Chairwoman’s Annual Newsletter
Chairwoman’s Annual Newsletter – Feb/Mar 2022
I have lived in the village 13 years and been on the Parish Council for 3 years but, this is my first year as Chairwoman. There is still much to learn but thanks to more experienced members of East Farleigh Parish Council and our fantastic Clerk, I feel very supported in the role. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the previous Councillors for all their hard work over their long tenure. They have truly made a difference to our village and given endless hours of their time.
Being new to the role, I hope to breathe a bit of fresh air into the Village and the Parish Council. We have a great team of Councillors, many of whom joined after the election and, some of whom are brand new to the village. This gives us all a fresh perspective and I look forward to working with them in 2022.
My priorities for the village are perhaps also new which I hope will be welcomed by villagers. Being a mother of young children myself, I would like to focus on the younger members of our community, who have no doubt suffered greatly during the pandemic. We are working on bringing a much-needed refurbished playground to the recreational ground. Our Vice Chairman, Steve Shearman, is very engaged with both the Primary and Pre-school and we hope to bring more activities for these community groups.
Alongside the Village Fete Working Party, we hope to make a fantastic event this summer for the Queens Jubilee celebration in June. We have obtained 100 saplings to plant around the village in honour of the Jubilee and to encourage sustainability. If there are other ways you think we can help nature in our village, please let us know. Sustainability is definitely a goal for 2022 and beyond…
Of course, our highways challenges continue and are still an EFPC priority. Attached to this letter, and available on our Website and social media, you will find a Public Consultation Paper about reducing speeds in the village. In addition to speed around the village, we will focus on the challenges of HGV traffic which is problematic for all the residents in East Farleigh, particularly on Dean Street. There have been many initiatives on Forge Lane and, while that work continues, it is clear we need to focus on other areas in the village. We have a dedicated Highways Working Group on the Parish Council which is focused on HGV traffic, speeding and other issues. The speeding experiment begun by the previous Parish Council has been a success and therefore, we will continue to have police enforcement around the village. So, don’t get caught out and keep to the speed limit!
We have a fresh website which features all the information from meetings and events in the village. Since joining the Parish Council in 2019, I felt we needed to make more use of social media to engage with the community.
The Covid-19 pandemic drove this forward even more swiftly. This will be the last “paper” Annual Letter from the Chairperson and we will now go forward as a paperless council. If you can, please join our Facebook page or follow us on Nextdoor to get regular updates and do check out our website https://eastfarleigh-pc.org.uk (the minutes and agendas to all of our monthly meetings can be found on our website). This is the best way to keep in touch with us. As EFPC will no longer be doing paper leaflet drops after this, it is important that villagers without access to the internet contact our Clerk (Tel: 07999 414712) to ensure that they still receive distributions and news. Alternatively, please check our regularly updated Notice Boards around the village.
At the end of the Public Consultation paper, we want feedback from you. I believe it is time to hear more of your opinions about what we can do better and where we should focus funds from the CIL monies granted to us as well as the precept fund.
I look forward to hearing your views.
Sincerely yours
Chirwoman
EFPC