Millbrook Parish Council’s Annual Report can be downloaded here.

Chair’s report

As always, there is plenty to talk about in the Chair’s annual report, but I will try to keep it brief without missing anything significant.

The Council has had several projects on the go this year, the biggest of which has been the combined effort with parishioners and Cllr Ewert to push for something to be done about the major traffic problems on Hounster Hill/West Street (The Narrows.) A £12,000 feasibility study has been commissioned by the Council and is just awaiting the final adjustments for a traffic survey carried out over a seven-day period during the Easter holidays. We hope this study will enable us to find a solution that will make this main access route to Millbrook and the rest of the Rame Peninsula safer for residents of the area and less congested for drivers, particularly emergency vehicles at risk of being held up in queues caused by excessively large vehicles getting stuck. There are other traffic matters being addressed with Cornwall Council and Cormac, but this is by far the most major. Given the problem was first acknowledged in a report in the 1950s, it is obviously not going to be a cheap or easy fix.

Plans to instal EV chargers, delayed by the pandemic, have been greatly advanced this year thanks to the efforts of Cllr Mattholie, and we hope to have two EV charging spaces in West Street Car Park in a few months’ time, once the legal and planning aspects of the installation have been concluded.

The Council had a very interesting meeting last July with Russ from Maverick, a company specialising in the design and installation of concrete skateparks. This has led to the setting up of the Millbrook Skatepark Project Group, so there is a community-led fundraising body. The Council is looking forward to a new, much quieter and more usable skate park once the project is complete – and some of our residents will be very pleased to have a reduction in the ramp noise!

A major change for the Council is the recent appointment of Jo Bennetts and Pete Gold, our new Admin. Support Officer and Caretaker respectively. Both part-time posts have been created because the amount of work needed to run aspects of the village is increasing as Cornwall Council’s funding is cut and fewer services are provided. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to them.

We would have a far less lovely village to live in without the hard work of the volunteers in the Village Enhancement Team, run by Cllr Lewis, and I thank them for everything they do to keep our flower boats and planters and the Tanyard looking so good. They always need more volunteers, so please let Karenza or Jo in the office know if you have some spare time and would like to get involved.

On the topic of our lovely village, thanks must also go to Enhanscapes for the work in maintaining the grassed areas of Council land, especially the park and lakeside. There have been a lot of compliments about the way selected areas have been left uncut for pollinators and other wildlife. I would also like to extend thanks to Hill for his emergency callout work to make public areas safe after storm damage; we are lucky to have such a reliable local contractor.

The Council has been very happy this year to have increased links with Millbrook School; pupils have participated in Armistice Day at the war memorial, Christmas carols in the Tanyard and the design of posters encouraging drivers to switch off their engines when stationary (keep your eyes open in the village centre where posters will soon be on display.)

There have been several local organisations to which the Council has granted funding during the year, every one of which we are lucky to have in our area. The work of the Peninsula Trust supporting local people through the pandemic, through financial hardship, through housing need and through counselling has been and continues to be invaluable; we have also been supporting groups providing recreational facilities and places for social events, groups working to improve local facilities and groups providing emergency health care. As a group of unpaid councillors, we are grateful to all the other voluntary groups, charities and organisations who share the load and work to make life in this lovely corner of the world better for everyone.

And finally, at the time of writing this report we still have a vacancy! If you would like to become a parish councillor, or would just like more information before deciding, please talk to Karenza or Jo in the Council office.

Funding awarded to Community Organisations during the year 2022/2023

Millbrook Parish Council’s accounts for the last three years can be viewed by clicking the link below.

MPC Accounts 2021-22, 2020-21 and 2019-20
At  the time of the producing the report the accounts for 2021-22 had been verified by the Internal Auditor but had not been approved by the Full Council.

The Council publishes the payments on the agenda and minutes.
Budgets, finance reports, internal and external audit reports can be viewed on the Finance pages

Parish Councillor attendance register May 2021 to April 2022