Dear All,

This summer will be the start of my 7th year as the Parish Councillor representing Tresham.  I gamely took over from my neighbour, Trevor Burden, who had made his contribution to this role, as several others have done going back over the years, most recently Richard, Alma, Claire and Annette.  As far as I am aware there has always been at least one (and sometime two) Tresham representatives on the Parish Council.  And for good reason.  It is not at all guaranteed that the money we all pay towards the Parish Council as part of our Council Tax is spent proportionately in Tresham.  This financial year for example, our village of near 50 properties will, by my own reckoning, be contributing about £1,800 to the Parish Council, at an annual cost per property of between £24 and £52 depending on banding. This contribution represents about 20% of the annual budget of Hillesley and Tresham Parish Council.

Some us benefit, in varying degrees, by the amenities the Parish Council supports in Hillesley, but without a Tresham councillor making the case, we would be disadvantaged in securing the funding of future Tresham based projects or improvements to the amenity of our lovely village which can’t look after itself.

As you might have guessed by now, I am looking to hand over this role to someone new.  I can honestly say the role has brought me much closer to the communities of both Tresham and Hillesley and I am pleased to say I have made many lasting acquaintances in our parish over the years.  And of course standing up for our wonderful village has been a pleasure, particularly when you see change for the better being achieved.  Some of the projects I have been involved with during my time as councillor are as follows:

• Maintaining the much-needed annual grant to our church
• Establishing a fully funded annual mowing contract for our very own village green at Well Hill
• Securing funding to establish the highly improved roadside verge to Well Hill
• Liaising with our amazing Cotswold Wardens on general landscape and pathway maintenance needs within the village
• Drainage improvements to Well Hill bridleway
• Negotiating improvements to Well Hill bridleway surface
• New parish notice board
• Advocating the need for Tresham to receive fibre optic “Superfast” broadband to the premises – now secured!
• Promoting an Affordable Housing scheme for the parish to be built (subject to planning approval) at Hawkesbury Road, Hillesley
• Supporting a resident’s plea to see grit bins installed on Winner Hill
• Adopting our heritage red telephone box from BT to avoid its removal
• Obtaining budget to install a defibrillator in Tresham

There are of course new projects to deliver – most notably the restoration of our slowly decaying and listing phone box and the installation of a defibrillator possibly coupled with a book sharing scheme.  And there will always be the need to look out for areas requiring financial support for the good of us all within Tresham.

There are actually two positions on the Parish Council for Tresham residents, both of which will ideally need filling following my departure, but at least one I hope you will agree is essential.  Regarding commitments, the role requires a relatively small amount of time with parish meetings being held monthly (with the exception of August) – currently nine in Hillesley and two in Tresham – on the second Wednesday of the month.   Typically an additional Annual Parish Assembly convenes in April to hear about the goings on from other groups active within the community.

Please drop me a line or track me down for a chat if you are interested.  You can visit the Parish Council website at http://htpc.org.uk for a flavour of what the role actually requires (see Meetings: Minutes & Agendas).  Please can you give this some thought and perhaps ask yourselves “why not?”  It really is not as time consuming or as daunting as you might think!

Thank you.

Richard
Stile Cottage

01666 890314