We offered a warm welcome to two new parish councillors – Philip Pope, who lives in St Peters Close, and Charlotte Simons from Pond End – at the parish council meeting in March. The parish council is now at its full strength of seven councillors for the first time for a while. In the months ahead we will be working hard to help the village get back to something resembling normality, with the community centre opening its doors again and day-to-day activities resuming.
The March meeting also saw further discussion about Henley Athletic Football Club’s wish to install floodlighting on the pitch beside the community centre or, perhaps, to find a suitable space for a new pitch where lighting could be installed without causing concerns to neighbouring properties.
It’s clear that HAFC is developing fast and it’s obviously in everyone’s interests to find a solution which helps the club while at the same time meeting the concerns of residents and preserving the character of the existing community field. Work will continue on this for some time and residents will be kept fully informed.
The latest data gathered from our Speed Indicator Device suggests that excess speeding through the village is on the increase, at least when compared with pre-lockdown data. This is very worrying and chimes with messages from residents expressing worry about speeding vehicles. The information we have collected is being sent to Cllr Tim Passmore who, in addition to being one of our two district councillors, is also Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner. Watch this space.
Finally, a note of thanks to our long-serving County Councillor, John Field, who has decided to stand down at the May election. John has been a reliable, friendly and supportive presence at our parish council meetings (and in between them) for many years. His successor will have a tough act to follow. Many thanks John, enjoy your retirement from that particular fray.
Meanwhile, the next parish council meeting will be held on Tuesday 4 May at 7.30pm. This will also be the annual parish meeting so please submit reports on the activities of your local group or organisation as usual. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the last online meeting; in person meetings will be permitted again from May 17. Details on how to join the May meeting will be published through our email list and the website as usual.
If you are not on our village email list and would like to be, just send a simple request to henleyparishcouncil@gmail.com or rodcaird@yahoo.co.uk and we will sort it out.
Don’t forget to keep an eye from time to time on our website where we publish all sorts of useful (we hope!) information and contacts.
Henley Parish Council Clerk, Rod Caird: 07785 331217