Bakewell Mayor’s Report 2013

Looking back at the Town Council minutes it’s amazing to see the breadth of issues your Council worked on in 2012. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve Bakewell as Mayor. These are some, but by no means all, of the milestones of the last twelve months:

In May 2013, having set up the Bakewell Partnership and served as Mayor, Cllr Frank Hall resigned from the Council. I’d like to thank him for his work on behalf of the town and for his leadership of the Council.

2013 will be remembered for the local celebration of national events.

Early June brought The Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The rain came down steadily through the gloom and the Town Council minutes record “the hiring of a marquee proved to be a wise investment”.

The Town Council helped fund the Jubilee Oak, planted in Scot’s Garden – and at least we were sure it was “watered in” well!

An early and very pleasant duty as Mayor, was the giving of Jubilee coins to every child attending Bakewell Primary Schools

On June 8th I attended the unveiling of the blue plaque at the Almshouses.

On Friday 29th June 2012, after months of meetings and preparations, a sunny Friday afternoon saw the Olympic Torch come to Bakewell. Bakewell looked its best and Police estimated fifteen thousand people were out in the town to see the torch. In just a few minutes it had gone… …but is something that will live long in the memory.

In July we welcomed Chris Levick to the Council. We set up a working party to produce a website for the Town Council/

The Costa planning application brought some “summertime blues” to some quarters and, subsequently, national attention to Bakewell for the “anti-Costa” campaign.

As summer drew to a close September brought the news of a £10k award from the Department for Communities and Local Government for the Bakewell Partnership. Although our initial application to the Portas Pilot scheme was unsuccessful the funding is making a useful contribution to the promotion of Bakewell’s unique retail offer.

The Town Council met with representatives of DDDC and Haddon Estate to begin discussions about the reinstatement of the Riverside path between Bakewell Bridge and Felicini’s restaurant.

A long standing issue of the closure of Granby Road on Market Day was finally resolved.

For the Town Council, October sees preparations for the public celebration of Christmas begin in earnest. This year consideration was given to the illumination of Tory Island, but not ultimately proceeded with.

Work took place to open up Sheepwash.

The Town Council agreed to join the Building Bridges project in November; a Bakewell at Work initiative. The Town Council supported the enjoyable and successful Bakewell Christmas Event.

At the end of 2012 we took part in the Festival of Trees at All Saints, a magical event which helped put the spirit of Christmas into our hearts.

New Year brought a consultation on changes to DCC Street Lighting; these are due to be implemented over the summer and over time will produce significant savings.

February brings Fairtrade Fortnight and the Town Council contributed once facet to a district-wide initiative the “Fairtrade Cube”. The Town Council went online and like all websites is a work in progress; all constructive feedback welcome. February also saw the publication of the first edition of Pure Bakewell magazine which was very well received.

The Town Council made its response to the Conservation Area Appraisal.

We strive to deliver value for money in March we arranged 3 year agreements on insurance and internal audit which will save almost £600/year.

In April we made our contribution to the DDDC Parking Review and look forward to receiving the full consultation. The Town Council was pleased to see the long awaited waiting restrictions on Coombs Road become a reality.

Town Council meetings continue to be held on the third Monday of the Month, with Planning Committee meetings held on the first Monday. Finance Committee meetings are held quarterly.

The Town Council continues to lead the Bakewell Partnership and holds regular liaison meetings with BT&CT. It is represented at Bakewell in Bloom, Bakewell Community Interest Group, Bakewell Traders Group.

The tightening of the public purse strings means that the Town Council will need to redouble its efforts in the coming years to get the best for Bakewell. I believe that will come from building good relationships with the decision takers and decision makers at District and County level as well as at Peak Park. We have come a long way in 12 months and we look forward to consolidating those gains – and building upon them – in 2014.

Thank you.