Bere Regis

  • VICE chairman of the parish council, Ian Ventham reports:

Your Parish Council met on May 8 for its monthly meeting.

This meeting is the one at which officers are elected or re-elected for the following year. The Council duly re-elected Jim Parsons as Chairman, and Ian Ventham as Vice-Chairman.

Annetta Allen, chair of governors of Bere Regis First School, gave a very interesting and thoughtful talk about the school.

She also briefed us about the forthcoming consultation process about schooling in Purbeck, as a reaction to falling school rolls. The Council pledged its strong support to the school, through this process.

The Council discussed the Puddletown Road wind farm application proposal at some length, eventually deciding that in principle we supported the application, but had concerns about the lack of consultation with the Dorset Scout County Campsite at Buddens Farm, which is within the parish, and reservations about the siting of two of the turbines, as these would have a significant impact upon those using the campsite.

We also wished to urge the developers to consider integrating their plans with the waste disposal facility being developed at Binnegar, particularly over energy generation.

You may recall that this council had managed to coordinate a common view of six neighbouring parish and town councils about the traffic problems we believed the Binnegar Waste Plant would create.

At the Planning Board meeting about this application, Councillor Wharf eloquently and strongly presented Bere Regis Council's view, that whilst we were not opposed to the plant, we were strongly of the opinion that the traffic issues needed to be dealt with first. Whilst this argument was not formally accepted, and the plant was granted planning permission, there are strong indications that our lobbying has been at least partially successful, and that the planners are in the very early stages of considering an eastern and southern bypass route for our village.

Councillor John Pitts reported on the deeply frustrating delays caused by Dorset County Council to the implementation of the zebra crossing near the school, which should be the final element in the Safer Route to School plan. It is now about 15 months since we made a formal complaint about the inaction of our County Council, yet their failure to publicly advertise the proposed crossing has led to this inordinate delay. We will continue to press them to finish what they have long promised but have yet to deliver. The same criticism applies to the failure to advertise the proposed double yellow lines which we would like to see painted on the roads near the surgery and at the Snow Hill/North Street junction.

However, I am pleased to announce that the long awaited public notice has finally been published, and will be posted on May 15, so perhaps there will now be some progress.

The surgery, with the Parish Council, would very much like to get a volunteer-run support group up and running.

The sort of tasks such a group of people might undertake include collecting and delivering prescriptions to elderly or less mobile people who cannot easily get to the surgery, providing transport for patients to and from the surgery and hospitals, and acting as a sounding board about the services being offered by our medical team here in the village.

We would very much like to appoint someone who is resident in the village, and who could give perhaps an hour a day, to act as the coordinator of such a group.

We would also very much like to hear from people who have their own transport, who might be willing to be on a delivery or passenger rota from time to time. Would anyone interested in helping out, and who might be willing to come to an interest meeting to find out more, please let me know on 01929 471480, or email me on ian@shitterton.com We have been asked if allotments can be made available in the village. Whilst the Parish Council does not own or manage any, there are some that are owned by the Morden Park Estate, but there is apparently a waiting list for these. If sufficient demand exists we could investigate how more might be made available in the future. Would anyone interested in an allotment please telephone our clerk, Jim Ruddock, on 01929 556263