It gives me great pleasure once more to present my Chairman’s report to the parish outlining some of the activities which you’re Parish Council has been involved with over the last municipal year.  Regularly updates from your Parish Council are published in Outlook and can also be found on the council’s website.

Your Parish Council continues to have a good working relationship with the local police and they regularly attend the council meetings to seek and act on matters which are of concern to the parish.  A recurrent problem which residents of the parish have raised is regarding the inconsiderate parking of cars near to, or on road junctions within the village. Recently two councillors met with an officer to look at the problems caused by these cars not only to other car users but also pedestrians.  The officer’s solution to the problems included the painting of white lines and keep clear signs at a number of junctions.  One other more controversial suggestion the officer made was to consider making Albion Street one way from its junction with the High Street down to Albion Close.  As this would affect a large number of residents your council would like to hear your views on this subject so please do get in touch.  A meeting has also taken place with an officer from Leeds City Council Highways department to discuss the police officers suggestions and their view was in line with the police officer’s.  Your Parish Council are aware that changes made to where residents can or cannot park their car has a knock-on effect in other areas of the village so no further action will be taken until residents have given their views.

The upkeep of the playing field and woodland area at Northways continues to consume a lot of your councillors and members of the Northway committee time.  Damage to the football pitch was caused by unauthorised use of the pitch in January when the weather conditions were poor.  This resulted in spending precious financial resources on remedial works to the pitch beyond what had been budgeted.  Whilst the pitch is there for all residents of the parish to use please remember that the football club has first call on its use and if you wish to organise a game on the pitch please contact the clerk in advance to see if it is available on your chosen date.  Dog fouling of the field continues to be a problem with the football club having to clear the pitch of mess before they can play and in one case a game of football having to be stopped so that the mess can be cleaned up.  Please can I remind all dog walkers to clear up after their dog and either take it home with you or place it in the bin provided at the entrance to the pitch.  The working group continue to undertake general maintenance jobs on the site and I thank them for giving up their spare time to undertake this work and additional planting of trees has been undertaken to provide a windbreak.  The sub-lease to allow the football club to build their own changing rooms on part of the field was finalised in January and signed off by both the football club and your Parish Council.  I wish the football club well in their fundraising to provide what will be a valuable addition to the facilities at Northways.

The recently-formed allotment group continues to meet on a regularly basis.  During the course of the year they have held a bar-b-q and bonfire party at the allotment site both well supported by allotment tenants.  It was agreed by your council that in future years all income generated by the rent from the allotments will be ring fenced within the council budget and this amount will be used to maintain and improve the allotment site.  Some of this money has been spent this year on the provision of limestone chips to repair the track leading down to the allotment.  The job of spreading the limestone chips was carried out by a number of the allotment tenants and the parish council thank them for undertaking this improvement work.

The Parish Council welcomed a visit from staff of Leeds Library who were conducting a consultation on the future provision of library services within Leeds and more importantly within our own community.  Your council was pleased to learn that it is proposed to keep the library at Boston Spa and increase the opening hours at Wetherby including opening on Sundays and maintain the mobile library bus in Clifford and we look forward to hearing in due course the results of their consultation.

Your parish council reviewed its standing orders during the year; these are the rules of how your council is run.  One addition to the way in which the full monthly council meeting is managed was the introduction of a public participation session at the beginning of the meeting lasting for a maximum of twenty minutes.  This allows for any resident of the parish to raise any issues of concern to them with their council.

At the end of January, Deepdale preschool moved out of their temporary home at the former village primary school site and it is understood that Leeds City Council have now entered into contractual arrangement with a purchaser of the former school.  Your Parish Council awaits with interest the outcome of these discussions.

As with all parishes around the area their boundaries often seem inappropriate, and for this reason it is understood that Leeds City Council will from 2012 be carrying out a review of parish boundaries.  Full consultation with all residents affected by any proposed changes will be undertaken and rest assured your parish council will be actively involved with any consultation.  Many of the boundaries of the parish of Clifford have historical connection and I am sure these considerations will be taken into account.

Much talk is made in the media of the government’s “Big Society”, whilst we may not all quite understand what is meant by this I am sure you will agree the “Big Society” is alive and well in Clifford.  This is demonstrated by the involvement of so many residents in the very active life of this parish, not least those who attend the annual service of Remembrance, or the organisers of the entertainment at the village hall after the Christmas carol singing, the work of the churches and schools in our community, the voluntary work at Martin House hospice a welcomed member of our community and members of organisation such as your Parish Council whose members give their time so freely for the benefit of the parish as a whole.  So I think we can safely say that the “Big Society is alive and well in our community and long may it continue.

2011 is election year for your Parish Council and at the time of writing all eight current members of your parish council are putting themselves forward for office once more.  One member stood down from their role as councillor earlier in the year due to family commitments.  There are places for 9 councillors and therefore there needs to be more than 9 nominations for an election to be held.  The cost of the election falls on the Parish Council and your “retiring” council members have made provision of this cost within this year’s budget.  If 9 or fewer nominations are received then all those nominated are elected unopposed, but if less than 9 nominations are received your new council can co-opt a resident to fill the vacancy.  Parish councillors represent the people living in their local area at the closest level to the community, when decisions are being made they are there to put your views across.  If you have an interest in the affairs of the community and would like to consider standing in future I encourage you to speak with either the clerk to the council or any current member of the Council to find out what is actually involved.

Your Council continues to be represented on a number of committees and forums by both members of your council and local residents. These bodies include Yorkshire Local Council Association, North East Outer Area Committee of Leeds City Council, Wetherby and District Crime Prevention Panel, Village Hall management committee, WARDEN and Diggles First Fruits, and I thank all those who undertake this work for all their time and effort involved.

Once again I would like to thank a number of people.  Firstly my thanks go to Mrs Tracey Poulter, Clerk to the Council. Tracey undertakes the administration work of the council, dealing with a wide range of enquiries from not only residents of the parish but outside bodies including a vast number of departments at Leeds City Council.  Tracey also provides the council members with all the paper work for their meetings and completes all the financial documentation required.  I would ask residents of the parish to bear in mind that Tracey’s role is only a part time role so when you need to contact her please do so in office hours.  Next I would like to thank all my council colleagues who make up your council.  They all put in an enormous amount of time in to their roles, with no financial gain to themselves, to help make your parish a better place to live in.  To all the residents of the parish who by being involved with the wide range of organisations in the village make the parish a living vibrant village, thank you.  Finally my last thanks are to the wives, husbands, sons and daughters of your parish councillors who tolerate your councillors  spending so much time on council business or who put up with them when something is not going quite the way we wish is was!  Thank you.

The next few years ahead of us are going to be a challenging experience for all local authorities due to budget cuts.  Rest assured that your Parish Council will continue to strive to do what it believes is in the best interest of your parish within the confines of it financial resources.

Thank you

Councillor Nicholas P. P. Fawcett – Chairman of Clifford Parish Council 2010/2011