Chairmans Report May 21/22
As is usual, the Parish Council have been incredibly busy over the last twelve months. Often much of this work revolves around responsibilities that are invisible to many, and it all takes time when multiple organisations are involved in work that is necessary for the smooth running of the village
As well as the many trees we are responsible for, there are multiple other mundane issues like litter bins, speeding and unsocial behaviour that are dealt with on a regular basis. But we have also fulfilled some historic achievements for the village over the last year, which we are very proud of.
In May 2021 we began the tender process for the refurbishment of the pavilion on the Wilmott Recreation ground. This was awarded to Chris Paxton, a local builder, and it has been exciting watching the extension being built and grow into a building we are going to be proud to invite visitors to. The new extension provides new changing rooms and showers for our home teams, and there is also a new, properly equipped disabled toilet and ramp to enable easy access into the building. The kitchen area and function room have also had a face lift and are much improved. The Pavilion’s official opening to the public will be on 2nd June at the Jubilee ‘Picnic in the Park’ at 2.00pm. This ends what I believe, is a twenty plus year debate on what should be done to the building. We hope that both our sporting groups and many other people will now enjoy the much-improved facilities that have been achieved.
The many hours of work by the Old School advisory group and our Clerk, has been our greatest and most historic achievement this year. The lease for the ‘Old School Community Centre’, OSCC for short, was officially signed on 28th January 2022, after almost two years of discussions with SCDC. The library has changed its layout and hopefully in the future will have its own designated room. Two birthday parties have been held there already and the village band are back practicing on Thursday evenings. We are delighted that the WI have decided to hold their monthly meetings there too. The Parish Council’s meetings and the Clerk’s office is also based there, and any enquires about using the OSCC can be found on the Councils website.
The Parish Council established good communication links with Bassingbourn Barracks when it first re-opened, and since then the Clerk and Cllr Wakefield have been regularly attending the Welfare meetings organised by their Welfare Officer. I was honoured to attend one on the 4th May when I signed the ‘Armed Forces Covenant’ on behalf of the Parish Council.
This covenant encourages support for the Armed Forces Community working and residing in our Parish and recognises the sacrifices they make. The covenant includes in-service and ex-service personnel, their families and widow(er)s. It also encourages the Armed Forces community to support events being held within the local community, which was discussed on the day of signing the covenant.
Another great achievement was news that Bassingbourn-cum-Kneesworth’s Community Covid Response group had been nominated for an award launched jointly by the Members of Parliament who represent Cambridgeshire. It was a wonderful surprise to receive a letter from our MP Anthony Browne, to say that Bassingbourn-cum-Kneesworth’s Covid Community Response group had been given the Award. Congratulations to them all, for their hard work and dedication throughout the most difficult time many of us have ever experienced.
Congratulations to Susan Van De Ven for being elected as District Councillor as well as County Councillor for Bassingbourn-cum-Kneesworth. Susan works tirelessly for our village as well as the other villages she represents. We look forward to continuing to work with her.
Finally, a few ‘Hello’s and Farewells need to be said.
We said ‘hello’ to Natalie Mulvey in September of last year, as our new Responsible Financial Officer. She is another great asset to the Parish Council and will work alongside Val, our Parish Clerk and Barbara, who is now Assistant Clerk.
This May we said ‘farewell to six of our councillors. Mike Hallett, Alex Hirtzel, Steve Sams, Taff Geraghty, Dave Oakley and Mark Parish. I would like to thank them for the time and energy that goes into being a Parish Councillor and wish them well.
This May was an Election year when members of the public who wish to become a Parish Councillor can stand for election. As only six members of the public stood and six councillors had stood down, it meant the Election was uncontested and all six people were duly elected to the Council. We therefore welcome Tracey Potter, Tom Marriage, Mark Flitton, Eric Trim, Andy Arnold and Brian Baldwin. We look forward to working with you in the future with the skills you bring to the Council.
Finally, we say ‘Au revoir’ to our District Councillor, Nigel Cathcart. Nigel has been our District Councillor for 32 years and during that time he has worked tirelessly for our village and its residents. Nigel has been acutely aware of its needs and most recently has been involved with the discussions regarding the Old School Community Centre. Without him being able to chase up the relevant departments to keep the process moving, we may still be waiting for South Cambs DC to supply the lease. I hope you will join us in wishing Nigel and Tessa much happiness in their retirement, and hope Nigel will still pop into meetings from time to time.
Finally, “Thank you’ to both the Clerks and Councillors, who over the last year have continued to work in often difficult circumstances to achieve so much for this village. We look forward to a quieter year now that the two major projects have been completed and hope you all enjoy using them.
Elaine Douglass
Chairman of Bassingbourn-cum-Kneesworth Parish council