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COMMUNITY REGENERATION COMMITTEE REPORT 2007/2008

Chairman: Councillor John Oxley

The Committee’s aim is to help Barton to become an even better place to live and work, to stage events for the residents and to bring in visitors to our lovely town.

The events put on by the Town Council go from strength to strength and visitor numbers are increasing year on year.

The Annual Picnic in the Park will be held this year on Sunday 3rd August 2008 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. The children’s races get bigger and better each year, and I am grateful to Proudfoots for continuing to support this event. If there are any local groups out there wishing to show off their skills, young or old, please contact the Town Council Office.

The Christmas Festival will be held over the weekend of the 28th and 29th November 2008. This Festival is by far and away the biggest and best in North Lincolnshire. However, it will only stay that way if we try to move on. To this end we formed a working party which held meetings with the Barton Traders Association and the Tourism Committee, reaching mutual agreement for some changes. However the Barton Traders unfortunately did not agree with the Council’s presentation of the event. The Craft Fair which was held for the second time was a huge success. Our Craft and Charity stalls were fully booked and thousands of pounds were raised by local charities. A competition for the children to write essays about Christmas, with the prize to assist the Mayor of Barton to switch on the Christmas Lights, resulted in some superb essays. Two winners from the Primary Schools were chosen, one from Key Stage One and one from Key Stage Two.

Unfortunately Barton was without its traditional Christmas Lights because of a new Code of Practice introduced by North Lincolnshire Council. However Barton Town Council have put into the 2008/2009 Budget a significant sum of money in order to comply with this Code of Practice and put on the Christmas Lights once again.
A new introduction this year was a second parade and other entertainment, held on Saturday at Junction Square. This proved to be a superb success for which my thanks go to Liz Bennet from the Ropewalk.

Finally, I would like to thank the members of the Committee for their support and hard work during the past year. I would particularly like to thank Councillors Alan Todd, Jon Evison and Tom Chant.

The Town Clerk, Shirley Richards, and Deputy Town Clerk, Carol Clark, were outstanding in the work that they put in throughout the year.

And, last put not least, I would like to thank you, the general public, for supporting the Town Council’s efforts and look forward to your continuing support this year.