Hoathly Hub

Speak Out!

Tell us
your
views!

You are not currently signed-in to the Hoathly Hub. Sign in

Your Parish Council - what are we up to?

CLOSED Parish Council Chairman's Blog

Author: John Downe

Published: Friday, 1st July 2011

After all the excitement of the elections on May 5th, your 11 elected councillors have been getting down to work! Derek Bartlett stood down as Chairman after 5 years and we are very grateful for all his hard work during that time.

We have elected a new Chairman (John Downe) and Peter Hartley will continue as Vice Chairman. We have decided to try to make your Parish Council's activities more transparent and relevant by summarising what we are up to in this Blog which also has a facility for any Hoathly Hub registered Parish resident to add their feedback and suggestions.

We agreed to keep more or less the same committee structure as before. The committees are "Rural Management", "Highways & Transport", "Planning" and "Finance & Administration (including West Hoathly Village Hall Management)". See our website to find out about the responsibilities of each committee.

In our first couple of Council meetings we have identified some key areas to start work on in addition to our ongoing basic responsibilities. For example, we have:

  • Approached our neighbouring Parish Councils (Turners Hill, Horsted Keynes and Ardingly) to explore opportunities for collaborating in addressing the common issues and needs of the "cluster" of Parishes more economically and effectively.
  • Invited regular West Hoathly Hall users to be more closely involved in the active management of the Hall as there are a number of major improvements and updates planned for the next few years.
  • Agreed to research the current community facilities and buildings that are available and what may be needed in the future.
  • Engaged a specialist consultancy to help us develop a plan to reduce the negative impact of traffic and parking on the lives of residents.
  • Decided to formulate a Neighbourhood Plan to guide the Parish Council's responses to Planning applications and encourage new affordable housing.
  • Planned to ensure your Parish Council is enabled by the end of 2011 to take on additional powers under the new Localism Act to satisfy better local needs.
  • Agreed to investigate the creation of a Youth Council to engage the younger members of the community and better understand their needs.
  • Agreed to invite all Parish organisations and groups to a meeting in the Autumn to coordinate events over the Royal Jubilee weekend in June 2012. We would particularly like to encourage celebrations that bring different areas of the Parish together.

In future months I will let you know how we're getting on with these and other projects!

John Downe

Chairman, West Hoathly Parish Council

We always welcome your questions and comments on any of the above and other local issues - contact details are on our website or use this Blog to Speak Out.

Don't forget you are welcome to come to any Parish Council and committee meetings - the full schedule is on the Hoathly Hub.

NB West Hoathly Parish Council's decisions and other minutes of the Parish Council which are recorded in the Clerk's minutes of the statutory meetings of the Council are the complete and formal record. This article is intended to give an informal narrative for residents of what has been happening in your Parish Council.
Click here to open the Parish Council Document Library...

2 comments. Latest posted more than a year ago

4

18 Jul 2011
9:42am
Resident of West Hoathly

2. The traffic problems of West Hoathly village are unique because it is effctively the only entrance to a busy area of industry and leisure activity. Na... [please sign-in to read more]

 

18 Jul 2011
11:03am
Friend of the Parish

Re your external consultancy point, we expect that the specialist analysis and recommendations will better equip us to argue for action across a range... [please sign-in to read more]

 

1 Jul 2011
4:25pm
Resident of Highbrook

1. Well done! A tad tedious having to sign in to read the blog!

 

1 Jul 2011
4:44pm
Friend of the Parish

Thanks and congratulations on being the first to comment. The reason for the sign-in is to ensure only Parish residents can comment. Once signed-in to... [please sign-in to read more]

 

I would just like to say...In response...


Max 2000 characters.

Current Articles:

Archived Articles:



It's me again!not joined yet?

,

.

 

Oh no! I've forgotten my password!
Not a problem - fill in your EMAIL ADDRESS then click HERE
and we will email a new one to you!

Hello Hoathly Hub - I would like to join!already joined?

My name is  .

I am a  .

I would like to be known to the Hoathly Hub as
and I would like my password to be
(I'll type it again just to be sure I got it right!) .

So that you can contact me, my email address is
or you can phone me on   .

Please me the weekly email Digest of news
and upcoming events in and around West Hoathly Parish.

Please me (very occasional!) email alerts
(road closures, extreme weather conditions, etc).

echo '';

 

I understand that my name, email address and phone number will not be displayed to non-members
and that my personal details will never knowingly be made available to 3rd parties for any purpose.
However I do realise that (like on most websites), Hoathly Hub cannot absolutely guarantee its confidentiality.

Hello Hoathly Hub!

If you wish to post something on our Noticeboard or Calendar
please SIGN IN or JOIN THE HUB first!

My name is .

So that you can reply, my email address is

or you can phone me on  .

I would just like to say: