Nether Alderley Parish Council

May2025

I am very pleased to be able to present this my first annual report to the meeting
since becoming Chair in July 2024.

Without doubt our single biggest achievement of the last year has been the completion at last of the refurbished village hall, which Councillors past and present have worked so
hard to deliver. Through a combination of grant funding S106, CIL, the precept and Public Works Loan Board funding and many generous donations from friends and residents we
have been able to make this long-time aspiration a reality. We hosted an evening reception and open house weekend at the end of March and are now welcoming back old
friends and many new users.

A challenge for the next 12 months and beyond will be to make sure we capitalise on this asset, that we make it pay its way and by doing so enable us to provide more community
based events of our own.We have re-vamped our newsletter which goes out to over 500 hundred households, and I would like to thank those responsible for its production, but particularly to the small band of volunteers who deliver it!

We have also built a strong relationship with ward councillor Anthony Harrison who attends our PC meetings. He has helped us to raise issues such as the flooding which affected residents of Welsh Row, Gatley Green Farm and Artists Lane at the beginning of 2025, the broken 20 mile/hour warning light outside the school and a number of planning related issues with Cheshire East Council (CEC) directly. Adding weight to our own representations We need to rise to the challenge of remaining relevant to residents and be prepared to play an increasingly important role in addressing service gaps that might arise due to cut sin funding to CEC by maintaining strong oversight and control of our finances, which with the direction of our Parish Clerk David Naylor we have been able to do. Councillor update Following the resignation of councillors Ruth Morgan in November `24 and Marcus Raphael in January this year after their appointments in May `24 and November `23 respectively we have been very fortunate to appoint 2 new councillors in March this year which has enabled us to again meet our full complement of 8 councillors.
I would like to take this opportunity once more thank Ruth and Marcus for their inputs
and to wish them well in their future endeavours.
New councillor Sue Clarke brings over 13 years of parish council experience and Rachel Horsefield strong business and entrepreneurial skills to the team and I really look forward to working with both of them.

Future Plans
Having now delivered the refurbished village Hall we have in this year’s budget identified funding for a number of new projects and initiatives which will help us tomaintain and enhance our estate. For example,
• We intend to appoint a lengthsman whose role it will be to undertake minor maintenance tasks around the parish such as path clearing, hedge trimming,weeding, clearing minor debris and        reporting larger maintenance issues tha tmight require professional attention.
• We are going to tidy and make usable the triangle of land which belongs to the PC outside the hall to provide some outdoor space for activities.
• Broadband is to be installed at the hall
• We will erect 3 new boundary signs and replace 2 damaged notice boards. In addition to which relationship building and partnerships will be another focus of the next 12 months. connecting with neighbouring Parish Councils to explore common issues on which we might work together and on the back of the connections we have made or reestablished through the work on the hall, exploring how we work with our fellow stakeholders; the School, the Church, National Trust and Bruntwood SciTech for our mutual benefit.
In conclusion I would like to thank all my council colleagues for their hard work and support. My predecessor Angela Farrell said in last year’s Chairs report that for a small
parish we have had a sizeable workload, I think we still do, and I am confident that as a team we will rise to the challenge of continuing to deliver for our community.

Thank you

Lesley Gleave 

Chair Nether Alderley Parish Council (2024/25)

If you are a resident of Nether Alderley and would like to be included on the mailing list, to receive occasional communications from the Parish Council about local matters, please e-mail the Clerk: clerk.napc@gmail.com