Dear All
I hope you have had a lovely Easter.
Please could you see the below communication from Nicky.
We would like you all to keep Friday 10th May at 7pm free (Village Hall) so that we can give both Nicky and Ken our thanks and appreciation. I hope that you will all be able to make it as both Nicky and Ken have been integral to making the village the jewel it is.
In the meantime, we have got someone to assist with the finances, but we will be looking for a clerk.
If you have any questions or think you would be interested in the clerk position, please contact Lysette@southleighandhighcogges-pc.gov.uk
Best wishes
Lysette
Dear Parish Residents,
After many years as a Parish Councillor and years as your Chair, I have decided to step back and hand over the reins to others.
It has been a privilege to be part of our Parish Council; I have learnt so much and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I am so proud of the battles we have fought and won and the results we have achieved in countless areas, but I feel this is the right time for me to step down. Our Vice-Chair, Lysette Nicholls, will take over the leadership until the election in May and I suggest that she would make a brilliant chair going forward after the election.
I have offered her my continued support on certain key projects that I have led for many years (Shores Green/A40/Neighbourhood Plan) to ensure continuity and, of course, I shall always be available to the help where I can. I am proud to be leaving the Parish Council in such good hands and I feel sure they will achieve just as much, if not more, under their new leadership. I wish them well.
We are a tiny community of just some 133 houses but we have had some huge issues to deal with in recent years and through everyone’s hard work and support, we are now respected both at District and County level.
I am pleased to have had a hand in some large projects during my time such as refurbishing the village hall, fighting off Gladman, producing a Neighbourhood Plan, all of which will continue to give our parish the protection it deserves as well as contributing to the Local Plan. We saved the pub and have negotiated with two solar farm developments to ensure the design and layouts were modified and that community-benefit monies were agreed.
We have also won other battles. We have secured traffic calming measures, extra planting to mitigate the effects of the new Shores Green 4-way junction and we are making headway in getting changes made to the dangerous junction at Barnard Gate to make it safer. We even got the dreaded Thames Water to compensate residents of Lymbrook Close for the inconvenience caused by their prolonged work there. We successfully applied for a grant from SSE to provide an emergency generator so if or when we ever lose power again, there will be a warm place to recharge batteries and cook hot food. The village hall is now set up as our emergency centre.
I have learnt so much from successfully completing all these projects. On occasions it has been frustrating and annoying but ultimately, hugely satisfying and I would like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the Councillors that I have served alongside and the many members of our community who have also contributed.
I must mention my husband Ken Brooks who stepped into the role of temporary Clerk to the Parish Council; his legal and strategic knowledge has been invaluable over the years. He was the major author of the Neighbourhood Plan and his dedication to this project saw it published within a year so that it could be used to fight Gladman. He too has decided to step down from the Parish Council with immediate effect, but he has also offered his continued support where required.
I feel incredibly lucky to live in this community and I shall still be very much around.
Thank you for all your support over the years.
Nicky Brooks
