The past months have seen several changes at
the Parish Council. In May all the
Parish Councillor positions came up for election. I am delighted to say that five of the
positions were filled and at the Annual Meeting in May 2023, I was elected to
Chair. At the beginning of June 2023 we
were very pleased to welcome a new Parish Clerk – Hilary Goodreid. Contact with the Clerk should be through the
website or via email: parishclerk@draytonbassett-pc.gov.uk. The Parish Clerk works five hours per week on
Tuesdays.
It has been good to see our plans for the park project coming to fruition, with the tennis court refurbished, a pathway installed and two new pieces of play equipment. This project has been funded with a £75,000 grant from HS2’s Community Environmental Fund (CEF). The CEF Fund has been created by HS2 to add benefit to communities along the route that are demonstrably disrupted by the construction of Phase One of HS2 from London to the West Midlands. The administration of these funds is managed on behalf of HS2 by a community charity, Groundwork. With our newly formed Friends of the Park group, the Parish Council see this as an ongoing project that they will continue to develop into an area that all villagers will enjoy on a regular basis.
In August a heritage board was erected in Old Manor Close to inform people of the medieval moated manor house that stood on the site. The unveiling was attended by local dignitaries, school children and residents and some artefacts from the archaeological dig were displayed.
We hope to again enter the Best Kept Village Competition next year and with our enhanced park, smart village green and new heritage board, we should be able to improve on our last entry. We will post more details early next year on how you can help.
All the Parish Councillors give freely of their time to improve the village but it’s difficult to try to do everything with just a few of us. Any help you can give, for example litter picking or gardening, would be most helpful. As always, should you wish to have your say on a local matter, please contact the Parish Clerk direct or come along to one of our monthly Council Meetings (except August and December) at the Pavilion in the park. Dates are posted online and on the village notice board.
Cllr Marlene Keenan May 2023