Welcome to Hunts Grove Parish Council (HGPC) from your five councillors, Mark Ryder (Chair), Demelza Turner-Wilkes (Vice-Chair), Sandra Meecham, Adam Hampson, and Martyn Holmes.
HGPC was formed in 2020 following a campaign and overwhelming support from residents in the Stroud District Council community governance review. The new parish council will cover all 2,500 homes planned for Hunts Grove and sits within the boundaries of the M5 motorway and railway to the east, the A38 to the west, and Waterwells Business Park to the north.
Why a new Parish Council?
It’s all about focus and representation. Under the original arrangements, Hunts Grove was split between the parishes of Hardwicke and Haresfield, two distinctly different rural villages with priorities of their own.
Hunts Grove has unique opportunities and challenges and it was clear from the residents’ consultation that a parish council specifically focused on Hunts Grove interests would be the most efficient way of moving forward.
Covid Pandemic
Elections for the new parish should have taken place in May 2020, however, these were postponed until May 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the interim, Stroud District Council established a shadow parish council made up of local District and County Councillors.
May 2021, Finally we are Here!
Five councillors ready to get to work! We are really starting from scratch, we have nowhere to meet in Hunts Grove, no bank accounts, no parks or facilities to manage, no village hall – but things are looking up!
That being said, take a look at our meeting agendas and minutes for the last few months and you will see we have had plenty to do, both in forming the parish and working on behalf of residents.
- Recruited our brilliant Parish Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer, Mrs. Julie Shirley;
- Started building this website;
- Established our Standing Orders, Policies and Procedures;
- Opened the bank account;
- Started outreach to other groups and stakeholders such as the management company, developers, local policing team, community liaison group for the energy from waste plant, Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, Stroud District Council, Gloucestershire County Council and more;
- Called for a review of the management of open spaces arrangements following two years of neglect by the developer Crest Nicholson (on-going);
- Initiated a review of the water storage and drainage strategy of the Shorn Brook corridor following the limited flooding during intense rain in 2019, 2020 (on-going);
- Highways issues and adoption (on-going);
- Review of developer deliverables, allotments, A38 Junction, Community Hall and Sports Pitches, Neighbourhood Centre and Open Spaces (on-going)
There are many more initiatives we are working on, too numerous to mention, but our meeting minutes provide some insight.
Why not come along to a parish council meeting and see for yourself? We hold them on the second Monday of every month. At the time of writing (Sept. 2021) we have nowhere in the village to meet. The only public building is the school, however, that is not open for meetings as part of their ongoing Covid-19 risk assessment. We are reviewing this with the school every quarter and hope to hold meetings in Hunts Grove as soon as possible. In the meantime, the parish council meets at the boardroom, Holiday Inn Express on Waterwells Business Park, the closest location to Hunts Grove.
Our Shared Vision
The parish council will be what you make it. It can be a forum for discussions between the community and other stakeholders, or it can take on the traditional parish role of village management and maintenance.
At this present time, councillors would like to hear from residents their views on the parish council taking over from the Hunts Grove Management Company. This will be a fundamental factor in the direction we take as a parish council. We will be holding a formal consultation in the future, however, please feel free to contact the council with any views.
As councillors are also all residents, we have been shocked and disappointed that residents have been paying the managing agent for 3-4 years already and receiving nothing in return as the management company is not responsible for anything on-site yet (except two Bovis apartment blocks).
Having the parish council step in to manage the open spaces and facilities (when they finally arrive!) was a major theme discussed during the community governance review that formed this council. In effect, the service charge fees would go and the parish council precept would increase to cover actual costs of maintenance. Early projections indicate that there would be more than 50% savings by following this approach, mainly due to the fact that the parish council is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit governmental organization.
For balance, we should add that the neglect of the village and maintenance these last two years is no fault of the management company as this was the responsibility of the developers, and primarily Crest Nicholson. All indications are that Preim Ltd, the managing agent currently under contract, would provide a good service if they were operating on-site.
Any future arrangements must surely be cost-efficient and responsive to residents.
On other initiatives, building a community is much more than just building homes! We will be focused on encouraging local sports and community groups to form. We are over 2,000 residents already and will be over 8,000 when complete. Do you have ideas for Hunts Grove? Get in touch!
Cllr Mark Andrew Ryder (Chairman)