End of an Era

Tonight was the last Parish Council meeting for one of the longest serving parish clerks in the Borough. Helen Rennison has served the council and through it the people of Egglescliffe Civil Parish for 22 years. In all the time that I've been a member of that council she has consistently worked unstintingly more hours than she was contracted to do if she saw that an issue was urgent. She will be missed by all, but especially by those of us who chair committees because Helen has made that job so easy.
The new clerk is settling in and no doubt we'll soon be relying on her as much as we once did on Helen.
I don't usually write about Parish Council matters here because that council resolutely steers away from party politics, but on this occasion I'm going to break my own rule! A letter went to residents of a large part of the civil parish about traffic calming in the vicinity of Muirfield Rd and Butterfield Rd. The scheme involves speed humps on a number of roads but also, nothing to do with traffic calming, extensive parking restrictions at the beginning and end of the school day. The letter says that this was approved by the Parish Council. At last night's meeting everyone on the council agreed that the parking restrictions had not been discussed, let alone approved, and that the council would write to the Community Engineer to protest at the letter. So, for residents of Egglescliffe Parish who received that letter - please don't be angry with your Parish Council. The parking wasn't their idea!