|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
|
Arnside Parish Council News Budget 2006 -2007 Your Council has fixed a budget increase of 2.7% for 2006-2007, but has only been able to keep this figure in line with inflation by drawing £1,400 from reserves. This has been necessary to accommodate the significant increases in salaries for officers of the Council, which were the result of adoption of a new Scheme of Conditions of Service. These were strongly recommended by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services, as negotiated jointly by the National Association of Local Councils and the Society of Local Council Clerks. Whilst your Council will hope to be able to absorb these salary increases, in future years, it was felt that this use of some of our Reserves, for this year, should be explained to those who have to pay Council Tax. Whilst adoption of the new Scheme of Conditions of Service was not mandatory, it was felt the this Council should keep within national guidelines. The Parish Precept has been set at £28,056. This equates to an amount payable for Parish purposes on a Band D property in the Parish of £23.80 for the year. Saturday Morning Councillor Surgeries Each Saturday morning, a Member of the Council has sat in the Council Office, just waiting for residents to come in, and discuss matters of local concern. Unfortunately a survey reveals that the facility has very rarely been used, and the Councillor has largely been wasting his or her time (does this mean that you are very satisfied with the way you are being represented, at the local level?). The Council has decided to discontinue the Saturday morning surgeries, as from the end of December 2005. The Wednesday morning surgeries (10.30 - 11.30) will continue, with the Clerk and the Chairman available most weeks.
Planning Surgeries The Planning Officer, Kate Bellwood, will be attending Arnside Parish Office, every Wednesday morning, at approximately 10.30am, until further notice, to discuss any planning matters, or queries. She will leave just as soon as she has dealt with all the queries raised, or by 11.30, at the latest.
The Cemetery Chapel We were delighted to hear that we have been awarded £12,500 from the AONB Sustainable Development Fund, which brings us almost up to our total, needed for completion of the project. We have to find a way of paying for the ‘fitting-out’, but the end is in sight. “Buy a Brick” We are still promoting, as heavily as we can, the “buy a brick” campaign. In return for your £5, you’ll not actually receive a brick, but you will have your donation marked on one of the paper bricks within the picture of the gable end, of the Chapel. We can no longer offer the entire wall, because we have already had an enthusiastic response, but if you can spare quite a bit of cash, for a good cause, we can fix you up with quite a few bricks. Please contact Terry Keefe on 762846, or t.keefe@lancaster.ac.uk All donations, be they large or small, will be very gratefully received.
Playground For some years now, we have been repairing items, in the hope that they will last a little longer. The slide has officially been described as having reached the end of its useful life, although we recognise that this is a very popular piece of equipment. Once again, our Chairman has done a good repair job, but even he cannot perform miracles. Your Council has now decided to set up a Working Group, to obtain schemes (and quotations) for a completely new Playground, on the site of the existing one. We have already received a scheme from Playdale Playgrounds(on view in the Parish Office), and we hope to receive several others in the near future. Our Working Group is to led by Councillors Sue Gibson and Ros Lishman, but we want some more parents of young(ish) children to give us some realistic guidance on what would be ideal for our children. Eventually, we will need lots of money, but at his stage we want to know what we are aiming to achieve. If you think you may have some worthwhile comments, or are just interested in the Project, please contact either Sue or Ros as soon as possible (contact details on the Information Page).
Arnside PC is now officially a “Quality Parish Council” We are pleased to announce that Arnside Parish Council has been awarded the status of “Quality Parish”, by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It took 12 months of examination of the way that we serve our community before we became the first (and only) parish or town council to receive this award in South Lakeland, and joint second in Cumbria. It might also be worth mentioning that Silverdale Parish Council gained the same status (the only one in the Lancaster District), in the same month - the common denominator is the same Clerk, who had to gain the Certificate in Local Council Administration, before either council could be considered for the award. As there are only 254 such councils in the Country, out of over 8,700 Town & Parish Councils, these awards are somewhat hard to come by. All credit goes to each Council for achieving these prestigious awards. The following list contains links to the current and previous newsletters:
Newsletter 01/02/06 |
|
Cemetery Chapel Appeal |
| - Home - Information - Meetings - News - Accounts - Parish Plan - Broadsheet - Content and Images © 2002 - 2003 Arnside Parish Council. Design by Xenocom eService |
