Chairman’s
report to the Annual Meeting on Wednesday 14th April 2010
Within Bramley Parish
Council there is agreement that its Chairman shall not sit for a continuous term
of more than three years. At the conclusion of this meeting I shall have
completed my three years and at the next meeting of your Council on the Thursday
13th May a new Chairman will be elected. It is therefore inevitable that this
report to you of your Council’s activities may stray over a rather longer period
than one year and look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead,
recognising that whilst it is often the unexpected that provides the greatest
challenge it is planning for the future that means goals are achieved.
When one is honoured to be
invited and elected to serve as your Chairman, one profoundly hopes that either
the executive are top class or that you have the latitude to bring about change
in that area. No such problems for me I am pleased to say. In Bramley we have
been and are extremely fortunate to have a team, led by Rachael and ably
assisted by David, which is committed to achieving a better society for all who
live and work in the Parish. Their cheerful willingness to help, their work
ethic and their output are prodigious, to the benefit of each and every one of
us. Thank you Rachael, David and your team.
Your Council meets monthly
and, additionally, on a fortnightly basis to consider local planning
applications upon which we are consulted by Waverley Borough Council, the
planning authority. Your Councillors, each of whom is an unpaid volunteer in
respect of their Bramley Parish Council activities, are also involved in the
local community in a myriad of different ways both with and external to the
activities of your Council. It is that which promotes lively, informed debate at
Council meetings and I am grateful, as we all should be, for the skills and
commitment which they so readily bring to our community. Thank you. At the end
of 2009 Councillor Sonja Brown realised that the time she would likely be abroad
over the coming year and beyond would preclude her from continuing her active
role and she decided to step down. We thanked her for her contributions and in
February this year welcomed Francesca Stern to the Council. Francesca has
already started to play a full part in our debates, decisions and the
development of ideas.
However Bramley is not
quite the centre of the universe, despite our being the largest Parish in
Waverley after the four principal centres of population, and it is very
important that we should enjoy a good, if sometimes robust, relationship with
other delivery authorities. We are extraordinarily fortunate in having as our
representatives on Waverley Council both Richard Gates and Maurice Byham. We
have an excellent dialogue with Waverley officials and whilst we do not always
agree we are able to understand their points of view and relevant constraints.
We recognise that they are doing their best to deliver quality services.
Unfortunately our
relationship with Surrey County Council officials is, at best, more tiresome.
Approximately three quarters of our domestic Council Tax Bill is paid to Surrey
County Council yet evidence of their officials’ interest and desire for
progressive involvement is sorely lacking. Councillor Povey, our representative
on SCC and since last summer Leader of SCC, is here tonight and I wish him well
in his objective of trying to achieve a radical improvement in SCC’s
performance.
SCC has primary
responsibility for the provision of youth services. Bramley has six schools in
the vicinity but no youth facilities and it has long been an aspiration of your
Council to solve that issue. Where appropriate the local schools have offered to
make activity facilities available but there is a need for small premises in the
village centre where the youngsters, who generally live locally but do not go to
Bramley schools, can feel involved, meet and arrange their own activities. The
former Post Office, owned by SCC, was quickly identified as potentially ideal
premises and the initiative to secure them was supported by Waverley, the Police
and other parties. Unfortunately SCC officials gave every indication of being
out of their depth and whilst we welcome Cllr Povey’s recent involvement we
understand that arrangements are in hand for the premises to be leased to a
retailer - at least a happy endorsement for Bramley village centre.
ASBO’s do not curtail
youthful exuberance and we all have a responsibility to help youngsters to
become the involved adults of the future, as they surely will.
However in Bramley we are
blessed with a great diversity of clubs and societies, from the Bonfire
Committee, the Fete Committee, Bramley Wheels, the Tennis Club, the History
Society to that invaluable stalwart of village life, Bramley Village Society, to
name just a very few. The Friends of Bramley Library continue to provide a range
of invigorating ideas, including the successful annual schools advent calendar
competition at Christmas. We are very fortunate to have the library in the
centre of Bramley. Please use it so we don’t lose it; if you have ideas to
improve it they may not happen if you don’t speak out!
In looking at the finances
of your Council it is a matter of judgement as to the appropriate balance
between capital and social expenditure. Bramley Parish Council is responsible
for virtually all the pavement lighting in the Parish and over the last few
years this has been replaced or upgraded so that the annual maintenance costs
have reduced substantially. The arrangement under which we pay for the lighting
is historic and unlikely to change, consequently SCC’s planned saving in
upgrading their lighting for which we also pay, whilst welcomed, will not
directly benefit Bramley‘s lighting. The Village Hall continues to be a
significant cultural and financial benefit to the community, reducing as it does
the size of the parish precept, and we are grateful to Denis Lordan who oversees
the bookings and to those who commit to its maintenance and repair. There are
also the local play areas (including at Eastwood Road where a basketball hoop
has been installed at the request of local users and with financial support from
the Bramley Fete Committee), village greens, Gosden Common and other amenities
that we maintain. It is the enthusiasm of local residents, who quietly beaver
away at doing a myriad of small jobs under the aegis of our estates committee
and without any financial reward, that is so invaluable to the village. To John
May and Bob Room I give our particular and heartfelt thanks. We have admired the
speed reduction gateway to the south of the village at Birtley Rise and hope
that it achieves its purpose of drawing attention to the 30 mph speed limit,
entirely appropriate when entering the village.
When I
first became Chairman I determined that communication would be one of the
drivers of progress in Bramley. If residents don’t know what is happening they
will not feel they have a voice, nor an opinion that matters, and will not care!
The converse is that by involvement and communication we really can achieve
things for our mutual benefit. Bramley Update, your Council’s email newsletter,
has been an outstanding success, delivered confidentially, economically,
effectively and with great vibrancy to about a third of local households. We are
refreshing our efforts to increase the take up and we should all be grateful to
Patrick Molyneux for his drive, enthusiasm and commitment to this initiative.
Thank you. It is there to tell residents what is happening. Local societies and
businesses are encouraged to use it and the events calendar on the revamped
Parish Website, www.bramleyparish.co.uk
for which thanks to Eric Hill.
A housing needs survey has
been undertaken across Bramley, paid for from external sources, to establish
local requirements for low cost housing and we are grateful to the many who
responded. That survey is a necessary perquisite to justifying the provision of
suitable housing in the Parish and will mesh in very well with Waverley’s Local
Development Framework, the Parish Plan and your Council’s aspiration to
encourage more low cost housing in the Parish. Why do we want more? Because if
Bramley is to continue as a vibrant community, young people and residents need
somewhere locally to live and work, often close to relatives and using local
facilities such as the very successful Bramley Infants School.
Contentious planning issues
are no less a feature of Bramley than anywhere else in the South East. The
rejection of Dunsfold Park’s planning appeal, despite some excellent ideas in
the application, will provide some relief against the ever increasing volume of
traffic down the A281, but will not solve it. No more would reopening the
Guildford to Cranleigh Railway line, although that might provide some worthwhile
easing of congestion. Unfortunately the driver of change is most likely to be
when Guildford achieves gridlock. In the absence of any regional strategic
planning of transport infrastructure, and there are ideas worthy of careful
consideration, solutions are likely to remain piecemeal, reactive and often
inadequate, to the substantial financial and practical disadvantage of us all.
The Council’s success a couple of years ago in motivating residents to voice
their objection to the proposed new mobile phone mast atop Browns Field, off
Snowdenham Lane, you may feel was a pyrrhic victory given the continuing
generally poor mobile phone reception in Bramley. I don’t agree. We certainly
need better reception (and incidentally faster broadband speeds) in Bramley and
improving technology may assist your Council and the operators in finding a way
forward, but the ill sighted mast application was only planned to serve ’3’ and
their 3G spectrum, a very small minority of local users.
The snow and ice this
winter was a salutary reminder to us all that self help within the village is
sometimes the best solution. If Surrey and Waverley contractors cannot get to
work because of the state of the roads and once they can must focus on the
highest priorities then we had better organise ourselves to act. After all, how
many residents couldn’t get to work and might have been willing to clear snow to
help the local community? I know many did and they are to be thanked and
congratulated. A review is being undertaken, with the help of Waverley, to
identify what might be achievable when the situation reoccurs, including the
availability of equipment, materials, personnel and suitable insurance cover. A
report on a few of the local issues might be incomplete if I did not mention
that the public toilets in the centre of Bramley are under a threat of closure.
With all that is going on
you will understand why your Councillors feel that it is important that Bramley
Parish Council achieves Quality Parish Council status. The application will be
going in very shortly and I hope that my successor will be able to report
progress next year.
The Police are an important
factor in social cohesion and we mourn the untimely death of our former locally
bobby, PC Paul Soulsby. He had a particularly good rapport with the local youth;
supportive, engaged and cheerful with a persuasive but not heavy touch for the
recalcitrant.
It is timely to mention the
changes which are going on in Surrey Police. They are financially constrained as
much if not more than most authorities and are reorganising by disbanding the
three existing area based divisional structures in favour of a flatter
functional structure and with more local premises, often co-located with other
services. The three year plan is to reduce senior officers by 46 (30%) and
increase frontline constables by 200 whilst making financial savings of at least
15% to close the budget gap. Challenging targets which deserve our whole hearted
support. It would be great for Bramley residents if we could find a way of
combining the existing Citizens Advice Bureau, a Waverley Council official and
Police representation, alongside the Parish Council clerk, on a regular basis
within the village.
You may be surprised that I
have made little comment on the Parish Plan. I have been keeping the best until
last since I recognise that it is the preliminary report that you are all
waiting to hear.
The Parish Plan was
commissioned by your Parish Council but with the clear mandate that it should be
independent, ensure that all residents, not just each household, have an
opportunity to have their say and should not be shy in challenging the Parish
Council. It will be for the Parish Council to deliver on the suggestions or
explain to residents why they cannot be achieved. Stephen Darvill kindly agreed
to Chair the committee, which has spent an enormous amount of energy, time and
enthusiasm not to mention some impressive talent and professionalism, in
designing the questionnaires, distributing them with the great assistance of
BVS, collating the responses and drafting the outcomes which Stephen will talk
about tonight. To Stephen, Camilla Baird, Murray Campbell, Stephen Connell,
Julian Foorde, Rachael Hill, John May, Phil Scattergood and Simon Whalley we owe
a real debt of gratitude. Thank you for all the work which you have so readily
undertaken.
Looking forward, I don’t
know what the challenges and opportunities may be but I am sure that they will
probably include;
1.
Delivering upon the ideas contained in the Bramley Parish
Plan,
2.
Driving opportunities for Bramley, particularly in the area
of new developments and low cost local housing,
3.
Pursuing the Youth Initiative,
4.
Struggling with the mounting traffic problems and
continuing to press SCC and others to initiate a strategic review of traffic and
transport infrastructure demands and solutions,
5.
Maintaining a vibrant village community.
My colleagues and I will
look forward to engaging with local residents, businesses and appropriate
authorities in these and other endeavours.
Peter Wadham
Chairman of Bramley Parish
Council
14th April 2010