As we move into 2024, it’s that time when everyone outlines their ambitions for the year ahead. And Draycott village council’s New Year Resolution appears to be to go ahead with a £5000 beautification project which it has in mind.
The idea our village councillors have is to set up ‘gateway’ points at each entry point to the village. These decorative pieces would carry speed warning notices as well as look good. (For more about what gateways are, and how they work, see ‘Draycott Council Gateways Idea‘)
It’s a great project, and kudos to Cllr Lisa Emery for driving it forwards, but…. if there is money to spare, doesn’t the village have other pressing needs too?
This sum of £5000 is half of what the council raises in council tax from us each year – so local householders might also want to have a say. In other words, do Draycottians like the idea? And what might they choose to do with £5000 instead, if they had a choice?
A Draycott 2024 wish-list
So…. we asked around the village – and these following suggestions were some of the ones that came up.
# Upgrade the speed-signs. Currently, the two electronic speed-signs are useless, because all they do is flash up the speed the motorist is doing. What would really work is if they flash warning-messages, or even change colour to red when the speed limit is exceeded.
In fact, the councillors know the signs need improving. In a debate last year they themselves discussed the signs, saying things like they were “not fit for purpose” and did “not have good value”. So – let’s get them sorted.
# Finish the painting of the war memorial (see pic below). It’s a mystery why this is taking so long to be done. It just looks bad in its unfinished state.
# Fix the council website. We’ve been waiting a long five years for the council website to be tidied up properly, yet there are still badly out-of-date pages on it and, worse, missing documents. All it needs is a manager to oversee it – and there are skilled people in the village offering to do the job for a small cost. Why not get them in?
# Carry out the long-overdue promise to issue a newsletter twice a year. After all, it’s the least that the council can do, to keep local tax-payers in touch with what it’s up to.
Again… there are skilled people in the village offering to do the job for a small cost. Why not get them in?
# It was a common thread that we could do with a couple more noticeboards in the village on which to put community news & events. (The three noticeboards in the village at the moment are meant specifically for local-government announcements). Any new noticeboards could be put in the redundant bus-shelters owned by the village council, as they are in other villages in the county (see below).
# Pay for the missing footpath-signs and have them reinstated. Some have been missing for over twenty years!
# Give the council’s clerk extra hours; she’s clearly stretched. She only gets paid for very few hours at the moment, and so matters can take a long time to be addressed.
These are some of the ideas, and there were many more, as you can imagine. These are just the most obvious.
But… here’s the thing: wouldn’t it also be nice if we residents were asked what we’d like to see our council tax spent on?
There are also lots of things that won’t cost money, and can be done for free by the council. Perhaps we’ll write about those in future posts.
Do you have thoughts about what initiatives the council might undertake? Let’s hear what you think: just use the comments-box further down the page, or email this website.
Climate change
But the one big free thing that could, and should, be done now by the council is: contribute to the climate-change debate.
The year 2023 was the hottest on record and it seems things will only get worse.
Climate change will lead to massive problems, and not just abroad either. We’ll see: emigration on a scale never seen before; food deprivation; more flooding crises… and more.
So, what can Draycott Council do?
Simple answer is: declare a formal ‘climate emergency’– as nearly 600 local councils across the country have done – and then set up a local climate-change working-group. (In fact, a resident asked the council to carry this out a year ago – when the issue was postponed for ‘consideration’ – in other words, kicked into the long grass, and it was never discussed again).
Why not make 2024 the year that this council did something about this?
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Draycott in the Moors News & Comment Website 
Are you mad? The last thing we want is the parish council declaring a “climate emergency” and pushing through all sorts of unhinged planning and regulation changes in the name of saving the planet – which does nothing except line the pockets of big businesses and give more control to those in power.
If you want to help the environment try coming up with some ways to stop people treating the countryside like a rubbish dump. I’ve literally just picked up 3 black bags of other people’s rubbish just along a 400 meter stretch of Cresswell road.
The council don’t do anything about it and even when they cut the grass along the roadside just strim right over it leaving jagged shards of tin cans behind.
They could try unblocking the drains too, while I’m having a moan.
Anonymous
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EDITOR’S REPLY
Hi Anonymous. You’re confusing some of the duties of various councils.
The parish council (whom many want to see declare a ‘climate emergency’) does not control planning laws – that’s the government. Same with regulations. Planning rules, which are now very lax, brought in by governments, have indeed increased their power; you’re right there. But, yes, again you are right, asking for decisions to be based on climate issues would force them to act more respectfully.
However, it is the parish council which controls the problem of roadside litter, so, yes, please write to them to tell them your concerns.
The grass-cutting is down to the District council (ie Staffordshire Moorlands) – though the the parish council has taken on the job of clearing mud and encroaching grass off pavements.
The drains are down to the county council.
Also, do you realise how serious the climate problem is – for all of us… even in GB? Check out an impartial view: https://earth.org/data_visualization/11-interesting-facts-about-climate-change/
Draycott Parish Council has ignored the issue of climate change ever since ‘deferring’ a petition by a local resident to declare an emergency a couple of years ago.
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In response to any concerns over the prospective gateways proposed for our Parish, please may I add the following:
While there are beautification aspects, the primary goals of gateways are to provide a ‘sense of place’ for a community and to form part of speed mitigation measures.
The council’s aim in installing the gateways is for them to form part of ongoing speed mitigation measures that we have planned for our community. Although gateways are a relatively new concept in Staffordshire Moorlands, a recent case study in Worcestershire notes the following:
‘In Worcestershire speeding on the highway is one of the concerns brought to our attention by some local communities, while speeding nationally was also recognised by the Government which in part resulted in the Department for Transport (DfT) requiring all local highway authorities, including Worcestershire County Council, to assess the speed limits on all their A and B-class roads.
In response to the directive from the DfT speed mitigating measures were considered in some areas, and some of these measures included the provision of gateways at the entrance of some settlements. Gates were also specified in some areas where local communities expressed concerns about speeding. Where these concerns were found to be evidence-based after detailed investigations, gates were installed with Parish Councils making a financial contribution towards the purchase costs, which not only empowered Parish Councils to address local concerns at a local level, but also demonstrated partnership working.
Gateways were specified as one form of speed mitigating measure because they not only give the impression of a road narrowing, but the siting of gates close to the edge of a road provides a visual deterrent to excess speeds. Gates also have the added benefit of enhancing the environment, particularly in rural locations, while also highlighting further the presence of a settlement which aids local identity and community cohesiveness’.
I would further like to add that the monies for this project are not coming from the upcoming budget, but are from monies already allocated. As a Parish Council, we are open to all new ideas and suggestions from our Parishioners, and are determined to remain transparent in our actions. It is also of note that we do have the ‘solar array fund’, which we would like to encourage all parishioners to consider applying to for any initiatives that will benefit our community.
Cllr Lisa Emery (Draycott Parish Council)
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You correctly mention the traffic signs indicating the speed of inbound drivers entering the parish at each end of Uttoxeter Road.
I have recently undertaken a short project accessing the configuration and data logging on the devices, which I will be discussing at the village council. While I was no part of the original specification of these signs, they do offer some very good data logging facilities which I would be very keen for any future replacement to at the very least be on par with, if not improve upon.
Interestingly the signs remain functional throughout the night and days even when there is no apparent indication being then configured for low power use, ie prioritising the data capture over the speed indication.
This information has recently been requested by the police which proves that it has value. I would be very interested in ideas from residents about what we could do with the data, perhaps on a bi-monthly basis, to raise awareness of what we all agree is a significant issue to our parish and residents.
I aim to raise the configuration possibilities of these signs to see if there is any interim improvements that could be made. And, in the long term, any possible future use for them.
Cllr Luke Emery (Draycott Parish Council)
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