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Photo of a path in Upper Rissington, surrounded by Daffodils and trees.

May 2023 update from the Parish Council

Hi everyone,

I’m mindful that not everyone can attend our monthly Parish Council meetings, so I’ll aim to provide a short update each month on some of the key activities happening within the Council. I’d welcome your feedback in the comments at the end of this article if this update is helpful for you.

Dan Holden

Chair

Public Open Space

Each month we meet with Vistry to work through the final items outstanding for transferring Public Open Spaces to the Upper Rissington Parish Council. All the updates of the meetings are available on the website for you to view.

I’m pleased with the progress made in recent months, and we’re aiming for the handover to happen sooner rather than later. I can’t commit to a date, but we’ll keep you posted via updates on the website.

Annual Parish Meeting

Residents are invited to the Upper Rissington Annual Parish meeting at 7 pm on Thursday 1 June at the Upper Rissington Village Hall. The agenda can now be viewed.

The purpose of the meeting is to allow the Parish Council, and other local organisations to let local residents know what they have been doing over the past year. More information about the meeting can be found on our latest notice.

We had hoped to provide greater notice of this meeting but due to the limited capacity of our Councillors who are all volunteers, we couldn’t on this occassion. I apologise for the short notice.

We have set a date in March 2024 for the next Annual Parish Meeting, allowing everyone more notice for planning. We’ll publish the date on our events page later this week.

Allotments

It’s great to see the developments happening at the allotments and the community starting to be created. Do pop down and take a look (being respectful to the allotment holders) and if you’re interested, we have a few plots left to allocate. They cost £35 a year; you can find out more on the allotment page.

We plan to conduct further works at the allotments in early June, including additional water pipes, water troughs, a small, designated parking area by the allotment gates and a small fence inside the allotment area.

Community grants

Did you know that the Parish Council awards grants to local organisations to assist them in achieving their aims and objectives? These could support various projects such as events, conservation work and youth activities.

All the details on eligibility and how to apply can be found in our Grants Policy. If you aren’t sure whether or not your request can be considered, contact us via the website or pop into the Parish Office at the Village Hall between 9 am and 3 pm, Monday to Friday.

Recreation facilities

Many of you are wondering about the Bowling Green and Tennis Courts. Currently, Vistry owns the Bowling Green and holds the insurance and liability of its use so it won’t be open until the handover of the Public Open Spaces.

We had planned to open the Tennis Courts but received concerns due to their proximity to residential properties. We’re currently consulting whether additional work needs to be completed for these to open and the associated terms of use, such as opening hours.

Incidents of damage

We’ve sadly experienced damage at the allotments and the Skatepark in recent weeks. These matters have been reported to the Police and we’ll continue to monitor and report as needed. We’d encourage residents to report non-emergency enquires via the Gloucestershire Constabulary website or by calling 101 to help us monitor any further damage.

Councillor vacancies

We have five vacancies on the Parish Council and would encourage applications by Friday 9 June 2023. This is an opportunity for residents to join us and help with current and future developments within the village. Keep an eye out on the website and the Village Hall Noticeboard for a formal notice inviting applications later this week.

Details on eligibility can be found on the Local Government Association website.

Stay in the know

I’d encourage you to attend our meetings (listed on our events page) or contact us via the website if you have any questions. You can also subscribe to receive email alerts when new articles and notices are published on the website. These are also shared via the Upper Rissington Parish Council Facebook page.

Featured image Copyright Mr D Harrison


6 thoughts on “May 2023 update from the Parish Council

  1. Such a shame about the Tennis Courts especially as the houses surrounding the courts raised issues of height of the fences etc years ago and still this hasn’t been sorted.
    Many thanks for all your hard work in this beautiful village.

    1. Avatar for Council Administrator

      Council Administrator

      Thank you for your feedback and we hope to open the Tennis Courts as soon as possible.

  2. Thank you, this is a v welcome & practical summarised update. Much gratitude for all the volunteer work done by the council.
    The tennis court issue does seem like such a frustration for all who wish to use it and have wanted to for so many years. I have spoken to many families who are so keen to play, it’s a game that can involve all age groups and there is so much potential to have such a convenient space to get fit, expend young people’s energy and enjoy non-screen family time. Is there any possibility of approaching it from a trial perspective and ask the immediately local residents to at least allow a month or two of enjoyment with some well thought out rules of respect? Surely any risks are far outweighed by the overall advantages for the whole village?
    If some changes need to be made, I for one, would be willing to help the council make necessary changes and I’m sure other residents would too.
    Written with genuine community spirit and wishing everyone involved another thank you

    1. Avatar for Council Administrator

      Council Administrator

      Hi Lorna, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. It’s good to hear there is interest in using the Tennis Courts and we’re looking forward to seeing them in use. We are looking for volunteers to join us. Meetings take place once a month and having more views during our discussions would really help the development of the village. If you do have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to send them into clerk@upperrissington-pc.gov.uk.

  3. Apologies for no responding sooner. Re. the tennis courts, they have been there, with a plan for them to be reopened, well before the houses were built/occupied nearby, so it would be perverse for local residents to then comment that they are close to their properties (akin to buying a house next to a church and then complaining about the church bells!).

    1. Avatar for Council Administrator

      Council Administrator

      Thank you for your comment John. To provide further clarity we published a more recent update on the website: https://upperrissington-pc.gov.uk/update-on-recreation-facilities-june-2023/

      The areas we’re working to address are related to the over health and safety aspects of the court use, such as the number of people on the courts and potential commercial use of the courts rather than the location.

      We hope this provides further clarity and feel free to contact us via clerk@upperrissington-pc.gov.uk if we can help further.

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