Parish Council May News

At the Parish Council AGM and meeting on 7th May, Adrian Bamford stepped down as Chairman and Sarah Bamford was elected, the first female to hold the Chair since the Parish Meeting (the forerunner of the council) in 1844. Adrian, who has chaired the council for the past 2 years and served on the Parish Council since 1987 will continue to serve as a Parish Councillor and will lead the newly formed Policy and Resources group. Peter Worsley, re-elected as Vice Chairman, presented Adrian with a certificate marking his service to the Parish.

Stuart Fowler who has served on the Parish Council for 16 years, 11 years as Chairman, announced his retirement and was presented with a certificate of meritorious service and a silver gavel. During what has been a very industrious retirement for Stuart, he has served on not only the Parish Council, but also the Standards Committee of Cheltenham Borough Council, the C5 Group (founder member), as a school governor and a member of the Portland Practice Patients’ Participation group. He said it had been an honour and a privilege to work with industrious and dedicated officials, thanked the clerk Kathyrn Oakey and wished the new council well in its future endeavours.

A few changes have been made to the structure of the Parish Council’s working groups (where the hard work goes on so recommendations can be brought to Parish Council meetings for decisions to be made). Planning and Finance have been merged to form a Policy and Resources group. Social and Community has merged with Recreation and Culture to form a Social and Recreation group. We are keen to see these groups meeting regularly and ensuring that the Parish Council becomes more proactive in addressing issues of concern in our neighbourhood. The Police and Community Safety Group led by David Young has shown the way by taking the initiative to identify issues of concern to people living in Up Hatherley and reinvigorating neighbourhood watch schemes as well as holding a very well attended bicycle marking event.

We welcomed a new Parish Councillor Andy Ponting, who was seconded at the last meeting. John Furley and Bob Wilcox joined us at the January meeting. With Stuart’s retirement, we now have 3 vacancies on the Parish Council and we would be delighted to hear from anyone living or working in the Parish who would like to get involved. We would particularly welcome people living in the North wards of the Parish (the area between Windermere Road, Alma Road and Hatherley Road) and from women and younger people ( we are alas almost all over 60). It is not a huge time commitment. Parish Council meetings take place 6 times a year and if you get involved with a working group maybe a further 6 times a year – but you can decide what you want to get involved in and how much time you want to spare. Being a Parish Councillor is entirely voluntary, but it is not onerous and it is satisfying to get involved in making a difference to the place that you live. If you didn’t want to commit to being a Councillor you could also be co-opted on to one of the working groups, Social and Recreation would particularly welcome anyone in the Parish who felt they help out with the organisation of our existing events or even suggest new ones.