Boughton Parish Council

Parish Council Update

From Neil Matthew, Chair of Boughton Parish Council

As I write this, just after Easter, we are in our fourth week of ‘lockdown’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a worrying time for us all. I know that people in our village have been rallying round, offering help with shopping and collecting medicines. This is just the kind of public-spirited response we need. As a community we are stronger if we work together.
The Parish Council is working with the Borough and County Councils, and other Parish Councils as part of a co-ordinated response and we will continue to do so. As part of this, we have setup a new local telephone number for residents to use to contact the Parish Council, to report issues, request guidance or seek help. We may be able to help with IT issues (setting up PCs and tablets for video calling family members), bicycle maintenance (if you’re getting your bike out for the first time in years) and other items, subject to keeping everyone safe of course.
We have setup online banking for the Parish Council and have access to a contactless credit/debit card machine. If you run out of cash and need to reimburse a volunteer for some reason we can help by handling the transaction and transferring funds electronically. Just call us.
Parish Council direct line: 01366 683017
Parish Council e-mail: boughtonpc@gmail.com
Parish Council Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boughtonpc/
The lockdown has meant that the Parish Council business is pretty severely curtailed. Physical meetings are not possible. Our speed sign is delayed indefinitely as the manufacturer has closed down and the Safety Camera Partnership (who need to approve the sign) have postponed their meetings. Work on Boughton Fen has been officially suspended.
In the village, councillors continue to stay in touch by e-mail and we are looking at ways that we can hold our meetings by video. New legislation has been passed to allow us to do this, and while there is now no legal need to hold an Annual Parish Meeting, we intend to try a virtual meeting on the date scheduled: Tuesday 5th May at 7pm. If you would like to attend this meeting by video, please get in touch so we can arrange the conference link and joining instructions to be sent to you.
Finally, the weather at least does seem to be smiling on us, and I expect that many of us are enjoying our gardens during this quarantine. No doubt when we next have an Open Gardens it’ll be the best ever!
Keep Safe.
Neil Matthew
chair.boughtonpc@gmail.com