More information about all of these buildings both included and not included are preserved in the Parish Archive Room. So if you are curious come and visit us most Thursday mornings 10 – 1 in the Village Hall.

WRAYSBURY PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN'S ANNUAL REPORT -19^th APRIL 2011.     

Wraysbury Surgery

We continue to work hard to bring a surgery back to Wraysbury in line with the commitment the Datchet Health Practice made to this village in 2006 when we supported the application by the DHP to take over the Wraysbury Practice. Some two years ago I brought to the attention of the DHP a suitable site in the village on which a surgery could be built. About six months later Councillor Lenton informed the DHP of another suitable site. Neither of these options was pursued by the DHP. My predecessor, Councillor Mike Smith, in his capacity as Chairman of the Village Halls, offered the DHP rental accommodation in the Halls which the DHP declined in spite of the fact that the Parochial Charities were prepared to meet the lion's share of the costs of conversion of the premises to make them suitable for the provision of medical services. The East Berkshire PCT during this time consistently maintained that there were no suitable sites in Wraysbury for a surgery. Eventually, thanks to Councillor Lenton's efforts as a member of the Adult Services Oversight and Scrutiny Committee, members of the PCT and the Practice Manager of the DHP visited the two sites in November 2010. The PCT now tell us that there are no funds available to build a surgery despite the provision of a surgery being a condition of the contract between the DHP and the PCT.  Nevertheless, we have, with the assistance of the parochial charities for which we are most grateful, produced an outline plan for a modest development on one of the sites which would include a surgery. We have had a preliminary consultation with the Royal Borough planners on the scheme and they are supportive. We have also had discussions with a developer as a result of which we believe the scheme to be viable. Before we can make a full public announcement or make a formal offer there are still some obstacles to be overcome which we have good reason to believe are surmountable. 

2. Queensmead Lake

We have researched the circumstances regarding public access to Queensmead Lake. On 3^rd January 1973 Bucks County Council permitted "the construction of a landscaped lake for water storage, sailing and fishing...". There was a Planning Enquiry into the compulsory purchase order for the lake which reported on 12^th July 1973. In Paragraph 45, the Inspector stated that "they (the company) would like to maintain the land surrounding the lake as a park for the enjoyment of residents". However, the Planning Inspector made no order as to public access and the Planning authority did not include provision for public access in their planning consents. We have sought legal advice on this matter which concluded that there was no public right of access to the lake. The permission for sailing and fishing merely enabled the owner to carry on these activities if the owner so desired. Any public access is entirely within the gift of the owner of the property, currently Veolia. It should be remembered that when this matter was under discussion with the then owners some seven or eight years ago access would have been limited to 25 named residents, controlled by the Parish Council, with a key holder responsible for checking visitors in and out. The insurance costs, which the parish council would have had to meet, were extremely high. The whole exercise eventually came to nothing on the grounds of national security. Following an article in the Wraysbury News some 53 parishioners asked for public access to be granted. On the basis of this we approached Veolia reminding them of the commitment made in 1973 by the then owners. Veolia promised to revert to us in early 2011. We have yet to hear from them and have written to them again asking for a response.

3. Communications

There was some criticism last year that there was out of date material on the website. After due consideration, we decided that the Clerk should have control of the content particularly as much of the content was in the name of the Clerk. The handover from the webmaster to the Clerk has not yet taken place due to the difficulty in arranging a mutually convenient time and unforeseen circumstances preventing it happening. It is expected that this will take place within the next few weeks.    

4. Flooding

This issue continues to be a high priority. To this end I am a member of the Parishes Flood Liaison Group and the RBWM Flood Forum. These bodies meet regularly to consider flooding matters and the latter is attended by representatives from the Environment Agency and Thames Water. Your council has developed a Parish Council Flood plan to operate in conjunction with that of the Royal Borough and using the template devised by the Royal Borough. In March we took part in the final community day of the weeklong Exercise Watermark which enabled us to test our plan against various scenarios. The whole day was very useful and we came away with a number of ideas for improving our plan. Of particular interest was the presence of Richard Benyon MP who is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA who told us, in response to questions on insurance, that he was due to meet the Association of British Insurers to discuss the continuance of insurance cover in areas liable to flood.  We have also responded to a consultation exercise regarding proposed changes to the Grant-in-aid system for flood prevention projects and sustainability issues. The changes to Grant-in-aid are especially important. In future funding for flood prevention projects will come from three sources - Central Government in the form of Grant-in-aid, the Regional Flood and Coastal Committees and local sources. The more money that can be raised locally, the more likely it is that an individual project will be approved. The Lower Thames Strategy is currently under consideration at a high level in DEFRA.

5. Aviation

I am a member of the RBWM Aviation Forum which meets regularly to consider aviation matters and, as part of the 2M group, fiercely opposed the introduction of Runway 3 at Heathrow. We, as a parish council, also opposed runway three in the flawed consultation exercise and were very pleased when the incoming government cancelled the project.  I have also served for five years as a board member of the advisory board to BAA on the Community Buildings Noise Insulation Scheme. Under this scheme BAA provided up to £5m per annum to provide noise insulation to community buildings inside the 63dB contour - primarily schools but also hospitals, libraries and community centres. Some 70 buildings were covered by the scheme which included Wraysbury Primary School. The scheme, along with other noise mitigation schemes, is now being reviewed. The board pressed for a number of improvements in particular the extension of the contour to cover a wider area. Consideration by BAA is nearly complete and we expect their proposals to be put to public consultation in a month or so.

6.     Traffic Strategy

The effect of the traffic calming measures in the centre of the village was evaluated some three months after the introduction of the scheme and showed a reduction in speed through the village. The build out at Hythe End has also slowed traffic down as it turns into Feathers Lane.  There has been some criticism of the speed cushion outside Bennett's. I have been in touch with RBWM traffic about this. The height of the cushion is set at the bottom end of the specified range. If we were to reduce the height the cost to the parish would be about £2,500 of which £1,500 would arise from the legal costs incurred in amending the traffic order.  Residents of Station Road have complained about traffic speeding up as it emerges from the 20mph zone. We asked RBWM to undertake a survey which supported this view. I have asked the RBWM and police to include Station Road on their list of roads where a SID is placed at regular intervals.

7.     Police Matters

As your Chairman I serve on the Neighbourhood Action Group which covers the three villages of Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury. I have been very impressed by the hard work and diligence of our neighbourhood officers and PCSOs and would like to thank them all for all they do. We currently have a project of engagement with the pupils of Churchmead School which is very well supported by both staff and pupils. We have had two "Have Your Say" events with the police in the Village Hall which gives an opportunity to voice your concerns with local officers and two more are scheduled to take place on 28^th April and 2^nd June. At the end of May/ beginning of June we will be distributing Community Questionnaires giving the public the chance to reply direct and to set priorities for the coming year. There will be a public consultation meeting to be held on 21^st June at 7:30pm. It is hoped that this will be held at Churchmead School but this has yet to be confirmed.  Burglary is high on the list of concerns of most people and our local police team are giving it their highest priority. 

8.     Big Society and Localism

One of the aims of Big Society is the devolution of power from the centre and the delivery of services closer to those who receive them. RBWM is a Vanguard council and has asked parishes which services provided at present by the Royal Borough they would be interested in taking on. We have expressed interest in Hedge cutting and Footpath maintenance. This would have to be subject to negotiation with the Royal Borough. We would need to know exactly what would be involved and that we were satisfied that the fee for contracting out the service was acceptable and that we had the capacity to do it.  We have only expressed interest. This does not imply commitment.We are also examining the Localism Bill to see what impact this will have on us. We have a sub-committee looking at the matter which will report in due course.

9.     Wraysbury Primary School

We strongly supported the expansion of the Wraysbury Primary School which will enable the school to offer single year classes which we believe will be beneficial to the education of the pupils and are pleased that this expansion will now go ahead.

10. Wraysbury Lakes

We are concerned that access to the lakes which residents have enjoyed for many years has been closed off by the owners. The parish council is very happy to provide assistance to those residents seeking to establish the footpaths used for many years as Public Rights of Way.  We are also concerned at the acts of vandalism taking place around the lakes and will be seeking an early meeting with Cemex to see if a system of bailiffs can be introduced. I understand that the Wraysbury Warriors would be prepared to assist in this.

11. Container Library

The Royal Borough have written to us to see if any residents would be interested helping to staff the library on a voluntary basis thereby enabling the opening hours to be extended.  Details will be on the Parish web site and anyone interested should, in the first instance, get in touch with the Clerk.

12. Gritting

This winter the Royal Borough offered to supply parishes with grit bins for the use of residents. We took one which is situated in the village car park. The Royal Borough grits the area of the village around the shops and the additional grit enabled us to extend this area to include the sheltered accommodation in the High Street.

13. Magna Carta

The 800^th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta takes place in 2015. There is little doubt that this historic event took place within the Parish of Wraysbury whose boundaries extended, at the time, across the Thames to include Runnymede. We are planning to celebrate the event and are most grateful to the parochial charities who are prepared to contribute to the cost.   

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http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/public/ed_acl_adult_and_community_learning_and_skills_prospectus.pdf

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