2024 Chairman’s Report

Welcome to the 2024 Annual Parish meeting.  Let me open by thanking those of you who have come along this evening. The past year has, once again, been challenging, as following an unopposed election we have been unable to fill the remaining vacancy on the Parish Council.  This, coupled with the long term absence of a councillor for medical reasons, has meant we have struggled to have a quorum at some meetings.  Unfortunately there has not been a lot of visible progress in a number of areas, principally due to  the lack of action by various agencies, despite prompts from the Parish Council.

Financial

Despite having to cope with ever increasing costs GKPC has continued to operate prudently and remains in a healthy financial position with reserves in line with local government guidelines.  Yet again we decided that an increase in the precept was not justified, although I see from my own council tax bill that it has increased by 0.9%, which equates to 42 pence.  We can only assume that this is the result of a reduction in the number of properties on which council tax is payable.  How to access full details of the last accounting period will be posted on the parish noticeboards at Christchurch and Kilcot Hill on 31 May: a brief summary will be attached to the minutes.

Roads

The various roadwork schemes that have taken place over the past year, including a second complete closure of the A40 recently, has resulted in significant additional traffic using roads in the parish.  Despite asking the question several times, there is still no indication as to when, or if, Gloucestershire County Council intends to make good on the commitment in the original Local Transport Plan to reduce through HGV traffic on roads such as the B4221. 

With no indication that Herefordshire County Council is any closer to implementing a 7.5 ton limit on the Aston Ingham Road, for other than access, our County Councillor Gill Mosely is exploring the feasibility of placing the same restriction on the Aston Ingham Road and a couple of other roads in her area of responsibility.

Speeding  continues to be an issue, with much of it occurring during the hours of darkness when it is not possible to monitor it.  It is to be hoped that, with a Speedwatch campaign now also established In the Herefordshire part of Gorsley, word may get out that the B4221 is not a place to speed.  We would still like some additional volunteers to help with  Community Speedwatch: if you would be prepared to take part, or would like further details, please contact the Parish Clerk, Charlee Roberts.  

Road Repairs

As was reported last year, the annual report on the condition of roads we have produced for many years simply cannot keep up with the speed at which the roads are deteriorating.  As a result parishioners are urged to report road surface issues directly to Gloucestershire Highways as soon as they are identified.  Highways are trying to keep on top of repairs but, as Kilcot crossroads has been patched at least 4 times over the past year, the quality of many of the repairs appears questionable.

Planning

During the past year the Paish Council has commented on 8 planning application and  2 appeals to the planning inspectorate.  Once again it is clear that although our status as a settlement without boundaries means the parish is treated as open countryside, this appears to be lost on many submitting planning applications and is not helped by Gorsley straddling the county boundary.  The bottom line is that what may be acceptable to Herefordshire Council may  not be acceptable to FODDC.  Nor have planning issues been restricted to applications and building activities in the Parish, as at least two instances in Herefordshire have required the involvement of the Parish Council.  Things have not been helped by the abject failure of central government to make good on its promises to remove some of the ill-advised changes it made to the planning regulations and give additional weight to local inputs as it said it would.

Planning enforcement on a number of sites in the parish continues, albeit at a very slow pace, but discussion with FODDC staff has confirmed that all of the live cases are being progressed now that they have additional staff.

Bus Service

The Parish Council has continued to provide financial support for the Daffodil Line bus.  It remains our view that this has been money well spent on a service which is being used by an increasing number of people across the service’s operating area.

Kilcot Green

When the Parish Council was created in 2000 it inherited Kilcot Green, which stretches from Kilcot crossroads to Briery Hill Lane.  Unfortunately the upkeep of this has to be funded from the precept which, given the requirement for statutory inspections and the remedial work that they inevitably generate, means there has been little money to make improvements. While the site has the potential to be a good community space, the open area off Briery Hill Lane is now much wetter than it used to be, presumably due to increased rainfall.  As the Parish Council has no idea how much this area is used we would like to know if there is an appetite for us to look at ways to improve the area before expending any time looking at the art of the possible, likely costs and any sources for possible funding.  If you have any comments please pass them to the Parish Clerk, Charlee Roberts.

Public Rights of Way (PROW)

Despite being assured around 18 months ago that a dog friendly stile was to be installed in the fence running through Kilcot Wood by Gloucestershire PROW this has yet to appear.  With a recent change of PROW officer confirmation of when the work will go ahead has been sought.      

Community Engagement

For the last 2 years I have highlighted that fact that the Parish Council must, in the absence of feedback to the contrary, assume that parishioners are generally happy with what we do on your behalf and that the success of a Parish Council relies on the support if receives from the community it serves.  Twelve months on we have still not filled the outstanding councillor vacancy and the level of engagement by parishioners appears to be restricted to contact when there is a problem.  The number of people who responded to my request last year for expanding the email contact list, so that we can get information to more people, went largely unheeded. As a result we have also advertised the annual parish meeting on the Gorsley facebook page this year. Unfortunately, judging by the numbers present, it appears that even using social media has failed to generate an increase in the number of parishioners coming along.    

The bottom line is that the Parish Council continues to function effectively but we would like to fill the current councillor vacancy, plus we would welcome greater engagement from the community so that we do not only hear from people when things go wrong. 

Does anyone have any questions?