Reports

At the Annual Parish Meeting the Chairman of Westcott Parish Council presents a summary of the council’s activities during the previous year.

Chairman’s Report 2025-2026

I would like to introduce myself and the team!
My name is Sue Pusey and I have been a Parish Councillor for 20 plus years and Chairman for the last 9 years.
Our Vice Charman is Jo Hooper she has been a Councillor for 14 + years and took on the role of Vice Chairman last year.
Grahame Pusey was elected to the council 12 years ago
Sue Lacey was co-opted to the Council 5 years ago.
James Sisk recently rejoined us as a Councillor after a few years absence.
Sue Fox has very recently been co-opted to the council and is a very welcome addition.
The Parish should have seven Councillors so we have a seat free if anyone would like to join us. Unfortunately, our previous Vice Chairman Tony Wilkinson felt unable to continue after his tragic accident. We wish Tony well and would like to thank him for his long service.
Our final Team Member is the most important. Our Clerk Mandy Ludlow. She has been in the job for 18 months now and having had no previous experience of Parish Councils it has been a steep learning curve. She is doing a marvellous job of keeping us in line and making sure we stay compliant.
That is the introductions over and I would like to move on to some of the things we look after and what has been happening in the last year.
Streetlighting
We are finally undertaking phase one of a two year planned replacement. New LED lights will replace our current light. They should reduce our electric bill and have sensors to ensure dark nights between midnight and 5 am.
Following discussions last week all lights in the village will be replaced in the next three weeks as an invoice agreement has been reached enabling us to spread payments over a year. We will also be changing our service contract to our new supplier so are hoping we will get a better service and prompt repair if required.
Grass Cutting
Historically we have always arranged cutting of the Village Green, Churchyard and Burial Ground but last year we also took on the cutting of the other grass areas in the village from Bucks Council. Generally this has been a great success and the village looks much tidier throughout the summer season. I know the last cut wasn’t quite as tidy as we would have liked but this has been addressed with our contractor and I look forward to it getting back to the standards we had last year.
Public Rights of Way and Footpaths
We have finally managed to get the footpath cleared which runs along the fence from the Village Green towards the original Venture Park entrance. There are one or two other areas we are still working to get sorted but if you know of any issues please report them to the clerk so that we can investigate and ask the relevant landowner to deal with it. Thanks to Sue Lacey who has taken on the task of monitoring our footpaths. There are a lot out there and I am sure she would appreciate any help offered.
War Graves
We have 9 war graves in the Churchyard and Sue Lacey does a great job of ensuring they stay weed free and tidy. Years ago, we would get a grant from the War Graves commission to look after them but this was withdrawn and it now falls to the Parish Council to cover the costs.
Church
We will be receiving a report from Reverend Caroline and from the Friends of Westcott Church later. We were happy to support the creation of this group by arranging and funding a public meeting to discuss what can be done about the Church Ceiling and also what can be done to ensure the future of the Church.
Village Green
Part one of the Village Green rejuvenation project happened last year when we planted trees and posts to deter unwanted visitors and improve biodiversity in the area. Jo Hooper managed the project and deserves another big thank you for the work she put into the project. Earlier this year we had a working party to weed and mulch the beds and hedges. We watered regularly through last summer and will do so again this year as required to ensure the trees and bushes thrive. Thank you to everyone who attended to assist and volunteers are very welcome to assist with the watering.
Part 2 is a scheme to refresh the quite tired play equipment and deal with the play surfaces. A questionnaire was sent out to all households, and the responses have been collated. We are in process of getting some quotation and costings from providers of equipment. Once we have these we will be meeting with our working party volunteers to discuss which we think best meets the needs of the village and then applying for grants to assist with funding.
Litter Pick
The weekend after the weed and mulch we held our spring litter pick. Thank you to all who attended. There was a very large pile of rubbish for such a small village! Thanks to Bucks Recycling for disposing of the rubbish for us.
Events
Every year since 2017 we have helped Santa collect around the village in his shed and every year I am overwhelmed by the generosity of our residents. Thank you. Funds are traditionally spent on our Seniors Christmas Lunch. Unfortunately, due to inflation the funds nowhere near cover the cost any longer and this year Mandy had the brilliant idea of taking Santa around the Venture Park to spread some Christmas cheer and try and raise a little extra. Sadly, we picked the wettest December day in the history of the world. Unremitting rain meant a very soggy Santa and Elves and the general atmosphere wasn’t helped by the fact the music player went bang just as we were due to start. We have been invited to return this year so we couldn’t have upset too many people and let’s hope
the weather is better so we can visit more people and not just drip on their floors.
Anyway, the Christmas lunch at the Akeman was very well received and we also ran an Easter Afternoon tea here at the Cricket Club. We always need volunteers to help out, whether bucket shaking or perhaps serving tea and cake. Please consider assisting wherever you can.
Bucks Recycling Fire
Sadly one of the biggest events of last year was the awful fire at Bucks Recycling. We no doubt all recall the awful smoke which went on for weeks and the lack of any credible information. Mandy and I spent many hours trying to find out what was happening and banging our head against firmly closed doors. Our Bucks Councillor Ashley Waite then had the brilliant idea of getting everyone together on a zoom call! It was a revelation. Weekly calls were set up, and we finally began to get some accurate information about what had occurred. There are still some unanswered questions, and we will continue to liaise with the Venture Park and the EA, not least over any new planning application to replace the building.
Flooding
We had quite a wet winter and some rather serious flooding occurred on Linnet Drive / Raven Crescent. This was due to a collapsed culvert under the road which should have allowed the water to drain into the ditch on the far side of the main road. We are hopefully finally making some progress on getting this resolved as the road has been marked up ready to be dug up and the pipe replaced. There has been some flooding in Lower Green too and we are again chasing to get the ditches cleared so that the run off leaves the road in a more timely manner. Gullies were cleaned today across the village.
Speeding
We have two static Speed Indication Devices one of which I know needs updating. We would love to do more with Speedwatch and monitoring speeding. We have access to the monitoring device and people caught speeding will be sent a letter warning them about their infringement. If they are caught again within a certain timeframe more serious action is taken.
Unfortunately, two or three trained people are required to monitor the equipment while it is in place. More volunteers are needed. Training is given but I just don’t have the time to get this up and running again so if anyone would like to volunteer to co-ordinate this please do. The Parish Council will support you, but we need volunteers.
Planning
We discuss all submitted plans and give our opinion. It isn’t always listened to, but we do our best to do what we think is best for the village. There will be many more planning applications coming forward as the Venture Park expands. A recent example is the Bucks Fire and Rescue Training Facility.
Meetings
We attend lots of meetings. Mandy and I particularly seem to have one or more to attend every week. The Community Board, The Clerks Forum, Parish Liaison Meetings, SLCC meetings, BMKALC meetings to name but a few. There are training sessions to attend, seminars on resilience planning more workshops on how to write a new policy. Like all things many of them are really useful and occasionally you wonder just what you signed up for, but we endeavour to make sure we have the information we need to keep the Council running well.
Conclusion
Have I missed anything about what we do? Probably.
We are all volunteers and are happy to give our time freely to look after our village and make it a better community. Mandy is the only one who is paid, and I can assure you she absolutely earns every penny. She goes above and beyond every week. We have doubled her paid hours from four to eight hours a week this year but that is still nowhere near enough. There is so much paperwork, policies to write and follow, e mails to chase up, websites to update etc.
Thank you for listening, we will now move on to our other reports.

Councillor Sue Pusey, May 2026

Chairman’s Reports from previous years:

Chairmans Report 2024-2025

Chairmans Report  2023 – 2024

Chairman’s Report 2022-2023

Chairman’s Report 2021-2022

Chairman’s Report 2020-2021