Down in St Ive, the Community Park Project has been making good progress in getting new play equipment. We have been so successful in raising funds from different events, that with the community support money from the solar farm, we have about £8,000. This together with a grant from the parish recreation ground funds and the landfill tax contributions should multiply up to about £80,000 of equipment. We have met with four different play equipment suppliers, and will shortly be comparing their different designs.
Up in Pensilva there is the proposal for a new estate between Amanda Way and the industrial estate. While this location is not totally unacceptable, it goes against the will of the parish, as expressed in the Neighbourhood Plan survey, for small scale infill development. That piece of land also provides a buffer, between the noise of the industrial estate and the peace and quiet required for residential housing. We need to press on with the Neighbourhood Plan so that it can control future development in the parish. If anyone else would like to help with this plan, please contact me as Chair of the working group.
There is another development of a wind turbine, but this one is just over the parish boundary in Quethiock parish. It will however be not that far away from St Ive church, so is attracting attention from concerned residents.
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.
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - March 2015)
I hope word got around about the roadworks on the lower roads in Pensilva. I put that sort of thing on the St Ive Parish Council website and Facebook page, but not everyone is on the internet.
The St Ive Community Park Project is still holding events and raising loads of cash for new playground equipment. We've met with several suppliers who are quoting for the new equipment.
The Parish Council has agreed a budget for the working group to start setting up the new organisations that will be running Millennium House in the future. A charity in charge, and a company to run the bar. By the time you read this we will have selected the initial charity trustees and applied to the charity commission. We intend to reuse the old name of Pensilva Community Association for the charity and Pensilva Community Bar for the company. So that's PC A and PC B.
The youth club has had to be cut back to just the weekly Flipdance sessions organised by Dean, but we hope to expand again in a couple of months.
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.
The St Ive Community Park Project is still holding events and raising loads of cash for new playground equipment. We've met with several suppliers who are quoting for the new equipment.
The Parish Council has agreed a budget for the working group to start setting up the new organisations that will be running Millennium House in the future. A charity in charge, and a company to run the bar. By the time you read this we will have selected the initial charity trustees and applied to the charity commission. We intend to reuse the old name of Pensilva Community Association for the charity and Pensilva Community Bar for the company. So that's PC A and PC B.
The youth club has had to be cut back to just the weekly Flipdance sessions organised by Dean, but we hope to expand again in a couple of months.
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.
Monday, 2 February 2015
The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - February 2015)
With special dispensation from the editor, I'm sending this in just after the special Parish Council meeting on 22nd January to set next year's parish council tax. I'm sure everyone will want to know about this as soon as possible, so thank you Joe for holding space for this.
Rumours that the parish part of our council tax (the precept) was going to double in the next year had been going around the parish, so there was a very large turnout at Millennium House from all over the parish. There were many contributions in public participation, from people who were understandably very concerned at the prospect of a large tax increase.
Since I had been keeping track of the budget on a spreadsheet I explained the situation. There are guidelines as to how much money the parish needs to keep in reserve in case of emergencies. We are supposed to keep between three months to a year of expenditure as reserves. Since the total parish expenditure each year, including Millennium House, is about £250,000, the parish reserves of about £100,000 in the 2010-11 financial year was healthy. Unfortunately, in the following years the losses of Millennium House got worse and worse, eating into the reserves, so that at the end of the current financial year we expect to have reserves of about £38,000, well below the lower guideline of about £55,000.
If the parish carried on with no change, the only way to reverse the decline was to increase the precept from the current £52,000 to £90,000. For a band D house a 73% increase from £72 to £125.
The Millennium House Forum have put forward a proposal to run Millennium House as a charity. I strongly support this as it solves a number of problems.
Since I live in the St Ive end of the parish I didn't realise how controversial and divisive the building of Millennium House was. Some love it, others refuse to set foot in the place on principle, even 16 years after it was opened. We residents of St Ive don't see why we should pay through the nose for a massive facility we don't use.
The plan for a charity to run Millennium House means that everyone can be satisfied. The people who want Millennium House can be responsible for running it, while those that don't will not have to pay for it. Also the Millennium House expenditure will no longer be on the parish accounts so the reserves can safely be kept at a lower level.
My proposal for this plan to be financed with an increase of the precept from £52,000 to £62,000 was agreed by the parish council. For a band D house a 19% increase from £72 to £86. I promised this was only for one year after which it will reduce back to what it was, and eventually even less.
There was a call for the precept not to go up at all. This would have meant the parish reserves coming down to a level near going broke, with Cornwall Council taking over and Millennium House closing. The Parish Council went with the difficult decision to increase the precept in order to at least give the people who want it to work a chance.
I will work to help Millennium House Forum set the new system up, but it's going to be up to the people of Pensilva to prove we were right to give that extra £14 over the next year. If you are one of the people who like having a large and expensive community centre in Pensilva please help. As they say, use it or loose it.
Rumours that the parish part of our council tax (the precept) was going to double in the next year had been going around the parish, so there was a very large turnout at Millennium House from all over the parish. There were many contributions in public participation, from people who were understandably very concerned at the prospect of a large tax increase.
Since I had been keeping track of the budget on a spreadsheet I explained the situation. There are guidelines as to how much money the parish needs to keep in reserve in case of emergencies. We are supposed to keep between three months to a year of expenditure as reserves. Since the total parish expenditure each year, including Millennium House, is about £250,000, the parish reserves of about £100,000 in the 2010-11 financial year was healthy. Unfortunately, in the following years the losses of Millennium House got worse and worse, eating into the reserves, so that at the end of the current financial year we expect to have reserves of about £38,000, well below the lower guideline of about £55,000.
If the parish carried on with no change, the only way to reverse the decline was to increase the precept from the current £52,000 to £90,000. For a band D house a 73% increase from £72 to £125.
The Millennium House Forum have put forward a proposal to run Millennium House as a charity. I strongly support this as it solves a number of problems.
Since I live in the St Ive end of the parish I didn't realise how controversial and divisive the building of Millennium House was. Some love it, others refuse to set foot in the place on principle, even 16 years after it was opened. We residents of St Ive don't see why we should pay through the nose for a massive facility we don't use.
The plan for a charity to run Millennium House means that everyone can be satisfied. The people who want Millennium House can be responsible for running it, while those that don't will not have to pay for it. Also the Millennium House expenditure will no longer be on the parish accounts so the reserves can safely be kept at a lower level.
My proposal for this plan to be financed with an increase of the precept from £52,000 to £62,000 was agreed by the parish council. For a band D house a 19% increase from £72 to £86. I promised this was only for one year after which it will reduce back to what it was, and eventually even less.
There was a call for the precept not to go up at all. This would have meant the parish reserves coming down to a level near going broke, with Cornwall Council taking over and Millennium House closing. The Parish Council went with the difficult decision to increase the precept in order to at least give the people who want it to work a chance.
I will work to help Millennium House Forum set the new system up, but it's going to be up to the people of Pensilva to prove we were right to give that extra £14 over the next year. If you are one of the people who like having a large and expensive community centre in Pensilva please help. As they say, use it or loose it.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - January 2015)
I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and we all have a happy new year.
Parish councillors Roger Bennison and Keith Mutton have both resigned from the Parish Council. Roger in particular has been on the council for many years and has made many valuable contributions to the parish. Most recently organising the solar panels on Millennium House which will be a great asset. Keith is still on the Neighbourhood Development Plan working group as a parish resident.
The Millennium House Forum have presented their plans to the Parish Council and there is now a joint working group to put these plans into action. Last financial year Millennium House cost the parish more money than the complete precept (the parish part of your council tax). Something has got to change since the parish reserves are nearly exhausted. The next precept will have to increase substantially until Millennium House costs us all a lot less money or breaks even. Which it hasn't done in any of the recent years that I've seen accounts for.
On evenings when the youth club doesn’t run an event, the youth still hang around Millennium House. This is causing a problem for Millennium House staff who want them to go home, and ask why their parents aren’t supervising them. I think that the best solution is to run the youth club every evening. Well I would say that wouldn’t I. The youth club is still trying to rent the Café full time.
St Ive Community Park Project is still raising money with events like table top sales, and the Christmas Carol Concerts.
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.
Parish councillors Roger Bennison and Keith Mutton have both resigned from the Parish Council. Roger in particular has been on the council for many years and has made many valuable contributions to the parish. Most recently organising the solar panels on Millennium House which will be a great asset. Keith is still on the Neighbourhood Development Plan working group as a parish resident.
The Millennium House Forum have presented their plans to the Parish Council and there is now a joint working group to put these plans into action. Last financial year Millennium House cost the parish more money than the complete precept (the parish part of your council tax). Something has got to change since the parish reserves are nearly exhausted. The next precept will have to increase substantially until Millennium House costs us all a lot less money or breaks even. Which it hasn't done in any of the recent years that I've seen accounts for.
On evenings when the youth club doesn’t run an event, the youth still hang around Millennium House. This is causing a problem for Millennium House staff who want them to go home, and ask why their parents aren’t supervising them. I think that the best solution is to run the youth club every evening. Well I would say that wouldn’t I. The youth club is still trying to rent the Café full time.
St Ive Community Park Project is still raising money with events like table top sales, and the Christmas Carol Concerts.
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.
Wednesday, 10 December 2014
The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - November 2014)
Things are changing at Millennium House. The youth club want to rent the Cafe in partnership with Merryhue Farm, and the Millennium House Forum should be presenting their plans for change to the Parish Council this month. I still want to open the youth club Cafe every night of the week, and am contacting all potential new volunteers I hear of - we now have several new starters.
St Ive Community Park Project raised over £500 at last months Fun Day, and community participation was great, with nearly 100 people voting on which equipment to get, even adults were allowed to vote.
The housing association which built Ford Close, St Ive Cross sent a representative to last month's council meeting to sound out opinion for expanding the estate in two more phases. Plans can be seen on our Facebook page.
I presented the lucky winner of the Neighbourhood Development Plan survey prize draw with a food hamper of local produce from the Farm Shop and the Growing Project Pensilva. So if you didn't get the prize, you didn't win! The NDP survey report is available for inspection in the parish office as well as on the parish website.
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.
St Ive Community Park Project raised over £500 at last months Fun Day, and community participation was great, with nearly 100 people voting on which equipment to get, even adults were allowed to vote.
The housing association which built Ford Close, St Ive Cross sent a representative to last month's council meeting to sound out opinion for expanding the estate in two more phases. Plans can be seen on our Facebook page.
I presented the lucky winner of the Neighbourhood Development Plan survey prize draw with a food hamper of local produce from the Farm Shop and the Growing Project Pensilva. So if you didn't get the prize, you didn't win! The NDP survey report is available for inspection in the parish office as well as on the parish website.
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.
Sunday, 5 October 2014
The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - October 2014)
The St Ive Community Park Project is up and running. We have loads of pictures of play equipment on our Facebook page. This is an ideal place for people to put ideas and photos of what people want in the new play area. We are throwing a Fun Day on Saturday 4th October at 2pm to raise money and awareness. Also children will be able to vote on which equipment they like best.
The Neighbourhood Development Plan Survey went very well with our 23% response rate beating neighbouring St Cleer’s 20%. Well done everyone. The report is available on the parish website under NDP. To reassure the people of St Ive who worried that the larger population of Pensilva would unfairly say build everything in St Ive, if anything it was the other way round. I hope that hasn’t spoilt the story, by telling how it ends!
This month’s Millennium House Forum meeting on Wednesday 8th is going to be the most important one yet, with a recommended business plan to consider. Don't forget that you can also have your say on the parish website or parish Facebook page.
The youth club Café is now opening on a Tuesday evening as well as Thursday and Friday. This fits in with having to move the Friday Flipdance to Tuesdays during term time when the Friday Club have the sports hall.
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 these articles and other gems.
The Neighbourhood Development Plan Survey went very well with our 23% response rate beating neighbouring St Cleer’s 20%. Well done everyone. The report is available on the parish website under NDP. To reassure the people of St Ive who worried that the larger population of Pensilva would unfairly say build everything in St Ive, if anything it was the other way round. I hope that hasn’t spoilt the story, by telling how it ends!
This month’s Millennium House Forum meeting on Wednesday 8th is going to be the most important one yet, with a recommended business plan to consider. Don't forget that you can also have your say on the parish website or parish Facebook page.
The youth club Café is now opening on a Tuesday evening as well as Thursday and Friday. This fits in with having to move the Friday Flipdance to Tuesdays during term time when the Friday Club have the sports hall.
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 these articles and other gems.
Monday, 15 September 2014
The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney (Parish Pump - August 2014)
I heard it. It was a spookily misty night so I stopped to listen, as I'd been advised these were the best conditions to hear it. If I strained to listen I could just hear it going whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. The wind turbine at Charaton does make a noise, and the wind was taking the noise away from me. It might be louder on a different day, but so far it has been acceptable in my opinion.
If you feel strongly about all sorts of things in the parish, don't forget that you should fill in the Neighbourhood Development Plan Survey that was delivered by hand to every household in the parish last month. This survey will be used to decide the future of our parish for the next twenty or thirty years, whether we get new housing estates, wind turbines, solar farms, the lot. So fill your survey in and drop it in to one of the collection points before 12th August 2014.
The future of Millennium House as our Community Centre is still being discussed at the forum. I'm writing this before the next meeting, which I hope will look to the future rather than the past. Since I live in St Ive rather than Pensilva, I didn't realise how controversial this building was a couple of decades ago. The building exists and is not going away. I just want it to be used efficiently for the benefit of the community. That way we won't have to pay increased council tax to keep it going.
Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or you can comment on my blog. Search engines will find me at "martin corney blog st ive".
If you feel strongly about all sorts of things in the parish, don't forget that you should fill in the Neighbourhood Development Plan Survey that was delivered by hand to every household in the parish last month. This survey will be used to decide the future of our parish for the next twenty or thirty years, whether we get new housing estates, wind turbines, solar farms, the lot. So fill your survey in and drop it in to one of the collection points before 12th August 2014.
The future of Millennium House as our Community Centre is still being discussed at the forum. I'm writing this before the next meeting, which I hope will look to the future rather than the past. Since I live in St Ive rather than Pensilva, I didn't realise how controversial this building was a couple of decades ago. The building exists and is not going away. I just want it to be used efficiently for the benefit of the community. That way we won't have to pay increased council tax to keep it going.
Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or you can comment on my blog. Search engines will find me at "martin corney blog st ive".
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