MAYOR STRESSES MANY POSITIVES

This is the full text of Town Mayor Coun James Truepenny's report, delivered at the Annual Town Public Meeting in the Angel Suite.

I was privileged to be elected as Town Mayor in May 2009, and the year that has followed since has been a very busy one both for me, as Town Mayor, and for the Town Council itself.
As well as continuing to deal with routine issues such as:
• Requests for dog litter bins.
• Reporting uneven and broken pavements / flytipping / and faulty street lights.
• Managing the two allotment sites — which are now more popular than ever
• Brigg in Bloom.
• Christmas Lights and the Christmas Lights Switch On.
the Town Council is now embarking on more ambitious projects which we hope will bring the community together, enhance the appearance of the Town and, as a result, encourage more visitors and boost trade. I will not go into each of the following projects in detail, as they are all listed on the Agenda, but I trust you will agree that they are all very worthy projects which can only have a positive impact, and serve to further develop pride in the Town.
They are:
• The Big Spring Clean / River Ancholme Development Project
• Preparation of a Community Safety Flood Response Plan Preparation of a Community Plan
• Renovation of the County Bridge
In addition to the above, the Town Council has also been involved in more sensitive
discussions relating to issues that affect the residents of Brigg, and to some extent those residents who, by definition of a boundary line on a map, live outside of Brigg – but, in reality, consider themselves to be Brigg residents.
Such matters include:
• Queen Street residents' parking scheme
The Town Council lent its support to the Queen Street Residents Group in their pursuit of a residents' parking scheme, and it is pleasing to note that a scheme will now be trialled during the next 18 months.
It should also be made clear that this is not a residents only - parking scheme, and neither does it give residents priority over other drivers who wish to park in Queen
Street; it simply allows residents who have paid a fee for a permit to remain parked within a limited waiting zone, close to their home, without incurring a penalty ticket.
• The identification of suitable sites for the Town's Gypsy and Traveller Community.
The Town Council has been involved in numerous meetings with North Lincolnshire Council and West Lindsey District Council, regarding the identification of suitable locations for gypsy and traveller sites. The aim of the Town Council is to ensure that Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs are included within the housing land allocations plans which North Lincolnshire Council and West Lindsey District Council have to provide as part of their Core Development Strategy; and not simply as an addition to. Also that proper sites are provided within the environs of Brigg for those members of the gypsy community who have long-standing and proven local links with the Town. This may not be a popular response to an issue which often generates a hostile reaction, but it is a humanitarian response to the needs of bona fide citizens of Brigg. There is no room for discrimination in today's society. Brigg is the only Town in North Lincolnshire with its own Holocaust Memorial, and it serves as a constant reminder that racism is poisonous and must never be tolerated.
• Request for a review of the parish boundaries between Brigg and Scawby Brook, Brigg and Wrawby, and Westrum Lane in West Lindsey. The latter will resolve anomalies where development has resulted in a handful of properties that can only be accessed through Brigg, being across the neighbouring boundary line. Scawby Brook is more complicated, and the Town Council has, therefore, suggested that discussions should be held with both Scawby Parish Council and Broughton Town Council in this regard, as well as the residents of Scawby Brook themselves.
You will be aware that the Town Council also manages the facilities within the Angel Suite. During the past year the Angel Suite Manager, Mrs Karen Deeley, has been tasked with the additional role of generating increased use of the venue, and organising events and entertainment for the community to enjoy. This is proving to be a successful decision. The subsidy required for the management of the Angel Suite is now reducing, and it is expected that the interest generated in the venue for corporate functions will continue to generate further revenue during the next year.
Another project which I have personally found to be extremely rewarding, is the 313's Youth Street Project, and as the Chair of the Committee that manages the project, I will provide a report later in the meeting (we posted it earlier on Brigg Blog - NF). As mentioned under matters arising, the renovation of the War Memorial has not progressed as the Town Council intended during the last year, but discussions will commence shortly with the aim of ensuring that this work can be concluded in time for this year's Wreath Laying Ceremony – which will also mark the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.
As always, the excellent working relationship the Town Council enjoys with our local MP, Ian Cawsey, our three ward councillors (Couns Nigel Sherwood, Carl Sherwood and John Berry on the North Lincolnshire unitary authority), and the Local Policing Team, has proved to be invaluable. It only serves to reinforce my belief that team work and co-operation, combined with common sense, respect and consideration for others, are the key to success.
As I draw my report to a close, I am pleased to record that Brigg seems to not only be weathering the storm of recession, much as my predecessor Councillor Campion noted last year, but it appears to be bucking the trend that is portrayed in the regional and national media, where other Market Towns with boarded up shops, unkempt streets, and a general feeling of malaise are clear for all to see. Instead, Brigg appears to have found its niche in an ever changing and unstable market, and the Town now has a variety of specialist shops that offer a first class and friendly service to residents and visitors.
The foresight of a previous Chief Executive of Glanford Borough Council, Mr David Cameron, must be acknowledged in this regard. When Brigg was suffering the disruptive effects of repairs to the main drains through the Town, combined with the regeneration project that resulted in pedestrianisation and the re-routing of traffic away from the Town Centre and along Barnard Avenue, he set out his vision of Brigg being the Town it has now become. He suggested that the arrival of Tesco would be the catalyst that the Town needed to achieve that aim. This was indeed true vision – and it is indeed, a pleasure to see new businesses continuing to open in the Town, and that those long-standing businesses that survived those difficult years, continue to survive. It is absolutely essential that the Town Council and the community as a whole takes pride in the fact that Brigg does appear to be bucking the national trend, and that we pull together to further develop the Town as an attractive, friendly, and safe place for people to live and bring up their families, and a fantasticlocation for people to visit within North Lincolnshire.
In closing, I sincerely hope that you will respond to the appeals from the Town Council, and come forward to assist with the projects now on the table that will be of long term benefit to the appearance of the Town, its economy and the community as a whole.

Our picture shows members of the public and councillors listening to the Town Mayor deliver his review of the past 12 months. Nearest the camera is Coun Nigel Sherwood, one of the area's representatives on North Lincolnshire Council and head of the family cycle business in Bridge Street. Behind him are Town Councillors Jenny Bell, Ann Eardley (partly hidden), Sue Nicholson (in the pink jacket) and Jackie Brock (purple top). To the left of Mrs Brock is Coun Carl Sherwood, who sits on both the Town Council and the North Lincolnshire authority. Standing in the distance is Ken Harrison - by far the most prolific poster of comments on Brigg Blog. Not that we are offering a trophy for it!