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Georgina Morgan-Denn

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Haydon Wick Haven offers a safe and warm space to chat and catch up with new and old friends
Haydon Wick Haven offers a safe and warm space to chat and catch up with new and old friends 1240 1754 Georgina Morgan-Denn

On Monday 13th March 2023 the Parish Council held its first ever drop in style community café in the Council Offices, Thames Avenue. Those that attended were met with a warm welcome and a safe space to talk and enjoy a hot drink and refreshments together.

This community style café, named ‘The Haydon Wick Haven’, acts as a hub for residents to talk about local issues that are important to them, get assistance with accessing online services and help with reporting problems to Swindon Borough Council and other external agencies.

Positive feedback from the first session has shown that those who came along really appreciated the opportunity to meet new people and felt less lonely and isolated. The Council has received some donations of board games, which will be available for people to use during the next session. Suggestions of knitting and crochet have been suggested for the future.

The Haydon Wick Haven runs on a twice-month basis and is likely to continue throughout the spring and summer months.

The next session is 11.00 am – 1.00 pm on Monday 27th March 2023 and the Council looks forward to welcoming some returning and some new attendees.

If you would like to come along or need further information, please email admin@haydonwick.gov.uk

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Annual Parish Meeting and Community Networking Event
Annual Parish Meeting and Community Networking Event 1240 1754 Georgina Morgan-Denn

Come along to the Annual Parish Meeting and Community Networking event on Tuesday 28th March 2023 6pm – 8pm in GLL Haydon Centre, SN25 1QQ

Celebratory refreshments and cake included.

 

  • Receive updates from your award winning Council
  • Watch the award ceremony for the Haydon Wick Heroes
  • Receive a demo from BEST – Be A Better You and listen to the valuable work they do within the community
  • Ask questions to the Swindon & Wiltshire Police Crime Commissioner’s Strategic Planning & Performance Officer (please submit these in advance to deputyclerk@haydonwick.gov.uk)
  • Listen to the projects completed under the community grants scheme
  • Hear about small steps we can all make to tackle climate change as a community
  • Hear some joyful hymns from RCCG Church
  • Network with other local community groups such as Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Seven Fields Conservation Group, Seven Fields Park Run, The Tuesday Art Group, Kelly’s Foundation, 1st Haydon Wick Guides
  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Colourful new safety surfacing soon to be installed at Village Green play area
Colourful new safety surfacing soon to be installed at Village Green play area 1220 838 Georgina Morgan-Denn

“The project should be completed by the beginning of the Spring for the parish’s children to enjoy throughout the easter holidays.”

 

Haydon Wick Parish Council budgeted for the resurfacing of wet pour safety surfaces in a selection of their play areas when setting the 2022/2023 budget. Some of the budget initially was used by the Council’s in house Parks & Open Spaces Team who carried out minor repairs and added artistic design to the surfaces using cleverly constructed homemade templates.

 

The talented team also carried out essential repairs and enhancements which have improved operational efficiencies. Improvements to Village Green Play Area were identified and presented to the Council but the project was too large for the in-house team. Budget was confirmed and the Council went out to tender in late November 2022.

After a robust scrutinising tender process and the final design and contract being approved at Full Council in February the order was placed with the contractor.

Vita Play was awarded the contract because of their innovative design, local area knowledge and proven quality workmanship as demonstrated in previous projects.  The new safety surface provides a colourful leaf pattern design that will be in keeping with the natural area. The new surface will also improve accessibility to the basket swing and swing units.

The project should be completed by the beginning of Spring 2023 for children to enjoy throughout the easter holidays. Progress of the of the installation will be shared on our social media and website so keep up to date by regularly checking our pages and website: www.haydonwick.gov.uk

Councillor R Hailstone had this to say about the project: “The new colourful safety surface will be a big improvement on the old bark surface and the playground will be easier to access with pushchairs and wheelchairs.”

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Public Consultation launched to gather views on a Public Works Loan funding scheme for a new Grounds Maintenance Facility
Public Consultation launched to gather views on a Public Works Loan funding scheme for a new Grounds Maintenance Facility 800 800 Georgina Morgan-Denn

Following the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 28th February 2023, Councillors of Haydon Wick Parish Council agreed to proceed with the build phase of the Grounds Maintenance Facility at Goodearl, Old Blunsdon Road. After due consideration and scrutiny of the robust tender process, the Council awarded the contract to Affleck Electrical Ltd due to its professionalism, continuous advice, previously working on the Design and Specification phase of the project and obtaining best value. The Council is looking forward to working collaboratively with them to develop this project.

 

The Grounds Maintenance Facility is essential in the continuation of delivering an enhanced grounds maintenance programme, which will only improve further with a dedicated space for the team to store its equipment and have access to quality work and welfare facilities.

 

Public Works Loan Consultation

To fund the project the Council needs to receive approval for borrowing from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to apply for a Public Works Loan of £768,590 over the borrowing term of 30 years for the building of a Grounds Maintenance Facility. The annual loan repayments will come to around £49,038. It is also intended to increase the Council Tax Precept for the purpose of the loan repayments by 3.34% which is the equivalent of an additional £4.18 a year. This will be subject to a Precept increase consultation which is available here: Grounds Maintenance Facility Public Works Loan Consultation.  Please respond by Friday 17th March 2023.

 

We hope that community will support the project and recognise how significant this development is for the future service provision delivered by Haydon Wick Parish Council.

 

If you would like to sign up to receive our regular email newsletters please visit: https://haydonwick.gov.uk/latest-news/. In the meantime, if you have any questions, queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me on the details below.

clerk@haydonwick.gov.uk

 

 

@

 

 

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Another Fun and Successful Skate Jam event at Haydon Wick
Another Fun and Successful Skate Jam event at Haydon Wick 706 529 Georgina Morgan-Denn

Friday 17th February 2023 saw another fantastic action-packed skate jam held at Haydon Wick’s skate park during the half-term holidays. This event was the second of its kind since the skate park opened.

 

The Parish Council hosted the event in conjunction with ATB Skate Shop who provided the music snacks and various competitions.  Among the prizes handed out on the day were a skateboard deck, and scooter wheels and grips.

 

The popular event was well attended, and feedback has been very positive with everyone saying they want to see the event happen again.

 

Councillor Rebecca Ross, Chair of the Community Development Committee at Haydon Wick Parish Council had this to say about the event:

 

“It’s great to see local young people enjoying the skate park and participating in such an enjoyable event. Skating and scooter riding helps young people keep active, build confidence, and stay active. The Parish Council hopes to hold more events like this at the skate park.”

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Haydon Wick Parish Council – Precept 2023
Haydon Wick Parish Council – Precept 2023 602 510 Georgina Morgan-Denn

Haydon Wick Parish Council has created a considered, balanced, and careful budget which proves the current cost of living rises has been at the forefront of the Council’s attention. Options have been explored and revisited, whilst watching the economy closely over the last three months. The deadline to submit the precept to Swindon Borough Council was extended by two weeks to ensure that the most accurate and up to date information was considered.

The Parish Council has also experienced significant rises in costs from external factors such as materials, fuel, insurances and personnel cost of living rises. Therefore, a standstill budget was not feasible. The Parish Council has also leased two new electric vehicles to help offset against its carbon footprint and reduce fuel costs, but in turn the utility costs have risen.

The Council has met in the middle and made cost savings on projected spend for this financial year, and where possible, reduced budget lines from next financial year. The Council has looked at ways of promoting its services and increasing its revenue, from letting out its meeting room to community groups, contracting out external grounds maintenance services to other parishes and local businesses, hiring out the community bus and selling advertising in the local parish magazine, which will help balance the budget and save further costs being drawn from the precept.

Building on its significant progress within the last twelve months, delivering the enhanced grounds maintenance programme, hosting an award-winning Memory Café, organising and running more than twenty successful community events and receiving a Quality Gold Award, which recognises that the Parish Council meets the highest standards set by the sector. This award means that the Parish Council has proven to be going above and beyond its legal obligations, leading the community and continuously seeking opportunities to improve and develop even further. Furthermore, Haydon Wick Parish Council is the first parish council in Swindon to be accredited at the Quality Gold level.

The Parish Council is also exploring options for the building of the proposed Grounds Maintenance Facility which will house the Parks & Open Spaces Team and enhance operational efficiency. This large scale project has been two years in the making and is vital to enable its in-house team to deliver the good standard of grounds maintenance that the community has grown to appreciate.

 

Recognising the mental and physical wellbeing these outside spaces provide for residents, the Council has committed to improved maintenance, enhancements and effective management of the playparks, allotments, and open spaces.

Chairman Councillor Vinay Manro said:

“To expand on the Parish Council’s success and continue to provide the best service possible the residents who live within the parish, some crucial decisions have been made to deliver a balanced and fair budget.

Haydon Wick Parish Council’s precept is still relatively low in comparison to other parishes of a similar size within the Borough of Swindon. This demonstrates that it has delivered a high level of service at best value. As recognised by the recent Quality Gold award.

Fortunately, prudent management of previous budgets stood us in good stead. The financial uncertainty that many of our residents’ face has been at the forefront of our minds as we set this year’s precept. At the Full Council meeting on 14th February 2023 the precept was agreed to be £108.68 per year which is an increase of £9.80 per year for a Band D property.”

The Parish Council hopes that residents recognise the value for money the precept of £108.68 per year represents, and the services this offers to all sectors of the community it represents.

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Volunteer Thank You Afternoon Tea
Volunteer Thank You Afternoon Tea 800 800 Georgina Morgan-Denn

Haydon Wick Parish Council is extremely grateful to its army of volunteers so on Saturday 18th February it held an afternoon tea to say a huge thank you to those that dedicate their time to making Haydon Wick a lovely place to live and work.

The Council has six wonderful volunteer drivers who keep the Community Minibus running smoothly. The Community Minibus enables our elderly and vulnerable residents to attend the local shops, local clubs and provides them with lovely trips to garden centres and places of interest. By dedicating their time to this service, they are ensuring many of our residents don’t become isolated or lonely.

Our award-winning Memory Café has three lovely volunteers who turn up to each session full of positivity and enthusiasm. All of the cafes attendees have developed a fantastic rapport with the volunteers and it has been stated that they “really do change lives. Being able to attend this service, offers activities, fun and support to our families in ways that you cannot imagine.”

Perhaps one of the biggest voluntary areas of Haydon Wick Parish Council is the team of litter pickers, who go out in all weathers to keep the Parish a clean, tidy and safe place to be. Not only do they go on their own, they quite often have little helpers, in the form of their children and grandchildren. At the afternoon tea, it was a great pleasure to be able to award the young people who also give their time, a certificate, fun trophy and chocolaty treat to say thank you.

The Councillors, Staff and community in Haydon wick are very grateful to each and every one of its volunteers for the incredible job that they do.

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Haydon Wick Parish Council teams up with BEST- Be A Better You, to deliver half-term enrichment sessions
Haydon Wick Parish Council teams up with BEST- Be A Better You, to deliver half-term enrichment sessions 800 800 Georgina Morgan-Denn

BEST’s programmes also help to increase confidence and emotional resilience which support young people to progress to a positive future.

 

Haydon Wick Council and BEST – ‘Be A Better You’ hosted two sessions this February half term. This time, they got even more exciting!

The Council saw record number of attendees, with over 40 children benefitting from the event.  Activities included non-contact boxing, team games and football skills taster sessions for young people aged between five and twelve years. The boxing is always very popular and all attendees absolutely love giving it a go. The football skills workshop is a new addition to the BEST portfolio and is becoming a firm favourite with young people.

‘Best – Be A Better You’ is a charity who aim to provide children and young people with one-to- one mentoring programmes and positive enrichment activities. Haydon Wick Council has partnered with BEST for over two years, and each session always very popular during the school holidays.

One parent had this to say “My children really enjoy these sessions, and they really help me out as a single parent”

One of the young people who attended said “I really hope we get to come to this in the summer like last year, we love it!”

The second session was new to both Haydon Wick Council and BEST, as it was aimed exclusively at 13-16 year olds.  The young people were given the opportunity to try a new discipline, such as boxing and circuit training. It can be very difficult for young people, especially teenagers, to express themselves in a positive way. The activities proved to be great for stress management and self-control. BEST’s programmes also help to increase confidence and emotional resilience which support young people to progress to a positive future.

Those who attended thoroughly enjoyed the activities at this session, which included tyre flipping, boxing and a Parish Council & Police Team versus Young People Team Tug of War. For teenagers in the Parish to be able to recognise supportive and friendly adults in the community is really important as it helps to break down the communication barriers.

Craig Hiscock, Operations Manager at BEST said; “We really enjoy working with Haydon Wick Parish Council. There are great facilities and we always manage to reach lots of young people from this parish This half term we wanted to do some targeted work with 13-16 year olds in the form of a boxing boot camp style session. We talked about the recent tragic event in the parish and asked the young people what type of help and services they feel would benefit the young people of Haydon Wick in the future.”

Councillor R Ross, Chair of Community Development Committee said “We are delighted to have been able to work alongside BEST in delivering these two programmes, both of which have provided a wonderful opportunity for local children of all ages to have some fun, socialise and experience a new activity. What has really stood out for me is the fantastic efforts and team spirit showed by the children taking part, and more importantly they looked like they were having great fun!”

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

People grab themselves a bargain at Haydon Wick’s first Children’s Clothes and Toy Sale
People grab themselves a bargain at Haydon Wick’s first Children’s Clothes and Toy Sale 800 800 Georgina Morgan-Denn

On Saturday 4th February, the Council saw over fifteen stall holders attend the GLL Haydon Centre sports hall to sell any of their children’s belonging that they no longer play with or fit in to. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

 

With the rising cost of living causing many families to struggle with buying essentials, Haydon Wick Parish Council hosted a Children’s Clothes and Toys Sale to enable people to make some money by selling their unused belongings, which enabled those who were unable to buy things brand new, the opportunity to grab a bargain. The Council was pleased to be able to cover the cost of the venue hire and the stall holders each paid five pounds which was donated to Swindon Food Collective. The total amount raised for the charity was over £75.00.

 

Doors opened at 10.00am and there was a steady flow of people coming in and out of the sale and stall holders all went away happy that they had sold some items. There was lots of positive feedback from both parties.

 

One stall holder stated “it was wonderful that we were able to pay a small fee which is being donated to a very worthy cause, and make some money for our own families. We would love to have this opportunity again during the year”.

 

Other attendees of the event said, “a purchase for just ten pence has given my daughter a huge smile” and “what a wonderful opportunity to help those who are struggling financially at the moment, I would love to see more events like this one”.

 

It is very rewarding to see items not go to waste but to also see them going to new homes and be loved like they were new again.

  • Georgina Morgan-Denn

Message on behalf of contractors conducting Footways Slurry Seal Scheme
Message on behalf of contractors conducting Footways Slurry Seal Scheme 800 800 Georgina Morgan-Denn

 

 

Contractors will return to complete the Footways Slurry Seal works at the following sites:

 

Site Proposed Start Date Estimated Duration
Chicory Close Area Monday 6th February 2023 5 working days
Rosemary Close area Monday 20th February 2023 3 working days

 

These works were previously postponed due to the unexpected drastic decline in weather conditions towards the end of 2022.

 

The purpose of the Footways Slurry Seal scheme is to replace the deteriorating surface of the footway in order to increase its life span and to provide a safer and better running surface for pedestrians. The Slurry Seal process is fast, efficient, cost effective and one of the most environmentally friendly ways to achieve this with minimum disruption to all affected parties. The existing footway will be sealed to prevent water ingress, thereby prolonging the structural integrity of the footway. As a result of this process the footway surface is renewed, regaining any loss of texture since its original state.

 

The one big disadvantage of Slurry Seal is that it often looks scruffy until it beds in via foot traffic wear, which may take a number of months in residential areas.  There may also be isolated areas of the slurry material that become loose or wear out soon after application where it has not adhered to the existing surface well enough.  The material does come with a two-year performance guarantee from the installer who will address any such defects with future site visits.

 

On occasions the works may overrun slightly due to circumstances outside of their control such as plant breakdowns, if weather conditions are unfavourable, or occasionally we discover the need for additional repairs once the work has started.

 

Letter drops have been carried out and notification signs will be erected in advance by the Contractor to let residents know when works will take place in each area. Since the Slurry Seal process is both weather and temperature sensitive, the signs will be updated should dates be revised according to current weather forecasts.

 

The workforce will maintain pedestrian access for the duration; however due to the nature of the works, some disruption is possible and vehicular access may need to be restricted at times. It is essential that areas remain un-trafficked until the new material has set, as early use could lead to premature failure. As such, these works will be undertaken in multiple phases.

 

Site Operatives will be available on site at all times during the works, and will assist in dealing with any access problems or queries that may arise.

 

The Contractors would like to apologise for any inconvenience that these works may cause, but trust you will appreciate the necessity for these essential works to maintain Swindon’s highway network.

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About Us

We are the Parish Council that wants to lead and develop our local community. We are self-aware and are committed to focussing on the urban issues that are important to the entire community.

Our Address
Haydon Wick Parish Council
Thames Avenue
Haydon Wick
Swindon
SN25 1QQ
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Our thanks to Mark Weaving, Phil Jefferies, Rimpy and Shohini Dutta Kanungo for many of the photographs used across the website

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