The Annual Meeting was unusually busy this year. Cllr. Peter Biggs was elected for his eighteenth year as Chairman of the Parish Council. Cllr. Colin Charlett was elected as Vice-Chairman.
There was a vote for the casual vacancy. There were three candidates and Ted Perkins was re-elected to the Council. There is now another vacancy on the Parish Council as Cllr. Auton has resigned because of business commitments. Therefore the additional vacancy will be advertised on the notice boards. If you are interested please contact the Clerk.
The Statement of Accounts and the summary income and expenditure financial statement were also considered and approved. The documents will be available for inspection by appointment from 8th June to 3rd July.
Following the excellent news that the Parish Council had secured a grant of £46,000 towards the re-developed of the play area in Playfield Road Playing Field there will be an exhibition of the plans in the Village Hall on 6th June from 10am to noon.
The Clerk had received a response to the Parish Council’s suggestion to switch off 50% of the lights in Kennington Road and The Avenue between 12.30am to 5.30am. The County Council made an alternative proposal. They would fit dimmers on each of the lights and reduce light levels during the night. This would save energy but would allow some light for safety reasons. This idea was welcomed by the Parish Council and they are going to ask the County Council to implement the scheme as soon as possible.
There was another discussion about ways of preventing parking on the grass verges of The Avenue to the north of St Swithun’s School which had been on the Parish Council’s agenda for many years. Various options had been considered which included a planting scheme, concrete flower planters and oak posts. All these options would be costly as they must be installed by approved contractors who were licensed to work on the highway. In order to affect a permanent solution it was agreed to purchase oak posts to be installed by the County Council. A budget of £2,000 was agreed initially. Local residents would be notified once the County Council had confirmed that they could undertake this work and how many posts could be purchased for the budget.
A contract to clean the bus shelters every three months was agreed.
A grant of £400 was made to the Kennington Parent and Toddler Group and £2,000 was made to the Village Hall Management Committee toward the installation of a chair lift to give disabled access to the first floor committee rooms.
