This month, the parish council is calling on all residents of Shilton and Barnacle to come up with suggestions as to how they would like to see up to £1,500 of council taxpayers' money spent locally within the villages.
The principle is simple: the parish council puts up the money; local residents make suggestions as to what this money should be spent on; everyone gets to vote on what they think is the best idea; and the parish council then carries out the suggestion that is the most popular.
It's straightforward, but it does need people to come up with their own ideas as to where the money should be targeted, and the deadline for suggestions is Saturday 30 June. Contact the parish council however best suits you - email the Clerk at clerk-shiltonparish@hotmail.co.uk or ring her on 07961 834589, leave a message on the parish council's Facebook page, send us a tweet, or post your thoughts on this blog. It doesn't matter how you make your suggestion, but so long as you tell us by the end of this month, you could find that your suggestion is the one that's implemented!
There's more information about the participatory budgeting project in the current edition of the BASIS magazine, which I've also reproduced below.
Participatory budgeting is about giving members of the public more direct control over how taxpayers money is spent. It's my belief that almost everyone living in Shilton and Barnacle - if they give it some thought - can come up with an idea how to spend that £1,500. What we just needs now, is for people to make those ideas known!
(click on the image to view)
For anyone who thought that parish councils are an insignificant blip on the local authority landscape, without the money to do anything worthwhile, might be interested to know that the total amount of money raised through the Council Tax for all of the country's parish councils for 2012/13 will be £384m, and increase of 4.6% on last year's £367m.
The average Band D Council Tax precept issued by parishes was £47.74 (this year, Shilton's was just under that at £45.52 for a Band D property).
Whether the parish tier provides good value for money for that £384m can wait for another day!
Anyone who's been following Shilton Parish Council over the last few months should hopefully be aware that it's looking to launch its participatory budgeting pilot project very soon. I spoke about it at the Annual Parish Meeting in April (which prompted sufficient interest that two people immediately submitted ideas as to what the £1,500 allocated to the project should be spent on!)
But June will see the official launch, with a feature in the upcoming June/July edition of BASIS (which I'll reproduce on this blog). I'm also hoping to generate some publicity in the local newspapers, but we'll have to see how interested they are in a local parish council trying out something different and innovative.
Until then, I thought I'd whet your appetite with a five minute video from a participatory budgeting project run by New York City Council. Now, Shilton may only be putting up 0.1% of the $1.5m that New York has, but I hope you see enough of the principle of participatory budgeting in action to get you thinking as to what you'd like to see local taxpayer money being spent on where you live.
What is evident from the film is the public involvement and engagement that participatory budgeting has generated in communities that might not otherwise have been interested in what their local council was doing. I'm hoping the same can happen in Shilton and Barnacle.
On Tuesday night I attended two meetings of the parish council - its AGM, immediately followed by its regular monthly meeting.
The AGM was the first meeting of the 'new' year, and our first meeting following the local elections held on 3 May. As such, we welcomed Kelly Smith to the meeting as a new parish councillor (our other new councillor, Dave Redgrave, was unable to attend because of a prior work commitment). Kelly and Dave replaced Ron Lissaman and Mike Randall, both of whom had decided to retire from the council after many years service.
The AGM appoints the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the parish council for the next 12 months, and it was a great honour for me to be nominated by fellow councillors to be our new Chairman. I have taken over from Bill King, who has served the parish council as Chairman for the past decade. It was fitting that councillors immediately paid tribute to the dedication and commitment shown by Bill over many years in what can be an onerous (and often thankless!) role. Councillors then voted for Stephen White to become Vice-Chairman of the parish council for the next 12 months.
We then commenced our 'regular' monthly meeting. Three residents from Church Road, Shilton had attended the meeting concerned at a decision the parish council had recently taken not to replace a street light near to the entrance of the public car park in Church Road that had been damaged following a road traffic accident. This had prompted significant concern from residents in the area, worried about pedestrian and traffic safety caused by the darker environment.
At the time it made its decision, the parish council had been concerned that the cost of replacing the street light (£1,000 - £1,500) would need to be met from taxpayers because the driver responsible for causing the damage had not been identified. However, further discussions with Warwickshire Police's Safer Neighbourhood Team had now identified the driver concerned, and a claim against his insurance was being pursued. This, coupled with the strong desire from Church Road residents for there to be a street light at this location, led councillors to reverse their earlier decision and now agree that it should be replaced.
This incident provided a reminder to us all of the impact that the parish council's actions can have on local residents, and the importance of improving the awareness and understanding of the decisions that we make.
Councillors then welcomed borough councillor Chris Pacey-Day to the meeting. Chris had been elected the previous Thursday to represent the new 'Wolvey & Shilton' ward on Rugby Borough Council, and although he's still very new to the role, it was pleasing to see him stay for almost all of the meeting and getting up to speed with the important issues locally. The parish council also took the opportunity to place on record its thanks to Tony Gillias and Rachel Watts for the help, advice and support they had both provided whilst they were borough councillors representing the area.
The rest of the meeting was taken up with our regular items of business: reviewing the correspondence received during the last month, authorising expenditure and noting income, considering a planning application at a business unit on the Kiln Way industrial estate, and receiving updates on other on-going projects that the parish council is involved with.
Finally consideration was given to the notice board in Shilton. This needs updating and replacing, and the Shilton Village Hall Committee had recently been in touch to ask the parish council to help. We will be talking to the village hall committee further about agreeing a better site to locate the notice board, as well as arranging for a more suitable cabinet to be installed.
The next meeting of the parish will be held on Tuesday 12 June at 7.30pm.
A new planning application has been submitted by:
- Unit 2, Shilton Industrial Estate, Kiln Way, Shilton - change of use from office/workshop to vehicle repairs, external alterations including new workshop door and 2.4m high palisade fencing and gates (part retrospective).
Full details on the application (including site plans) can be found here. All comments on the application must be received by Rugby Borough Council by Wednesday 16 May.
Despite there not being any elections for Shilton Parish Council this year, elections were held yesterday for all 42 seats on Rugby Borough Council. These 'all out' elections were held because the borough council had recently re-drawn its ward boundaries and reduced the total number of members who sat on the council from 48 down to 42.
Shilton and Barnacle, which was formerly in the Fosse ward, is now part of the new 'Wolvey & Shilton' ward, and is represented at the Town Hall by just one councillor (rather than the previous two). The counting of the votes for all 42 of the new seats was carried out this morning, and by lunchtime it was announced that the Conservatives had won 25 seats, Labour had won 10 seats, the Liberal Democrats had secured 6 seats, and one seat had been won by an Independent.
This result means that Rugby Borough Council will remain in Conservative control until at least May 2014, when elections are next held.
The individual vote totals for all of the parties contesting the 42 seats (and the change in the share of their vote from May 2011) was:
- Conservative - 25,823 votes (45.6%, -0.6%)
- Labour - 15,407 votes (27.2%, -2.5%)
- Liberal Democrat - 9,678 votes (17.1%, +0.9%)
- Green - 2,634 votes (4.6%, -0.6%)
- Independents - 1,605 votes (2.8%)
- Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts - 1,518 votes (2.7%, no change)
The Conservatives will undoubtedly be both pleased and relieved to retain control of the council, given that the party lost a total of 328 councillors, and control of 10 other councils, in the local elections across the whole of the country. The lack of any significant change in their share of the vote may be partly explained by the fact that they were the only party to stand in all 42 seats (Labour stood in 27 seats, and the Liberal Democrats only managed to field 20 candidates), but it's a testament to the strength of the party locally - when others appear to be struggling for candidates and activists - and one which has reaped its reward.
Within the new Wolvey & Shilton ward, the result was:
Congratulations to Chris, who I know will take an active interest in Shilton Parish Council matters.
Finally, it was a mixed night for the two councillors who previously represented the former Fosse ward. Tony Gillias was re-elected as a member of the 'Revel & Binley Woods' ward, whilst Rachel Watts was unsuccessful standing in the 'Newbold & Brownsover' ward. I wish them both well for the future and thank them for all they've done for residents in the parish during the time they've represented the area.
Full election results for all 17 wards on Rugby Borough Council can be viewed here.
Well, actually there won't be any elections for Shilton Parish Council this year, as when the closing date came and went for residents to submit their nomination papers to stand for election, six people submitted their forms for the seven vacant posts. Which means that, much in the tradition of Shilton specifically - and parish councils generally - these six people will be elected unopposed on 3 May to sit as members of the council for the next two years.
To be fair, it was always going to be a stretch to hope that eight or more people would be interested, seeing as there hadn't been a parish election in living memory. Coupled with one existing vacancy on the council, and the fact that two current councillors (Ron Lissaman and Mike Randall) had decided to retire in May, it was a case of running just to stand still!
Fortunately, it seems that a leaflet through every house in the parish, and a well attended Annual Parish Meeting that was brought forward to give added promotion to the upcoming elections, did enough to encourage two new people to come forward and volunteer to stand as parish councillors. Tantalizingly, two other people had also expressed some interest in standing, which would've resulted in a contested election in May, but they obviously decided against it in the end for their own reasons.
So, the public-spirited six are..... Gary Brindley, Bill King, David Redgrave, Kelly Smith, Stephen White and myself.
Still, six parish councillors is a lot better than the four it could've been, and we must look at this as 'work in progress' towards Thursday 1 May 2014 when we will finally have a proper election!!
For anyone who is interested, this is the 'Statement of Persons Nominated', published by Rugby Borough Council, that confirms the nominations for Shilton Parish Council that have been validly received:
(Click on the image to view bigger)
For those who missed it, here is the annual report of the Chairman of Shilton Parish Council, Councillor Bill King, that he gave to the Annual Parish Meeting held last Thursday night:
- Emma Raymont was appointed Clerk on 1 April 2011. During the year, she has done various courses working towards her qualifications necessary to help the parish council become a Quality Council.
- Land in Ash Tree Grove is now owned by the parish council after many years of negotiation. We have drawn up plans for the maintenance of the area, in consultation with the residents. The hedge along the roadway has been cut back.
- Ken Gupwell is now looking after the cemetery for the parish council and we are all very pleased with the care he is giving to it. Jackie Essex is now advising the parish council and looking after the records for the cemetery.
- The netting along the road side of the playing field should be erected soon and work on the hedge will begin as soon as possible after that. Ron Lissaman and Mike Randall have been in charge of looking after this work.
- Planning permission for travellers at Top Road was turned down by Rugby Borough Council, but they have appealed. There was a hearing in December, which was adjourned until February, and then this one was adjourned and will now be heard in June.
- CCTV is now up and running in the car parks at the village hall and the pavilion. This can only be accessed by the police at the request of the parish council.
- Dan Essex, Stephen White and Emma Raymont have formed a committee which is working towards Shilton Parish Council becoming a Quality Council.
- The Shilton & Ansty Trust, of which I am a trustee, has awarded a number of grants this year to people in the villages of Shilton, Ansty and Barnacle.
- We have spent over £1,000 repairing the wall around the cemetery during the year.
- The parish council is investigating what effect the Localism Act will have for the parish council.
- Participatory Budgeting, where local people can suggest ways of spending some of the council's money, is one of the things we are looking at.
- The parish council arranged a meeting with all the local organisations to arrange festivities for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. This committee is now called the Jubilee Committee, and is chaired by Pat Hemmings. Festivities will take place on Sunday 3 June at Shilton village hall and on the playing fields, which will include field games and a pram race, hog roast and tea for the children. There will be music and entertainment throughout the afternoon and early evening, and then on the evening of Monday 4 June in Barnacle village hall. Mugs, which have been paid for by the parish council, will also be distributed to all children aged 16 years and under who live in Shilton and Barnacle.
- There will be an election in May to elect Shilton parish councillors and Rugby councillors. The boundaries have been changed for Rugby Borough Council and we will in future be Wolvey & Shilton, which will only have one councillor instead of the two we have now. A number of the present parish councillors are not standing for re-election, and we will therefore be looking for new people to stand for election to become parish councillors. The council will only stand for two years, and there will then have to be another election, after which we will be in line with other councils in Rugby and the council will then be elected every four years.
- Dan Essex has been looking into various schemes that are available to improve broadband in the villages.
- Thank you to all the parish councillors for all their hard work over the last year. Thank you especially to Ron Lissaman and Mike Randall, who have done a lot of work for the council over a number of years and are not standing for re-election, and to Jean Russell-Pattinson who retired from the parish council last year.
Click on the image above to view full size.
Rugby Borough Council has recently reached the following decisions on planning applications in the parish:
- Carbury Investments, Units 4 - 12 and 3 - 13, Shilton Industrial Estate, Kiln Way, Shilton - refurbishment and external alterations to the building, including the demolition of existing flat roofed extensions, replacement of roof and wall cladding, windows, rooflights and vehicle doors - approved.
- 38 Bulkington Road, Shilton - extensions and alterations to dwelling to include alteration to the roof, two storey extension to the rear (to replace existing outbuildings) and elevational alterations - approved.
The full decisions on these applications can be seen here and here.
This month, the parish council is calling on all residents of Shilton and Barnacle to come up with suggestions as to how they would like to see up to £1,500 of council taxpayers' money spent locally within the villages..jpg)
