Annual Parish Meeting 2024

ANNUAL PARISH MEETING – TUESDAY 7th MAY 2024

Annual Parish Meeting Agenda 2024

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Chair address Annual Parish meeting May 7th 2024

Firstly I am going to thank all my fellow councillors for all their hard work and commitment as volunteers to ensure the residents of Wroughton have a village they can be proud of. We all have the interests of the village at the forefront and despite the challenges faced we consider that we are moving to achieve that.

Sadly, in the last few months we have lost two of our councillors – Jeremy Kemble and Dave Edwards, both unexpected and a huge loss to their families and friends as well as to the council. So far, we have co-opted Eric Shaw, still leaving one vacancy.

Led by Emma, all the office, grounds team, library and Community centre staff, also deserve a huge pat on the back for their efforts in dealing with all the issues and general day to day tasks in achieving the progress we have made to make Wroughton a great place to live.

We have now taken over as sole trustees of the Ellendune Hall Trust so there is more to do to make this work better, and more economically.

The library is also in our hands and is flourishing with the number of visits and the number of book loans increasing.

We are mindful of the recent new developments in the village, both Berkley Farm,  Ridgeway View and Clevedon Gardens, plus Wichelstowe is building out at a good rate. The BF and RV were both granted on appeal, and we now welcome all of these new residents to our village and support them equally to those who have been here for much longer.

We have been working closely with the Joint Venture team at Wichelstowe and the plans for the Community Centre and sports pitches over there. We will soon be installing a Parish Notice board near the district centre for the residents there. We are also hoping we can encourage some representation from Wichelstowe onto the council.

Our Neighbourhood plan is due for review when SBC council get their act together and publish their local plan, and we are planning to bring together a working party to consider how we progress with that. We will of course have public meetings to gain the views of the people of Wroughton in this process.

Your will have noticed that the Grounds team are now working out if Unit 1 of the Wroughton Business Park and have fitted out a workshop within the unit and storage for all the equipment and vehicles.

You will also have noticed the addition of our new Road Sweeper which will eventually get around to all the roads but please be patient, there are a lot of roads to sweep. This new vehicle will not only make the roads look better, but also help to keep the drains and gulleys clear.

We have upgraded the Wier Field and Badgers Brook play areas and I’m sure Graham will expand on this.

Myself, Emma and Graham regularly join the meetings of the Swindon Local Council Forum, which brings all the Parishes together to share information and negotiations with SBC.

Emma and Myself are also on the Transfer of Services committee to assist the Forum with the future services SBC will be offloading to the Parishes. This has been a lengthy process with little progress so far, but we know that it will happen at various levels to each parish during this year or next.