Chairman’s Annual Report 2025/26

Leven Parish Council
Chairman’s Annual Report 2025/26
In this financial year there have been several councillor changes.
I was again elected chair, and we had a new vicechair Cllr. Julie Richardson.
We had 3 new councillors, Cllr. Graham Oldroyd, Cllr. Ben. Towse and Cllr. Andrew Hall. Resignations included Cllr. Frank Hood, Cllr. Ben Towse and Cllr. Andrew Hall.

Several operational changes have been implemented including:
• A change to a .gov.uk domain name as required by new operating guidelines
• An upgrade to our accounting system Scribe
The council increased the precept this year to take account of rising costs and to ensure the council can replace reserves used in 2025/26. However, the parish remains good value for money.
The parish has implemented or enabled other activities in 2025/26 including:
• the installation of a replacement bus shelter near the church on South Street

• the installation of a new bus shelter near Nursery Gardens on South Street after the infil of the bus ‘pull in’ area and the creation of drop kerbs to assist access. Both projects were largely funded via grants from the UK Dept of Transport and the Routh Windfarm Panel.

• a well-attended Christmas lights ‘switch on’ event supported by Father Christmas and the ‘Hooked on Harmony’ Choir. We also had another ‘Light Up Leven’ competition with a very good winner!

• provision of a new monument at Jubilee Gardens to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, largely financed by a grant from East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The Parish Council also buried a ‘time capsule’ on the site capturing a picture of Leven life in 2025 for future generations to find.

• the area around the replacement bus shelter has been improved with a planting scheme and general improvements to public areas have been undertaken supported with labour from the Community Payback scheme.

• we also planted a large number of daffodil bulbs along the highways to provide spring colour.

• we have improved the hedging and path in the jubilee garden

• two new grit bins have been provided in the community to keep paths safe during icy periods.

• the parish pledged monetary support to the HART community transport scheme and Holy Trinity Church to support the costs of maintaining the churchyard.

• we worked with residents and businesses to ensure a colourful planting scheme in the summer, the community continued to sponsor planting in the village and sponsors old and new are being approached again to help make a colourful display of planting this summer.
• The parish has provided ‘bleed kits’ to all its defibrillators. These are specialised emergency packs containing tools to help stop catastrophic bleeding from injuries. The parish did this with financial support from Leven Fishing Club and Leven Service Station.
• Residents on the Orchard were at a high risk of flooding on 11th February due to the failure of a pumping station . The parish did what it could to support residents on that difficult weekend.

The Parish Facebook site played a big part in keeping people informed during the flood risk and has developed over the year to be an effective source of public information from the parish and its partners. The site has now achieved just short of 500 followers at the time of writing.

• Using the Facebook site the parish has run information campaigns against speeding and dog fouling aimed at raising awareness and behaviour change.

• Alongside its community group partners the Parish Council undertook a survey to gather views on sport and recreation in Leven which enabled a joint Leven Sport and Recreation Strategy to be developed. This strategy is now supporting bids by local groups for grant funding provided exclusively to Leven through the East Riding of Yorkshire Council from companies developing housing in the village.

In 2025/26:

• the parish council will continue to support local groups to access funding for sport, play and recreation.
• As part of the funding opportunity, the Parish Council has itself bid for funds to provide new information boards to support local walking for leisure by individuals and groups.

The parish council also intends to:

• review the conditions of all its assets in the village, including, seats, bins, planters grit bins and where necessary maintain or replace.
• provide additional bins at both new bus shelters.
• replace the broken noticeboard on West Street.
• strive to support local groups via its small grants scheme.
• take the opportunity to seek grant funding for other schemes which may enhance life in the community.

The Parish Council always tries to be responsive to residents and welcomes suggestions and ideas on how to improve life in Leven over the coming year.

I would also like to thank Ward Councillor Paul Smith for all his support and help over the past year and our Clerk Ann Woodward for her hard work supporting the Council and its community.

Cllr. Stuart Mathison