Chairman’s Report 2021
Who could have imagined that when I sat down and wrote my report last year the Coronavirus pandemic would still be with us a year later? The pandemic has affected all of us in many ways and it has also made its mark on how your parish council has operated during the past year. I send my sympathies to all those in the parish who have lost loved ones from Covid19, I know it will be little comfort to you but our community has, I believe, been spared the worst of the pandemic effects and I thank you all for heeding the authority’s advice over the past year and ask you to carry on following their advice over the coming months and that way we will beat this virus.
At the start of the pandemic your parish council was instrumental in bringing together a group of volunteers to support their fellow neighbours, offering help with shopping, collecting prescriptions, posting letters and generally keeping an eye on one another. The action of these volunteers and fellow residents has brought our community closer together in a way which has not been seen in a generation. Residents have got to know neighbours and many more residents of the village due to the amount of time been spent at home and out and about in our community. This benefit is surely a positive outcome from a dreadful year and I hope it continues.
Your parish council had to quickly adapt its workings to reflect the restrictions placed on how we all worked and it went online to hold its monthly meetings via video conferencing. All I can say is that the first few meetings were very interesting with internet drop out and frozen screens but with perseverance we adapted and succeeded. The parish council were only allowed to operate in this manner with the emergency legislation which Government put in place. This power comes to and end on May 6th and meetings will return to be held in the village hall after that date.
As some of you will be aware your parish council has a new website, available to view at www.cliffordparishcouncil.gov.uk. There was a need to incorporate new features to make it more accessible to a wider audience and with advances in modern websites design it made sense to start again and have a more user-friendly site. There is a section allowing residents to sign up to receive news items direct to their inboxes. Those who sign up will not be spammed with lots of mailings but it allows information to get to you quickly should the need arise. The old website had served the parish council well over a long number of years and I must thank Chris Allan who had been our webmaster for all of that time. I know he had put in a tremendous amount of work over the years managing the site.
The work of your parish council has continued on during the past year with reviews of planning application, dealing with resident’s concerns and organising improvement works and maintenance around the parish. I think the biggest issues which residents have spoken to me about this year has been the lack of litterbins being emptied. At the start of the pandemic Leeds City Council informed all parish councils that litterbins would not be emptied due to shortage of staff to undertake the task. Litterbins were sealed with notices attached asking people not to use them and to take rubbish home and place in their black bins. It was disappointing that some people choose to ignore this request and tore open the coverings to put mainly dog poo bags into the bins. All this did was to create a very unpleasant smell whenever you walked past a bin due to the warm weather. Eventually the bins were uncovered but all areas have continued to suffer from overflowing bins and irregular emptying. Your council is working with Wetherby Ward Councillor Linda Richards to try and resolve the issues. I have personally been in communication with the chief executive of LCC who tells me they have been hit hard by the pandemic, not only in relation to staff resources but also the level of litter and waste that is being put into the bins, with people needing to stay at home and walk locally. The footfall in rural areas has increased massively and they are finding bins that which were serviced once a week are now needing daily attention and they do not always know where the bins are and some unfortunately do get missed. Clifford has 21 litterbins and not for the first time I have provided LCC with a map showing the location of all the bins, so we live in hope that the serving of the bins improves as we continue on the roadmap out of the pandemic.
Your parish council has in previous years organised a village litter pick and many residents have joined in collecting rubbish which others have mindlessness discard. Whilst residents have willingly joined in, many have asked for the loan of equipment to carry out litter picking in their spare time. The parish council has invested a considerable amount of funds into the purchase of equipment and loaned this to residents so they can undertake this task in their own time. I thank all those who have volunteered as their efforts are much appreciated not only by myself but by many other residents who have commented on the much-improved appearance of the village.
Another major problem which your parish council and ward members have been working on for a number of years is the footpath between St. Luke’s Church and Bramham School. With the increase in number of children from Clifford attending and walking to the school the safety of all who walk this path is a great concern. As I am writing, workers from LCC are clearing soil and vegetation which has crept onto the path over the past few years in the hope of gaining some extra width to the path allowing children to keep in nearer the hedge and away from the kerb when using the path. This is just one measure being taken, another is the installation of a speed indicator device (SID) to a lamp post near to the school. This will record the speed of vehicles and flash that speed to approaching drivers. This is a joint project with Bramham Parish Council and costs approximately £4000. Recording of date will allow that information to be shared with LCC highways and police to determine any future measures to be taken. Your parish council is also investigating with LCC the installation of further SID’s on other roads leading into the village again allowing data recorded by the machines to help in drawing up a traffic plan for the village. Another joint project with Bramham Parish Council is the purchase of a mobile SID which will be used at various location around our two parishes to monitor traffic speed. If any resident would like to help with this project, training will be given, please contact the clerk.
Your parish council continues to work with Ward Members, and it has been very constructive that Councillor Linda Richards has attended most of our meetings this year, this has allowed us to report concerns which we have had to her and for her to take up with LCC resulting in action on a number of matters. Your council also continues to work with the local police although this again has been in a different way than previously via the monthly online PACT meetings. The way in which crime figures are reported to the parish council has also changed due to GDPR. Previously figures were given for each village but as villages are generally small in size residents often know the victim of a crime and the information previously provided by the police infringed personal data. Now figures are reported for the whole council ward and can also be found on the national crime map website.
The annual Remembrance service in November went ahead under Covid restrictions but sadly the Carols around the Christmas tree fell victim to the restrictions but hopefully both events will return this year.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow councillors for all the work they have carried out over a very trying year. They have adapted to new ways of working but have still managed to undertake a great deal of work on behalf of the village. Many residents are unaware of the tremendous amount they do on a voluntary basis but their endeavours can be seen in every corner of the parish. My thanks also go to Nancy Fairbairn, clerk to the council, who has carried out her duties in a very professional manner keeping councillors well informed and up to date with the many changes over the year and making my role as Chairman run as smoothly as it does.
A year ago, the months that lied ahead looked dark but by all we have done together as a community, has brought us through what for most has been the worst year of our lives. We can now see a brighter future ahead of us and your parish council continues to strive to undertake projects to make Clifford a more vibrant and pleasing community that we are all so lucky to call our home.
Councillor Nicholas P. P .Fawcett
Chairman of Clifford Parish Council 2020/2021