The Parish Council’s key achievements over the last 4 years

A summary of the achievements from the last 4 years, taken from the March 2019 newsletter.

I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on the past four years and highlight some of the key things the Parish Council has achieved.

Firstly, it is absolutely right that I pay tribute to the many Councillors that have stood down from office, all of which worked tirelessly in our community behind the scenes. These people include; Eddie Ankers, Bill Cooper, Bill McIntyre, Gill McIntyre, Bob Melling, Anne Yoxall and Peter Yoxall. I must also pay tribute to our previous longstanding Clerk, Chris Moulton.

Over the past four years, there have been four Councillors who have filled the role as Chairman; Peter Yoxall, Gill McIntyre and Bill Cooper, whose footsteps I then followed in May 2018.

Here are some of the key things we have achieved as a Parish Council since 2015:

The Neighbourhood Plan

We have started the process of a neighbourhood plan which is now in the final few stages and should be complete this year. We should pay tribute to Bill Atteridge, a member of the community, who has worked tirelessly on this for the last three years.

Shavington Clean Team

We started the Shavington Clean Team as a way to keep the streets of the Parish relatively clean and tidy. The meet-up has seen some fantastic take up from members of the community and thanks should be directed towards the driving force behind the Clean Team, Councillor Rene Hancock.

Village Hall Refurbishment

Shavington-cum-Gresty Village Hall has had a much-needed refurbishment to include new toilets, a new ceiling in the main hall and necessary improvements for access for the disabled. There is still some more work to do over the next financial year, and we are now looking at moving bookings online so you can book the hall directly from your smartphone.

PCSOs

We saw a new Police and Crime Commissioner come into power and part of his sweeping changes meant the way the funding of the PCSOs worked was changed. This meant Shavington was due to lose the level of PCSO presence we had been used to. As a Parish Council, following a consultation with the community, we decided to fund a full-time PCSO. We felt this was particularly important owing to the speed the village is growing.

WWI Centenary Weekend

The WWI Centenary events in the Parish saw one of the biggest turnouts to a service we have ever seen. There was a vast amount of work that went into this weekend which included many of the village’s community groups and organisations. It really was a team effort.

Carols at Christmas Event

In December 2018 we organised our very first family-friendly carol singing event which was very well attended by people of all ages. We were joined by a small ensemble from Crewe Brass and we received some very positive feedback. Hopefully, it will become an annual event.

Recreational Space

One of the biggest projects I am personally most proud of is one that is still in the early stages, and that is to increase and improve the recreational space we have in the Parish. This is something I had pushed for since elected initially in 2015 and is something residents told us they are keen to see when we carried out the Neighbourhood Plan survey. Following the formation last year of a committee focused on recreational space in the Parish, we have now started the process of taking over ownership of Wessex Close Park from Cheshire East Council. In January this year, we also agreed on an amount of money in our budget to help us acquire open green space, should some become available. While this is a long term vision, we have set the wheels in motion for the next Parish Council to run with it in May.

Shavington Youth Club

Shavington Youth Club is one of the few remaining youth clubs in the county and it had a funding deficit and was facing closure. For the past few years, the Parish Council have stepped in and heavily subsidised it in order to keep it open for the community.

Car Parking

With changes in leadership at Shavington Primary School, and their refurbishment, the Parish Council worked together with the school to come to a new arrangement whereby the school car park could be kept open for use by the general public outside of school hours.

Communication and Engagement

The final significant change is that we have drastically improved our visibility in the community. We began this process with updating our logos and the creation of the Shavington Online brand. We created social media accounts and have used them regularly to keep people informed of what is going on in the Parish. We then used the same brand to produce quarterly newsletters which have been delivered to every household. The creation of this brand has meant it has become standard practice for any communication we do so that it can be easily identified as being affiliated with Shavington-cum-Gresty Parish Council or Shavington Online.

While these are some of the key changes we have made over recent years, there are lots of other smaller changes worth mentioning such as the Speed Indicator Device which we had installed on Crewe Road, new benches being installed throughout the Parish and the donations we have made to local village organisations.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to say how rewarding it can be being part of a Parish Council. Despite being the lowest level of Government, you can make your mark and have an impact on the community. In real terms, being a Parish Councillor is an unpaid role with the minimum amount of time required being one meeting per month. If you wish to get involved in more you can join committees which vary in the amount of commitment, however, can be anything from a few hours per month extra to up to 20 hours per week.

In May of this year, there will be elections, and I would encourage everyone to consider standing as a Parish Councillor to make a difference and create change.

More details can be found on the Cheshire East Council website: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/voting_and_elections/elections/future-elections.aspx

Benjamin Gibbs
Chairman, Shavington-cum-Gresty Parish Council