Chairman’s Message

Dear Residents,

A new 4 year term for councillors after the recent elections and we have had some changes on the Parish Council. Cllrs.Peter Bryne, Brian King and Alan Draycott decided not to seek re-election but I would like to thank them for all the work and commitment they showed in their respective terms of office.  Unfortunately of one of our councillors who did seek re-election was Mrs.Celia Stephenson and I know how disappointed Celia was, she had made a very valuable contribution to the Parish Council and had led a sub group over the last year updating and adding to our play equipment at the Community Centre and Beech Lane (adding exercise equipment for all ages) hopefully we will still see her at some of our meetings.
We have 4 new councillors, Iris Howes, Janet Hayes (Janet has served previously on the Parish Council a couple of terms ago), Gary Hamson (who has also served previously) and Kev Garvey.  The others who were re-elected are Darren Adams-Shaw, Barbara Harrison, Helena Chapman, Bruce Broughton and myself.

We have had our Annual Meeting and I am honoured to say that I have been elected Chairman for the year 2011/12 and Helena Chapman as Vice-Chairman, the other sub committees have been delegated and all councillors will be involved in at least l committee.  These committees are varied i.e. Community Centre, Village Hall, Ann Powtrell, Scargill Educational Foundation, Powtrell Community Pavilion, Football Club Liaison and if we have any projects we usually set up a small sub committee to deal with this.
We all know and possibly do not need reminding that money is going to be tight and we will certainly not be having any increase in our budget from the Borough Council and therefore we will have to be doubly careful as to how we allocate our funds, we have always been very prudent but I believe even we can 'tighten our belt' even more but what we do not want to do  is cut down on our essential

May 2011

services such as mowing and litter picking, we want West Hallam to remain as it is now a pleasant and welcoming place to live.  It may be that when we have had a couple of parish meetings and our new councillors are settling in that we can carry out a resident survey as to what you all see as the main prioritities for West Hallam we think we know but it is always better to check!!
One of the things that possibly slipped over the last few months in the life of the last Parish Council was the electronic newsletter and I hope that we can make this a more regular feature, if there is anything you would like to know more about, whether it be about your councillors, the way the money comes to the Parish Council from you the residents and Erewash Borough Council or what duties we can and do carry out please feel free to let us know.
I hope you all find the website interesting and informative it is a quick, easy and cost effective way of getting our activities over to you but please feel free to let us know if there is anything more we can do

All Councillors details are on the web site but as we always say there is a chance for you to talk to us in the half an hour open session before every Parish meeting please come along  you would be made most welcome.
Kind regards,
Carol Hart
Chairman, West Hallam Parish Council