Chairman’s Report, 26th April 2010

• Gypsies and Travellers.At the start of the year, the subject of ‘provision of sites for gypsies and travellers’ was of much concern within the parish. This followed the publication of the Scott Wilson Report in March 2007. The government had told the Council that 25 additional pitches would be required within the District. As far as I can tell EHDc have not published any further documents. This is in spite of stating at the inquiry into ‘The Stables’ (Rumball’s Hump) that this was imminent in June 2009.
• Finance. The Council has again had a successful year with regards to finance. We decided in January 2009 to keep the precept at the same level and have done so again in January 2010. This is largely due to the change in the grass cutting contractor to John O’Connor. John O’Connor have been contractor for this year at the same cost per cut. The Council is currently completing the Audit for the year ending 31 March 2010. David Latham has again agreed to act as internal auditor.
• Village Sign. ‘Bayford. please drive carefully.’ We have purchased the materials for a new village sign on the road from the station, to replace the one demolished some time ago. As stated previously, EHDC would not finance this replacement, as is seems to slip between departments. However, a small grant has been obtained from HCC. The reconstruction has been delayed by the bad weather but should be completed soon.
• Litter Bin.A new litter bin has also been purchased for the bus shelter. In the coming year we intend to replace the fencing around Bayford Green and to replace the notice board on the bus shelter. We also intend to paint the inside of the bus shelter as a remedy for the graffiti which have appeared there. This is preferable to attempting to remove the paint, which is extremely time consuming, requires special equipment and over time could damage the fabric.
• War Memorial We have started the process of restoring the war memorial. Since I started looking into this further damage has occurred because of the hard frosts in January and February. This looks like being a long process as in order to obtain a grant from English Heritage, approved contractors must be used. Brickendon PC will also be approached when further information is available.
• Rose Triangle. We are grateful to Bill Brace and his helpers for organising the maintenance of the rose triangle, with regular sessions on the first Sunday of the month. It is much improved on previous years when the maintenance was somewhat ad hoc. Bill also painted the benches on the Green. We are also grateful to Bill for monitoring the Public Footpaths in the parish. During the year, kissing gates were installed on the footpath No 1 near broad Green Wood, apparently in a national drive to make footpaths more accessible. The replacement of all stiles on this stretch is delayed by the fact that the footpath does not follow the official line.
• Playground. Following the replacement of the playground fence and lockable gate, we are grateful to Roy Webb for locking and unlocking the gate on a daily basis. I believe this has prevented the abuse of the playground by older ‘children’ in the evenings.
• Village Clean Up. The sixth annual Village Clean Up was help on 21st March. This was again a very successful event. Surprisingly, in view of the amount collected in previous years, another huge pile of rubbish was collected. We are grateful to everyone who turned up on a warm and sunny day, and especially to George for organising the equipment with EHDC in spite of being out of the country for much of March. (non dom) and also to alan for provided transport.
• Litter Picking. Paul Curzon was appointed as litter picker for the Parish. He is responsible for roughly, the area within the 30mph zone. He has done an excellent job.