The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - February 2016)

Well, most of you will probably have heard that the Parish Council has decided to put up the precept from £62,000 to £64,770. This wasn't what I wanted, but only two of us voted against it. I said that a whole hearted commitment to passing control of the loss making Millennium House community centre over to PCA (Pensilva Community Association) would allow us to reduce the precept to £60,000, while continuing as normal meant that we would need to increase the precept to £80,000. This was based on the budget produced by the RFO (Responsible Finance Officer). The Parish Council have chosen to follow the budget produced by the Finance and Administration Committee for running Millennium House the same as before. I hope that the next financial year works out OK. It seems that we now have to make the PCA plan work if the parish is not to eat dangerously into the reserves.

I'm very glad that the issue of bus stops and bus shelters in St Ive village has been raised. Although Pensilva had several new bus shelters added by Cornwall Council last year, St Ive only has one old shelter at Keason. The places where the bus stops through St Ive need clarifying and rationalising. It isn't safe for buses going West to stop opposite the Keason bus shelter, the stop in St Ive Parkfield is possibly not official, and the stop at the Butchers Arms may not be actually in the lay-by with the phone box.

The Butchers Arms Preservation Society have been in touch about the decision by Cornwall Council to declare a very strange part of the Butchers Arms site as an Asset of Community Value. They have divided the whole site into four and declared that only the building and part of the car park count. This apparently perverse decision is being questioned with Cornwall Council. 

Don’t forget the parish website st-ive-parishcouncil.gov.uk with council meeting agendas and minutes; also downloadable copies of the Parish Pump. For those of you who do Facebook, our St Ive Parish Council page is still being updated with parish news. Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or "martin corney blog st ive" in search engines will find my blogs for you to comment on this article and other gems.