Parish Walk to Celebrate 50th Anniversary

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50th ANNIVERSARY BEATING THE BOUNDS OF SELATTYN AND GOBOWEN PARISH

 ‘Beating the Bounds’ is an ancient custom in England, and many other countries, which was adopted by the Christian Church from pagan tradition.  Groups of old and young members would walk the boundary of the parish, usually led by parish clergy and officials.  It was also called ‘Riding the Marches’ – very appropriate in our area.

The custom has not been upheld for several years in Selattyn and Gobowen Parish.  To mark the 50th year of the Parish, the Council organised an anniversary walk on Sunday 16th July.  A group of 18 parishioners, led by our Council Leader, Mr Huw Ellis, and steered by Chris Jenkins, walked 5 kilometres along Parish roads, footpaths and canal-side, as a modest reflection of the actual boundary of some 20 kilometres.  The weather was kind and after the walk everyone enjoyed well-earned refreshments at the Pavilion.

Parking Consultation – Gobowen Station

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A 12-week consultation into Shropshire Council’s proposed new parking strategy has begun today and runs until 17 October.

The proposals include introducing charges at Gobowen Station.

For more information about the proposals, and to submit comments, go to www.shropshire.gov.uk/parking-consultation.

You can also read the press release at: http://shropshire.gov.uk/news/2017/07/consultation-begins-into-proposed-parking-changes/

Copies of the consultation documents will be available in Shropshire Council libraries and customer service points from next week, and are available on request by calling 0345 678 9028.

If you have any questions about the consultation, please email: tellus@shropshire.gov.uk.

Official Launch of the New Play Equipment

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In 2016 Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council successfully secured just under £17,000 of funding to purchase and install a new piece of play equipment on Gobowen Playing Field. The new equipment was installed in late spring 2017 and the official opening took place on Thursday 20th July with around 100 children attending the event.

 Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council successfully secured grants from the following organisations for the purchase and installation of the new equipment:

Big Lottery

Three Parishes Big Local

The Hilton Jones Trust

Gobowen Youth Partnership

Included in the grant from The Three Parishes Big Local was additional funding for a community event which enabled the Parish Council to put on the launch and engage local people. Working with Gobowen Primary School, around 100 children and 40 parents attended the event which included an ice cream van with free ice creams, refreshments for parents, inflatable games and activities run by TNS as well as the opportunity for children to spend the morning playing on the wide range of equipment on the playing field.

Lucy, Headteacher at Gobowen Primary School commented, “Gobowen Primary School are proud to be part of this community and are very grateful to the parish council for their continued support of our young people. This event is a wonderful way for everyone to celebrate these new facilities”.

At the event, Three Parishes Big Local Chairman, Nick Heard, said, “It was lovely to see so many children and their families enjoying themselves outdoors”.

National Plant Monitoring Scheme

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The third season of the National Plant Monitoring Scheme is well underway with volunteers up and down the country going out to visit their squares. A huge thank you to everyone who helped to promote the NPMS over the past two years, we now have over 1100 volunteers taking part as well as a network of 20 NPMS Mentors. Lots of our volunteers report having heard about the scheme via their parish council so we are very grateful for your hard work.

 Results from 2016:

Our latest newsletter is available: http://www.npms.org.uk/sites/www.npms.org.uk/files/newsletters/NPMS_%20Newsletter_Spring2017_FINAL_v2_0.pdf

The NPMS dataset is freely available via the NBN Atlas.

 More help please:

There are still lots of squares available for surveying so we would be hugely grateful if you can use your communication channels to promote the scheme again. The live map on the NPMS website shows the squares that are available: http://www.npms.org.uk/square-near-me-public?dynamic-return_all_squares=true

We particularly need to promote the scheme in remote areas, so if you know any groups that like to spend time in remote places then please do pass the message on.

A reminder of who we are and what we need:

This scheme is a partnership between Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI); JNCC; Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and Plantlife and is backed by the government. The scheme will recruit and support volunteers to survey 5 plots in a kilometre square close to where they live. The plots will be surveyed twice a year. The kilometre squares to monitor have been identified by stratified random sampling. The plants have been chosen as indicators of the health of individual habitats. There are 3 levels volunteers can participate at depending on confidence and knowledge and support will be provided both through training; web and telephone.

Gobowen’s historic station to be returned to its former glory under community ownership

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The Gobowen Area Improvement Group (GAIP) have announced they had completed the purchase of the buildings on both the up and down platforms at Gobowen Station. The station buildings had been in private ownership for many years and were destined to be sold at auction, however intervention by Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council with a Community Right to Bid application opened a path for the buildings to be secured for the community.

This acquisition provides the foundation for an ambitious project to see the historic station returned to a former glory whilst also providing a connecting rail service to Oswestry with intermediate stations at the Orthopaedic Hospital and tourism venues along the route. The development will also considerably enhance the employment opportunities within the local area, particularly in tourism and engineering within the railway spectrum of the project.

Through the Community Right to Bid process the group had to raise the necessary funding for the purchase and sought assistance from Three Parishes Big Local, the Big Lottery funded programme led by local residents that is investing in Gobowen, St Martins and Weston Rhyn.

Glenn Pennington, speaking on behalf of Three Parishes Big Local, said,“Three Parishes Big Local is always looking for ways to make the area a better place to live, and we were impressed with the innovative opportunities that the station buildings project offers for revitalising the local area.

Three Parishes Big Local provided a grant and a loan totalling £110,000 as part of the funding required.

The Oswestry Station Building Trust Ltd (OSBT) a registered charity and partner in GAIP have acted as the facilitator in the purchase. They will be the owner and financial partner in the management of this project and working within GAIP will now continue to plan the future development of the station buildings offering security of tenure for the existing tenants which includes Severn Dee Travel the not for profit rail agency who have run the booking office there for over 20 years.

Roger Date speaking for OSBT said that he was delighted to have played a part in the partnerships success and looked forward to assisting with the delivery of the community rail project along with the numerous other community opportunities for revitalisation of the area.

Sheila Dee, Community Rail Officer for the Chester Shrewsbury Rail Partnership also a member of GAIP said that the group had worked very hard to achieve this aspiration and had seen great support from stakeholders, the rail industry and the community. She commented, ‘the many hours spent working on this bid and compiling our business plan had been very worthwhile and made us far more prepared for challenges that were faced in raising the finances needed. The opportunity these buildings give this area are immense; already we have a staffed station through Severn Dee Travel and a station café managed by the Derwen College. Restoration of the once beautiful buildings will make the station the Gateway to the area once more.

Shropshire views sought for national rural resident survey

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Shropshire Council is encouraging local residents to make their voices heard at national level, by completing a short online survey into the views of rural people on a number of issues. The survey is being carried out by the Rural Services Network (RSN), which campaigns for a fair deal for rural communities. It is aimed at any individuals aged 15 and over, and closes at midnight on 23rd July 2017.

Please access the survey using the link below:

 

RSN Rural Survey

The RSN would like as many responses as possible so that they can obtain a wide selection of views representing rural areas. The aim is also to set up a panel of people to be contacted from time to time about their opinions and experiences, with an Amazon £10 voucher on offer to 10 respondents chosen at random after the closing date from those who indicate they are happy to be part of such a panel.

Councillor Mrs Joyce Barrow, Portfolio Holder for Communities, said:

“It would be very helpful for the voices of Shropshire residents to be heard through this national survey, as we are one of the most sparsely populated rural authorities in the country. The findings will be shared with national Government, and should be very useful at this time of change. I would therefore very much like to encourage local people to complete the survey, which asks about issues such as education, health, housing, rural crime, and transport.”

The Council is asking elected members as community leaders to complete the survey themselves, as well as circulating it to officers, and through channels such as the Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly.

The national online survey is being carried out through the Rural Services Network (RSN). This is seeking the views of rural residents on a range of issues, in order to then bring collective views to the attention of Government and national policy makers.

As the national champion for rural services, seeking to ensure rural areas have a strong voice, the Network campaigns for a fair deal for rural communities to maintain their social and economic viability for the benefit of the nation as a whole. Councillor Cecilia Motley, Member for Corvedale, is Chair of the RSN.

For this survey, the RSN is working with research partners at the University of Gloucestershire. The Council has been assured that information provided in this questionnaire will be used for research purposes only. It will not be used in a manner which would allow identification of individual responses, nor are any questions being asked that would allow individuals, or their household, to be identified.

Gobowen Playing Field – Dogs on Leads!

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Dogs must be kept on leads, at all times, on Gobowen Playing Field. This is clearly stated on signage around the playing field.

Under the terms of the existing dog control orders, the Dog Exclusion Order makes it an offence for a person in control of a dog to allow their dog to enter land from which dogs are excluded. Dogs are excluded from entering:

  • equipped children’s play areas

Dogs should not enter land within 5 metres of permanently fixed children’s  play equipment.

If you witness a dog running loose on the playing field please report it to Shropshire Council who control the dog orders either on line through their website or telephone on 0345 678 9006, giving as much information as possible that could help identify the individuals involved.

Parish Council Receives Newsletter Grant

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Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council recently received the news that their grant application for £500 of funding to help towards the production of the Roundabout Newsletter had been successful. This is the second time in 2 years the Parish Council have been successful in obtaining this grant.

The ‘Roundabout’ was a Parish Project set up in 2003 to improve communication in the Parish. The publication is printed and distributed 4 times a year. Parish Clerk, Amy Gregory, commented, “The newsletter is produced solely by the Parish Council, who rely on Councillors and a team of actively involved volunteers to distribute the 1740 copies produced each quarter to every corner of the Parish. The Parish is continuing to grow with new houses which will mean longer delivery routes and more copies printed. The Parish Council are keen to ensure that each and every house in the Parish continue to receive a copy of the newsletter as the Parish continues to grow and are therefore extremely grateful to the Three Parishes Big Local for their support through the £500 grant”.

Three Parishes Big Local Chairman, Nick Heard, said “The biggest issue we found when we did our original research was that people complained that they didn’t know various events were happening so it is great to support the Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Roundabout in their efforts to keep everyone informed”