MAYOR’S REPORT – October 28^th 2024

“I would like to begin by extending my thanks to Alasdair Elrick, who until recently, represented Burnham Central on the Town Council.  Alasdair has decided to resign his position as councillor for personal reasons.  We wish him well.  This leaves a vacancy on the Town Council.  An election will be held in due course.

At the end of September, I attended the Axbridge Blackberry Carnival.  A civic event was held by the Mayor of Axbridge to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Axbridge Town Council.  It was a great opportunity to meet with the Mayors of other towns in Somerset and share our experiences.

The Deputy Mayor and I visited Berrow School on 24^th September to talk with the new Head Teacher and see the improvements made to the school, both inside and outside the buildings.  We were impressed with the use of outside space and their plans to make this available to the community and other schools in the area.

Over the last month, I have also attended the AGMs of the following organisations: Fritzlar Twinning Association, the Sea Cadets and the Burnham-on-Sea Chamber of Trade.  A report on these meetings is included in the agenda papers.

On the 8^th October, I had the pleasure of attending the South West in Bloom presentations in Bath.  I am pleased to report that a Silver Gilt award was made to Burnham-on-Sea.  I thought this was a great achievement, given the difficulties we have encountered over the past year.  It would not have been possible without the hard work of members of the Growing Group and Dave Perrett and Jo Brown of Burnham and District in Bloom.  The Growing Group is very proud of this award and remains enthusiastic in its commitment to improving the towns’ flower beds. 

What was interesting at the presentation was that larger towns who had been awarded Gold had a combination of large workforces employed by councils or sub-contractors engaged by councils, working with dedicated teams of volunteers.  I think that we have done very well this year with our small group of volunteers and I want to publicly thank them for all that they do.

On 11^th October, I met with Dan Milford, Head Teacher of King Alfred’s school.  We discussed a range of topics, such as his initiative to establish community breakfasts to bring together different stakeholders in the town, and the links between school council and the Town Council and engaging young people in local issues.

On the third Thursday of every month, St Andrews Church holds an inclusive and Dementia Friendly Service, with familiar prayers and songs for those attending.  I was very pleased to be invited along to their 7^th anniversary of holding these services and it was a very happy event.

On 23^rd October, the Banking Hub Working Group met to discuss the recent reassessment of Burnham’s provision of bank services, given that Lloyds is still planning to close its branch in November.  The reassessment concluded that, as a minimum, the town should have access to a cash deposit service.  Contact has been made with LINK to ask some important questions relating to the reassessment such as:

1. What has Lloyd’s response been to the reassessment and does it mean that the proposed closure date will be postponed until the provision of cash access services have been put in place?
2. Does the assessment mean that we are a more viable location for a Banking Hub?
3. What are our next steps and who is responsible for making this happen?
4. What is the timeframe for developments?

I have made contact with the Public Relations Manager at LINK and await his response.

A meeting on Friday 25^th October was held with a number of local residents to discuss the issue of travellers. We discussed the possibility of creating a bund around the playing fields at Cassis Close and certain actions were agreed.  Thanks to Councillor Searing for organising the meeting and agreeing to take forward these actions.”

Cllr Sharon Perry