Stratton Parish Council held both the Annual Parish Meeting and the Parish Annual Meeting on 10th May 2022 in the village hall.  The minutes of both meetings will be available on the SPC website in due course but the Chairman’s Annual Report is reproduced below: –

Chairman’s Report for Year 2021/2022

Last year I reported that Stratton, along with the rest of the country, was facing problems and concerns in dealing with Covid which necessitated several full lockdowns. The problem continued into 2021/22, although the lockdowns have now ended, and some normality resumed. However, not everything is back to normal as Covid is still present and people still have to adapt their lives to cope with the problems that brings.

Stratton Parish Council slowly returned to what we would consider more normal circumstances, although having to change to dealing with issues in slightly different ways. Other organisations have also been adjusting how they supply services to the residents of the Parish and the Parish Council itself.

Last year because of the first total lockdown the Annual Parish Meeting had to be postponed for two months until July. At least we are back on the normal time schedule now.

A new Parish Clerk was appointed from the 1 April 2021 and work began to adapt and update some of our processes and policies in line with more up-to date approaches. Some work has been completed and work on some other areas of development continue. Unfortunately, things did not work out with the new clerk and in November she announced her decision to resign, something which none of the Councillors had wanted or wished for.

Our main efforts during the year have been focused on maintenance issues. Basic maintenance of the village green and playing field was carried out on a regular basis by our contractor while additional work on hedge trimming and gully clearance was commissioned and completed. Following a decision to look at replacing two smaller pieces of equipment in the Younger Children’s play area, numerous maintenance repairs were carried out to extend the life of the largest piece of equipment – the children’s climbing frame and slide. At the same time, funding for replacement items was investigated. Although an order for the two smaller items of equipment have not yet been placed, the matter is being worked on and hopefully new equipment will be installed later this year. A new tennis net was purchased, to replace the old one which was starting to show its age and installed earlier in the year.

As in the previous year, considerable time has been incurred by Councillors in working with officers from Dorset Council Highways in continuing to review the safety of the A37 main road, from under the railway bridge to the entrance to Stratton village. This involved numerous contacts and discussions with officers, including a review meeting to assess the outcome of previous road improvements. Members of The Stratton A37 Pressure Group have continued to be involved and attended the review meeting held with Highways officers.

Environmental issues increasingly play a more important role in our duties with the view to assisting wildlife within the parish. Two hedgehog road warning signs were purchased and erected, paid for with donations from two parishioners, the Council paying for the brackets to hold them. Another environmental topic has been the ongoing initiative to put more trees at the far end of the playing field.  This will now form part of the national Queen’s Green Canopy initiative. An application was made to the Woodland Trust for saplings, and it has just been confirmed that our application has been successful, and 105 saplings will be supplied in November of this year. The troughs at both entrances to the village were planted with summer and winter flowers and provided much welcome and welcoming colour.

A policy objective fully completed during the preceding year – the introduction and adoption of a written policy on communications – has now been finalised and agreed. This policy covers how and in what ways the Parish Council will communicate with its residents. Details on how to contact the Council have now been distributed to every household in the parish so that residents should now be aware of the various ways to contact or to receive Council information. These details have also been posted on the village notice boards and in other places where council information is currently found, such as the bus shelters.

The Parish Council continues to support local groups and others who help residents in the parish through distribution of Section 137 Grants, with seven grants being made this last year.

Work on the parish council website has continued, ensuring the Council remains fully compliant with the Transparency Regulations for Smaller Authorities. Numerous announcements have been made over the past year covering matters that fall within the remit of the Council, such as news, updates, or events likely to affect residents. Some further enhancements to the website have been identified but have yet to be implemented. When they are, it should help to provide greater detail of parish activities and increase the distribution of information. All announcements on the website are immediately posted on the Council’s Facebook page, often accompanied by relevant photographs.

The Parish Council’s finances remain in a healthy position with good review and budget control processes in place. This ensures that decision making can be effectively and efficiently carried out and expenditure directed to areas where it is most required. Action has now been taken to move some of the Council’s funds to a different bank account to increase the amount of interest being earned. It is planned that a further transfer of funds will take place in a few months’ time once a clearer picture emerges on inflation and whether the Bank of England increases interest rates again.

Finally, my thanks go to all councillors – Cheryl Hobbs, Matthew Garner and Simon Joslin and we were sorry early last year, when regrettably, Councillor Alan Wheeler resigned owing to health issues. I thank them all for their dedication and hard work.

Let us hope the year 2022/23 will be a better one not only for Stratton Parish Council but for every one of our residents.

 

A.J.Aylott

Chairman – Stratton Parish Council

 

3 May 2022

 

17th May – 2022 – Annual Parish and Parish Annual Meetings
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