Statement from the New Parish Council Chairman

I would like to say how pleased I am that we now have a full Council and that I am proud to serve as Chairman. During my 3 years as a Councillor, I don’t think there has been a full council for more than 5 months, quite often only 4 out of 6 and at one point we had to cancel a meeting because we could not raise a quorum. Consequently, the burden on an under-strength council can lead to tension, underperformance and at times paralysis. It can also place too heavy a burden on the part time Parish Clerk who must pick up the workload of the missing Councillors and be at the centre of the frustrations this can lead to.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Cllrs Verrill, Parsons, Garnett and Shand for all their hard work on the Council over the last few years, they carried the burden until recently and in the case of Cllrs Verrill and Parsons for many years, their service deserves recognition.

I would also like to recognise the recent work of Cllrs Oliver and Sargeson, particularly on establishing the Staffing Committee (SC) about which there seems to be some confusion. The role of the SC is to manage the relationship between the PC and its employee(s), this consists of employment issues, roles and responsibilities, training and performance management. The PC should have had a SC for many years so is now playing catch up, it was not set up to monitor the performance of the Clerk, as seems to be a common misconception, it’s role is much wider and very valuable.

Welcome on board to Cllrs Phil Goodier, Andrew Hogg and Rupert Scales we have plenty to get our teeth into and their input and enthusiasm will help drive forward our agenda. Flooding, sewage, housing developments are big ticket items, but many smaller items need addressing and sometimes these smaller items have a big impact.

It is no secret that the PC recently has been through some difficult, fractious, times but this is the moment for a total reset and an opportunity to harness the enthusiasm of a new council. I would encourage Villagers to bring forward ideas and issues that they want to the PC to address so that what we do is both important and relevant to you.