Twyford 2020 - A Parish Plan for Twyford

AGM Report, April 2012

As most of you will know, TVP, as a community-based organisation, is able to access funding that is unavailable to statutory bodies such as Parish or Borough Councils.   A fine example of this during the last 12 months has been the major funding we obtained last September, and this enabled us to fulfil several of our more challenging Parish Plan Actions.

You will have read in the local press, that we won over £15,000 of Government money, and this was matched by the local community – namely Twyford Parish Council, Polehampton Trustees and various local businesses -  giving us over £30,000 to spend in the village.  This Government funding came from SEEDA, the South East England Development Agency, a quango which we knew would be disappearing by the end of March and so we had to fit almost two years work into 4 months.  It has therefore been an exhausting and challenging time!  I led on the environmental enhancements and Gordon Storey on the projects which aim to help the village centre traders.

1. Our first visible achievement was the arrival of 10 small lit Christmas trees decorating the shop frontages plus of course the large Christmas tree donated by Lady Godsal and restored to its rightful place on Bell Corner at the village cross-roads.  We experimented with lighting the main tree by solar power, but this was not totally successful so we will have a re-think for next Christmas.  Special thanks go to Westgate Electronics for installing all the necessary electrics for the small trees and to Block & Deck for pressure-washing Bell Court.
2. We have been able to organise several Masterclasses run by the Metamorphosis consultancy; many of our village centre traders are benefiting from their creative yet practical solutions to maximising retail sales.
3. For the use of both residents and visitors to Twyford, three interpretative display boards are being installed in the village centre during May.  One at Weavers Way explains the history of the various mills in Twyford and the role played by the Loddon and Broadwater; the second at Bell Corner describes the importance of the coaching inns along the Old Bath Road and contains a fascinating pictorial map of the village; the third board in Jubilee Corner explains how the current planting scheme being introduced by a regular group of volunteers is designed to encourage butterflies and bees.
4. We hope the Parish Council will shortly be erecting a traditional village sign on Bell Corner to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  TVP is planning to combine this with a circular brick built planter feature, which will provide a welcome enhancement to the forecourt.
   Two more seats have been purchased for Wellington Square, thanks to some additional funding help from Waitrose and we hope this is just a start to making better use of this valuable public space.
5. We have installed improved signage at Bell Corner and Weavers Way, with one aim being to encourage residents and visitors to explore the Loddon Nature Reserve which can be accessed off Silk Lane/Weavers Way as well as from alongside the Waggon & Horses.
6. A final project has been the production of 3 Walk Leaflets to supplement the "Get Twyford Walking" map we produced last year.   All these leaflets are available free here tonight or from the Library, the Station and many of the shops, pubs and restaurants around the village.   We hope you enjoy discovering some of the lovely countryside and wildlife which encircles Twyford.

On other matters, Patrick has already brought you up to date with the library situation. The Parish Council are leading on the preparation of a Village Design Statement which will influence the style and materials to be used in any future local development.  Marco Taylor has been doing a sterling job recently on transport matters, and all residents should be grateful for his hard work.  I’m sure it is partly thanks to his continued dialogue with Wokingham Borough Council that some temporary measures have been taken on the Old Bath Road road bridge, so that from today our local buses have been made exempt from the 7.5 tonne weight limit and normal service routes can resume.  Marco has also replied at great length to the Government’s public consultation on the new Western Region railway franchise, emphasising the needs of commuters from Twyford.

In summary, out of the 116 Actions in the Plan, we have completed 27 of them, 28 are in progress and 4 are suggested for deletion at the next Review in 2015.  In other words, just in the first 2 years of the 10 year Plan, we have tackled or started to tackle half of all the Actions – we can’t promise to always keep to this rate of achievement however!

So, as you can see a very eventful and productive year.   As ever though, we could achieve even greater things with more volunteers, so please do contact us if you can help in any way.   We would particularly welcome people to join us in maintaining the gardens at Jubilee Corner and the proposed planter at Bell Corner.   The working parties only meet a few times a year, so this is not an onerous task.  We also need volunteers for a re-launch of the “Adopt a Street” scheme for dealing with litter.  The more helpers – the easier it is. 

Sue Goddard, Parish Plan Co-ordinator