The role of a Town Councillor

Often the role of a Councillor is seen as a ‘volunteer’.

This is not the case, a Councillor is the holder of public office. Legislation dictates the term of office (usually 4 years), the conduct expected when acting as a representative of the local council and the role in making decisions about council business.

The main role of a Councillor is to influence and contribute to the formal decisions of the council, knows as resolutions. A local council may make decisions about all sorts of matters but in the main it includes prioritising areas of spend, deciding the precept, setting and working within budgets, provision of services and facilities, partnership working and management of staff.

Councillor Graeme Ellis, elected to the Town Council in May 2022 conveys below why he decided to become a Town Councillor.

My journey into joining the Town Council was perhaps a spur of the moment decision, I really didn’t think about it too long. I had very little knowledge of Town Councils other than perhaps the notorious “Jackie Weaver” incident back in 2020, that should’ve been enough to put me off! In truth I have very little time for politics.

The reason I joined the Town Council was for Wickford. An additional sum was added to our Council Tax, and I wanted to know where it was going. I’m now forty and have lived in Wickford all my life, I’ve seen the decline in the High Street and surrounding facilities and although its widely acknowledged that all High Streets are suffering from online sales, if I look over the fence to Rayleigh and Billericay, why is it that theirs seem more prosperous than ours? And yet our town has expanded, people are moving in all the time, as seen by the many “where is the best school, doctors” posts on Facebook.

I’ve involved myself in various volunteer groups over the last five years, if we all done a small bit, gave just a bit of our busy time back, imagine what Wickford could be. Many people like to complain online, but just how many get up and do something about it, well I’m one of them.

The inception of the Town Council seemed the next logical step for me, here was a chance to put in place long term plans that would put the heart back into our community. In truth we don’t have as much power as I would’ve thought, we don’t deal with waste collection, road conditions, planning, (the main gripes) but what we do have is a collective voice, that has taken issues to Basildon Borough Council or approached private developers (Morrisons) and asked for updates from a position of authority. We have followed up on road repairs, consulted on new planning applications, and objected to some! Approached Greater Anglia to re-commence building works on the station…

It’s still early days for Wickford Town Council, but as a collective we are making a change for the better, the railings on the Riverside Walk (London Road) are a good example of what we can do to improve Wickford, additionally Grants given to the Carnival and Wickford in Bloom, if we continue with this approach, little by little we’ll have a clean and thriving Town to be proud of.

Graeme Ellis

Wickford Memorial Park - Volunteer Group

Continuing on our tour of the Memorial Park- this month we will be breaking down more areas in the park with more information.

We will be looking at Mount Road, Pedestrian Entrance; Jubilee Wood and the Home Front Garden.

Mount Road

Mount Road, Pedestrian Entrance has been developed over the last year by the Friends Group.

There is an old pumping station which was overgrown. We cleared the weeds and painted sections to tidy up. There was a Willow Tree that needed to be felled, the logs were utilised around the park, and some left by the entrance. The whole area has been weeded and planted with wildflowers and bulbs.

On the stump we had a tractor tyre installed by the council and we planted it with shrubs, perennials and bulbs

Jubilee Wood

This wood is relatively new and was planted for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, so is approximately ten years old. It is worth a walk around as there are hundreds of trees and cannot be appreciated from the path. There is a grass pathway leading from the Remembrance Ave on the righthand side.

Home Front Garden

This is the Friends- pièce de résistance

This is a quiet peaceful garden that was originally planned for Wickford civilians who lost their lives in the war. Each tree, eleven, planted represents civilians who died in the war. The youngest being only 10 years old.

If German bombers couldn’t get to London, they would follow the River Crouch and dump the bombs along the way- ‘Bombers Alley’. That’s why there are so many civilian deaths for such a small population.

One of the Civilians was Molly Pratt, she was due to get married the following week. She was early 20’s. She died along with her family. They found her wedding dress in the rubble.

It was overgrown and neglected in February 2020. We salvaged some of the plants but it became obvious that we needed to start again. So the site was bulldozed, once we rescued some shrubs, and we had a major replanting in October 2020. Costing thousands - most from the council budget and the rest from our funds via fundraising and grants.

The back border has screening and climbing plants to screen the compound.

There are 2000+ snowdrops planted around the trees. Approx 2000 crocus and thalia (white scented daffodils) were planted in the Centre Bed, along with nerines, cammasias tête-à-tête and chinodoxia, plus hundreds of polyanthus.

The council’s biodiversity officer installed four blue Bee Planters in the garden. These are for solitary bees to hibernate during the Winter. We are very pleased to have them.

The tops of the Bee Planters have been planted with hundreds of tulips, layered to produce a lasting display.

It is worth mentioning that there is only one full time member of staff and an apprentice for the whole park, volunteers work closely with them. It is a partnership with the council and the volunteers.

There are three car parks: Runwell Road (main entrance); Rettendon View and Highcliffe Road.

Please visit our website: www.friendsofwickfordmemorialpark.co.uk or Facebook: Friends of Wickford Memorial Park