The Parish Council was pleased to host the Annual Parish Meeting of 2005 on the 28th April in the Village Hall and to welcome around 70 Residents who appeared to enjoy a very pleasant and informative evening. Apart from the usual business items, the main topics were Local Policing Initiatives and the launch of the Parish Plan, more about these below.

For those who were not able to attend, the Minutes of the Meeting are posted on both Parish Council notice boards, that is at the end of Bank View and in the lobby of the Village Hall, and they are also on the Goostrey website.
 

Chief Superintendent Phil Thompson, Commander of the Eastern Cheshire Division, gave an interesting and informative insight into the problems of handling contacts to the Police, which average around 1400 non-urgent calls each day and 400 emergency calls each day, and described how a change in the follow up procedures had now provided a much better service to the Public, although there was still much more to do to improve it further.

Sergeant Gareth Woods then introduced a much simpler contact regime which had been developed, a single number depending on the degree of urgency, namely 999 for emergencies, 0845 458 0000 for immediate attention of a Police Officer and 01244 613358 for the Community Action Team where a message can be left for a response when the Local Officer is next on duty.

Tom Oldham then outlined how Homewatch was being designed to integrate into the e:mail network of the Police and asked for volunteers who are regular Internet users to act as co-ordinators so that e:mail messages may be passed on to those without access to this.
 

The Parish Plan was officially launched, firstly the process of its development being introduced by Ged Simpson of Cheshire Community Council, who carried out most of the work, and then the broad areas of future action were described by Cllr. Salmon using some excellent projected graphics provided by Cllr. Ball.

There is no more to say here except that if you were not at the Meeting you can pick up a copy of the Plan from under the Parish Council notice board in the Village Hall and this will detail the exciting actions identified for the short, medium and longer term future of the Village.
 

Yet again the Parish Council has received a number of complaints regarding animal waste, this time regarding large amounts of horse droppings on the pavement at the Bank View and Manor Avenue junctions and a pile of dog dirt regularly appearing in the middle of the pavement in Manor Avenue - would the owner of this animal please accept their social responsibility by taking the mess home as it is unsightly, offensive and dangerous to children!