The May meeting was the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council. Below is the Chairman’s report summarising the council’s activity over the past year.
As Chairman of the Parish Council, Firstly I would like to put on record my thanks to all Parish Councillors for their hard work over the past 12 months and to our Clerk Lisa Hazel for all her efforts over the same period, which has made being Chairman much easier. We were sad to see Cllr Jo Dunn leave earlier this year following her move away from the village.
Over the last 12 month’s the Parish Council has achieved the following –
We held our third successful Remembrance Day Celebration. My thanks go to Rev Clifford Owen for conducting the service, Brian Homewood for playing the Last Post and to the Royal British Legion for attending. As well as to all the residents who attended and to Cllr Diana Thomas for providing the cakes and making the Teas and Coffees.
The Parish Council has also supported our Community Shop in its efforts to build a new shop by supporting and funding the planning application for the project. Which I am delighted to say has been successful. Thanks go to Cllr David Russell and Martin Joyner.
The Parish Council are delighted that the EV Charger in the Village Hall Car Park is now operational, with the lease from HDC duly completed and hopefully will be a benefit to residents and visitors alike. The new Gates at the entrance to the village on Buckden & Breach Road should be installed shortly along with dragons’ teeth on the Buckden Road. It is hoped this will help to reduce traffic speeds entering the village as drivers will be more aware of the village entrance.
The Grafham to Brampton Quiet Way has been paused to allow the repair and resurfacing of the road from Grafham to the A1 Flyover to be completed, prior to the installation of the Quiet Way including bollards, murals on the road surface and signs on the railway bridge walls
The Parish Council also replaced the battery in the Defibrillator, which will hopefully help to keep residents safe.
Also, the Parish Council is now undertaking an Annual Service of the MUGA lights following last year’s Ant infestation.
Following the Parish Council’s decision to rent the Playing field to the Huntingdon Football Club for matches the old goal posts have been removed as they were no longer safe. We hope to see matches on the playing field soon.
I am pleased to report that the Parish Council replaced the damaged bench in the Children’s Playground with a new metal bench and the bramble infested hedge with a new hedge and fence. Along with repainting the play equipment a bright yellow.
The Parish Council has also repainted the Bike Rack’s outside the Village Hall and provided more substantial handrails on the ramp, along with repairing the damaged bollards.
The Parish Council also funded the planting of the New Wildflower meadow in the Churchyard. My thanks for undertaking this work goes to Cllr Alf Lesurf and Debbie Russell
The Parish Council again also provided donations to the Beer Festival, the Grafham Gossip, for new signs for the Village Shop /Grafham Trout
The Parish Council would like to thank Jill Tyack for maintaining and improving the flowerbed and raised beds at the front of the Village Hall, which provide such a marvellous display throughout the year and the Parish Council was pleased to support this work with the purchase of a new hose pipe.
The Parish Council erected a Christmas Tree adjacent to the village sign. Our thanks go to Chris Brown for providing the tree and to the Homewood’s for the use of their electricity to light the tree
As Chairman of the Parish Council, I along with other Parish Council representatives meet our MP Ben Obese-Jecty at the Houses of Parliament in the Grafham Trout to discuss issues that are important to the Parish and neighbouring parishes. Such as the proposed Quiet Way on the Grafham to Brampton Road, the development at Brampton Cross, Flooding, A14 Junctions etc.
The Council’s thanks also go to Cllr David Russell for installing the new solar panels for MVAS signs in the village. The speeds recorded show that they are helping to reduce speeds within the village and therefore making the village safer for residents
Cllr Ian Gardener
Chairman, Grafham Parish Council
The next meeting of the Parish Council is to be held on Tuesday 2nd June 7.30pm in the village hall