Bere Regis Parish Council

January 2012 Meeting

Your Parish Council met for its monthly meeting on Thursday 12th January 2012.

Village Forum

This will be held in the Drax Hall on Saturday 25th February from 10.30 to 12.00 with coffee from 10.00 and soup and rolls for those who stay the course afterwards. Items currently on the agenda are:

1. The Jubilee Celebrations
2. Plans for the Play area
3. The Bere Regis Neighbourhood Plan (see note below)
4. Damory Buses (see next report)
5. Stone signs (see note below)
All Bere Regis groups and organisations are invited to attend and all residents of Bere Regis would be most welcome..

Damory Buses

The message below, which concerns the Damory buses that run through Bere Regis, has been received from an Officer of Dorset County Council. However, we understand that Damory have now agreed to postpone implementation until 14th April, to allow DCC more time to work on alternative solutions.

"Damory have advised the [County] Council that they intend to deregister a number of bus services that they have been running on a commercial basis i.e. with no subsidy from the County Council. We have no control over this. I am meeting with the Managing Director of Damory this morning with a view to persuading them to delay the effective date - 19 February to give us an opportunity to put alternative arrangements in place. It is my intention to report this matter to the County Council Cabinet on 18 January and seek its view on how then to proceed. Services can probably only be retained if it is possible to put in more subsidy for which there is currently no budget. We will issue a further statement to elected Members and Parish Councils after these meetings have taken place.

With regard to school transport, the County Council will of course ensure that all children entitled to free school transport have appropriate provision."

As soon as we hear more we will communicate back to you via the Parish Magazine, the Bere Regis email list and the Facebook village page.

Neighbourhood Plan

The new Localism Bill encourages local communities to develop what is called a Neighbourhood Plan. These are led by the local community and set out a vision and plan for the local area. It is about local rather than strategic issues and could include things like where new shops, offices or homes should go and what green spaces should be protected. It has to be compatible with Purbeck District Council’s plan and is intended to guide development rather than to stop it. Please contact the clerk if you would like to be involved in drafting this plan.

Purbeck Stone Signs

The Parish Council are planning to install stone signs similar to that at Shitterton at the entrances to the village to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee. If anyone wishes to make a personal donation their name will be recorded in a Diamond Jubilee book which will be held in the Church. Any personal donations of £100.00 or more will see the donor’s name being carved into one of the stones. Please use the form enclosed with this magazine to make your donation.

School Crossing

We understand that Dorset County Council has reaffirmed its decision to withdraw funding for the school crossing; they have suggested the School seeks sponsorship from commercial parties to fund the continuation of the school crossing. The Parish Council reiterates its support of the school and will help the School however it can.

The Parish Precept Explained

As we all know only too well, every household has to pay Council Tax which goes towards paying for the local services provided by the District and County Councils, as well as for other local services such as Fire and Policing.
What may not be quite so well known is that a small part of your Council Tax bill goes on what is called ‘The Parish Precept’, that is, the amount of money that your Parish Council has to spend on your behalf on the very local things that we do within the civil parish of Bere Regis.

On the income side we receive most of the precept from council tax payers, via Purbeck District Council. For the coming financial year we shall be asking for £33,000, which is up by 3.7% on last year’s figure of £31,830. We also receive a grant of £5,500 from Dorset County Council towards the cost of the Lengthsman scheme and there is a very small amount of income from running the village cemetery. We have budgeted for a total income of £39,015 in 2012/13, and plan to spend about the same amount.

On the expenditure side our spending falls roughly into the following four categories:

1. Maintenance, including the work of the Lengthsman, cutting the Play Park and Cemetery grass, and maintaining the fabric of the Play Park and Cemetery, nearly £17000 (43%)
2. Administrative costs, including our Parish Clerk’s salary, insurance, stationery, postage, hall hire, audit fees and rates for the Cemetery, £11500, (29%)
3. Future facilities and amenities, including Christmas trees, upgrading and renewing the Play Park, Jubilee activities, work to be done on the boardwalk and footpaths near the stream and on Soul’s Moor, just under £10,000 (25%)
4. Grants to village organisations £1000 (2.5%)
In addition, this coming year, we hope to be able to buy Soul’s Moor for the parish with help from a grant making trust.

The Parish Precept amounts to about £44.33 per Band D household per year, and the increase this year will add just £1.87 To a Band D Council Tax bill.
We hope you approve of what we do for all of us who live in this lovely village and the wider parish. Every parishioner is very welcome to join us at our monthly meetings (second Thursday of the month at 7pm in the Drax Hall) to have a say and influence our decisions.

It’s perhaps worth remembering that, with the exception of the clerk, we are all unpaid volunteers and claim no expenses.

Thank you to Jon Cleave

The Parish Council would like to record its heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Jon Cleave, who has worked tirelessly to cut back, reshape and lay the hedges on the perimeter of the Cemetery. This work has been done at no charge and is to the benefit of everybody who lives in Bere Regis.

Peter Wharf
Parish Councillor

February 2012 Meeting

Awaiting Meeting

March 2012 Meeting

Awaiting Meeting

April 2012 Meeting

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May 2012 Meeting

Awaiting Meeting

June 2012 Meeting

Awaiting Meeting

July 2012 Meeting

Awaiting Meeting

August 2012 Meeting

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September 2012 Meeting

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October 2012 Meeting

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November 2012 Meeting

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December 2012 Meeting

Awaiting Meeting