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Chairman’s Annual Report

Chairman’s Annual Report 2024-2025

Chairman’s and Council’s Annual Report 2024-2025

Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Annual Town Meeting of Cotgrave Town Council.

There have been several challenges this year, but in every case our Town Clerk and the Admin Manager have risen to the challenge and any problems have been overcome.
 

During the year one of our groundsmen – Len Knight of many years standing, retired and has been replaced by a temporary person- Jake Howitt. I am sure they will work well together.
We started the year with a number of vacancies on the council and earlier this year we held and Open Event at Cotgrave Futures with the objective of explaining to interested residents what was required to become a councillor.  I am pleased to say that the event was successful and two residents applied to be co-opted onto the council.  They were duly co-opted by the existing councillors and attended their first council meeting in April.

As usual, we held the summer event which was well supported by a number of stalls and other attractions including a ‘Have a go at skateboarding’ which the younger generation thoroughly enjoyed.

The main events of the year were the Remembrance Day service and wreath laying ceremony.  We were honoured to have HM The King’s representative The Deputy Lord Lieutenant Christine Goldstraw joined us for the event and the subsequent RBL lunch held at the Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club.

The next event was the firework display held at The Welfare.  The numbers attending was the highest ever and they were treated to a magnificent display and the increased measures to ensure safety did not impede on the enjoyment of everyone watching.

We then held the Pensioners’ Lunch which 160 residents attended.  The lunch was excellent, the fun and friendship that ensued underlined the success of the event and its importance to our senior residents.

The final event was the Commemoration of VE day.  A good number attended the evening which was marked by The Reverend Paul Massey who read the tribute which was followed by the hymn ‘I vow to thee my country’ and closed with the lighting of the beacons.

In order to maintain the work undertaken by the council it has regrettably necessitated increasing the precept which is included in your Council Tax by approximately £10 per year.  The main reason causing this increase was the cost of Nation Insurance paid by the employer – CTC.  Every effort was made to avoid this increase, but short of cutting services it was unavoidable.

I feel we have ended the last year in a strong position to be able to provide for Cotgrave’s residents the best value for money in every respect which is our main objective.

We are looking forward to the next year, with several projects to be considered and hopefully some implemented.

Councillor Ian Shaw, Chairman,
Cotgrave Town Council

19th May 2025.

Annual Town Council Report for year ending 31st March 2025
Provided by the Town Clerk on behalf of the Council

Summary for the council year ending 19th May and financial year ending 31st March 2025

Cotgrave Town Council’s work this year has included: –

  • 11 Full Council Meetings
  • 5 Finance Committee Meetings
  • 5 Personnel Committee Meetings
  • Grants Given –

3 annual grants (Royal British Legion, Fireworks and Pensioners Christmas Event)
9 Supporting grants –

            Joyful Juke Box

            Cotgrave Young People Centre (x2)

            Cotgrave Advice Centre
            Rushcliffe Family Hub
            Cotgrave WI
            Candleby Lane School Choir

Cotgrave Library
Friends of Cotgrave Church School PTA

  • D-Day 80 Event and purchase of Beacon
  • Provision of the Summer Market Event
  • The Christmas Lights Event and Market
  • New Temporary Member of staff

The Town Council continues to take care of its responsibilities for:

  • 4 Play Areas with play equipment
  • Multi Use Games Area
  • Maddison Football Pitch and Dog Walking Field
  • Cotgrave Town Centre CCTV
  • Various areas of grass cutting
  • Maintenance of Cotgrave Shopping Centre including planters, car parks etc
  • Installation of flower baskets and village planters
  • Christmas Tree and Lights
  • War Memorial

Projects which have been delivered or progressed throughout the year –

  • Installation of additional play equipment at Broadmeer Play Area (Supernova Roundabout)
  • Installation of Dr Macdonald’s bench (paid for by the residents of Cotgrave) and continued upkeep and planting up of the area.
  • Replacement boiler at Arther Ridley Sports Pavilion
  • Replacement Laptop (Administration)
  • Additional CCTV at Cotgrave Futures /Dr Macdonald Bench
  • Help towards CCTV at Cotgrave Community Gardens
  • Timber Wolf Chipper
  • Pressure Washer (that is added to the water bowser).
  • Received £146,574.08 CIL money, to be invested in future projects, which are currently being discussed within Council.

    The Council is supported by the Town Clerk, Administration Manager, 2 Grounds staff and 3 Park Keepers.

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Chairman’s Annual Report 2023-2024

The last year has been rewarding in a number of ways.  In May of 2023 there were five vacancies on the Council following the May elections and during the year a further vacancy arose following the sudden and sad death of Cllr. Bill Handbury who had served for over 12 years. Four residents – Cllr. Myles, Cllr. Jeffreys, Cllr. Denham and Cllr. Woodward – subsequently applied for co-option and joined the council during the year.  Whilst there are still two vacancies remaining, all other councillors are doing excellent work for Cotgrave and I would like to thank them all for their help and support.

The Clerk and the Administration Manager have had numerous difficulties to cope with and have in every instance gone above and beyond expectations to ensure that Cotgrave gets the best results possible from facilities provided for residents.  I am sure all councillors will join me in thanking them for their efforts and professionalism.

The long outstanding matter of the proposed building of the new pedestrian bridge over the canal reached its final stage with the planning application being refused by Rushcliffe Borough Council.  Barratt Homes decided not to appeal this decision and further discussions are taking place between Rushcliffe Borough Council, Cotgrave Town Council and Barratt Homes to come to an outcome.

We have been working with the Community Garden to enhance the appearance of the raised beds in the Precinct, Cotgrave Town Council  have been permitted to maintain a limited area within each plant bed and the results of the joint efforts with Rushcliffe Borough Council will become visible as the planting that has been done comes into bloom.

In these challenging financial times, considerable work was undertaken with the budget on which the precept is based and this entailed some very difficult decisions being made.  The ones that will be noticeable will be the absence of the Remembrance Day Parade – reported in my chairman’s report in March of this year and the withdrawal of the Councillors’ allowance that covered incidental expenses incurred.  The saving of these associated costs meant that the precept was only increased by some 80p per year on the CTC element.

The main events of the year were the Safari Sales, a Summer Street Market, the Firework display in November, the Christmas Lights event, and the Pensioners Christmas Meal.  All events were exceptionally well organised and greatly enjoyed by all who attended.   Regarding the Fireworks event, it was felt subsequently from a health and safety perspective, that action needed to be taken to ensure the safety of the hundreds of people attending and the exceptional traffic situation experienced were better controlled.  To this effect a meeting has been held with the Welfare and a plan of operation to be adopted has been written and introduced to increase safety measures.  This will be reviewed annually after the event to make any improvements that are considered necessary.

As the Council’s year has now come to a close, I believe Cotgrave Town Council is in a strong position financially and comprises of an excellent team of Councillors, Clerk, Administration Manager, Ground Staff and Park Keepers who will carry us through the year ahead.

Councillor Ian Shaw
Chairman, Cotgrave Town Council

8th May 2024