Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council

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YEOHEAD & CASTLETON PARISH COUNCIL

Chairman’s Report to the Annual General Meeting for the year ending April 2004.

I consider it a great honour to have been elected Chairman of the Parish Council just a year ago at the beginning of the new four-year term.  At the time, if you remember, I said that although I had recently moved house, away from the Parish, I would be happy to serve for just a year for the sake of continuity as no one had been persuaded to come forward and stand for election in my place. 

I had two main aims for my year in the Chair.  Firstly, with the help and advice of Mike Fraser, our Parish Clerk, I hoped to make the Council’s modus operandi more proactive than it had been in the past.  Secondly, I wanted the workings of the Council to become more acceptable to those whom we serve in an attempt, perhaps, to entice more of them to attend our meetings. 

In so far as the first aim is concerned, the following projects come to mind:

  1. Although not the direct responsibility of the Parish Council so far, the work started on the Parish Plan in February last year under the auspices of the Council is virtually complete.  The Steering Group under the Chairmanship of Ian Crawford-Smith and with Mike Fraser as Secretary is to be congratulated.  So too are the majority of residents in Yeohead and Castleton who responded so magnificently to a host of searching questions.
  1. In September last year, we adopted for the first time Standing Orders for procedures and the conduct of business specific to our Council.  Previously, we had relied upon a general order issued by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) for guidance.
  1. Also in September the Council divested itself of direct responsibility for the Oborne playing field.  A new lease was negotiated with the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) and responsibility for direct management was passed to a village committee.  The Council will continue to make an annual grant for maintenance. 
  1. The SCATBUS project undertaken by the Sherborne Transport Action Group (STAG) with moral and financial support from ourselves, Sherborne Town Council and other Parish Councils was launched officially on 15th September.  Regrettably, it has not been widely used by those of us living in Yeohead and Castleton and continuing financial support by this Council will have to be considered shortly.
  1. In March this year, the Council resolved that members should receive no remuneration for their duties and thus retain their volunteer status.  However, members did accept in a policy statement that expenses at an agreed level may be drawn for travel on Council business.
  1. Our very good relationship with County and District Officers has continued and has resulted in satisfactory outcomes for a proposed development in Poyntington, highway maintenance also in Poyntington and a number of planning proposals requiring our recommendations.  We are represented on a sub committee of the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils (DAPTC) and on the executive committee of the Dorset Branch of the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC).
  1. One item remains unresolved and that is the proposal by the editor of the Queen Thorne magazine to discontinue publication of the verbatim minutes of Council meetings.  The Council believes that this proposal represents a retrograde step.  It would require us to find an alternative method of publishing, as required by law or else even fewer people would be aware of the work carried out by their Council.

In so far as the second aim is concerned, I have long disliked the patronising “Democratic Half-hour” at the end of our sessions and the insistence that no member of the public who attends our meetings may speak until we reach that particular point in the agenda.  I hope that the introduction of the Open Forum to our agenda and when appropriate the invitation to members of the public to speak during the Council’s proceedings, has gone some way to making our deliberations more acceptable to those whom we serve.

Finally, I should like to thank my fellow Councillors for their support during this past year.  I must also thank our County Councillor, Mr Robin Legg and our District Councillor, Mr Robert Gould for their close interest and advice over this same period.  Last but not least, I must thank our Parish Clerk Mike Fraser for his professionalism and magnificent contribution to the efficient and smooth running of the Council.

Councillor J R Sherburn

Chairman

Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council

May 2004

Please contact us at:-

Mike Fraser, The Parish Clerk, Church Farm Cottage, Oborne, Dorset, DT9 4JY

Tel: 01935 816537

Email: yeohead@dorsetparishes.gov.uk

 

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