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Frampton Cotterell Parish Council > News > Parish Council > Chair’s Report 2023
Frampton Cotterell Parish Council Chair's Report. Text over a photograph of the Brockeridge Centre community hall, the chair stands in front of a seated audience delivering her report.

Chair’s Report 2023

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On Tuesday the 23rd of May, Frampton Cotterell Parish Council hosted the 2023 Annual Parish Meeting. As part of the meeting, Frampton Cotterell Parish Council Chair, Councillor Linda Williams, presented the annual Chair’s Report. This report can be read, below.

Frampton Cotterell Parish Council’s Chair’s Annual Report 2023

A very warm welcome to the Annual Parish Meeting. It is so lovely to see so many gathered here. As you may be aware, this meeting an opportunity for the parishioners of Frampton Cotterell to find out more about the Council and its activities in the community, together with the other organisations and volunteers that make our village what it is.

We have been fully operational this year, with a few staffing changes and also a change in councillors following co-options and the recent election. We do still have two vacancies, but our number has increased from 8 at the last election to 13 which is great news. Our Staff and councillors work together really well as a team, managing projects and running the ‘business’ for the benefit of the community in a fair and transparent way. We are also committed to involving the community in the decision-making process by informing, consulting and welcoming their contribution to our Committees and working groups.

We greatly value our parishioners’ involvement because at the end of the day we are all motivated to enhancing the village and making it better for all.

I am not going to steal the thunder of the committee Chairs, because they will be updating you separately on their respective committees’ projects and achievements. However, there are a few highlights that I would like to draw attention:

  • The Council won substantial grant funding to improve Sports and recreational facilities at the Park. We also plan to further enhance the wildlife areas.
  • Two new water fountains were installed at the Centenary field and the Brockeridge centre, linking in to the “refill revolution”.
  • We made grants available to the community, including a sizable amount made to Beesmoor road management committee which funds the insurance of the play equipment and the pavilion. We directly fund the grass cutting, together with the emptying of litter and dog bins.
  • We were proud to host the inaugural Frampton Cotterell Parish Volunteers and Community awards earlier this year. This was a celebration of those individuals and groups, some of whom are here this evening, expressing appreciation of their efforts by treating them to a lovely cream tea. The atmosphere and whole event was absolutely brilliant – and the pictures to prove it are on our website!
  • The now annual Bioblitz, organised and hosted with Frampton Nature group, was again a huge success, and a new event was hosted by Frome Valley medical centre last Autumn.
  • There is now a new page for Youth and Youth clubs on our website, and the website itself has been vastly improved making it easier to use even for technophobes like me.
  • We have also seen a welcome return of the police drop sessions at the Brockeridge centre, which are widely appreciated by all.
  • Looking forward to next year, the council has plans to improve the Ridings Road play area. We have completed the consultation stage of the project and the next phase, which is the design and funding stage, has just commenced.
  • We will be looking at the carpark at the Park, whether improvements to lighting and security generally are required, together with the carpark’s surface – potholes are inescapable wherever you go it would seem!
  • We have just started improvements to the entrance of the Centenary field to allow larger vehicles onto the field so that, all being well, the Frampton Festival will resume in 2024, which is of course great news!

These are just a few of the projects that we have planned for the next 12 months along with our normal activities and regular events.

I am very excited by all that we have planned going forward, and proud of our achievements over the last 12 months. We are greatly looking forward to continuing to work with the community to make the village a better place, and would offer a heartfelt “thank you” to all those volunteers, professionals, staff and councillors whose sterling efforts make it possible.

Thank you.

For more information on the rest of the reports and discussions which took place at this year’s Annual Parish Assembly, please see the Annual Parish Assembly minutes which will be posted on our website shortly.

For more information on how you can get more involved with the local community, whether through working with the parish council or by working with local volunteer groups, please get in touch.