Chair's Annual Address

I’d like to start this year’s report on a sad note by paying tribute to last year’s Chair and long-standing member of the parish council, Peter Duffy.  Peter, who passed away last December, also served the community as Chair of Governors at Horns Mill Primary School and was Captain and President of Helsby Golf Club.  Peter immersed himself into these roles and was very successful, with many projects he was involved in improving life for everyone in the Helsby area.  He will be sadly missed.

Last May, parish council elections were held across the borough and ten councillors were elected to hold office in Helsby for another 4 years.  Long-standing members of the council, Patricia Holder and Alan Gardner stood down during 2023 and Stephen Garrity decided not to stand for election.  However, we did gain our youngest ever member of the council, Rob Foreman.  Rob has already suggested lots of fresh ideas and is eager to engage with several council committees and working groups.  Unfortunately, we are still short of 6 parish councillors, and we will continue to make appeals for volunteers to come forward during 2024.

Last May, the village celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III.  The Ho Ho Helsby team organised a fantastic village celebration and the venture was as well received as their annual Christmas event.  The Ho Ho team successfully bid for a £2,000 grant for HRHelsby at the 2023 Helsby Parish Council Grant Show and the parish council also presented the pupils in the village schools with a commemorative leather bookmark.

This year’s grant show held in February was another great success and we had 13 applications for the ten grants of £1,000 each.  The successful applications were all well worthy projects.  Marj Thoburn and her editorial team continue to do an exemplary job of reporting on this as well as many other events and issues in Helsby News.  Marj will be standing down as editor this year and she will be very sadly missed by us all.

Police Community Support Officer, Sean Parry, left Helsby during 2023 to take up a new role as a police constable.  We are delighted to have welcomed PCSO Neil Flanagan as his replacement.  Neil is familiar with the local area having carried out the role in Frodsham for many years and he has already been incredibly supportive with the parish council and the local Helsby community in tackling local crime and crime awareness.

Over the last 12 months, our Environment Committee has introduced more new planters throughout the village and carried out some improvement works at Sherwood Court, including the addition of three new railway sleeper planters and a new picnic bench.  If the rain ever stops this year, we hope that this will become a much-better utilised recreational area in the village.  Once again Eddie and Elaine at Helsby Garden Services continue to do a wonderful job of looking after the council’s assets, including Helsby Cemetery, the parish field and the general areas of our 2 allotment sites as supported by the council’s Parks, Cemetery and Allotments Committee.

Due to the increasing costs of goods and services, Helsby Parish Council calculated that we would need to increase our precept charge (a tax levied to local residents to fund the services we provide) by around 9% this year.  However, we have requested a much lower increase of 5.4% from Cheshire West and Chester Council as we continue to be mindful not to overburden local taxpayers.  We have agreed to cover any shortfalls in 2024/25 using some of our general reserves.  Band D properties will pay £52 (a cost of £1 per week), an increase of £2.68 when compared with 2023/24.

We used some of the issues raised in 2022’s community consultation exercise to draft our new 5-year Business Plan.  This sets out some of the key aspirations for the council over the next few years.  For example, we will be looking at introducing some exciting new equipment for the park and parish field and designing a new layout for the cemetery extension area.  We will also continue to seek clarification on the new house building projects in the village and how infrastructure in Helsby can support all the new homes once they are built and occupied.  This was the top concern in the village raised in the 2022 questionnaire.

Traffic and transport issues were your second most raised concern and local speeding data shows us that an average of 60% of traffic passing the speed sign on Chester Road exceeds 30mph.  Helsby Parish Council has therefore decided to take part in the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s average speed camera pilot programme with two cameras being sited along Chester Road.  The parish council will cover the installation costs of the project and the PCC has agreed to underwrite any maintenance costs for up to 15 years.  This initiative should not only help to improve the environment generally, but it should also significantly cut the dangers of death and serious injury from any road traffic collisions.

Our new borough councillor, Chris Copeman, has already been a great support for any issues relating to Cheshire West and Chester Council.  Sadly, due to local government funding cuts, they are struggling to maintain their usual standards of care in looking after the village.  I think we are all frustrated with the unkempt verges, large potholes and overflowing litter bins.  Planning applications and legal issues are also taking much longer to be considered, including the continuing closure of Old Chester Road at Rake Lane.  This year, the parish council will look to ease some of this burden from CW&C by taking on a pilot scheme to provide services such as hedge cutting and sign cleaning, using council reserves, to see how and where we might be able improve things.

I would like to thank all my fellow councillors for their assistance throughout the year and their good counsel as well as our parish clerk, Claire Jones.  I would also thank the residents of Helsby for their help and support throughout the year.

Mike Branigan, Chair, Helsby Parish Council