It is impossible to count the number of times people come into the Parish Council Office and ask why the roads haven’t been gritted in the snow? Or why a street light isn’t working? Or why the hole in the road hasn’t been fixed? You might not even know that these issues don’t come under the Parish Council’s jurisdiction – but that won’t stop the Clerk and her staff from helping you to find the appropriate authority and even reporting these issues on your behalf when necessary.
So what does the Parish Council do? What is it responsible for?
A large amount of your money is spent each year on leisure facilities in the village. Children’s play areas, football pitches, the cricket pitch and bowling green, open spaces, most of the parks and pavilions are the responsibility of the Parish Council. They are maintained, mowed, cleaned, refurbished, hired out and generally cared for by the groundstaff who work out of the Maintenance Unit on Elms Park. This year has seen the complete refurbishment of the Elms Park Play Area which was opened in February and has received immense praise from everyone who has used it.
St Peter’s Rooms and the Village Hall are always well used and very popular venues for all types of bookings from children’s parties to charity events and a whole variety of regular classes. The Elms Park and Jubilee Pavilions are now getting bookings for corporate events requiring adjacent open spaces, good parking and daytime use which the pavilions can offer. The massive increase in bookings for all of the Parish Council amenities appears to be the result of the Parish Council website and Village Newsletter, and the consequential increase in income is very welcome.
Our Finance & Policy Chairman, Parish Councillor Peter McGowan states: “For the last three years through careful budgeting the council has been able to maintain an unchanged Parish Rate and this is to continue in 2011-12. All of the Parish’s staff are to be commended in arriving at this achievement at a time when it is important that our Parishioners are not being asked to carry a higher financial burden. I am delighted to say that we have been able to achieve the same high quality throughout the range of services outlined earlier and with the use of outside grants we have enhanced play and sports facilities that we believe are now unequalled in any other Rushcliffe parish..”
A detailed sheet listing all of the amenities that the Parish Council is responsible for and containing information about the Parish Council Rate will be included with your Council Tax bill.