Leicestershire Parish Councils

Glen Parva Annual Parish Meeting
Chairman’s Report 2007/2008

What has changed from last year? Well, in terms of the County Arms, nothing. It is still the most depressing site as you enter our Parish from the south; the plans submitted by Everards came to nothing due to complaints from residents & comments from the Parish council, Blaby District Council turned the application down to build 11 houses & 13 flats, and Everards decided not to submit other plans to a more suitable design, or even to appeal. And so unfortunately it is now back to square one, with no progress at all.

The Memorial Hall on the other hand is seen as the biggest asset that the Parish has, and is being used more than ever by regular hirers as well as people who live outside of the Parish.

The Council are very proud of this building & work very hard to ensure that the facilities are maintained to a high standard, so it was with deep concern last November during a Saturday night booking for a party, that considerable damage was caused to the Hall, Toilets, Doors throughout the building & floors resulting in expensive repairs & extra cost for staff for out of hours duties.
This matter remains unresolved & may result in the Parish Council taking further action to recover the cost

The Annual Gala day last August was nothing more than a wash out, which goes to show that the fantastic weather of the previous year can never be relied upon. As well as the usual range of family entertainment & stalls, The Friends of Glen Parva had worked hard to reintroduce the Garden & Produce show. Thank you to them & also the WI for their splendid cream teas

The Council put on the Annual Christmas Concert which included children from Glen Hills Primary School Choir & Mr Trevor Hounsome with the Enderby Youth Band, I want to thank Mr John Inkley for comparing the proceedings in his own inimitable way once again. & also Mr John Small who travels from the North Pole every year to the delight of the children.

The Christmas pantomime for 2007 was Beauty & The Beast, both of these events were very well attended & thoroughly enjoyed. A donation of £200 was made to Rainbows from the proceeds of these two events.

The parking issues at the School in Featherby Drive have improved but there is still concern with parking at the Parade at the top of Needham Avenue, the Police have attended but are reluctant to do anything at the moment. There is also anti social activity taking place behind this area which is being looked into by the police.

We have two members of staff on long term absence, Litter Warden Mrs Halfpenny & Assistant Clerk, Mrs Pollard. I would like to commend our Parish Council clerk Mrs Jo Small, she has worked single handed for many months trying to keep up with the day to day running of the parish office & doing so most efficiently.
On behalf of all of the councillors I want to say a very big thank you to her. I would also like to wish Councillors, Mr Ted Collins and Mrs Blank a speedy recovery.

We have managed to fill 2 of the 3 vacancies for the Parish Council and I would like to welcome Mr Stan Sidorowicz & Mr Richard Johnson , as soon as vacancies are filled another one becomes vacant so we still need more Parishioners to come forward, the role is both interesting & rewarding, there are environmental issues, leisure, policies, or the running of the Memorial Hall, there will be something of your local community to interest you at our meetings, it is of course a non political & voluntary role.

I would like to say Thankyou to the local volunteers,The Glenhills Gardening Club for their help with the Memorial Gardens, Litter pickers Trish Brealy, Peter Staines & Joan Poli, Bill Browse for the Environmental week and the Nature area working Group.

Thank you to the rest of the council staff Glyn Calow Mrs Pauline Antill, Norman Bakewell & Christopher Small, as well as former employees Mr Tim Morris and John Poore. I also want to thank District Councillors Alan Bailey & Mrs Dilkes for their ongoing support

And thank you to my fellow Councillors for the time that they put in at meetings and for the work that they do without financial reward, but I hope that you feel some kind of satisfaction knowing that you make the area that you live in and the facilities that we have, better for everyone.

Jan Martin
Council Chairman
21st April 2008