Notes on a Parish Annual Meeting held on Monday 12^th May 2008 in the Robert Wilkinson School Strensall

Present: Parish Councillors P. Jesse (Chairman), K. Marquis, Mrs. J. Smith, J. Scott, Miss E. Blacklee, R. Plant, A. Swales, D. Baxter, J. Ord, I. Cuthbertson. Ward Councillor Mrs. M. Kirk. Robert Wilkinson Primary School Headteacher, Mr. Richard Ludlow, Chair of School Governors, Mrs. Dianna Gibbons. Mrs. Tracey Dixon, Chair of Strensall and Towthorpe Sports Association, Ms Lynnette Nelson, Hurst Hall representative and 2 members of the public.

Agenda Item 1 – Welcome – Parish Council Chairman, Cllr Peter Jesse – Cllr Jesse welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Agenda Item 2 – Introduction to Parish Councillors – Cllr Jesse

Cllr Jesse introduced all the Councillors to the meeting. Cllr Philip Coverdale could not attend this evening and sent his apologies.

Agenda Item 3 – Review of Parish Council’s past year – Cllr Jesse.

Cllr Jesse thanked everyone for attending and introduced Richard Ludlow, Mrs Tracey Dixon and Mrs. M. Kirk to the meeting and then gave a review of the Parish Council’s last working year. Cllr Jesse introduced the Clerk to the Parish Council, Mrs. S. Walker, to the meeting and commented that she had been the Clerk for 25 years.

During the year three Councillors had left office and there were now three vacancies on the Parish Council. One was due to health problems, one was due to personal commitments and one was sadly due to the untimely death of Cllr Chris Dunn. Cllr Jesse paid tribute to all of them and recognised the work they had done.

Website – this was now working well and thanks were expressed to Cllr Marquis for all his work – the website address is www.strensallparishcouncil.co.uk.

Village Traffic Study – Cllr Jesse said there was only one outstanding item which was the one-way system in Southfields Road and this had been shelved for the time being.

Following a public meeting the designated Alcohol free zone was now in force and was effective from 30^th April 2008. This covered the whole of the parishes of Strensall and Towthorpe, excluding MOD land. The Police were expected to attend this meeting tonight.

The Village Sign flower beds were being looked after by Cllr Marquis and Mrs. Elizabeth Marquis and thanks were expressed to both.

Finance – the accounts for the year had been audited and were all satisfactory and were available for anyone to inspect.

Planning applications – there were two meetings per month following which comments on planning applications were forwarded to City of York Council. It was important to recognise that the Parish Council did not make decisions, only recommendations. The final decisions are made by City of York Council.

Sports Association – a new committee had been formed and this was now up and running and we wish them every success.

Youth – the Parish Council continue to work with City of York Council Youth Services and were happy to be involved with Hurst Hall and their youth activities.

Flooding – following the recent flooding Cllr Jesse and Cllr Marquis had attended a DEFRA Select Committee Hearing on flooding and a copy of the report of the committee to Central Government had now been received.

Police presence in the village had improved over the last year and crime had been reduced.

Village In Bloom – this was continuing – thanks were expressed to Cllr Marquis and all the shop keepers for their co-operation.

Emergency Plan – Cllr Scott and his team were working with City of York Council to produce an Emergency Plan for the village.

Meetings – all Parish Council meetings are open to the public and Cllr Jesse said anyone wishing to attend would be welcome.

Cllr Jesse said all the Parish Councillors were volunteers and thanked them for all their hard work over the year.

Agenda Item 4 – Presentation on Youth Facilities by Richard Ludlow, Headmaster Robert Wilkinson Primary School

Richard Ludlow commented that the PAM Item in the School Newsletter had unfortunately been advertised as 7.00p.m. for 7.30p.m. start until 12.30a.m. and said he hoped more people would turn up during the evening.

He started by saying he had asked children at the school what the word ‘youth’ meant to them and one commented on the word ‘feelings which could make them happy or sad’ and this brought the question ‘what can we engage youth in’. A number of activities were already up and running at the school but it was hoped to use the ‘extended schools’ programme to extend these facilities for the benefit of youth and the community.

Activities already running were clubs for the school children and a number of evening clubs for adults were also being run. It was hoped to further these activities so that the school building was not just an empty shell on evenings and week-ends but could be fully utilised by the community.

Sports Coaches would be available to extend sport activities, i.e. tennis club where any participant with potential could be fed through to the Tennis Club at Durlston Drive. The MUGA which had just been provided at the school (with funds being provided by the Robert Wilkinson School, The Robert Wilkinson School trustees, the Parish Council etc) could be opened up to the community out of school hours after 5.30p.m. It was hoped to develop coaches and courses for older children and approaches had been made to year 7 children. It was hoped that the school could work with the Sports Association for the benefit of all.

The school were talking to the Youth Services and it was hoped to assign a temporary classroom as a youth facility for younger and older teenagers. The Governing Body of the school were interested in this venture and a working party had been set up to investigate the possibilities and report back to the Governors. A trial basis would be considered but it was felt that the school was safer when people were around. The proposed temporary classroom had toilet and kitchen facilities but no furnishings. The Governors had to agree to this proposed venture in principle.

The school SATS were going very well and it was thought that was enough time in the school week for all the extra activities.

The school intake for the next five years was likely to be on the same lines as for the last year’s intake as projected numbers was expected to remain stable.

The recent exchange trip to Spain had gone very well.

Cllr Jesse thanked Mr. Ludlow for his presentation.

Agenda Item – 5 – Presentation of the Sports Association by Tracey Dixon

Mrs. Dixon said the Sports Association had had a complicated and troubled history. However a line had now been drawn under this and the Association was now looking to the future. The Association was now a big organisation and was voluntarily run. It is a small local amenity to provide a service to the community. It was not for profit making but only wanting to cover the costs to keep it going with no management costs, no overheads and no targets.

It had support from member clubs, i.e. the tennis club and the football club. The Association has a club house, football pitch, 5 a side football pitch, MUGA and tennis courts. The building was in need of repair as was the MUGA. However this was an ongoing battle with youth who were not members of the community or the Association. With the help and support of the Ward Committee, Safer York partnership they had now got the security fence in place but this had been attacked already. The Association needed support to get the fence repaired, and there was a need to protect the building and the area. It was hoped to accommodate a mix of age groups, but in the main children and teenagers. There were 5 football teams in the league and there was a need to get children’s teams into the league. The football teams were working very hard and would soon get chartered status.

The tennis club had improved facilities with carpeted courts.

The MUGA was out of use at the moment.

The building is in need of repair and the Association needed the support of the Parish Council and at the moment it was felt that this could be sorted out as the building was already being used for meetings of the Association. Sunday sport was already being promoted.

The Association was looking forward to working with the school and other organisation to make this place something to be proud of. Thanks to the Ward Committee, Safer York Partnership and the Parish Council the Sports Association had now got the fence although it requires more work. The Sports Association and the Sports field are important to this community. The volunteers who make up the Sports Association are working to achieve this. Mrs. Kirk said she was shocked at how much needs to be spent on the building, although it was felt that not much finance was required to improve the MUGA. Mrs. Dixon said the Council were getting costs to repair the building but she felt that a few thousand pounds was needed to repair the MUGA and bring it up to date.

Mrs. Dixon was asked if any approach to local businesses had been made to help with repairs of the building. This had not yet been done.

Cllr Jesse thanked Mrs. Dixon for this presentation.

Cllr Jesse thanked both speakers for the presentations and said the villages of Strensall and Towthorpe had a population of some 6,000 inhabitants and everyone must work to make the most of the school, the Sports Association and Hurst Hall.

Mr Ludlow presented a video which had been compiled that day by two of the pupils and he was requested to congratulate the boys concerned on their professional production.

The meeting then closed.