MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL, SOUTH CERNEY
ON WEDNESDAY 16th MAY 2007.

Present: Parish Councillors Mrs F. Chapman, J. Caunce, Mrs E. Chubb, J. Harris, Mrs D. Land, P. Jay, P. Nicholas, M. Stuart, Mrs C. Tunbridge, S. Walker, R. Webb; Youth Parish Council Members R. King, J. Lodge, D. Mills, T. Nicholas; Cotswold District Councillors Mrs J. Aram, C. Bennett and P. Messenger; Gloucestershire County Councillor S. Parsons; Police Community Support Officer L. Pooley (Gloucestershire Constabulary); Captain G. Cutter (Adjutant, 29th Postal, Courier & Movement Regiment); Roger Edgar (Ann Edwards School Governor); Tony Squire (Church Warden); Reta-May Matthews (United Reform Church); Mrs A. Stuart (Village Hall Committee).

Approximately 45 members of the public were also in attendance.

Cllr M. Stuart opened the meeting at 7.30pm and invited individual members of the Parish Council and Youth Parish Council to introduce themselves to the meeting.

APOLOGY

Roger Edgar apologised on behalf of Mrs Gould, Chairman of Ann Edwards School Governors as she was unable to attend for personal reasons.


MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

It was proposed by Mrs J. Roberts and seconded by Mrs A. Stuart that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17th May 2006 as published were a true record. The meeting was all in favour.

MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

A couple of weeks ago we had the first election of parish councillors for some 12 years. Most times we have had to beg or even bully people into being co-opted to make up the numbers but this time I am delighted to say, we had 12 candidates for 11 seats so we had an election, one of only 11 out of a possible 115 in the CDC area. To back this up we had a pretty good turn out at the polling station and I would like to thank everyone who voted especially if you voted for me!

Our new team are all here this evening and I will now ask each of them to introduce themselves and say if they are new councillors.

We had three of our previous council step down at the end of the last session and I must thank all of them for the great work they have done for this village during the past four years. I will not embarrass them by extolling their virtues but we will miss their experience and it will be a hard act for this new team to follow. Thank you so very much to David Smith, Christina Pollard and our own Mr Fixit Tony Squire.

So what have we as a council achieved for you as a community in the past 12 months? In fact this council can be rather proud of its achievements and also of how well we have managed the budget in obtaining those achievements. The successes were the result of darned good team work not only within this council but also with our working in partnership with all sorts of individuals, officials and organisations.

Our house keeping budget or the annual precept to give it its correct title was £57,000 for 2006-07. We actually spent 92.13% of that totalling £54,189.04. This current year we have to start various schemes you asked for in the Village Plan and we have increased the precept to £66,750 which means that a dwelling in the “B” band of council tax is paying £48.26 per year towards everything this parish council does. In fact the increase per week due to the raise in the precept is about 12p or 13p per week. I suggest we give darned good value for your money.

So apart from spending your money what have we achieved in the past 12 months?

The most important result I think you will agree was getting Thames Water to undertake the renewal of the faulty pumping main sewer from Robert Franklin Way to Shorncote at a projected cost of £5 million. To go back to my previous statement, this was undoubtedly the result of teamwork. Individuals like David Spencer did a lot towards the result, this Parish Council used their influence with special mention of Philip Nicholas who attended the Flooding Forum meetings where I know he used his negotiating skills to our advantage, our local District Councillors especially Clive Bennett who was like a bull dog getting results and our MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown who I know kicked some very complacent backsides and got results. Despite various claims by different political parties at the election hustings, no one person or party was responsible for the result. We did it together. Thanks to all involved.

In last year’s minutes there is mention of the Village Plan which we had put together just before that meeting. Some of the items on that Plan are permanently ongoing objectives but some of the definite aims have been completed. The most impressive being the new Play Group building. It is a fantastic place and a tremendous credit to the playgroup team responsible for getting it done. The Parish Council have supported the scheme from the start but it was their team that deserve all the praise.

Again, in last year’s meeting we spoke about the then newly formed Youth Parish Council. This group of young people have gone from strength to strength and it is especially good to see their representatives here tonight and one of them is giving a report later.

In conjunction with our friends in GRCC we carried out a Housing Needs Survey. That shows that there is a higher than expected demand for housing by local people who wish to remain in the village but cannot afford to. How that need can be satisfied will tax our brains for the next few years.

The old Preaching Cross has been renovated and looks so much better. It looked really tatty after the War Memorial was rebuilt so now we have both to be proud of. Incidentally, a special thank you to the person or people who are putting fresh flowers on the War Memorial. It’s a very special action and one that so many appreciate.

Once again we were successful in the Calor Gas Village of the Year competition and came home with £1,000 in our pocket. Last year we won the £500 first prizes in the categories for IT and “Young People” and were runners up in the Building Community Life competition.

We were not on the podium in the Bledisloe Cup last summer despite being in the finals.

At long last the three Vehicle Activated Signs were installed at the major entrances to the village and seem to have had the desired effect on most speeding drivers as have the new speed limits along the Cirencester road past Trenchard Gardens. We have requested that speed traps are used on that section but we are never informed by the police if they actually do such checks.

The new Crossing Patrol or lollypop lady as I still call her at the High Street junction with Broadway Lane is good to see. We were looking at having a pedestrian crossing there but after a traffic and pedestrian survey Gloucestershire Highways informed us that it was not justified and they would not install one.

Still on the question of streets, we have been promised that Broadway Lane will be resurfaced but not until Thames Water has completed their pipe laying works along that road. Until then, please drive along it with great care!

On the credit side we part financed the additional street lights in that area which has made it easier to see the pot holes!

We also subsidised the building by GCC PROW of the new foot bridge over the river Churn on the canal path between the Lock House and Siddington. That is part of our long term scheme in both the Village Appraisal and the Village Plan, to construct a path suitable for not only pedestrians but also wheel chair users and cyclists.

Another batch of broadleaf trees has been planted in the Upper Up recreation area and our thanks to those members of the community who have paid for these to commemorate either a loved one or a special event in their lives. That area is developing into a great facility for us all.

Again this past year we have used the services of the Payback in the Community people to carry out work we could not have otherwise afforded. I hope this service continues to be available to us.

Earlier I thanked all the councillors for their work and commitment but I must now say a special thank you to our clerk Maurice McKee. Without Maurice’s dedication to this village we would be struggling. How anyone can get through the variety of tasks that he does is beyond my comprehension and to do it all with his some times wacky sense of humour makes it a pleasure to work with him. Maurice, many thanks for all your efforts. They are truly appreciated.

So that was the year that was! We had a very successful 12 months and if we can achieve anything like it again this year, things will continue to roll on for Cerney.


REPORT BY PCSO LESLEY POOLEY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE CONSTABULARY

PCSO Pooley had little time to prepare for the meeting as she was not given the task until very recently. Nevertheless PCSO Pooley gave a comprehensive statistical report on the occurrence of crime in the area. Notably, the number of crimes recorded was very low.

Mrs J. Roberts proposed that the meeting record its thanks and appreciation for the work performed by PCSO Pooley. The meeting was all in favour.

The Chairman thanked PCSO L. Pooley (Gloucestershire Constabulary) for her attendance as it was her off duty period.

.REPORT FROM CLLR SHAUN PARSONS (GCC)

This year I will provide a brief outline of the range of services which the county council provides and also the financial constraints within which it works. The county council budget is about £600m compared to the Districts £12m. Of this £600m, £300m of this is the schools budget and ring fenced.

By way of background the county is experiencing growth in the elderly and retired relative to the total population and it is therefore no surprise that the single largest expense item is the Community and Adult Care directorate, better known as Social Services, this is about £120m and growing. The Children and Youth directorate has a budget of about £70m. This directorate is responsible for administering schools and includes other services such as the youth service. Financing costs amount to about £30m and is forecast to grow significantly. The Community Safety directorate, which is mainly accounted for by the Fire Service amounts to about £25m. This leaves the Environment Directorate which amounts to about £50m and is accounted for in the main by highways expenditure, (this excludes capital expenditure on roads) and waste, though there are a number of other services which it is responsible for such as economic development.

Local Government continues to have to meet the burden of a number of stealth taxes of which maybe the best known is the so called pension tax. 18% of the wages bill is now accounted for by pensions contributions. Further stealth taxes introduced recently have been the 5% charge on capital expenditure, which hits the highways hard since large amounts of highways expenditure is capitalised. Lastly this year the national government have introduced a further significant land fill levy. All these taxes reduce the amount of money which is available to spend on services since the government ensures that the total pot of money is kept relatively small. The government award this year was £2.6%, which was way below inflation. None the less the Conservative administration managed to hold the council tax increase to 3.4%, the lowest increase in council tax since it was introduced ten years ago.

Lastly residents should be aware that Gloucestershire does relatively poorly compared to other counties in the amount of money it receives School expenditure is £315 per child less than the average county, equivalent to £25m per annum; the Police £14m less; the NHS £66m.less. Despite continuing efforts, it would seem that central government feel that more money is not necessary since Gloucestershire has low levels of unemployment and is seen as a relatively well of county. However why this argument applies to our children I fail to understand.

Cllr P. Jay stated that the Parish Council was very grateful for the representations made on its behalf by Cllr Parsons but he was critical of the lack of facilities provided by Gloucestershire County Council for the youth of the village. From statistics recently supplied by MAIDeN and sponsored by GCC there were 434 youths in the age range 10-19 which was above the average for towns and villages of similar size to South Cerney within the Cotswold District and Gloucestershire as a whole. Coupled with those who were above the age of 44 being less than average it was obvious that South Cerney was not an old foggy village.

REPORT FROM CAPTAIN GILES CUTTER, ADJUTANT 29th PC & MC

Over the last 12 months 29 PC & Mov Regt RLC has continued to provide service support in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as undertaking worldwide deployments in smaller groupings. This included the deployment of regimental soldiers to Lebanon to facilitate the evacuation of civilian nationals during the hostilities last summer. At any one time, around a third of the regiment has been away supporting operations. The Joint Air Mounting Centre continues to assist the movement of UK-based troops to operational and exercise theatres.

The rejuvenation of the Duke of Gloucester Barracks has continued with the completion of the workshop and wash-down and the imminent commissioning of the new dining hall (the foundation stone of which was laid by the Duke of Gloucester in spring last year). Upgraded Single Living-in Accommodation Modules (SLAM) are under construction and, along with improved utilities, will assist the receipt of the Regiment’s two new squadrons which will move to South Cerney in the period Jun 08 - Jul 10. The two-phase transition will see 60 new personnel arriving next year with a further 60 shortly afterwards.

The unit continues to undertake a broad range of sporting and extra-curricular activities, making best use of the airfield and the Water Park facilities. This includes the development of the Silver Stars freefall team and military sports parachute instruction which is largely financed by offering spare seats in the team’s aircraft to civilian enthusiasts. The team’s activities are reported annually through the autumn Airfield Liaison Meeting.


REPORT FROM JOE LODGE, MEMBER OF SOUTH CERNEY YOUTH COUNCIL

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am Joe Lodge I am communicator for the South Cerney Youth Parish Council, we as a council were set up in October of last year by the CDC Youth Participation Officer Claire Dowan in conjunction will the South Cerney Parish Council. We spent the first couple of months working on how the youth parish council would work and what it is intended to do, from this we have decided to act as a shadow committee of the current parish council with the only change being the role of the clerk being split into two positions with a Minute Taker whose job is to take the minutes and write them up from our monthly meetings this position was filled by Sinead Peare and a Communicator who is responsible for the agendas and the other communications as filled by me. We have since also elected our chairperson or so called “Bossy Person” filled by Rebecca Lodge who is unable to attend due to work, and will be leaving the council due to attending university in September. And elected a Finance Manager renamed “The Man with the money” this position was filled by Michael Brown. Also joining the council currently concentrating on PR are Dominic Brown and Rachel King, and we have specialist representatives from the local secondary schools for Deer Park: Tomas Nicholas and for Kingshill: Dan Mills.

We as a council have a separate budget; in an account only the youth parish council can access, with grants from the older parish council the CDC and a private donation and the winnings from winning the Calor gas best villages in the youth section and once we are better established intend to use this to benefit the youth of the village. We make reports on what we have done each month to the older parish council and their monthly meetings. So far we have organised two major events both held in upper up play field. The first was a organised sports day in conjunction with Scott Burry, the CDC’s Sports Development officer who brought in coaches and we allowed the youth from the village and surrounding areas to be instructed in sports such as tennis, cricket and football. We have since in organised a Fun Run to raise money for sports relief, which was a major success with approximately 150 attendees.

In the future we plan to hold another of the Sports days with assistance from Scott Bury, and an organised event based on Sports and Play due to the summer off the streets campaign all to raise profile and we also intend in the future to send out leaflets and questionnaires to get more of the youth’s opinion. If you would like to contact us leave a comment on to our section of the parish council webpage or me directly by my email, which also appears on the site. If you have anything concerning the youth of the village, which requires funding you can fill out a funding application that appears on the page as well as the minutes of the monthly meetings. We intend to have an election in June should any young person be interested in standing for a position please contact me and our AGM is scheduled for the 21st of June.

Thanks for listening do you have any Questions about the Youth Parish Council or our role?


REPORT FROM CLLR. C. BENNETT (CDC)

Cllr C. Bennett firstly introduced the two newly elected District Councillors, Mrs Judith Aram and Peter Messenger to the meeting. He then paid tribute to Mrs Anne Clark who had represented the ward for the past 12 years.

Twelve months ago I was appointed to the Cabinet of the district council with the portfolio of Safe and Strong Communities. I am responsible for a department of the council which deals with anti-social behaviour so I have spent a considerable amount of time working with the police and schools. It has been very interesting but I know there is a long way to go and there is no single, simple answer to the problems caused by a small minority of youngsters. I sit on the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership committee which is made up of a variety of agencies ranging from Police, drug rehabilitation, probation service, prolific offenders, youth service schools and fire service. This committee provided £10,000 for an investigation into the anti-social behaviour black spots in Cirencester.

With the assistance of the police my department in the council has extended the area of Cirencester where it is an offence to drink in a public place. It’s been spread out from the town centre area to cover the Beeches and Chesterton. There had been problems with drunken youths on the public open spaces so a crackdown was necessary.

I spent a day out with the mobile police station. It was a great experience and the travelling copper is a very welcome sight in some of the smaller communities. It is an excellent intelligence gathering operation. People who called at the van often passed on snippets which all helped to build up a bigger picture and identified crime hotspots.

The new Neighbourhood policing scheme means that we should soon have four police officers dedicated to the area around South Cerney and the Water Park. Perhaps the next thing will be to house them locally and we can call them village Bobbies. What goes round comes round!

The council’s Community Welfare department has been raising its profile in the last year with anti-crime exhibitions and promotions in many places in the Cotswolds. Advice has been given on many aspects of property and personal security.

I am pleased to report that a survey carried out in the county revealed that those people who felt safest lived in the Cotswolds. Almost 96% of those spoken to felt safe walking alone in the district during the daytime and 66% felt safe walking alone at night. We all know that statistically we live in a safe area. I think the figures show that we are getting the message across.

I am expecting to be re-appointed to the cabinet with an increased portfolio, now to include licensing and cemeteries.

2006 CHURCH REPORT READ BY MR T. SQUIRE ON BEHALF OF THE VICAR, REV’D J. CALVERT

All Hallows, South Cerney

Fabric: most notable was the effort to raise the sum to repair the two west windows in the church. The centre window commemorating Ann Edwards contains Victorian glass of a high quality contained within 15th century tracery. The tracery needed urgent repair as it was beginning to damage the stained glass. Grants were obtained and both jig saws and Christmas cards were produced to help raise the sum required. The repairs were carried out in early 2007 and the window is now fully restored.

The enlargement of the churchyard finally came to fruition last summer with a visit by the Bishop of Gloucester, Michael Perham, to consecrate the new extension. It is now being used for the interment of ashes.

Ministry: All Hallows continues to minister to all residents in the parish through the work of church members and the local ministry team. This ministry involves a ministry to the sick and bereaved, regular contact with Ann Edwards School and the village playgroup. Both playgroup and school have attended church on various occasions in the year and the vicar led assemblies. “Open the Book” is a popular way of introducing Bible stories to the school children and this scheme is provided by a team of church members and a representative from the United Church.

Holy Week, 2006 saw some innovations with a very popular donkey-led procession on Palm Sunday, Stations of the Cross and a meal with Communion on Maundy Thursday. Christmas 2006 saw a full church for our candle-lit Carol Service, Midnight Communion and Crib Service. These and other ventures help to bring the Gospel message afresh to those who chose to take part.

The Church Street Fair and Flower Festival in its present form began in 1991 and, to quote from a piece of publicity in 1993 (written by Janis Greenwood), helped us to see that “our mission in South Cerney included, among other things, helping to foster a sense of community in an increasingly individualistic age”. Although the event has grown like topsy over the years and is an essential part of our annual financing, your church’s aim in running the event is still very much the same.

Holy Trinity, Cerney Wick

Holy Trinity continues its monthly services and caters for a small number of villages supported a contingent from South Cerney. For several years discussions have centred around the possible dual use of the church building both as a place of worship and a village hall. I am extremely disappointed to acknowledge that what at first appeared to be an exciting and viable project, fully supported by the diocese and the Parochial Church Council, eventually failed because it was not supported by the majority of villagers. This means that the future of the church building is not secure.

Closing Comments

This is my last report for the Parish Council as, after 20 years of ministry in the parish, I am to retire shortly. It has been a privilege to share in so many people’s joys and sorrows and, as well as exercising leadership in the church, I hope I have also contributed positively to the community at large.

With my prayers and best wishes for South Cerney and Cerney Wick as they face the future.

SOUTH CERNEY UNITED CHURCH REPORT BY RETA-MAY MATTHEWS

As the representative from South Cerney United Church, I wish to thank the Parish Council and other village organisations not only for this opportunity to speak but for their support over the last several years during our redevelopment. For those of you not familiar with us we are a non-conformist joint Congregational and Methodist Church welcoming all denominations to worship and share in our community activities. We are part of a local group of Churches based in Cirencester and our current minister is ordained through the United Reformed Church. Our congregation in South Cerney consists of approximately 30 members and adherents. We are fully accredited to provide baptism, wedding, funeral and pastoral care services.

Over the past several years we had made significant improvements to our building including access for all abilities which has allowed us to greatly expand our weekly activities and services to our members and to the community. In addition to our original Sunday worship, Thursday coffee morning and monthly Fellowship, we have been running a very successful Parents and Toddlers morning for approximately 9 years. "Cerney Seedlings" has about 30 little ones on the active register and more are being added on a regular basis. Events such as The Cirencester Band Concert and our monthly non-cash Bingo afternoons are also well attended.

Several years ago we extended our weekly coffee morning to include a lunch club which is very popular and this is followed by an activities afternoon where people are encouraged to congregate to knit, play board games, Whist or just to ‘sit and natter’. We also have arts and crafts on a separate afternoon. Our worship services now include a bible study group and informal quiet times set aside for contemplation, discussion, music, prayer and sharing to enrich our spiritual life. There is something along these lines available every Monday at 2:30 pm so anyone of any denomination can come to join us especially if they have missed a Sunday service. All our special events and weekly activities are well publicised in the Cerney News. We would like to see increased village participation at these as they are meant to be all inclusive.

The CDC also runs two exercise programs at our facility. One is geared for the less active as a falls prevention course and the other is 18 moves for health, calm and well being. The ‘Active and Able’ class is very well attended but the Tai Chi for beginners may have to be discontinued as attendance is dropping. If you know of anyone who is not up to the Tai Chi Classes here at the Village Hall, one of our two courses may suit them. This week the CDC has also started a pilot group Weight Management Course with us and it is already fully booked. Other than these CDC sponsored events, all our activities are run by unpaid volunteers from our church and members of our Circuit churches.

Currently the only day of the week that the building is not in regular use is Friday. Since we are now seen as a bit of a village "drop in" centre, we would like to encourage some organisation other than ourselves to come in on Fridays to perform just such a service. I don’t know how it can be done or what the limitations would be, but we are ideally situated for such a service to be offered. I am sure many in the village who care for an elderly or disabled person would be glad of a safe, secure environment where their loved one could perhaps have lunch and be cared for over a few hours. I have been contacted by one person with similar thoughts and would appreciate any input, positive or negative, from any interested party.

All our rooms are available for rental and with our new improvements rental income has increased. We are currently looking for a qualified cleaner 4 hours a month to help keep things in order. If you know of anyone please let us know. The candidate will have to be CRB checked at our expense to comply with our "Safe from Harm" policy as we are a popular venue for children’s parties etc. St John’s Ambulance Courses are regularly held in our building. With the addition of a new electric piano, we are also now regularly renting to music groups for rehearsals and meetings and other village and local organisations have used our rooms from time to time as we keep our rental fees in line with those of the Village Hall.

On occasion we worship with All Hallows and we work in conjunction with them to present a united Christian presence in the village. They continue to use our building and share utility costs and other agreed expenses. Income from rentals also goes into the Joint Church Account to help defray these expenditures. Recently and in the past I have received phone calls regarding the Old Post Office and although the former residents were members of our church, we would like to point out that we are in no way connected to the sale or the development of said property which was left to Cancer Research.

Lastly, South Cerney United Church would like to invite you all to celebrate the completion of our latest redevelopment project on Sunday 24th June. Refreshments will be served from 4:30pm onwards and will be followed by a special Thanksgiving service at 6pm led by our minister Rev Stuart Drummond.

REPORT ON ANN EDWARDS CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL READ BY ROGER EDGAR ON BEHALF OF STEPHEN RICHARDSON, HEADTEACHER

Personnel
We have seen more changes in staff this year. Mrs Anne Clayton and Mrs Stefanie Rothery were taken on as teaching assistants and Mr Andrew Kirkup and Miss Molly Russell as full-time teachers. We also congratulate Mrs Vicki Roseblade who is pregnant. The governing body has also seen more changes with Mrs Cheryl Svennson, Mr Steven Walker and Mrs Vicki Jones joining us as parent governors.

Curriculum and SATS
All the children in KS2 and Y2 are about to take their optional or statutory SATs and our SATs results for 2006 were very pleasing, with excellent progress being made by children within the school and pupils achieving well at the end of KS2. The school continues to offer a good quality of education for its pupils and they receive a broad and balanced curriculum. We are a category 2A school within the LEA.

Other extra curricular school activities
The school continues to offer a full range of after school clubs including for example, football, netball, tag rugby, cricket, rounders, cookery, gardening, Spanish, computer, chess, bug club, scrabble club, modelling/warhammer club, French, drama and judo. These are well attended by the pupils. Our Y4, Y5 and Y6 children have either taken part in or will soon be taking part in residential visits to The Wilderness Centre, Braeside, and Skern Lodge. We now offer an after school club from 3pm-6pm run by Gooseberry Bush nursery and take up as been very good. Plans for a breakfast club are being considered for September. Premier Sports now co-ordinate clubs in basketball, football and gymnastics.

Health 4 Schools
We are taking part in the above project with a view to increasing children’s awareness of growing, cooking and eating their own food and keeping fit. We have installed better cooking equipment in school and each class has access to an area to grow vegetables and plants. Our broad beans and other crops are looking good. We have started a toastie Tuesday initiative where children can buy toast at break time and this is also proving very popular.

Other projects
We have had visits from the Lifestyle Education Bus, various theatre groups, Nick Williams the Birdwise man and the children have visited SCOEC for two days. Pupils will be taking part in the Dance Festival, schools swimming gala and have played a number of sporting fixtures against other schools. We continue to work closely with the Playgroup in their new building and we have allowed them to use part of our playing field which will soon be fenced to allow them more grass area. We have plans to add to our outdoor play equipment over the summer term – the tyre play system has been a wonderful addition and the entrance to the school is to be moved to allow better access and exit from school.

 
VILLAGE HALL REPORT BY MRS A. STUART

The hall continues to be used by diverse groups, from toddlers who have been honing their cooking skills, to the Cosy Club, run by the older members of the community.

A number of changes took place on the management committee, with Peter Jay stepping down after carrying out the duties of treasurer for a number of years. We were delighted to welcome Roger and Gill Scott who have taken on the task. The Caretaker also stood down after 6 years of sterling work. We were pleased to welcome John Veitch to the position of Booking Clerk/Cleaner. John continues to keep up the standards set by Fiona and Nigel Keates, the previous Caretaker duo.

This year a decision was made to change the night of running the Cerney Cinema from Saturday to Friday. As last year, attendance during the winter months was down, which was not helped by the poor choice of films. However the CDC has been able to arrange for popular films to be shown over the past couple of months and we have raised a considerable amount of money towards village hall funds. (On Friday we are showing ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ – why not come along – I understand it is an excellent film, in June we are showing ‘The History Boys’ and in July we hope to show ‘Miss Potter’ – so you see currently it remains a good selection of films.)

Again all on the Village Hall Management Committee would like to thank the Parish Council for their continued financial support.

Finally thanks should go to all the Trustees of the Village Hall who continue to be very proactive. Attendance at committee meetings remains excellent and generally everyone works for the good of the hall. Thank you.

DAVID HOWARD ON BEHALF OF THE CERNEY WICK VILLAGE COMMITTEE

Dr Howard jokingly mentioned that a more appropriate title might be the Cerney Wick Tent Committee now that tents had been substituted in place of the village hall. He was disappointed that the dual purpose plan envisaged for the use of Holy Trinity church as a village hall had for various reasons been abandoned primarily in his view as there was no security of tenure and there was the emotional problem with some residents reconciling the change from a building of worship to include secular activities. It was the intention of the Cerney Wick Village Committee to erect a village hall and he hoped that the scheme might be included in the South Cerney Parish Council’s village plan projects.

Dr Howard complained about the state of the verges, especially in the vicinity of “Morning Dew”, caused by contractors’ vehicles parked there and forcing other large vehicles using the carriageway to use the opposite verge when passing by, thereby causing damage. The road verge was very dilapidated and he would like to see the lane restored. Cllr Caunce interrupted stating that he had been in contact with the owner of the property who had agreed to inform the contractors and made a commitment to reinstate.

Dr Howard was also concerned about the junction of Cerney Wick lane, Station Road and the Spine Road which he considered dangerous. He suggested that speed restrictions be imposed. Cllr C. Bennett (CDC) informed him that speed restrictions are being discussed.

One gentleman in the audience enquired if the car park at Upper Up might be resurfaced in tarmacadam. Cllr M. Stuart replied that an estimate had been acquired but the cost was prohibitive. At today’s prices it would cost in the range of £25,000. It was not just the laying of tarmacadam but also the associated drainage work which would be necessary. By creating such a large area rain water would flood into Upper Up causing more problems.

Cllr Mrs Land complained about the speed of some vehicles in Broadway Lane.

There being no further business Cllr Stuart closed the meeting at 9.20pm.