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New council united to help community




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The first meeting of Fernwood Parish Council took place at St Giles’ Church Hall, Balderton on Wednesday.

There were ten members of the public in attendance at the meeting, which was held in Balderton because building work on the new Fernwood Village Hall has not been completed.

It follows a successful campaign by Fernwood Residents’ Association to get its own council separate from Balderton Parish Council.

Mr Jim Gould (63) of Goldstraw Lane, Fernwood, is the chairman of the new council and Mr Sandeep Thandi (33) of Rosefield Close, Fernwood, is the vice-chairman.

There are six councillors, but no election was held because there are seven seats on the council.

The council will now advertise the vacancy and co-opt a seventh member.

The councillors, who all live in Fernwood, all agreed to stand as independents.

Mr Gould said: “We are a team and do not believe politics should interfere at a parish level.”

Mr Gould, who previously represented the Balderton South ward on Balderton Parish Council, said Fernwood Parish Council wanted to develop the estate and a community spirit as quickly as possible.

He said: “We want to get more people involved — it was a major disappointment that there were seven seats but only six people were prepared to stand.”

He said there were minor problems in Fernwood, like on any other estate, and he hoped the parish council could enlist the support of other agencies in tackling them.

Mr Thandi is a member of the village hall committee and secretary of the residents’ association.

He said: “We want to get the youth involved and have a mini parish council for youngsters to express their views and have a representative on the parish council.

“We want to work with them to see what they want because they live here too.”

Mr Anthony Barson (27) of Ainsdale Close, has been on the committee of the residents’ association for four years and its webmaster for two years.

Mr Barson, a self-employed website designer, said the council wanted to engage the community and develop community spirit.

He said he was interested in crime and disorder and although there was not a lot of crime in Fernwood he wanted to help sort out the petty anti-social behaviour problems.

Mr Jim Weale (63) of Oakfield Road, Fernwood, has never been involved in local politics before.

He decided to stand for election because they were short of people and he wanted to give something to the community.

He said: “We are all singing from the same hymn sheet.”

Mr Weale said: “It is important that in this day and age we get the community happy and feeling safe where they live.”

Mr Giles Radley (33) of Rosefield Close, Fernwood, has been the chairman of the village hall committee for about 18 months. He previously represented the Balderton South ward on Balderton Parish Council.

He said: “I have been quite heavily involved with the village hall and we need to ensure we get that up and running and fitted out properly to enable us to use it to its full potential.”

Mr Radley said the council wanted youth, sport and drama groups to be set up and to use the facilities.

Mr Mike Mutter (64) of Cormack Lane, Fernwood, has been the chairman of the residents’ association since it started four years ago. He also represented Balderton South on Balderton Parish Council.

He said: “We want to continue to develop the village in the interest of the villagers.

“We want to get the facilities sorted out and to make sure it is a decent place to live.”

He said: “We are particularly interested in finding out who owns and who is responsible for what. It is very unclear at the moment.

“Another achievement would be if we got a school.”



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