The village green, playing field and roadside grass verges have been cut regularly and flower beds maintained. We have continued to provide 17.75 acres of allotments and 24 garden allotments.

The Cage was open for visitors from April to September some Wednesday and Sunday afternoons and is available for small exhibitions and group meetings. Volunteers are needed to man the Cage during the coming year, please contact the Clerk if you can help with this. As part of the ongoing maintenance of the Cage the brickwork at the front has been re-pointed this year  

Parson Drove Street Pride Group have undertaken various projects during the year including litter picks through the village, creating a new flower bed with a sculpture on the village green and maintaining the various flower beds. Their efforts were rewarded by achieving a Silver Award in the Anglia In Bloom Competition. Bird boxes and feeders have been decorated by pupils at Payne Primary School and they will be sited at various locations through the village. We are very grateful to the group and the village volunteers for their efforts to improve and enhance our parish environment.

The Section 106 Leisure Working Group has worked hard during the year having arranged for the installation of the multi purposes all weather play area and tennis court on the playing field. They are now working on installing a skate ramp on the playing field to utilise the remaining section 106 funding. The Parish Council thank the group for all their efforts during the year.

The footpath along the Main Road near to John Bends Way has been extended as part of a joint project between the County Council and the Parish Council.  

Summary of the Council's Accounts for year ending 31 st March 2011

INCOME                                                  

The total income for the year excluding VAT was £21,272

A copy of the full accounts is available upon request to the Clerk.

In addition to the general administration costs, professional fees and salary costs of approximately £8,650 expenditure on the following areas has also been incurred:-

The total expenditure for the year was £19,658 excluding VAT

What we did during 2010/2011

During the last year there have been 15 Parish Council Meetings and all Councillors have attended on a regular basis. The Councils Quality Parish Council status expired in January 2011 and a submission for re-accreditation was successfully made in March 2011.   

Councillors have attended various meetings, events and information sessions on your behalf organised by  Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Association of Local Councils, Fenland District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Neighbourhood Policing and Neighbourhood Management Panels. They have attended meetings of the John Bends United Charities, Leverington Feofees, Amenities 95 Management Committee, Section 106 Working Group and Payne School Safer Routes to School Scheme.

The Council has made recommendations on 30 planning applications, and responded to various consultation documents from Local and Central Government.

Councillors have held regular open surgeries for Parishioners in the Cage, attended the Community Fairs in Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary and quarterly newsletters have been produced and delivered to each household.

Local residents are working in conjunction with Fenland District Council on the Green Communities Initiative following the very successful Green Living Fair held in the village hall on the
11th September. The current project is to establish a community allotment garden for residents to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Committed Future Expenditure and Planned Projects

The Parish Council will continue to press the County Council for schemes to tackle speeding traffic and the provision of footpaths to improve pedestrian safety.

An application was made again this year under the Minor Highways Improvements scheme for a further extension of the public footpath along the Main Road near to John Bends Way. Our application for funding from the County Council was unfortunately unsuccessful this year but we will try again next year.

A petition for improvements to the Swan Bridge junction was presented to the Area Joint Highways Committee in April 2010. We hope to hear from the County Council very soon with positive suggestions for improvements to this junction.

Funding has been secured under the Safer Routes to School scheme for new traffic calming measures outside the Payne School and we are now waiting to see the plans being prepared by Cambridgeshire County Council Highways Department.  

We are working closely with Fenland District Council on trying to obtain an Exception Site to provide Affordable Housing. The site originally considered at Sealeys Lane is not being progressed in view of problems with providing a footpath and street lights. An alternative site at Church End in now being investigated and progress on this will be provided in future Newsletters.