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FAIRFORD TOWN COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2009
Last year saw the Town Council move into the newly renovated Community Centre. As most of you know, the offices take up the two front rooms at the front of the building, the main Council offices being to the left as you enter the building and the information room/Community Centre bookings room to the right.
Rooms are for hire and can be booked by ringing 01285 711571. Many organizations and clubs have already made use of the wonderful facilities that the Centre affords.
Amongst the many projects that the Town Council have taken on in order to provide facilities for the young and old alike, it was with pleasure that at last the Town can boast the re-installation of the skate ramp, which now sits firmly secured onto a purpose built base. This facility is used by many of the young persons in Fairford for BMX bikes and skateboards. The flag festival was held again with many nations flags flying during the Festival period and again the Festival Fun Runs, Ball and weekend market stalls in the Walnut Tree Field were greatly supported with many people attending.
The Town Council were able to support the various projects which have been handed down to Volunteers such as the clearance of the Court Brook and in obtaining grant funding for the Fairford Emergency Action Group, both were resulting from the floods of 2007. Other projects to keep the rivers and brooks clear are planned for 2009/10. The Emergency Action Group held its first ever trial event in March, which was supported by volunteers, with the press representatives from GCC and CDC monitoring proceedings. This proved to be a very successful trial run of what could happen in any town in the Country, lessons were learned and it is hoped that the format used by us will be rolled out County Wide.
At Christmas a very successful Xmas Market took place and we were able to brighten up the town with a better display of lights on the Xmas Tree, by popular demand.
It is with regret that two Councillors have resigned, Cllr Roger Fessey who has moved out of the area and although he could still act in his capacity as Cllr, his work commitments and travelling are prohibiting his continuing support. Cllr Morgan, who was the Town Mayor has had to resign early due to a deployment abroad with the RAF. Cllr Morgan was officially due to resign in May, but he felt that should an election be called, it would be better if the election took place at the same time as the County elections in June, but in order for that to happen he would have to resign early, which will save tax payers money. Our thanks to Roger for his work on the Council and especial thanks to our Town Mayor Cllr Morgan for the hard work and many hours spent in working for the people of Fairford. We wish them both well for the future.
Planning issues in Fairford over the past twelve months have been a little less contentious, than in previous years. 85 planning applications have been considered, 90% of which were granted permission by CDC. Rules relating to planning permission changed at the beginning of the October 2008 with a view to relaxing controls on smaller extensions. Larger applications that were considered included the redevelopment of a site to provide 14 residential units at 2 & 3 Cinder Lane; demolition of conservatory and single storey extension and erection of new extension at Hyperion House Nursing Home; various reserved matters applications for the leisure development at Claydon Pike (outside our area, but consultation is required due to the size of the development).
Highways issues have concentrated on improvements of the footpaths especially from Fairford to Horcott, in particular lighting along the paths, this is still ongoing. Another footpath, at the bottom of Snake Lane, is being looked at by Public Rights of Way with a view to improving the condition of the path at that point, again this is still ongoing. The plastic recycling bin in the Town car park is being moved in the near future due to the damage being caused to the surface of the car park by the lorries removing and replacing the bins. The cardboard recycling bin has been removed completely as we now have kerbside collection.
THE FUTURE
There is a limit to the extent to which we can lose resources and still maintain services. In addition to our pledge to help improve facilities at the Palmer Hall and to take on running the Walnut Tree Field, in the next few years we have to acquire land for a new burial ground and for allotments.
We need to upgrade our ageing closed circuit television security system without even considering what the public is asking for as part of the Healthcheck review.
Comments: Obviously when the Council set its budget in 2007 – the current recession was not envisaged, neither at the time of the budget setting for this year. Expenditure last year was for the benefit of the Town and in accordance with requests from residents for facilities to enhance the Town.
Joe Cusack Deputy Mayor.
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Nominations for the Geoff Chick Award (formerly the Young Citizen of the Year Award)
Josh Cooper and Harley Spencer nominated by the Youth Workers for their work on the Lantern Project
Joe Pitt nominated by Mrs A Stokes, headteacher of Farmors School for his work with green issues in the Community. - Winner
Nominations for the Citizen of the Year Award
Patricia Middleton nominated by Mrs A Johnson and 39 members of the United Church for her work in raising funds for the Cobalt Unit and for organizing a lunch club for the older members of the society and for all her charitable works. - Winner
Margaret Bishop nominated by T. Hing for her work on the Community Centre Project
Larry Smith for his work with the First Responders and FEAG nominated by M Harwood
FINANCIAL REPORT SPENDING
In 2008/09 (the year ending on 31st March 2009) Fairford Town Council wanted to spend money on
various projects to enhance the facilities provided for groups in Fairford.
Money was budgeted for projects such as
Skate Ramp This project was completed in the early summer, all money for the old ramp was reimbursed to the Council, and a grant was obtained in order to lay a suitable base for the new ramp. The new ramp is a far better quality. Money allocated in this year was £2000
Burial Ground The Council allocated £15,000 for the purchase of land for a new burial ground in the belief that land would need to be found soon due to the fact that space was running out in the current area. However, during the year, it was discovered that part of the land in the churchyard thought to be closed was in fact open and therefore still the responsibility of the church. The Council however, still feel that funds need to be set aside for this project, because ultimately, land WILL need to be purchased although this is further in the future than currently thought. This money will be put into a project account for use in due course.
Community Centre
£12,000 was earmarked for 2008/09 and was used towards the completion of the project. Further funds has had to be used to cover unforeseen expenditure, e.g. the employment of a Centre Manager. Costs when covered by the landlords are split between the Town Council and the PCC. Festive and Festival Markets & other events £1000 was set aside but it was agreed that reserves should be tapped in order to complete projects such as the Heritage Trail. Other expenditure that was not foreseen was the spend for the website which needed to be updated. The previous providers of the website did not fulfill expectations and the service they provided was below standard. A misconception is that expenditure was unnecessary, however, even with the previous provider a fee would have to have been paid and it was felt that the current provider would in the long term serve the purpose for a longer period of time and the costs would decrease.
Xmas Lights £500 - Due to the poor condition of the lights and the continual breakage of bulbs combined with requests from the public for a better display, it was agreed that to save money in the long term, purchase of longer lasting bulbs and a few more strings of coloured lights should be purchased and money taken from reserves. The lights now will not need to upgraded for some years it is hoped, apart from the purchase of replacement bulbs for the remaining poorer quality one that remain. INCOME Apart from the Precept amount of £94801, the Town Council receives very little by way of grants. The only income other than the precept is a small amount from Highways approx. £1500 to help with grasscutting and money received for the rental of the Market Square for the Wednesday market. _________________________________________________ On the basis of a Band D property, this year…
We will be asking householders in Fairford for a total of £75.80. This amounts to £1.50p a week, or about 6p for ever man, woman and child living here, or a little over 5% of the total Council tax bill.
Since 2005, the cost of living has gone up by 20 per cent. In this time the Town Council has asked for a total increase of 8.6 per cent, so the town council’s budget in real terms has gone down by nearly 12 per cent.
So the Town Council’s budget in real terms has gone down by nearly 12%.
In the same period Cotswold District Council’s precept (accounting for 9.6% of the Council Tax demand) has increased 18.5%. The County Council’s 72.2 share of the tax has increased b y 23.9% and the police’s 13% has increased by 13.2%.
There is a limit to the extent to which we can lose resources and still maintain services. In addition to our pledge to help improve facilities at the Palmer Hall and to take on the running of the Playing Fields in the Walnut Tree Field, in the next few years, we have to acquire land for a new burial ground and for allotments.
We need to upgrade our ageing closed circuit television security system without even considering what the public is asking for as part of the Healthcheck review.
Even in these difficult economic times, it may be that we shall be able to let the old council offices to produce an extra income stream, but in future it will be very difficult indeed to limit the precept in the way we have done in the past six or seven years without damaging the services we provide.
Report from the Facilities Committee
Annual events The Committee is responsible for arranging events like the highly successful Festive Market at Christmas, the Flag Festival and the Festival Market which takes place during the main Fairford Festival weekend. Thanks go to the Clerks, who oversee these events. As well as contributing to the Fairford Community spirit, these events aid tourism and the Festive Market in particular gets favourable press comment encouraging people from outside the town to come to Fairford.
Risk Assessments Events like those mentioned above cannot take place without health and safety being taken into account and the Facilities Committee has been working on new risk assessments for these. The Committee would like to express its thanks to Mike Gray for his invaluable help.
Communications. The Committee oversees the Newsletter which comes through your letterboxes every two months. We are currently considering whether to issue this quarterly with improved content rather than bi-monthly as at present and would welcome any comments you have. A new copier which collates an folds has speeded up the production process considerably. The Committee has also been working on updating the Fairford leaflet which helps promote Fairford to visitors. 10,000 copies are printed free of charge to the Town Council. We can then distribute them within the surrounding area.
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