Annual Parish Update
Please see below the summary of work completed in the 2021/22 financial year.
PARISH COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS
PLANNING – In 2021, Mobberley Parish Council received 96 planning applications, all of which were responded to by the Planning committee. Of these 96 applications, Mobberley Parish Council responded with a recommendation of no objection to 68 of these plans and a recommendation of objection to 28. Cheshire East Council approved 60 of these applications and refused 10. 26 are still awaiting a decision from Cheshire East Council.
RAJAR BUIDLING – The committee consists of three councillors and is chaired by Cllr Gilks. The Rajar Building has two fixed sources of income, long term rentals and hourly hire of the main hall. – the Family History Society, Love the Dentist and a local businessman have long term rental agreements in place. Bookings for the main hall have been down considerably on previous years due to the Covid pandemic but they are starting to pick up again. Regular bookings are now taking place for the art class, the sewing group and yoga / pilates.
VILLAGE PRIDE – The committee consists of four councillors and has been chaired by Cllr Kendall. In the 2021 financial year the village pride committee have organised a number of competitions in the village, made the village look suitably festive with Christmas decorations and purchased a number of benches for the village which have been gratefully received by many. The Manchester Arena bombing anniversary was commemorated with a competition to decorate stones with bee paintings. These were then hidden around the village for children to find. Lamppost poppies were purchased for the main street in Mobberley which were displayed throughout November. A beautiful display of hanging baskets were put up in the village throughout the summer period.
VICTORY HALL (TDC) - There are three councilors representing the Parish Council on the Trust Deed Committee (TDC). There are also representatives from other Mobberley organisations. A booking secretary and caretaker are employed.
· The enforced closures of 2020/21 due to the Pandemic meant TDC funding was greatly reduced.
We started the year with under £4,000 in the account after spending over £65,000 in 2020/2021 on the roof, plus installation of the external cladding, new window frames and refurbished toilets.
· Finances are now picking up and we ended our financial year with a bank balance of £14,501.17.
· 6 weddings are booked for this year and one for next year, so far. Our main income is from pre-school who meet every weekday.
· We were fortunate in that our electricity contract with Scottish Power came up for renewal in the Autumn and with only a 22% increase is now fixed until 31st October 2024.
· Bookings each evening are healthy too but we were sorry to learn that the Senior Citizens Club Monday Bingo sessions are not going to re-start, mainly due to the pandemic and due also the fact that the organisers are elderly themselves.
· The main hall was redecorated and has greatly enhanced the interior of the building and the window frames are due to be repainted during the Summer when pre-school are closed for holidays.
· Minor repairs have been carried out on the variety of potholes that keep appearing on the car park and ultimately we will need to look at re-surfacing the whole of the car park area.
· We are looking into a form of remote control for the heating of the hall to avoid the necessity for Alistair, who has done and still does a great deal of work on matters concerning the hall, to keep attending to adjust the heating.
· Our next major spend will be on updating the kitchen and indeed renovating the whole of the rear of the building beyond the kitchen but this is anticipated to be a major construction job and we will need to be in an extremely healthy financial position before this can be considered.
· At present the Memorial Club make a donation to TDC funds as a percentage of the bar takings when a wedding or large event takes place in the hall. We hope to be able to award the Hall charity status which will greatly increase our prospects of gaining grants from various sources.
· We are grateful to the Parish Council for their financial support by agreeing to cover the basis caretaking and booking secretary costs and also for voting to precept £10,000 this year towards our next building plans. In addition, they were able to recover £9,000 of VAT on some of the historic spend.
· The outlook for this coming year is very positive and we look forward to being able to report the same for next year.
Viv Pike, Parish Councillor and Trust Deed Committee member
FINANCE During the financial year 2021/22 Mobberley Parish Council worked with a precept of £40000. This covered the Clerks salary, Rajar Building caretaker salary, insurance, a donation towards Knutsford Citizen Advice Bureau (the funding is calculated on the number of Mobberley residents using the facility), Parish Ranger – the Parish Rangers hours are calculated and the monies donated to the Victory Hall at the Rangers request, hanging baskets, Rajar costs and other smaller areas. A community grant paid to St Wilfrids church yard maintenance.
The Parish Council’s income is made up from the annual precept from Cheshire East Council, rent payments from users of the Rajar Building – both fixed and variable rents and income from the newsletter adverts which goes towards financing the 10 newsletters a year.
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – Mobberley are in the process of putting together their Neighbourhood Plan. A Neighbourhood Plan is a community led plan that sets out the vision and policies for the future development of a local. There are 5 stages involved in preparing a Neighbourhood Plan - Identification and designation of a Neighbourhood Area, initial evidence gathering, consultation with villagers and publicity, submission of the plan to Cheshire East Council, Examination of the plan by an independent assessor, Plan put to a village referendum. If passed, then the plan is considered complete. The Neighbourhood Area has been designated by Cheshire East, initial evidence has been gathered in the form of a questionnaire that has been given to all houses in Mobberley with 250 responses being received. Further details and updates can be found on the Parish Council website at www.mobberleyparishcouncil.co.uk