings are included in both, in advance of approved formal minutes, and are also published on our Notice Boards. Cheshire Constabulary keep us informed, through their monthly Homewatch bulletin, about incidents in the area. I would like to thank my fellow councillors for their unerring support and hard work, drawing on their years of experience, in helping me through this first year of my tenure, my heartfelt thanks. Finally my thanks to our Parish Clerk, Pauline English, for keeping us on track with issues throughout the year. Steve Goodin-Parry Chairman - Mollington Parish Council 8 March 2011