COUNCILLORS speaking at the annual meeting of Warndon Parish Council said 2015 will be "a very busy year".

A number of local residents turned out to the meeting of the council at Lyppard Hub in Warndon Villages on Wednesday evening to hear the council's plans for the coming year.

Councillor Ray Morris, vice chairman of the council, said: "This will be a very busy year. Due to various underspends, we have ended up with about £20,000 more than we expected for this year.

"This money will go towards a number of things the parish council wants to focus on this year. We are taking on new software to help manage our accounts, and we will be extending the allotments. We currently have 24 allotments, and a waiting list of 24 people, so we want to double our allotments in size. It's not cheap to do but there is huge demand.

"We will also be focussing on the play areas in our parish and on on-street parking near to the hospital.

"There are so many developments potentially coming to our area too, including applications for a John Lewis store, the GTech development, development of the former football ground and 300 houses which may be built just outside our area."

Chairman Dave Long said ideally he would like someone to be able to look at all of the major planning applications together, not independently, to get a better idea of how they will all affect the area in terms of traffic and strain on facilities.

Paul O'Connor, head of planning at Worcester City Council, was due to be a guest speaker at the meeting but he was unable to attend due to illness.

Talk also turned to the three remaining spaces on the parish council.

There is space on the council for eight parish councillors, but only five stood for election recently.

Cllr Morris said: "I have been a parish councillor for nearly 40 years now. I've been on four different councils and I've never seen an oversubscribed parish council. I just don't think people understand what a parish council actually does and most people seem to think they are connected to the church."

Cllr Long invited anyone interested in becoming a parish councillor to get in touch.

"If there was no parish council, all the lovely greenery in the villages would not be maintained, we wouldn't have the allotments, and many other things would not get done," he said.

"You don't need technical skills, you just need passion and a will to get things done."

There are also vacancies on St Peter's Parish Council.

If you want to find out more about becoming a parish councillor, call 01905 757271 or email clerk@warndonparishcouncil.org.

Guide to the parish council

The main role of parish and town councils is set out in law and they have a wide range of functions and powers to provide a variety of local services.

Their work mainly consists of representing the local community and delivering and maintaining some local services.

Warndon Parish Council meets on the first Monday of each month at 7.30pm at the Lyppard Hub.

Each parish councillor may also look after a different 'portfolio' for their area, including finance, environment and planning.

Parish councillors will take on board the concerns of local residents, raise them with city and county councillors, and report back to the residents.

Parish councillors must also be a UK citizen or a citizen of the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland or another Member State of the European Union, and be aged 18 or over. They must also have lived in the parish in the last year, or live within three miles of the parish boundary or work in the parish.