annual report of the council

april 2024/ april 2025

First presented at the Annual Meeting of the Parish - 3rd April 2025.

As another year comes to an end, we look back at the Parish Council’s work for the last 12 months. The Council continued to put on our community events which again were well supported. In July we hosted our Fair in the Square, we were again blessed with good weather and as always, it was well supported. In September Music in the Square was very busy with the addition of our VIP area and three amazing local bands it was an amazing evening.

In November we held our annual remembrance service and wreath laying ceremony on Amnesty Sunday a very solemn and respectful service. December, we welcomed Father Christmas to the square with carols and the Aylesbury Concert Band. The lights with the Christmas tree as always makes the square look wonderful and my thanks go to our Maintenance Team who really work so hard to make it magical.

The Parish continues to work closely with the Town Council, and we are always keen to support the mayor wherever possible. The Parish and Coldharbour residents have been represented at the Aylesbury Town Mayor's events, including the mayor making ceremony in May and the Remembrance and Christmas services held at St Mary’s Church.

The Parish Council and its councilors continue to work on matters that directly affect our village. We continue to meet monthly with HS2 and their contractors discussing and questioning whenever possible their works and impacts on us and the surrounding areas. The council have also worked with stakeholders with regards to keeping public spaces as clean as possible and pursuing incidents of fly tipping with them

This year we finally took ownership of the final tranches of the riverine corridor; this has taken over a decade and countless meetings and lobbying to get this signed off. Taking ownership means our maintenance team can look after and manage the corridor which forms part of the village flood defense.

We continue to use our Facebook Page and website to keep residents informed and encourage them to respond to consultations that affect the village and make sure their voices are heard. The Parish Council continues to meet every first Thursday at 8pm in the Community Centre to deal with monthly business such as Planning Applications, Play Areas, and questions from the residents.

All this work could not happen without the support of the Clerk, Parish Councilors, Maintenance team and our Centre Staff and I must say a massive thank you to them all for the hard work that they put in behind the scenes to make this such a wonderful place to live.

It is with pleasure that I submit this report.

Andrew Cole

Cllr Andrew Cole

Chairman of the Council