Draft minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 7th May 2023.
Chairman's annual report
The Chairman’s annual summary of events during the period of the last year are as under:
We finally have a new footpath across the grassy knoll in Pitchens End thanks to the tireless
efforts of Cllr Candace Gaisford. This now provides a footpath from Post Office Lane to the High
Street with access now providing a much needed safe passage for anyone from walkers to
wheelchair users. Thank you Cllr Gaisford for all your hard work on this.
Cllr Jim Gunter has again successfully, with LHFIG, completed the required improvements to
the on A4361, including the re-siting and improving all of the signage. Cllr Tony Iles is
progressing, with LHFIG, improvements to the WB turn off where the signs have been replaced
and road resurfacing. There is much to come. Thank you Cllr Gunter and Cllr Iles.
Cllr Tony Iles has also voluntarily cleared our streets of the dumped hay, mown our verges, cut
back hedges and replaced the perspex in our bus shelter, thank you Cllr Iles.
Cllr Jim Gunter and Cllr Louise Skillen have contributed considerable time in dealing with local
flood issues, monitoring water levels, creating flood maps and listening to and updating
residents concerns. Many thanks to Cllr Gunter and Councillor Skillen.
We are now fully functional on social media platforms and are delivering much needed
information on these platforms, as soon as it comes to light. We are now a new age
communications Parish Council, something we couldn’t have achieved without the skills of Cllr
Adam Gilmore. Thank you, Cllr Gilmore.
The Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group has moved ahead significantly. The group have
presented many open meetings to the residents of the Parish. We thank all residents for filling
out their questionnaires and representing an excellent Resident’s turn out at the meetings. Much
of the progress is due to the driving force of Cllr Adam Gilmore and the skilled efforts of Cllr
Damian Le Gresley. The residents on the Group have contributed an incredible amount of time
and effort to bring this forward. Thank you to Cllr Gilmore, Cllr Le Gresley and to all members of
the Steering Group for all of your hard work in delivering what the residents require.
We have researched and agreed to the replacement of our notice boards throughout the Parish.
Two residents have offered to sponsor two of the boards enabling us to deliver them soon.
Thank you to Cllr Damian Le Gresley and Cllr Tony Iles for all of your efforts in getting this done.
We have a new defibrillator in Uffcott which means we now have a defibrillator in each village.
Our Clerk, Peter Barry coordinates the installation and updating of the defibrillators. He also
organises workshops for the use of the units and coordinates a team of residents who
continually check they are working. Thank you Peter for all your hard work and the residents
who support him to keep the residents of this Parish safe.
Peter (Clerk), as always, is doing a sterling job with our accounting system, liaising with the Parish Steward and he keeps us informed on all issues arising, including running Teams meetings and contributing to social network platforms. Thank you so much Peter, for your excellent work, and ongoing support and dedication.
I’d also like to thank our Wiltshire Councillor and Chairman of Royal Wootton Bassett Area
Board, Cllr Allison Bucknall for her continuous support and sound advice. Also, I wouldn’t be
able to do my job without the support of our Clerk Peter, our new Vice-Chairman Adam Gilmore
and the Parish Council as a whole. Thank you to all of you.
The Parish is blessed to have so many hardworking, skilled and dedicated Councillors on our
Parish Council. The Parish Council works as a team, voluntarily dealing with everything from
reporting potholes and fly tipping to Planning applications. As always, there are too many
completed jobs to mention but they have achieved an incredible amount of work over the past
year. We recognise that you are all volunteers, so thank you all, in appreciation, on behalf of the
residents of our community.
Cllr Alex LaRoche, Chairman, Broad Hinton & Winterbourne Bassett Parish Council
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