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The Parish Council meets on the 2nd thursday of each month at 7pm in the Drax Hall.
Choose a Date from the menu below for that months Parish Council Minutes...
At the Council assembled for their October meeting, it was becoming apparent that we only just had a quorum - e.g. four members in attendance. a fifth arrived as we started, but it indicates the perilous situation that we sometimes may face. There is one vacancy to be filled, resulting from one Councilor moving away from the Parish, and the period whereby we would fill that vacancy by election has expired. Thus if any person, over the age of eighteen years, would like to offer themselves to be co-opted to the Council would they please contact the Clerk, Mr Jim Ruddock on 556 263.
The Community Wardens attended the meeting and introduced themselves, as the original pair are no longer serving Bere Regis. These two chaps are tasked with serving, supporting and helping the local community. The whole team of six Wardens is based in Wareham and are part funded by the Parish through the Council Tax. The Council is keen that the Wardens become known throughout the Parish, so when you see them around talk to them so that they have the confidence of members of the Parish. If you have concerns about anything tell them as they are in contact with both the Police and the District Council.The Council is investigating the introduction of an Alcohol Control Order within the centre of the Village. This is directed at underage drinking in public places. Parishioners may be interested to know that there have been fifteen such incidents within the Village since January 2003 with ten of them since July. It is clear that not all incidents during that period have been reported and Parishioners are encouraged to report any incidents of underage drinking that they may observe.
The subject of Housing in the District and County is rearing its head again. The Council received a copy of a letter addressed to the District Council by the agents for the Grainger Trust, who purchased the land vacated by the Debenham Estate four years ago. In the nicest, but most audacious way, they were suggesting that they could help solve the Affordable Housing shortage. The suggestion was for 400 houses into this Parish which only totals around 770 houses at present! There was the usual carrot of a new school, sites for a new Village Hall, a new Surgery and other amenities. This letter was directed at the District Council just as they were about to discuss the amended Local Plan. Our District Councilor attended that debate and will no doubt use his section of the magazine to report it. In the meantime the Council recognize that they have got to get down to thinking and planning the future. Some years ago we identified and listed possible 'in fill' sites though sadly such sites are not cheap and do not lend themselves for affordable housing normally.
Parishioners will have seen that there is much debate going on about waste. The County Council has held a number of exhibitions and meetings but the notice for such meetings has not been excessive. Your scribe was asked to put some posters around for a meeting at Winfrith Village Hall on the Monday after our meeting on the Thursday - time of the meeting 11am - 2pm. Hardly the most convenient venue or the best time. No doubt they then complained of the poor attendance! The fact is that something has got to be done about the waste that we all produce, fortunately the best reading on the proposals has been included in the Advertiser/Echo.At this time of the year the Council concerns itself with the annual budget and Councilors are encouraged to think about items that are needed and perhaps, based on the previous years experience, trim the budget. The Drax Hall has got several problems resulting from old age and so the Council, which has responsibilities to the Hall, will be including an item in this years budget.
Finally as I wind up I offer this suggestion to the Parish, not as Scribe but as Chairman of the Council. We are clearly in the eyes of some people ripe for expansion. It may not be now but it could be in the next decade. Time is on our hands to think about the future and I am suggesting that we should form a group entitled 'The Bere Regis Society'. This Group would have just one aim, 'the enhancement of Bere Regis'. It is to ensure that whatever happens the Community of Bere Regis has thought it all out previously. I invite comments from anybody. CM
At the November meeting the Council received a presentation on Housing entitled ‘The affordable village life programme’. This was given by the Rural Housing Enabler for West Dorset and Purbeck, Mr Andy Lloyd from Dorset Community Action (DCA). He explained the problems that rural communities faced when it comes to housing and how these problems can be overcome. Clearly the cost of housing in the rural areas is such that many people who would wish to live in their ‘home’ village find it necessary to move into the towns. This can be detrimental to the community as it removes young people out of the Village and that has an effect on the schools etc. Mr Lloyd has a plan that could be of help and the Councillors decided that we should make a start on it to firstly find out the size of the problem in Bere Regis. The first steps are consultation including conducting a Parish Housing Needs Survey. To be effective the whole Parish will be covered and of course there will be many folk who will not need to respond. The Council is keen to make this Survey as realistic as possible and will ask Parishioners to ensure that people who have had to move elsewhere but would still desire to live here, be included. Thus for example if a son or daughter are living away, you would be asked to either pass your form to them or to obtain another form to send them. This is the start of a process and no mention of sites or land is involved, it is purely to establish ‘need’. The whole process can take five years but at the end it would be hoped that our rural housing needs are satisfied and protected. We will try to get the survey underway in the New Year.
The Council has decided to move into the brave new world. Last year the Clerk was ‘armed’ with a computer complete with e-mail and this is used by all Councillors to receive correspondence and to make comments etc. It has now been decided to create - if that is the right word - a Web site. This should enable those increasing numbers of people to refer to matters concerning Bere Regis which up to now they have been unable to do. Many communities do have these sites and we have been most fortunate to have received an offer to set it up and manage it for three months. After that we will be looking for somebody to update it regularly.
The Council discussed at length the Community Warden Scheme. The funding for the present scheme is coming to an end and the pro’s and con’s of the scheme were talked of. A new scheme which should be an improvement is on offer. This scheme is more closely aligned to the Police and is available for similar hours but until later at night. The ‘Wardens Plus’ will have power to confiscate alcohol in designated areas or from young people, to confiscate tobacco from young people, to remove abandoned vehicles, to obtain the details of people acting in an anti-social manner and to service fixed penalty notices for cycling on pavements and other anti-social behaviour. The Council decided to support the new scheme which, if accepted throughout Purbeck, will come into force after April 2004.
The Cemetery Committee were complimented on the improved state of the Cemetery and it is hoped that we have now got on top of the problems that have been experienced in the past. The Committee does ask though that dead flowers etc be placed in any one of the four bins or at the top left hand corner
of the cemetery, with the grass cuttings. It makes for an untidy appearance for old flowers to be left around the edges of the ground.The Council is obtaining the Christmas trees as in past years. These will be distributed at about the same time as this journal is published so December should start with displays of colour in our Streets. The Council is grateful to those Parishioners who display trees for everyone to enjoy as they go about their business.
The Chairman and Councillors wish you all a very happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you at our meetings. The next meeting is on Thursday 11th December at 7.00pm in the Drax Hall. CM
At the December meeting we welcomed Mr J Parsons of White Lovington to the Council as our eleventh Councillor. He brings a wide experience of Parish Council work plus considerable knowledge of this area.
In the past few years during January/February we have had visits from the District Council who were seeking opinions about the Council Tax and how we as a Parish would like either reduced or improved services. The meetings were directed at Parishioners but attendance was extremely poor. Thus this year the District Council has commissioned a lobby company to undertake the task for them in the form of a questionnaire. The chosen company is Simalto and presumably they will be sending out the questionnaires to a sample of addresses in the hope of achieving a better response than the Council. If you receive a questionnaire do please try to make use of it on behalf all Council Tax payers. The County, who account for 90% of the Council Tax, are apparently undertaking a consultation approach to obtain opinions. Again if you hear of the location of a meeting, try to get to it to have your say in this tax.
The Council is concerned about the parking of vehicles around the West Street entrance to Snowhill whereby the lane is partially blocked. The last thing that the Council wishes to see are yellow lines, and there will be no need for them providing drivers park with care and consideration for others.
Concerning crime, the Chairman attended the meeting of the North Purbeck Task Group, which used to be the Crime Prevention Panel. The Group includes the Police, Community Wardens, Council Officers and Councillors from the various Parishes in the District. We were advised that as of November crime had reduced in this area by 18%. However for an incident to be considered as a crime it needs to be reported to the Police, as clearly unless there is a record there is nothing to measure and thus compare one period with another. We also learned of the Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO) and the Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC) that are being introduced in this area. An ABC is an agreement to behave more reasonably after having been caught behaving badly. Breeches of the ABC and disorderly conduct can lead to the issue of a ASBO. This would restrict the person from particular areas and from associating with particular individuals. Details of the person would be circulated in the community so that shops etc can display them. ASBO’s are operative for two years and any breech will result in a custodial sentence. Where these Orders have been used and a few have been issued in the Purbeck area, they have been shown to be successful.
The new Parish Web-site is being visited more and it should get busier as it becomes better known. There are some interesting pictures of both new & old Bere Regis on it. There is also an Events calendar and it is to be hoped that as a result we may avoid clashes in dates between organisations. The web-site address is www.bereregis.org Parishioners are also reminded that despite the TV advertisements Broadband for the Bere Regis area is a long way off as we require a minimum of 350 interested subscribers. It is therefore important that if you are interested that you register with BT. To register click here
The Council was very pleased to hear complimentary remarks about the Christmas trees and they thank all of the businesses and houses who contributed to cheering up the village at Christmastide.
The next meeting of the Council will be held on Thursday 8th January 2004 at 7.00pm in the Drax Hall. CM
Awaiting meeting
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