We shall remember them

Don't forget that Remembrance Sunday service is at St Laurence church this Sunday 8 November 2009.  Service starts 10am, followed by parade to the memorial.

Maxstoke Lane Development

On Monday night, 26 October, we had a record turn out at the Parish Council meeting.  Residents were concerned over the planning application and voiced their opinions accordingly.  If you have an opinion on the development go to the planning pages on Solihull Council's website using this link http://bit.ly/3nVcde

Community Speed Watch

Meriden's Community Speed Watch has had two patrols so far.  Thursday 15 October and Wednesday 21 October.  On each occasion, starting around 10am, at least six speeding offenders were recorded.  Last Wednesday on Fillongley Road near the school, eight were captured with one driver doing well over 50mph.  The speed watch initiative still needs more volunteers, so contact Julie, our Parish Clerk on 522727 or email her at info@meridenparishcouncil.org.uk.

Meriden duck pond project

Some more photos were sent in from the chair of our Parish Plan Steering Group, Iain Roxburgh.  He managed to snap Solihull's Lord Mayor Norman Davies admiring the work of the council, npower and Meriden Primary School's Eco Club.  Cabinet Member for the Environment Councillor Kate Wilde was also in attendance and will be featured later in our blog when more photos come through.  What a great effort by all who are featured in the team photo.  By this time, students from Meriden Primary School's Eco Club were back at their desks.

It's important that residents understand Meriden's wild fowl need proper feeding.  The project team erected an information board featuring the wild fowl it attracts and how to feed them responsibly.  Basically, the old tradition of using white bread is dangerous to their wellbeing.  Grain, wheat, carrot, lettuce, and seeds are what they need.  And remember, any uneaten bread will attract uninvited guests - the rats!  There's a link to the RSPB website for further feeding tips http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/

Let's get blogging - in earnest

Has it really been so long since our last post? As so much has happened since the spring of 2008 this may be the reason why. As the Parish Plan nears completion, one of our actions is to keep our communication channels up to date. So, as chief blogger, it’s now time to do just that.

This autumn is going to be busy and it started last Wednesday 14 October with the Meriden Duck Pond project coming to fruition. This was a true partnership effort. Susan East, our Neighbourhood Co-ordinator from Solihull Council worked with her colleagues Trish Willetts, Environment Champions Co-ordinator, Lorna Teager, Streetcare Officer and Neil Cameron, Park Ranger to bring together the clean up of the pond with Meriden Primary School and Npower. Npower’s finance team volunteered to do most of the hard work on the day such as painting benches, clearing debris and posting our new information panel on the local wild fowl and safe ways to feed birds.

Meriden Primary School’s Eco Club joined them during the day to plant spring flowering bulbs and with the help of the park rangers, hang their bird boxes which the rangers helped them make.

Susan will be sending us more photographs and as soon as we have them, they’ll be posted on our blog.

SPRING UPDATE

Joint blog from the Chair of Meriden Parish Council and the Chair of Meriden Parish Appraisal Steering Group

Last year, the Parish Council together with a group of residents came together to work out ways to improve the area, its environment and the life of our community. The Parish covers Meriden Village, Millison’s Wood and the surrounding areas.

In September, following a well attended public meeting, a Steering Group was formed and successfully applied for grants from the National Lottery Awards for All and from Solihull Borough Council to undertake a Parish Appraisal. This is a review carried out by local people of all aspects of the community – its assets and strengths; its deficiencies, problems and needs and its future challenges.

An appraisal is the first step in enabling local people to shape the future of our area and our community, identifying the issues that people care about and the actions they want to see taken. It leads to a Parish Plan in which the people of Meriden area will set out our vision for the future and a plan of action to improve the life of our community.

Over the winter we have been focusing on the question “what are the issues?” We have been asking people what they really like about Meriden/Millison’s Wood and what they wish to see changed to improve the area and its community. Through meetings with community organisations, consultations with people of different age groups, including the children at the Primary School and through the pages of the Meriden Mag, we now have a pretty clear idea of the issues. See the reverse side of this letter for some examples of these.

The next stage is most important and involves everyone in the Parish. In April there will be a questionnaire survey of every household. This is your chance to have your say. One of our volunteers will deliver and collect the survey form – or you will be able to complete it on-line if you wish. Before then you will receive another Appraisal Newsletter explaining what to expect.

The Appraisal is a big task. The more people involved the better. We are all volunteers doing this in our spare time and would welcome all the help you can give. Just get in touch – you will be very welcome – and it’s fun!

Just one final point: the Parish Appraisal imposes no cost on the Meriden Council Tax payer.

Kind regards

Rosie Weaver and Iain Roxburgh
Chair, Meriden Parish Council and Chair,Meriden Parish Appraisal and Plan

Any questions or should you wish to volunteer, please contact:

Iain Roxburgh
Tel: 01676 522496
Email: IainRoxburgh@btinternet.com



Meriden Parish Appraisal Spring Update

In the first round of consultation, we asked people two questions:

“What do you really like about Meriden/Millisons Wood?”
and

“What would you wish to change to improve the area and its community?”

Here is just a small selection of the answers:-

Some of the things you really like:

. The Green, village/rural feel and good environment.
· Its location, with easy access to the countryside
· Good range of local shops (but not in Millison’s Wood!) and good local

restaurants
· Library, post office and surgery
· Friendly and a good sense of community
· Good primary school
· The Meriden Mag
· The Taxibus



Some of the changes you’d like to see to make it a better place/community:

· Reduce the speed of traffic and improve road safety
· The 900 bus back to a 20 minute frequency
· Better bus service to Solihull
· Better pavements and wheelchair access
· Less litter and dog foul
· Better provision for young people
· Tackle anti-social behaviour
· High quality sports and play facilities
· Play our part in tackling global warming





Putting the Heart into the Centre of England

Welcome back and hoping everyone had a lovely Christmas. It would have been nice to have had a White Christmas but at least it wasn't too cold. As a reminder, here is a lovely photo of the Village Green when it snowed last year.

It's been busy these past 3 months with the launch of the Parish's Village Appraisal. This is partly the reason why we haven't had the chance to keep our blog up to date. Our website is also out of date, and we apologise for the inconvenience. All the latest news will be uploaded early in the New Year. In the meantime, here is an excerpt from the Village Appraisal Steering Group's first Newsletter. Volunteers are always needed, so why not attend the next Steering Group meeting on Thursday, 3rd January at the Heart of England Social Club from 7:30pm.

"A group of residents from Meriden Parish, which includes Meriden Village, Millisons Wood and surrounding areas, have come together to improve the area, its environment and the life of our community.

We’ve formed ourselves into a Steering Group and successfully applied for grants from the National Lottery Awards for All and from Solihull Borough Council. We are working very closely with Meriden Parish Council.

The first stage of our plan is to undertake an appraisal of Meriden Parish. This is a review, carried out by local people, of all aspects of the community – identifying its assets and strengths; its deficiencies, problems and needs; and its future challenges.

To start this off and to help us plan our further work, we have been asking people two simple, but challenging questions:

“What do you really like about Meriden / Millisons Wood?” and

“What would you wish to change to improve the area and its community?”

We have been discussing these questions with groups and organisations from all sections of our local community since November and will continue to do so into the early months of 2008. You may have seen our page in the Meriden Mag.

A number of other organisations have already contributed, including the Women’s Institute. If you belong to an organisation in the area that would like a speaker for a meeting or would like to contribute views at this stage, contact us (details below).

We’ve had tremendous cooperation from Meriden Primary School, where the children have given their views and we had a stall at the PTA’s school Christmas fete.

The answers to these questions will help us shape a questionnaire that we will be asking every household in the Parish to complete in the spring of 2008.

This is a most important part of the Appraisal as it will enable everyone (of all ages!) in the area to have a say.

Undertaking this survey is a big task and we need as much help as possible (we are all volunteers doing this in our spare time). If you would like to help distribute and collect questionnaires and/or help in any other way, just get in touch (details below). You will be very welcome – and it’s fun!

After further discussion and community engagement, the Appraisal will lead to a Plan for the area covered by Meriden Parish. This will be based on our collective vision for the future and will be a blueprint for action to improve Meriden and the life of our community".

Contact: Iain Roxburgh (Chair of Meriden Parish Appraisal)
Tel: 01676 522496, Email: IainRoxburgh@btinternet.com

And finally, from Meriden Parish Council, we wish you all a Happy New Year in 2008!