During the Municipal Year 2023-2024 Othery Parish Council held twelve Monthly Meetings in addition to the Annual Parish Meeting and extra short planning meetings as the time scale for a response to planning applications is now three weeks. Cllr Matt Martin from the Somerset Council has attended almost all of our meetings and is extremely supportive of the Council. Unfortunately we have net seen or heard from Cllr Harry Munt and passed a resolution of no confidence which was responded to by the leader of the Somerset Council but nothing has changed.

The Parish Council had 2 changes at the May meeting and since then there have been no changes.

The accounts for the for each financial year have gone through with no comments after going through the internal audit by Alex Brown.

The precept was set at £11,000.00 with an on-paper increase of 4.76% but part of that increase is because tax base increased by 5.43%

Sixteen planning applications, that include the double applications necessary for listed buildings, were considered during the year. Somerset Council no longer send out paper copies of the plans but by moving to the village hall if ever necessary, using their WiFi we can project the drawing on their screen which will; assist the debate. Possibly the most important was held on 18th March about the soil movement through Othery for flood defence work and attended by over 50 members of the community. Had Middlezoy not notified Othery of this work we would not have been included as consultees.

Mr Martin Pring of Middlezoy has been awarded the contract for the grass and hedge cutting as it was considered that his work during the last contract year was undertaken to a very good standard. He also undertakes at the Parish Council’s expense other work around the village which in the past was undertaken by the Somerset Council but because of the cuts they no longer undertake these works including the playing field.

Cllr Selway has continued to maintain North Lane Playing Field to a very high standard as was shown in the inspection report and the disabled access is a great asset to the field. Martin Pring now also looks after the grass cutting of the playing field.

The Council has continued to be vigilant in highlighting issues of road safety. Cllr V Jones has had a good response from the Highways Contractor when problems with road maintenance have been reported now with the on line system it is much easier to undertake. The Parish Council have initiated a 20mph scheme for part of the village and installed another SID in an effort to keep the speed down through the village.

The Village Neighbourhood Watch scheme is still the envy of other villages. The village still rarely see the police which in itself is a good thing as it shows that Othery is a low crime area. Sadly our PCSO Gerogie who many know keeps being extracted from her duties to undertake supervisory duties because as we all know she is a very good PCSO.