ANNUAL REPORT - Finance & Governance Committee
FINANCE & GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Jim Hopper (Chair). Liz Chase. Justyna Zawadska, Vicky Williamson.
A much more complicated year with inflation and energy costs rising but even though we invested in a large project at the Bonhay Play Park our work with available grants and careful budget expenditure enabled us to more or less break even again. This enables us to plan more projects the largest of which is to add a Pergola style extension onto the terrace of the Pavilion building.
The Pavilion continues to play an important role in the village. We changed our emphasis somewhat with a little less focus in hire and a more community slant and our two successful Tuesday and Thursday Café mornings are an illustration of this. It does mean our income is reduced and has to be replaced via the Precept but it has increased local usage. The new equipment at the Bonhay Play Park is very popular. Plans are now in progress to re-wild an area at the top end with the help of Starcross Action for Trees and we hope this will progress during the Autumn. More details for both Pavilion and Play Park are on the relevant Committee reports.
Our 2023/24 Precept Budget included a small rise so that our estimate is that for a Band D property the total Parish Council cost is £ 1.42 per week. This can vary slightly according to Teignbridge’s adjustments. Starcross has a very solid Council with 11 local members working to improve the village where they all live. In addition to their committee responsibilities Councillors work on particular projects. Currently a report on the cycle path through the village and the condition of street paths, a project to monitor traffic speeds with new signage, and our routine pressure on TDC and DCC over the condition of the highway and the unsightly old garage.
Finally we updated our Website at last. It still needs work to populate it after which it will contain much useful information. Right now it has an updated news page which is also available by email. Send us your details to receive this.
Thank you to all of our Councillors who work hard to improve life in Starcross.
JH 15/05/2023