Chairman’s Report May 2011  

This has been my first year as Chairman of Ewyas Harold Group Parish Council, and I would like to say thank you to all Councillors for their combined hard work and efforts, which has been a challenging year.

Before I start to give an overview of the last year, it is necessary to say thank you to the Councillors that have stood down after giving their time to Council matters and support for the communities that we live in.  Paul Sheen, Mary Williams, Maddy Bradley, Liz Overstall and Bennie Krige.   They have all given their time voluntarily in order to represent the people of the area.  It is a great shame that three persons in Ewyas Harold have seen fit to criticise Councillors and, at times, to make personal insults about them.  These three persons have also spread inaccurate information and interfered with the democratic process.   A Parish Council has very little power in the scheme of things and the writings and activities of this small minority have succeeded only in causing Council members to spend valuable time in attempting to mitigate some of the damage that has been done.   Nothing can be achieved from attacking the Councillors in this vile way as the Parish Council is powerless to change the view of Hereford Council.  It does its very best to put the views and preferences of the people it represents to Hereford Council but it cannot do more.   It is deeply to be regretted that no one person from the Ewyas Harold village area put themselves forward for Councillor and in doing so shown willing to do what we can to protect and develop our much loved villages.  That not one seat was contested infers that the GPC has the mandate to continue its policies and implement the forthcoming Parish Plan in accordance with the responses received.    We wish to make it known that the GPC has enacted a policy on Vexatious Communication in order to refuse to accept letters and emails from persons who seek to make further personal attacks on individuals which, in turn, directly interferes with the democratic process.  It is easy to criticise but, given that all are volunteers, if all that is received is negativity there is a real risk of all Councillors deciding that it is not worth the stress that is caused.  It should be noted that if a population cannot provide sufficient Councillors, the County Council will take it over.  Since so much of the criticism that was laid at the door of individual Councillors should have been put to the County Councillors, people must ask themselves what they want.

Over the last year there has, unfortunately, been one issue that has dominated Council business but the Council has achieved a great deal and I would like to give a brief overview of the year:

1             Newsletter

This continues to be an excellent communication tool although it would benefit from more input from people.   Sadly, despite our appeals we rarely receive articles from any but a few regular contributors.   There has been some criticism of editorial content but unless others are willing to share in the production of this journal then, again, this must be condemned.     

2             Website

This has had some changes and will, I am sure, continue to develop into the main source of information for the GPC area.

NOTE: Editing the newsletter and undertaking the updating and improving of the web site is a thankless task and I would wish to record my thanks to both Liz Overstall and Andy Shipp for their commitment.

3             Shaping Our Place  - development

This has continued to be a regular issue throughout the year with much misinformation, rumour and self interest clouding the issue.  The GPC made it quite plain that they oppose any major development within Ewyas Harold and rejected the LDF, only one of four Parish Councils within Herefordshire to do this.  We are aware that Herefordshire Housing wishes to discuss with the Parish Council a possible development of affordable houses, but the GPC has requested that an open consultative meeting be held after the return date of the parish plan questionnaire.  As reported by Paul Sheen in his report of 2010, various people are very vocal, sometimes rude and yet no one steps forward to take a role in the GPC to make a real difference for the future.  The GPC is very keen not to have another shaping our place consultation fiasco brought about by Herefordshire Council and the Ward Councillor failing to communicate good and timely information.

  4           Parish Freighter

This has, in the past, offered people an opportunity to dispose of waste effectively.  However   the increase in price made it an uneconomical service to continue with, and coupled with better, (in most cases), door to door recycling collections and the very keenly priced bulky waste collection service offered by Herefordshire Council, the GPC decided that it could no longer continue with the service.

5             Notice Board 

Rowlestone is awaiting fitting of a new, secure notice board similar to the one in Ewyas Harold.  This is for the publication of Council notices.  The GPC has continued to use as many means as possible to communicate with the residents of the GPC area.

6             Parking

For years this has been a fairly thorny issue in Ewyas Harold as parking is very limited.  The problem is made worse by inconsiderate parking close to the shop or school by those who are physically able to walk just a little further and free up the congested areas.   It is a matter of real concern that at the beginning and end of the school day it would be impossible for an emergency vehicle to get access to houses in Priors Field and beyond.   The GPC will continue to consider all ideas and options and it has requested the Police to monitor illegal and inconsiderate parking in an effort to improve the village centre.

7 Catholic Church

Belmont Abbey has decided to release the ownership of the property and the GPC has expressed an interest.  It is the GPC’s wish that the building and surrounding land be used for community projects and that they be kept in Trust for the community for the foreseeable future.  The GPC sees the building being used for many different functions to benefit a broad range of ages and interests. 

8 Parish Plan

The hard work of a small number of  people to produce the questionnaire so that the Parish Plan can be reviewed and updated is commendable.  The future of local influence with the Government’s objective of giving more power and responsibility to neighbourhoods, means that the views expressed in the Parish Plan are really important.  During the coming months the questions will provide the GPC with a mandate for the future of the area.

9 Twinning

Our visitors from Sezonac visited the area last year, some Councillors and the Clerk hosted them in their homes and proudly showed them around our lovely area.  The French are very keen to continue with the negotiations for a future alliance and the primary school has made some good contacts.  The visits to local landmarks and businesses impressed our visitors, but for me the most impressive was the way our Primary School children made the visitors so welcome and gave much of the introductory welcome in excellent French.  Unfortunately, the interest form our area has not been forthcoming to really get something like this off the ground and it may well falter because of a lack of people wanting to become involved or showing any commitment.

10  Pavilion

It has been decided by the GPC to undertake some minor improvements so that the facilities can be utilised for more of the year.  This will include some heating, external lighting and the extension to the existing pathway.  This area is indeed lucky to have some good meeting places giving people and organisations a real choice of venues. 

11  Planning

There have been a few planning applications made and the GPC continue to make comment where appropriate.  The move to electronic viewing will, hopefully, allow the GPC to be more involved in the decision process and engender good debate on potential development in the area.

12  General

The County Council election has brought about a change in our Ward Councillor and I look forward to the GPC working with Graham Powell in the years ahead.  There will be some interesting challenges for the GPC to address.  I  hope that housing development, although extremely important, will not dominate the business in this coming year.  With Herefordshire Council budget cuts of some £6m next year, it may fall upon Parish Councils to try and provide some of the services that may be cut.  It would be good to have some young people involved on or with the GPC so that a holistic view of needs and expectations can be understood and possible action planned.

New challenges lay ahead, we live in a beautiful area which has to be protected, but this does not mean it can stay the same.  To survive all things we have to embrace some development.  It is an immutable law of survival.  The development has to be sympathetic to the needs of its population, mindful of the limits of its services and conscious of the need to provide for many differing age groups and interests.    We have to balance the need to keep the attractions that draw visitors to our area with the needs of those who live and work in the here.    We have achieved some notable successes: we have continued to press Amey to improve the condition of our roads and their communication with us and we have already seen progress there; the village is cleaner as the road sweeper route has remained unchanged, but time allowed has been increased to allow a proper job to be done.   An ongoing enterprise is to improve the facilities for our young people and to extend the ‘good neighbour’ scheme so that the elderly amongst us can be assured that they are not alone particularly in adverse conditions.  The GPC welcomes helpful and positive suggestions and ideas.  We are keen to work with the population we serve, but we cannot operate in isolation. 

Therefore my appeal in this, my first Report, is for more people, from all the villages, to become actively engaged in the work of the Group Parish Council.  There is so much scope for all sorts of talents and skills, please, we need you.

Richard Baker

Chairman

May 2011