The Parish Steward Initiative
Lacock Parish Council has kindly been given the services of a steward who will undertake a number of jobs within the village that now fall out of the auspices of Wiltshire council’s services that were provided to the Parish.
These services are not by any means exhaustive but are generally concerned with the aesthetic look of the village. To give you an idea of the services of offer please read the Terms of reference below.
Hand clearing of small grips.
Rodding of small culverts and manholes.
Hand cleaning of road gully tops.
Filling small potholes with cold asphalt.
Hedge trimming around road signs to maintain visibility, but not wholesale hedge cutting as this needs to be done by landowner.
Washing Highway signs.
Over-run damage.
Strimming of grass verges for visibility at junctions and of Highway signs.
Streaming out overgrown vegetation obstructing footpaths and pavements.
Spraying and clearing weeds, debris and leaves in road edges, gutters and pavements, but not picking litter.
Painting railings, away from water.
When observed, reporting any damaged or missing road signs or drain covers to Wiltshire Council.
The Parish Steward deals direct with the PC representative, Stuart Gregory, rather than going through the local WC Engineer.
The Priority Work Sheets, listing work to be done, are passed directly by Stuart Gregory to the PS who subsequently advises when the works are completed and those remaining still to be undertaken.
You may have seen our Parish Steward (PS), with a bright yellow pick up vehicle, marked in Ringway livery in Lacock parish. The PS is employed by the Ringway Company. Lacock Parish Council (LPC) pays a daily rate for these services. The PS works in our Parish 1 ½ days each month.
Duties are to keep the Parish neat and tidy and make minor repairs, such as inspecting and cleaning road signage, hand cut vegetation obscuring visibility, removing roadside and footpath vegetation, hand clearing blocked drains, gulleys and drainage grips, repairing small potholes in the road and on footpaths and hand spraying weeds. Work is limited to these duties and he only works on Wiltshire Council (WC) Highway’s land.
The PS cannot undertake work requested by individuals, who ask him in the street. Requests and reports should be directed to the Parish Council (LPC) and to WC if it is important requiring urgent attention.
Stuart Gregory is the LPC councillor responsible and receives requests for work to be done from the LPC, Parish individuals and the Parish Steward.
stuart.gregory@lacockparishcouncil.gov.uk
Based on these requests, a spreadsheet is submitted to WC containing the schedule of work for the next month, with priorities 1 to 5.
Stuart gives monthly report to the LPC on what has been done in the past month and any work identified to be done in the following month.