Chairman’s Report - Annual Parish Meeting 2009
Held on Wednesday 13 May 2009 at 7.30pm
In the Meeting Point, High Bickington

Welcome to your Annual Parish Meeting for 2009. I think we would all agree that the most important event of the past year has been the grant of planning permission for the Little Bickington Farm site, which means that we can finally, after 9 long and frustrating years, get on with building our new village hall, secure some affordable houses for local people and protect them through our parish Community Property Trust. We can build some rural workshops to stimulate some local jobs, and convert the redundant and run down farm buildings at Little Bickington into some useable homes. Eventually we also hope to get Devon County Council’s go-ahead to build a new school on the site, securing its future against any threats of closure due to the unsuitability of the current buildings. Our thanks are due to David Brown who has chaired the Community Property Trust and given up huge amounts of his own time to achieve this success for absolutely no reward, and to our parish council vice chairman Mike Leatham who has been our parish council representative as a director on the Community Property Trust committee, and all the other active members who have supported and sustained this project.

I recognise that there are inevitably residents of our parish, and some in neighbouring villages, who are concerned about some of the side effects of developing Little Bickington Farm such as noise, disruption, extra traffic on our roads and that new houses will also attract newcomers to our village. But I hope that in the long run we end up with a more viable community, where people with strong local links can buy, buy a share of a property, build their own or rent suitable houses, find local work and workplaces and be assured that facilities like our village school will be secured for their children in the future.

We had a massive consultation effort to find out what everyone wanted for our village, and we developed our Parish Plan from this. Now we’re getting a chance to put the first phase into action, providing we can raise the funds to do it, and inevitably most of this work will again fall on the Community Property Trust, so I hope everyone will support the volunteers who are making this possible. I also hope of course that any development will fit in well with our village’s distinctive local style and rural character. The next phase, for the future but worth thinking about now, will be to consider again what everyone would like done with the existing school, playground and church hall sites when they eventually become redundant – you as contributors to the Parish Plan originally suggested that perhaps converting back the old almshouses to sheltered accommodation for our elderly residents would be a high priority, once the future of our young people is assured.

During the year we have also been ‘consulted’ about changes to the structure of Devon County and the District Councils – if you can call being told what is going to happen by the Boundary Commission and then asked if we agree with that a consultation. We still do not know what’s going to happen.

With our clerk Di Carter’s help and through the generosity of Cllr John Rawlinson of Devon County Council and Torridge District Councillor James Morrish we have received several grants over the last year; money which could have been used for new facilities for young people, but which because of silly vandalism have had to be used to repair facilities like your bus shelter, parish noticeboards, play areas, community woodland and the sports pavilion instead, which is sad.

Apart from that we’ve tried to make sure that the village runs smoothly, that potholes get reported, drains cleared properly, street lighting is maintained, that you’re warned about criminals operating in the area, that play areas get inspected, footpaths are accessible and all the other day to day activities of the parish can continue, and for this I have to thank all of the hard working and largely unsung volunteers who represent you as your parish council, and our excellent clerk Di.

Please continue to support the work of all the local organisations, institutes and clubs who put on so many annual fetes and weekly activities, our sports teams, pub teams and other social events, and the local businesses and facilities like the churches, post office and shop, golf club, pubs and local craftsmen and craftswomen. Without all of them this would be a ghost village. Money spent in the village goes round in the local economy, helping us all.

As we look forward to a new year and new challenges for the parish as we start the work at Little Bickington, we ought perhaps to reflect on the people who have supported us such as Cllr Des Shadrick who recently died, Cllr John Rawlinson who has announced his retirement. And of course not forgetting our villagers who have also sadly died this year including amongst others former District Councillor and local farmer Stan Tucker and my own neighbour and farmer Jack Down. And with the loss of such prominent members of an older generation we can perhaps mark the change from a village where most people once worked in agriculture to a new rural economy where we can welcome and embrace changes without losing our close community ties and distinctive North Devon character.

Finally if anyone has any concerns, questions or ideas please do approach any of your parish councillors and talk to us, we’re here to help – and please feel welcome to come along to any parish council meeting and have your say, that’s what we’re here for. It has been a great privilege to represent you as your chairman for the past year, and I wish you all success in the year to come. Thank you.

Myc Riggulsford
Chairman