Wymeswold Playing Field and Sports Pavilion

The extended and refurbished sports pavilion was officially opened on 28^th June, and is now an impressive community facility. The Parish Council would like to encourage more community groups/ organisations to make use of it, and would be interested to hear from interested parties, you don’t need to be a sports club/ group to make use the pavilion. The Parish Council is in the process of applying for funding to complete the ‘fit out’ works including benches etc.

Community Asset

Following concern from some of the regulars at ‘The Three Crowns’, the Parish Council registered the building as a community asset. It is only the ninth listing with the Borough Council. The community right to bid means communities can ask to list certain assets, such as shops, pubs or other local facilities, as being of value to the community. If an asset is listed and then comes up for sale, the right will give the community six months to put together a bid to buy it.

Washdyke

The Washdyke project has been fulfilled and the Committee has disbanded. The Washdyke is in the control of the Parish Council with volunteer work parties carrying out seasonal work which will be organised by the former Washdyke Committee. The Parish Council wishes to thank the Washdyke Association for the effort in securing grants for the play equipment, as well as planting and maintaining the orchard, another fantastic village facility.

Mowing and Paths

In addition to mowing and maintaining areas of the village such as the churchyard, cemetery, playing field, Washdyke and around the Memorial Hall, last year the Parish Council opted to take on the maintenance of the grass verges in the village from the County Council. The figure to do so, equates to nearly 50% of the precept (the amount of funding received by the Parish Council from the Council Tax). Please help us to keep the village looking tidy by parking considerately.

Wysall Lane / East Road junction

The Parish Council recognises that there are safety issues for both pedestrians and motorists at this busy junction and continues to lobby the County Council over proposed improvements. Road markings and signage have been altered this year in an attempt to alert drivers to the width of the carriageway at this point.

Speeding and Speedwatch

Speed and volume of traffic continues to be a major concern in the village. The Parish Council would be interested to hear from volunteers willing to carry out another Community Speedwatch Campaign.

Cemetery

Further maintenance work has been carried out at the cemetery on Rempstone Road. Graves have also been cleaned and cleared of any foliage.

Planning and development

The Parish Council is consulted by Charnwood Borough Council over all new planning applications within the parish. Charnwood Borough have now formerly adopted their Core Strategy which excludes new development in Wymeswold unless there are exceptional circumstances. Both appeals against the decision to refuse outline planning for housing developments on land of Burton Lane and East Road have been withdrawn.

Wymeswold Memorial Hall

The Parish Council made a contribution to the replacement of windows in the main hall, and wish to thank the WMH committee for their continued programme of refurbishment and energy saving improvements to the building.

Parish Council communication

Apart from regular updates in the ‘Christian Link’, the Loughborough Echo and on the notice board, news from the Parish Council is updated on the village website www.wymeswold.com and also on the Parish Council website http://www.leicestershireparishcouncils.org/wymeswold/.

I hope this summary gives you an outline of some of the many issues we cover as a Parish Council. There are also many other matters regularly dealt with every year including street cleaning, highway maintenance, potholes and rubbish removal.

Parishioners are welcome to attend the regular monthly meetings, usually held on the first Monday of the month at 7.15pm in the Sports Pavilion. All contact details are advertised on the Parish Council notice board in the Stockwell, as are the agenda and minutes of the most recent meeting, together with any other relevant information.

I would like to thank my fellow members of the Parish Council – Adrian Cooke, Lesley Blount, Maria McKean, Jeremy Clouston- Jones, Richard Higgins and Sarah Sturmey – for all their support and hard work over the past year. Councillor Nick Shaw has stood down from his role and we thank him for his eight years of service with the Parish Council.

I would also like to record our thanks to our County Councillor, Cllr Richard Shepherd, for his help and advice over a numerous matters with the County Council, and similarly to our Borough Councillor, Cllr Jenny Bokor, who also liaises with us over issues with Charnwood BC.

Finally I wish to thank the Parish Clerk, Alice Gardam, for all her excellent work in support of the Council.

Jo Ling
Chairman, Wymeswold Parish Council
May 2016