Over the last twelve months we have done many things. Some of which are as follows

We have received and dealt with 27 planning applications within the village and surrounding area.

The Churchyard and Cemetery are both maintained by the Parish Council. This includes the mowing of the grass and maintenance to the trees, hedges and boundary fences. An annual safety inspection of all the grave stones is also carried out and any repair work undertaken.

Recently we have also met with the War Graves Commission and agreed to them erecting a Commonwealth War Graves sign to recognise and honour the 4 war graves within the cemetery.

The parish footpaths are regularly walked by our footpaths officer and any problems are reported and rectified quickly keeping them in good order. This year a new bench has been erected on the approach to Woollas Hall.

The Modification Orders for the footpaths at Piecing Lane and Hammock Lane are now with the Secretary of State and they have six months to reach their decision

We manage the allotments and there are 1½ vacant at the moment.

The Parish council continue to support the Recreation centre with a grant each year to help with their running costs.

The Section 106 money received from the Hanford Drive development will be spent at the Rec this year. Plans have been approved, and the contractors have been appointed, so hopefully the work will begin as scheduled, before the end of April.

During the year we continue to monitor and move the Vehicle Activated Speed Sign on the main road. We have also gained approval from Worcester Highways department for two new locations up New Road and these will be used at varying times.

Speeding continues to be an issue within the village and we are constantly looking for more effective ways of solving this problem. The ‘Safer Roads Partnership’ carried out a speed survey earlier in the year and from the data they received, they agreed to carry out speed enforcement. The mobile speed camera has been in the village on a number of occasions and will continue to do spot checks for a few more months.

The New Homes Bonus Scheme has continued to be very successful. Despite the government changing the goal posts, we have spent money on a projector for the WI, equipment for the Cricket Club and also two defibrillators for the village. Funding has also been allocated to the village hall for their ongoing improvements and should be available for when they need it.

We continue to contribute to the Parish Games each year Eckington have won the competition for the second consecutive year. The prize giving will be held in The Bell again this year.

We keep in contact with the local police and the Bredon Hill Conservation Group and the local County and District Councillors attend our monthly meetings on a regular basis and keep us up to date with more county wide matters.