The Chairman’s Speech 2010

At this time last year I said we had just gone through a year of change for Bickenhill Parish Council. I also said we (the Parish Council), were at a crossroads and needed to move on.

Let’s spend a few moments looking at the progress we have made over the last twelve months.

Millennium Wood
It’s ten years since the opening of our Millennium Wood. The wood is now starting to mature, so to make sure we manage the area correctly we are working with, and have taken advice from, Solihull MBC and are in the process of getting legal designation with Natural England to turn the Millennium Wood into a nature reserve for the benefit of our community.

We are producing a leaflet detailing all aspects of the wildlife and flowers. There are some rare species to be found in the area and children from our local junior school have already been involved in a project to plant wild flowers in and around the wood. The Parish Council have started a maintenance programme and the grounds men cleared gorse in the autumn to encourage new growth this year. Marston Green Lions have sponsored new litter bins in the wood and we have replaced the inaugural plaque that was removed from the entrance to the wood.

Burial Ground
The paths in the Burial Ground have been re-laid and extended and a shrub border has been planted in the car park. We are continuing a maintenance programme in this important area, for the benefit of the parish.

The Recreation Ground
In the spring/summer of 2009 we removed the old wooden poles that formed a barrier between the parking areas of the cricket and football pitches and replaced them with purpose made barriers. We also replaced the old gate at the Coleshill Road entrance with a pedestrian friendly access gate to the Recreation ground. Plans are in place to continue the refurbishment of the Pavilion.

The Pleck
The Pleck is looking well maintained and has benefited from last year’s investment, which included re-laying the path. The flowers in the wall look excellent now they have matured and we have received positive feedback from the community.

Garden of Memory
We have allocated funds for the Garden of Memory to be worked on in the summer. The paths and hedges will be refurbished and we will be carrying out repair work on the War Memorial. We have purchased a new notice board to replace the one that had been vandalised and repositioned it in an open area on the Elmdon Road side of the garden, to hopefully discourage similar treatment.

Allotments
The access gate on the amenity land allotments at the rear of Land Lane has been replaced.
There has been an increased demand for allotments over the last couple of years and we now have a waiting list well into double figures. To try and ease the situation we have been able to create four new plots on the Elmdon Lane site, we are also looking at the possibility of creating additional allotments in the future.

Bickenhill village
The Village has had its adopted red phone box painted and its notice board refurbished and we have plans to create a flower bed around the phone box.

Council in the Community

Another task we set ourselves last year was to make the council more accessible to the community and keep the residents informed of the activities of their council.
We did this a number of ways:

1. We continue to develop and update our web site which is receiving an average of 150 hits per month. Most visitors are from this country but we have interest from many countries in the world including America, Australia, and Russia.

2. Our twice yearly newsletter takes the council and its activities into every home within the Parish. We are about to publish our fifth edition in June.

3. We are now working with both our local schools on community projects.

At the Infant School the Parish Council, working with Campaign for Rural England, sponsored a poster competition called “Stop the Drop”. The council has also worked closely with the school to build a Kitchen Garden for the nursery children to plant and grow vegetables.

The Junior School also ran a successful Council sponsored “Stop the Drop” campaign and the children from the School have participated in wild flower planting in the Millennium Wood.

4. The Parish Council work together with the Marston Green Horticultural Society in sponsoring the society’s annual ’best basket’ competition.

5. We now have Sgt Liam Dalton attending the Parish Council meetings to work closely with the issues of anti-social behaviour.

6. We are liaising with Birmingham International Airport regarding a community project to maintain the pond at The Fordrift.

To achieve all the aforementioned you need a dedicated set of people, I am delighted to say we have this and would like to take this opportunity of publicly thanking our clerk Carole Cox and her ground staff team of Nikki Meek and Rob Williams for helping keep our Parish in such good shape.

Being a councillor requires dedication and can at times be very time consuming. The position also can occasionally be unappreciated role, so I feel it would be very remiss of me not to recognise the work of all the councillors over the last twelve months who represent Bickenhill Parish Council. I realise it is not always possible for every councillor to attend every meeting or sit on every committee but each and everyone of you have made a contribution and it is important that people understand that you undertake this role because you care and continually want to improve the community we live in, so for that I say thank you.

 

Cllr Frank Bunce
Chairman to Bickenhill Parish Council
May 2010