Annual Parish Meeting - 2007

REPORT FROM PUBLIC GALLERY

Annual Parish Meeting

The Annual Parish Meeting was held in the Village Hall on Thursday, 26th April 2007.  The hall was packed, no doubt because members of the audience wished to say farewell to the three retiring Councilors, Bill Kerslake, Mary Seward and Rachael Tattershall.  A large number were intrigued to learn about the Village Web Site from the guest speaker, Alison Vickers.

The Chairman, Bill Kerslake, welcomed the audience which he thought numbered at least 10% of Kilmington’s population - a far cry from his first meeting when only a handful of people turned up.  He was particularly happy to introduce the guest speaker as the launch of the Village Web Site was the culmination of two years’ thinking, planning and, on the part of Alison, a great deal of hard work between December and April and would indeed be his swan song.  He joked about the logistical capers of linking 50m of cable plugged into the vicar’s telephone line across his garden, over the field (hopefully not electrocuting Michael Collier’s cows!), through the back door to the guest speaker’s computer.  He then handed over to Alison to describe the reasons for a Village Web Site, its aims and how it would benefit the village.

Alison described the web site as a community based “one stop shop” for everything that is going on, has gone on and will go on in the future.  Examples ranged from Parish Council documents and minutes to Parish Plan results, the Village of the Year competition, historical information, mobile library, Ring and Ride, recycling and Clubs, organisations and businesses in Kilmington.  She used the analogy of a big village notice board with unlimited space giving an up to date picture of what is happening in the village and East Devon.  Alison then proceeded to describe how to access www.kilmingtonvillage.com, and ways of manoeuvering round the various headings to find out what we wanted to know.  To those of you who may be a little tentative about this, I have explored it myself with no problems and Alison despairs of my computer literacy!  She showed us how to contact her and emphasised the importance of updating information given to her.  She also stressed that if anyone does not want their name or personal details to appear on the Web Site, or if they have written any articles, or photographs have appeared which they are unhappy with, they will be removed.   Alison invited questions from the audience.  Roger Woodhouse urged  caution on the expectation of linked sites being kept up to date.  Wendy Purefoy made the point that not all of us possess computers and a member of the audience suggested that a way round this was to use the IT facilities in Public Libraries.  Barbara Woodsford expressed her concern that the web site could take the place of Post-script, which was a lifeline to many elderly residents.  Both Cllr. Kerslake and Alison gave assurances that this would  not be the case as the magazine was a valuable village asset.

Cllr. Kerslake thanked Alison for all her hard work and interesting presentation.

At this point the Clerk to the Parish Council, Hilary Kirkaldie, on behalf of the Council presented a pot plant to Molly Kerslake in recognition of many years of patience and understanding  when Council business seemed to take up so much of Bill’s time.

The next speaker was P.C. Andy Carmichael who reported a good reduction in crime this year with 18 convictions having been made.  A community support officer had joined him and their policy is to be out and about in the community.  They now cover 12 parishes.  The theft of garden equipment was the most serious problem in Kilmington, along with the vandalism of the phone box on the Green.  He advised people to mark their valuables with the ultra violet pens obtainable from either the Police Station in Axminster or through the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator, Angela Overton.

The Chairman then came to the sad part of the meeting and the retirement of three councillors.  Mary Seward had been on the Council for 25 years and had given enormous service to the village during that time and Rachael Tattershall  had been a member of the Council for four years.  He was particularly sad about Rachael’s retirement as she was the youngster on board.  However, her reasons for leaving were understood and it  was good news that she might come back in the future.  The Chairman said that he had  personally been a member of the Council for 13 years, the last 6½ of which he had been Chairman.
The year had been successful with the completion of the Hitchcock Pavilion,  the Church Porch, the progression of the Parish Plan and the launch of the Village Web Site.  We were entering the Best Kept Village competition again this year and he urged us all to keep our patches tidy and  thanked those who gave up their time to pick up litter from areas on the perimeter of the village.  He also thanked Angela Miller for the colourful planting around the village sign.  He reported that the A35 traffic hazard has not been resolved, despite 10 years of trying to obtain either a speed limit or other assistance in getting pedestrians safely across the road.  The Working Party is now trying hard to achieve some results.  The Children’s Play area had received a favourable report following the annual ROSPA inspections and was well used.  More and more people are making use of the Ring & Ride.  Another Newcomers’ Coffee Morning would be held in 18 months’ time.  On a finance front, the Chairman reported that the precept has not been increased and  the Parish Council has balanced the budget pretty well.  There had been some unexpected expenses including the underground water pump which had to be replaced in the allotments and thanks to John and Chris Thorne who organised this and installed the pump at a greatly reduced cost and also to Chris Stubbs who did the electrical work free of charge.  We were able to pay for this work out of the general maintenance fund. The cash reserves from the sale of the land in the Roman Road were used towards the Pavilion and the Church Porch and will be used to upgrade the kitchen in the Village Hall. As only three people stood for election as Councillors to fill the three vacancies, they will be unopposed and there will not be an election.  The three new Councillors will be GRD, Simon Hodges and Sidnie Newbery and the Chairman wished them well.

County Councillor Douglas Hull acknowledged the tremendous amount of work and achievements of the three retiring Council members and a vote of thanks to Bill, Mary and Rachel was also proposed by Julian Shaw.  A member of the public raised concern over the fate of our village  Post Office.  Cllr. Gerry Hurford replied that, however much we campaigned, at the end of the day the decision will be made by the Government.  However, the Parish Council remains very concerned and would support any activities to maintain the Post Office and shop in the village.

Cllr Chris Bolton spoke of the success of the new Hitchcock Pavilion which had generated an income of £1,500 from hirings.   The public were using it for diverse reasons -  children’s parties, quilting, yoga and music.  £1,200 was still needed for gates at the church end entrance to the playing field, to match the pavilion gates, and fund raising events would be taking place in the future.

Cllr. Sally Huscroft reported on yet another successful year for the school with 80 children on roll.  A complete facelift had been carried out to the Key Stage I classroom which was funded by the PFTA.  The school received a congratulatory letter from the Secretary of State for Education as this was the third year that it had come in the top 100 performing schools in the country in the Achievement and Attainment Tables.  The school received the Bronze award from the Department for Education and Science for its Travel Plan submission.  This encourages environmentally friendly ways of getting to school, e.g. walking or cycling.  It also looks at ways of making the journey safer and the resulting concerns of the pupils and the school about the A35 were submitted to East Devon District council.  The school also received the Devon Healthy Schools Award for their work in personal, social and health education.  The school is grateful to the village for their involvement in and support of  the Christmas Production and Spring Exhibition and Coffee Morning which gave them an insight into the children’s work.

Cllr. Kerslake  reminded us that  the Common on Shute Road is a registered charity, for which the Parish Council has a duty of care.  Maintenance of £638 for grass cutting and tree surgery had been more expensive than last year.  David Vickers raised his concern about the increase of Japanese Knotweed on the Common and the Shute Road.

Cllr. Collier thanked the residents for their co-operation in completing the Parish Plan Questionnaire for which there had been a 90% response.  He felt this was in part due to the team of collectors who had made it their business to go round sometimes more than once to collect the questionnaires and he expressed his gratitude to them for their help.  In a few weeks’ time the results will be out.  Two-thirds were in favour of the Parish Plan and the main items for consideration were affordable housing, for which a sub-committee had been set up, green and plastic recycling, the speed of vehicles using the Whitford Road and the car parking problems at the junction of  The Hill and Shute Road.

County Councillor Douglas Hull asked for suggestions for a project to be financed from the community grant money.  One suggestion was an additional piece of equipment for the Children’s Playground.  Douglas Hull explained where the money came from and used as an example for a project the people in Whitford writing a book on “A Year in the Life of Whitford”.  

From the perspective of a member of the audience, it was an interesting and informative Annual Parish Meeting  which concluded at 9.30 p.m.

SH

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