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Andy Cairns

Winter 2022 update from the Parish Council

Extract from Issue 34 of The Breeze from the former Chair of the Upper Rissington Parish Council, Andy Cairns.

“Be Like Dan” More on Dan later … but first some breaking news from the Parish Council. We’re pleased to announce that we have signed a licence with Vistry to allow us to use the Allotments and Tennis Courts ahead of the formal handover of the Public Open Space. As part of our social responsibility, we had an objective to get allotments in use as soon as possible so that it might help with the ongoing cost of living crisis and help alleviate some of the financial strains by hopefully growing our own fruit and vegetables. This is a significant milestone in the overall process and brings forward the ability to use these facilities that would have otherwise had to wait until handover.

We’ve also recently relaunched the Parish Council website, with a much fresher and hopefully easier to navigate look and feel. You’ll find the regular updates from the council meeting minutes (and agendas) plus the how to book the Village Hall for all your events and activities. There’s also a new facility to sign up for notifications when new articles are posted. Please do have a look – all feedback is genuinely appreciated.

We recently applied for, and were granted, part-funding for a second defibrillator in the village, and the purchase/fitting is being organised as we speak. We have agreement from Dragon Vets to locate it on the side of their building so that coverage across the village is greatly improved; this also offers some resilience should either machine be put into use (whilst waiting for it to be reset).

In my last article for the Breeze, I mentioned the Bowling Green being a good indicator of how close we are to POS handover and most of you will have seen it’s pretty much complete (bar a fence around it). We are now working with Vistry to come up with the formal handover plan and I hope I will have much broader details in the next couple of months.

Of course, in order to get over the final few hurdles, and release the village from the grasp of the developers (who have been here far too long), there’s still a fair bit of work to be done, and this leads me on to an appeal for your help.

We still have three vacant seats on the URPC and we are always looking for people to come and help the cause and give up a little bit of their time to make a difference. I occasionally hear that people are unsure about what is involved so I asked one of our newer councillors for a few words on why they joined the Parish Council about this time last year. Here’s what Cllr Dan Holden says:

Headshot of Councillor Dan Holden“In 2021, I applied to be a Councillor having seen the positive difference that a sense of community can make.

“I spent a lot of time, even before the pandemic, working from home which allows me to walk everyday around our wonderful village. Wanting to do more to support the future developments of Upper Rissington, I wanted to share my skills as a Chartered Public Relations professional to help residents feel better informed about the activities of the Council.

“I had no idea originally what being a Parish Councillor involves but having joined a couple of meetings, just as an observer (which everyone in the village is welcome to do), it wasn’t as daunting as I thought.

“I’d encourage anyone to come along and speak to us to find out more about what we do. The time commitment isn’t as bad as you might be thinking. Do stop me anytime if you spot me out walking as I’ll be happy to chat.”

If you are thinking of joining us please do get in touch with Dan, me, any of the councillors or Vanessa the Parish Clerk, and we would be more than happy to explain more. It is an extremely valuable and rewarding role in the community and with many emerging projects coming up over the next few years it will be a really interesting time for the village. We need your help to make Upper Rissington the best it possibly can be.


4 thoughts on “Winter 2022 update from the Parish Council

  1. Once the allotments are up and running, will there be availability to purchase people’s excess produce? As someone who does not garden, and does not have one, I would love to be able to purchase fresh veg, which is locally grown.

    1. Avatar for Council Administrator

      Council Administrator

      Hi Annie and thank you for your message. This will be up to the individual allotment plot holders to organise but is a good idea.

  2. Regarding the leaf cleaning that took place 6th January, they did a brilliant job and have made it so much safer and cleaner. The early start was a bit of a shock to the system, but they worked most of the day so worth the early wake up call 😁

    1. Avatar for Council Administrator

      Council Administrator

      Hi Christopher. Thank you for the feedback and glad to hear it’s made a positive difference and we’ll pass on the feedback.

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