This year has been an important year for the Parish Council with the Review of the Parish Council in accordance with the Local Government Act.  The decision to recommend the establishment of separate Parish Councils was agreed by the general purposes committee of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council on the 27th June 2006, whilst we await the decision of the Secretary of State we will continue to serve all of the parish. We live in an area under pressure from development and we will work hard to protect our environment.

We are committed to resist the fresh application for a motorway service station at the Blythe Valley Motorway Service Area.  We will instruct a senior barrister to represent the views of the parish council and I encourage parishioners with their own private views to let us use them – the personal views of parishioners is so important for the forthcoming Public Inquiry. 

I wish us to tackle as effectively as we can the problem of unacceptable anti social behaviour which has occurred around the parish.  We have attempted to recruit in partnership with West Midlands Police a Community Support Officer, our plans are taking longer than expected despite our best efforts.  A meeting will be held soon with the WM Police when hopefully we can make progress. It was my view last year that a more visible presence of a Community Support Officer would enable us to send a message out to those who would consider anti social behaviour that they are likely to be caught and punished.  Such use of the parish precept to pay for this work in my view would be an entirely appropriate use of resources because it tackles one of the biggest fears that I sense is pre-occupying many parishioners.  It also helps to ensure that our environment is protected.

We continue to be positive with young people.  I am delighted to say that we have continued with the establishment of a youth group in partnership with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council youth service at Dickens Heath Village Hall.  The youth group meets every Thursday night and is very well attended.  There is a structure to the youth group which is professionally undertaken and the this demonstrates the commitment that the Parish Council has to young people and I very much hope that this project that we have embarked upon can be increased to other village halls in around Hockley Heath Parish Council.  The cost of the youth service is modest in comparison to the overall precept and I recommend it to other Parish Councils to provide a constructive engagement with young people. 

The future of the Parish Council which I mentioned earlier needs the co-operation of local people.  A Parish Council is very much the grass roots of local democracy and can respond to local concerns.  Realistically however it can only do this in partnership.  The vast majority of work undertaken by Local Councillors is done on a voluntary basis and we do not have the huge administrative department that the local authority have available to them.  Indeed nor would we want that.  It is my view that the partnership arrangements that we are working on with the local authority and with West Midlands Police can ensure that their departments can work very much as partners with us and we can provide a very good cost effective additional service to local tax payers.

We will be upgrading the play equipment at Cheswick Green and I do hope that we can provide equipment which will be enjoyed by the young people. 

Finally I would like to pay tribute to Dickens Heath Community Association and to the Residents Associations who have worked hard to preserve the local facilities in Dickens Heath, Cheswick Green, Hockley Heath, and Tidbury Green and to the planning committee who have worked to deal with the various planning issues that are to be dealt with by the Parish Council.  I also pay particular regard to the Gardening Club at Hockley Heath who have worked hard to make Hockley Heath Parish attractive to visitors and residents alike and the Allotments Association who have come through a difficult period with our help and support.

I would therefore like to thank my colleagues Councillors within the Parish Council and the Clerk for their hard work over the last twelve months together with the local ward Councillors and the many other local people who have given their time over the past year to the affairs of the Parish Council.  I look forward to working constructively with all those concerned in the coming year.

Richard Holt
Download this Item as a Printable PDF Document (18KB)