Annual report – Chirbury Parish Council.
The Council tax was frozen again but the Parish grant given to Shropshire Council by the Government was removed by the Council and resulted in a loss of around £500 to the Parish
Road repairs have continued to be an issue. The road in Marton having now been resurfaced twice – unsatisfactorily. We now have approximate dates for the surface to be re-laid. These are 30 June or 1 July.
Planning permissions are taking a long time to be determined as we have a lack of planning officers after several were made redundant. Eric Pickles declared that taking CIL from sites of less than 10 was to be stopped and in some rural areas less than 5. Shropshire council is challenging that. Enforcement is now nearly non-existent.
The planned 25 houses in Worthen were turned down on appeal. Parish plan mentioned by inspector.
Speeding through villages and in the rural areas continues to be an issue. The latest enforcement in Chirbury failed to catch anyone. There are still significant problems of safety at Blackford.
Road safety at Chirbury School.There will be a site visit on Wednesday morning (20) to look at warning lights for the school. Previously Highways have said a crossing is not possible on site.
Lower Lane junction. A site visit looked at putting in an island. We await developments.
Youth provision. Our LJC area have had most of the youth service removed. We have been offered £3000 only to run a club in Bishops Castle, and help the one in Worthen.
It has also been proposed that £1200 of that should be spent on administration. I am strongly opposed to this and it seems unlikely that the LJC will approve that.
The LJC is also approaching the Fire Authority and the Police for funding to educate young drivers and help cut local road deaths and injuries.
The LJC grant pot. We have raised a grant pot of around £1700 and will be opening that to communiies soon. We also hope to raise more funding from local businesses.
The Doctors surgery new build in Worthen is still stalled. I have written again.
Broad band- businesses suffering from lack of broadband can now apply for a voucher of up to up to £3000 voucher to help themselves get connected but the only choice from West Midlands approved list and now Secure Web Services at Pennerley have been added to that list.
EE are now looking to monitor our signal and put in new mini masts on community buildings. Real investment to be put in but at present the signal is still poor. Our existing masts are up to 15 years old and need replacement. This comes after my campaign to raise our very rural phone signal problems.
New proposals for mobile phone black spot coverage will be unveiled imminently by the Council – I am told.
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