Chairman's Report for Annual Parish Meeting 2025
Welcome to our village meeting this evening and thank you for attending.
I would like to state how privileged I feel to live within our small parish community, this area of South Kesteven is still a rural haven and while the present Parish Council exists, we will strive to maintain our environment and way of life.
I have lived here for forty years and the changes that I have seen have improved the visual aspects within the parish. The houses and gardens in Irnham are all well maintained which is a credit to their owners, and recent renovation work has been carried out within the traditional style of the parish.
If I may remind you that each year the villages in the county are judged by a panel and best kept village awards given appropriately. The prize is a cash award to the parish funds to help with our various projects. The SKDC do provide a team to all villages to cut back verges and general ‘cleaning’, we also have planned cleaning events where parishioners help out maintaining footpaths, etc..
All our conurbations suffer with exceptional rainfall but natural hazards are what they are and it is difficult to prevent excess water from causing problems. LCC are aware and after the work last year with the new culvert on the Hawthorpe Road we hope that eventually work can be undertaken in Bulby to reduce the problems there.
The Parish Council work through the year on various matters, including planning requests, general parish maintenance, reporting problems that need attention including road maintenance.
We are, as you appreciate, a small parish with limited resources. Larger populated parishes have a substantial budget and have funds available to employ staff. As you can see from our finances we do not have much by way of surplus funds. As a result Councillor Jenny Crow also acts as our parish council secretary, parish councillors are not paid, and as a result Jenny carries out the work of our secretary pro-bono, for which we must all thank her. There are legal requirements that the Parish Council must adhere to, and Jenny has kept us on the straight and narrow for several years, but if someone would like to step in to this role, please let us know. [Parish Council computer and printer supplied!]
You may have noticed that the village speed indicator has been absent for some time. The apparent reason is that the battery expired and would not recharge. We were quoted £600 to replace it and a new charger. The unit was sealed and it took Jon Crook many hours to get into it. However, he has managed to find a replacement battery which will cost about £60 and the unit will be reassembled when we have it available.
Last year, with the support of the Irnham Park Residents Association we arranged a Bar-B-Q to celebrate the D-Day landings in France. This year is the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe. You may not know but Fish and Chips was the only food not rationed during the 2nd World War so we have arranged for the Griffin to have a special evening meal of Fish and Chips on the VE Day anniversary 8th of May. At 9 a.m. we will hoist a special VE Day flag and at 9.30 p.m. the village brazier will be lit. These times are to co-inside with the whole Nation’s flag and brazier events when we can give thought to those who gave their lives and what may have been without them.
I would like to thank my fellow parish councillors and our residents for their help in making this a fabulous community to live within.
Thank you.