Chairmans Report - May 2022
Marshchapel Parish Council
Chair Report – 10th May 2022
We have concluded another ‘different’ year with regard to the Parish Council. In May 2021 we held our last Zoom meeting, we did this in order to keep everyone safe; this meeting was important because it was the Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual Parish Council meeting for 2021, where we elected the officers for the year and finalised the audit AGAR forms for the year 20/21. We were aware no further Zoom meetings would be allowed and we would wait until it was safe to have our next meeting face to face.
Our December meeting was cancelled due to Covid and our January one was extremely brief, just to agree the precept. We also opted to trial for bi-monthly meetings, going forward.
After an extended lockdown, our first face to face meeting was in July. During the late spring the Parish Council contracted Barrie Marsh to paint the play equipment on the playing field, he did a lovely job and we are very happy with the result. We also looked at replacing the boundary fence and this was finally completed by Platers in November.
We were sad to receive Cllr Cordy’s resignation and started the process of appointing a new Councillor, which resulted in Cllr Pursey joining us in November.
We purchased a battery powered hand held hedge trimmer as Cllr Osbourne kindly offered to keep the War Memorial in trim and we hope this makes the task as easy as possible.
Problems with youths using drink and drugs has been very high on our Agenda this year, we do what we can but the main message we can give out to people is keep reporting it to the Police, the more reports they get of unsociable behaviour the more likely they are to attend. We realise the old pavilion is part of the problem and we are working with the owner to get it removed.
During the winter months we had reports on the proposals at Theddlethorpe for storing nuclear waste and we also heard about the new charity ‘Be Their Voice’, set up following the terrible incident in Louth.
An Archer report taken over the Christmas period indicated that the traffic was relatively calm in the village. We will continue to monitor it with our shared speed sign and our own speed sign.
Planning applications continued to come in, which we monitored. Our website is full of information about the Parish Council and all activities in the village. Please check it out.
Finally, it should be noted that none of the above would be possible without the continued support from all the Parish Councillors, the District Councillors and the work put in by our Clerk. I am very grateful for their efforts and the work they all put in.
Councillor Paul Rickett
Chairman – Marshchapel Parish Council
10th May, 2022