The following is the full text of the report delivered by the Parish Council Chair, Steve Mead, to the Lambourn Parish Council Annual Assembly on 21 May 2025.

Welcome to Lambourn Parish Council’s 2025 Annual Assembly. I want to give you all an outline of the tremendous work our voluntary councillors, supported by the parish Clerk and Deputy Clerk, undertook during the past year. But first, a brief summary of the parish council’s financials:

Finance

The parish council takes its responsibility for spending parish’s money very seriously. Through various committees we undertake rigorous processes to ensure our appointed contractors not only achieve the work required of them but also remain within the budgets agreed.

The 2024/25 financial year saw us achieve an income of £207,887 (versus a budgeted income of £195,001).

Our expenditure was £177,748 against a budget of £193,801, resulting in a higher-than-budgeted underspend of £30,139 (budget underspend: £1,200).

Our income increase came largely from CIL funding, interest on savings and an increase in Memorial Hall income. More on the Hall later.

Thanks primarily to the efforts of our Clerk and the diligence of councillors in managing various tasks around the parish, I am also delighted to report that our recent annual audit went exceptionally well with the auditor concluding we operate fully in line with the strict legislation required – and, indeed, commending the parish on its accounts and process management.

Parish Council key activities during the year

Planning

The Role of the Parish Council on planning matters is to:

• Provide local knowledge,
• Raise areas of concern,
• Inform, debate, and add value to the process, and
• contact and involve District Councillors if required.

Councillors, in particular Councillors Jones and Harris, have been working hard to improve how the council responds to planning applications by approaching applicants directly if we identify potential issues, such as a lack of a drainage plan with their application. We also encourage applicants to attend the parish council meeting to gain further clarification on an application prior to its deliberation.

Input from the community is appreciated whether in support or opposing the application as it helps the Parish Council form a view. We also encourage residents impacted by planning applications to share their thoughts at the meeting and via West Berkshire Council’s online planning portal.

It is worth noting that the parish council reviewed and voted on 97 planning applications last year, each demanding that councillors take the time and effort to apply the four principles mentioned above.

Councillors are also aware of the emerging local plan and the work of the LNDP, particularly where street scenes might be affected and look to the emerging design codes to aid our feedback to the county council. The development of the LNDP consumed over 30 hours of councillor time last year and this huge commitment does not take into account the time spent by individuals, contributing to work on Local Green Spaces, Community and Heritage Assets, analysing consultation results, reading documentation, preparing grant applications, writing to consultees and liaising with WBC!

But our year was not focused solely on planning matters…

Grounds maintenance

The Parish Council is responsible for maintaining several key grounds within the area, including the cricket grounds, the recreation areas in Lambourn and Eastbury and both Churchyards in the villages.

To keep these areas well-maintained for everyone to enjoy, we arranged for contractors to complete over 60 visits last year for grass and hedge cutting as well as general maintenance. We also conduct health and safety checks of these sites and have all the play equipment regularly checked for damage and wear.

Sometimes the age of the equipment means we face tough choices. Sadly, despite our best efforts, we were unable to save the popular but ageing skate park, which had to be removed earlier in the year due to health and safety concerns.

Similarly our finances took a hit following a tree survey, which highlighted some urgent remedial pruning and felling work on some parish trees.

Street lighting

After several frustrating delays, we are pleased to advise that all street lighting for which the parish council is responsible (approximately 161 units in Lambourn and Eastbury) have been converted to LED.

The conversion will save the parish money by reducing both energy consumption and  maintenance costs.

Memorial Hall bookings

Last year, the Parish Council agreed to encourage greater community use of the newly refurbished Memorial Hall by continuing to offer financial discounts for loyal and repeat bookings. The results exceeded expectations, with hall bookings increasing from around 200 to 260 –  a 30% rise.

To further support the community, we also increased the number of free of charge (FOC) bookings, which were used by the CIC drugs community meeting, Youth Council, Thames Water flood forum and antisocial behaviour meeting.

Other community projects in which your Parish Councillors were actively involved included…

• Community Speed Watch (in cooperation with Baydon),
• The Flood Forum (working closely with Thames Water),
• Lambourn Library
• Hosting of the CiC Friendship Café, Youth Cinema, Youth Council, and Drugs awareness workshop,
• Tree Planting at the OCF (in partnership with the Greenham Trust)
• The Lambourn Joint Advisory Committee for the Lambourn Centre
• The Patient Participation Group
• The Community Conversation Group (Previously known as Health and Wellbeing Ambassadors).

Whilst councillors are proud to work alongside these organisations, I must acknowledge the generous contributions of those individuals outside the parish council within each group also make toward improving our community.

And finally

Sadly, a few of our councillors stepped down last year. My thanks go to Vicky Rieunier, who made a significant contribution during her tenure as councillor and chair, as well as Helen Noll and Jon Atkinson. We now have nine councillors in total and are actively recruiting.

There is no doubt that being a parish councillor comes with pressures particular regarding planning applications. The role requires attending numerous meetings throughout the year, and, at times, rolling up our sleeves to ensure the LPC operates smoothly and efficiently.

We are fortunate to be supported by Gary, our Clerk, and Rachael, our deputy Clerk who – despite working part-time – have done an incredible job, often in challenging circumstances.

Steve Mead, Lambourn Parish Council Chair

More information about the Lambourn Valley can be found in Penny Post’s Lambourn Valley Weekly News, updated every Thursday evening and at other times as necessary. This includes news stories, events, information on voluntary and community groups and updates from the town and parish councils.