Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
As you are probably aware I did not stand for re-election in the recent council
elections. I felt it was time for some new councillors who could bring some new
energy and ideas to the council. So, this report will be my last activity as a parish
councillor for now.
So what has happened in the last year
In May we heard that the Coach & Horses had appealed against the enforcement
notice that had been served on them. It would take until February of 24 before we
would find out that that appeal had been rejected.
In June we held a lively meeting to discuss the future of the Millenium Green. It was
agreed that a survey of three questions would be delivered to every household in
both South Perrott & Chedington. Of those forms returned about 80% said they
wanted the Parish Council to be the sole trustee of the Millenium Green. I had hoped
that I would have been able to complete this as chairman but despite the best
intentions of Mr Gillingham this has not been possible.
In September we had a presentation from Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) who
had bought the Pipplepen Solar project off of Elgin Energy. In summary the solar
farm will be online and pushing power in Q2 of 2026. It is then the “grant” money will
be made available for community-based projects.
In October I was informed that Jane Thicknesse was standing down. We were
fortunate enough to be able to advertise the job and the best candidate was Katie
Armstrong. Katie took over at the end of November.
And throughout the year many attempts were made to locate the owner of the wall in
Manor Close and to get a team to fix the hole. Alas, due to scheduling issues and
weather this has not yet been fixed.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our footpath officer who continues to
ensure we can all enjoy the paths and bridleways around the village.
I would also like to thank our River Warden who not only kept the village flood free
but has kept us all up to date on the reservoir and his tireless effort into getting the
Millenium Green transferred over. To the Parish Council.
My thanks also go to the former councillors who have supported me in my time as
chairman.
And I’d like to thank the members of this parish to come to these meetings and offer
some great advice and guidance. I hope that as a Council we have been able to
make sure that people had an opportunity to speak up about things that were
important to them.
Finally, I would like to thank the Parish’s Clerk, Katie, who has fairly recently joined
us but has already had to do the year end accounts, get those audited and has had
to work with the new council onboarding the councillors.
I wish the new Councillors and the Clerk the best of luck and look forward to
attending some of the meetings from the other side of the floor.
Thank you and good luck.
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