Chairman’s Report for period April 2007
March 2008
Parish Council attendance record out of 11 meetings
Andy Bowditch Chairman 10
Tim Mousley Vice Chairman 10
Lyn Bowditch 10
Elizabeth Dowding 11
Anthony Mavrogordato 11
John Guy 9
Jarred Bundy 10
In May the Parish Council elections were held but fortunately due to the fact we had the same number of candidates as seats we were elected without the cost to us of an election in our Parish.
The two new councillors being Elizabeth Dowding & Anthony Mavrogordato.
All meetings are held on the second Monday of the Month (except August)
An Open forum is held at the start of every meeting where members of the public may speak.
Once again our thanks go to Neville Whiteley (TVBC)
And Michael Woodhall (HCC) for taking time to attend meeting and give their support when possible.
Finance
The precept for 2007- 2008 was set at £8000.00 due mainly to the fact that no major spending was forecast for the following year:
A donation of £1500 was made to the village hall committee
towards the renovation works, now completed and congratulations must go to the
Chairman,
I would like once again to express the councils thanks to Robert Horsford for completing the internal audit and for donating his expertise and time for no charge.
Planning
Woodside Farm West Dean application for Dwelling (PC Objected)
Park Cottage application for a replacement dwelling (refused by the Planning Inspectorate)
Plus a number of other applications which can all be found on the council section of the village website, which is run by the ever efficient Tim Koetser at www.westtytherley.com
Housing Needs Survey was recently carried out and is the first step in possible development of affordable housing in the Parish in forthcoming years.
I must mention Jarred Bundy who liaises with West dean Parish Council on our behalf on all planning issues in that area.
My thanks once again must go to John Guy for his expertise and guidance with all planning issues and for organising the housing needs survey.
Police
Attendance has been very limited due to work loads, areas covered and a basic lack of numbers. But we are grateful for any assistance they have provided including the mobile police unit that visits the village once a month, (I believe the first Thursday of each) And the invasion of a large number of police, assisted by the helicopter one Saturday morning!!
Recreation Ground
Mike Eastwood has been as busy as ever maintaining the “Rec “grass and surrounding areas and we are as always grateful for the good work he does, this includes the War Memorial.
Highways and
Footpaths
I must firstly thank our contact at Hampshire Highways, Paul Walsh.
He has always been helpful and co-operative and for that we are grateful. However, I would also like to commend Anthony Mavro, his enthusiasm has been boundless in solving numerous problems we have had, with overgrown ditches being cleared, potholes filled and much more, well done Anthony.
Under footpaths (not literally) David Lyon retired as Footpath Warden and has now been replaced by Ron Warwick (a previous F/path Warden) and he has already established himself in a very competent manner and we look forward to working with him in the future.
Thorngate Village
Care Group
I must also mention this group of volunteers who give up their time for the good of our community helping the residents of this parish in more ways than you realise, we did make a contribution to their group this year and I’m sure we will do so for the years ahead, and any members of the parish who feel like they could help this group in some way please contact their chairman Mrs. Jo Guy.
Finally before I finish can I thank Our clerk Lisa Keotser for her efforts over the past year (which was also her first) and to my Vice Chairman Timothy Mousley QC and fellow Councillors, (which includes my wife Lynda) for their support and dedication in their role as councillors, for which I, and indeed you should be extremely grateful.
Andy Bowditch
Chairman