NEWQUAY TOWN COUNCIL
 
ANNUAL REPORT  2008-2009

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Newquay Town Council’s second Annual Report.

As the Mayor for the past Civic Year Cllr Mrs Lynda Cherry has attended many events on behalf of Newquay Town Council and has said that it was an honour and privilege to be the Mayor of such a fine town as Newquay.  She has represented the Council on a twinning visit to Dinard, attended civic ceremonies such as the inaugurations of the High Sheriff of Cornwall and that of the new Bishop to Cornwall, dressed up as a villain in the Newquay Carnival, visited local residents who have attained the age of 100 (and others) and many more local events such as the Harbour Sports Day, Lifeboat Day and running a stall at the Newquay Summer Fayre on the Killacourt.  At the same time, Cllr Mrs Lynda Cherry was Chairman of the Tourism and Leisure Committee.  A very busy year for her indeed.
 
The Mayor for the Civic Year 2009-2010 is Cllr John Fitter and the Deputy Mayor is Cllr Mrs Jill Bunt.  There is a total of twenty councillors who all sit on various committees. 
Congratulations to the Town Council on achieving Quality Status.  We are now one of the fourteen councils in Cornwall to achieve this.  The Quality Status committee have ‘done us proud’.  This qualification will allow us to have more influence with Cornwall Council and also will lead to more devolvement of assets and services to local level.

This past year has been a very busy one with a lot of work carried out in the town by the Council.  The CCTV is now up and working at Trenance Valley, the ‘Street Safe’ project is now in place, weed control has now been transferred to the Town Council from Cornwall Council, the Gannel Boatyard is now in the hands of the Gannel Working Party and the Decorative and Christmas lighting has been greatly improved for the forthcoming ‘Season’.

Councillors have been instrumental in having the Trenance Lake thoroughly cleaned and de-silted and one of the projects, in conjunction with SERCO has been the issuing of free anti-seagull sacks to all Newquay residents. 

The Skatepark has recently undergone a re-vamp and the fencing around the skatepark has been replaced.

The policing of our town with Community Police Support Officers and our new Traffic Enforcement Officers provide public confidence and they have done an excellent job.

The Town Council’s Committees, Working Parties and Staff are now well acquainted with the new Unitary Authority (Cornwall Council) and eagerly await the outcome of the forthcoming elections on 4th June 2009.  This is an important and historical event for Cornwall and hopefully will lead to a more ‘access easy council’ for the residents. 

THE COUNCIL
Meetings of the Council are held the first Wednesday of each month and are open to the public.  Time is set aside at these meetings for the public to ask questions or to make their personal views known.  During May and August there is a recess of all committee meetings except that of the Council and Planning.  All residents are extended a warm welcome to any of the Council or Committee meetings that take place throughout the year.

FINANCE AND POLICY COMMITTEE
This committee is chaired always by the Deputy Mayor who is Cllr Mrs Jill Bunt for 2008-2009 and consists of all chairmen and vice chairmen of the four main committees.  The committee meets approximately every other month, usually on a Wednesday, to monitor, policies (new and old), the current budget, sets the draft budget and precept for the next municipal year, amends standing orders and financial regulations and is responsible for awarding grants to applicants.. This committee does not have delegated powers and thus makes recommendations to the Council.  The total income for the year was £313.448 comprising the full year Precept of £270.00, bank interest of £22,067, Town Plan grant of £14,850.00, weed control grant of £4,714, Christmas Lights grant of £1,013.00, Footpath maintenance income of £70.00 and CCRV donation of £100.00.     The total expenditure of the year was £297.340 which represents 90% of the annual budget.

PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Planning Committee consisting of eight members and chaired by Cllr John Rainbow meets every other Monday at 2.00pm and has delegated powers to consider all planning applications and to make recommendations to the Cornwall Council Planning Authority.  The public are welcome to attend these meeting and again have the right to make known their concerns and opinions to the committee.  If possible, a letter should be sent to the Clerk prior to each meeting from the public giving brief details of the problem or concern.  That member of the public is invited to attend the planning meeting.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE
This committee is responsible for CCTV, Youth Initiative, Decorative and Christmas Lighting, Streetsafe and the firework displays for the ‘lighting up of Newquay’ parades.  Cllr Patrick Lambshead has been the chair of this committee for many years now and together with the members (eight in all )  have worked tirelessly for the good of the town. The Working Parties Newquay Growth Area and Newquay Strategy Group report to the EDGP committee on any progress or meeting that have been attended by representatives.

FOOTPATHS, BRIDLEWAYS AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE
There are eight members of this committee and has been chaired by Cllr Gary Redman for the past four years. There are numerous responsibilities for this committee including the maintenance of the local footpaths, weed control, skatepark usage and the Gannel Users Working Party.  The Gannel is now a safe place to moor boats thanks to the tireless work of this Working Party and has improved the environment a great deal.  Dog waste bins have been put in place and also there is a small picnic area in the vicinity.  There is also a sub committee to liaise with Newquay in Bloom and Britain in Bloom which won a ‘GOLD AWARD’ last year.

TOURISM AND LEISURE COMMITTEE
Cllr Mrs Lynda Cherry – who was Mayor for the Civic Year 2008-2009, has been the chair of this committee for several years now and has promoted the tourism of Newquay by working with Restormel Borough Council, local groups and the Town Manager.  Events such as the Fish Festival, Harbour Sports, Newquay Carnival, Killacourt Fayre and the New Year’s Eve Firework display are just some of the projects that have been undertaken by this committee.  The Dinard Twinning Working Party reports to this committee and last year several town councillors visited Dinard (at their own expense) and are hoping that a return visit from the Dinard Council will take place in the near future.

TRANSITION COMMITTEE
This is one of the newly formed committees whose members are working towards obtaining services and assets from Cornwall Council.  The project at present is to get the ownership and maintenance responsibility back into the remit of the Town Council.  This is chaired by Cllr Andy Hannan and all members of the Finance and Policy Committee are members on this committee. (Ten in all). To date, negotiations are still taking place.

QUALITY STATUS COMMITTEE
The members of this committee (eight in all) can take pride in their achievement of gaining Quality Town Status for the Council.  This was awarded in September of 2008.  However, there are ongoing levels of competence and professionalism which have to be gained within four years of being awarded this qualification and the committee is dedicated to attaining this. The Quality Status Committee is also responsible for issuing editions of ‘The Crier’ which gives details of all future events, councillors contact details and is placed around the Town on a quarterly basis which allows residents to read elements of what Council work is carried out behind the scenes.
Many of the councillors are representatives and delegates to outside groups and after attending meetings, report back to the Council or the relevant committee on that meeting.

NEWQUAY  GOOD CITIZENS AWARD.
Each year, the Town Council requests nominations for the Newquay Good Citizen’s Award.  All those put forward are carefully considered at Council and the person finally proposed is invited to attend the Mayor Making Ceremony to receive his/her certificate of recognition.  There are many reasons that people are recommended for this award and they range from carrying out charity work to voluntary support in other areas within the town.

The Council produces a year book which contains all the required information about Councillors contact details, which committee an individual councillor sits on and also which outside body, dates of future committee meetings and details of how to contact the Clerk’s office.