In this issue:
- Taking care of our local community assets – Backney Bridge Picnic Site, river water quality, parish benches and the war memorial
- Enhancing our footpaths – improving accessibility and an update on the Memorial Trail
- Preparing for the winter months – drainage maintenance and emergency planning
- Community safety – Neighbourhood Watch and Smartwater – tell us what you think
- Budget – how we use our portion of your Council Tax
‘Lest We Forget’
We will be holding our annual Remembrance event on Saturday 8th November. Please come and join us at Sellack Parish Hall from 10.15 – 11.30 am (refreshments included).
Sellack Memorial Trail Update
We took part in the first ever Herefordshire Histories Festival in May, holding a walk and talk event. The talk was led by the Parish Council, with special guests Bill Webb, who researched the history of all of the fallen men listed on our War Memorial, and also Claire Wolfe, a local resident who has sponsored a plaque on the trail. Thank you to everyone who joined us on the day; we appreciate your continued support with bringing the trail to life and in supporting Parish Council-led activities.
We are currently in the process of putting the final touches to the design of two Information Boards and considering final locations for them on our Memorial Trail. We are currently considering locations on the trail route near the Church and at Upper Grove Common, but welcome your views on this. Please email our Clerk.
You can download our guide to the trail on our website, at https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/the-parish/war-memorial/
Backney Bridge Picnic Site (BBPS) – Volunteer Days and Working Group
Our lovely picnic site continues to be one of our best assets in the parish, with spectacular views over the River Wye and Backney Common, which is home to some rare species.
We have a BBPS and Flood Action Working Group, which is open to residents of the parish to join. The group makes recommendations to the Parish Council on matters associated with the protection, maintenance and enhancement of the picnic site, as well as on matters relating to flood prevention and responses to flooding, for the whole of the parish. Please email our Clerk for more information.
Every year we also arrange a couple of clean-up days to keep the picnic site in good condition for all species, including us humans! We rely on volunteers to help us with cutting back brambles, picking up litter and cleaning and painting the furniture. Our next clean-up will be in the spring. Please subscribe to our updates to receive reminders about our upcoming volunteer days. You can subscribe by scrolling to the bottom of our homepage and entering your email address at https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/
Looking after our Community Assets
BBPS – on the subject of our lovely picnic site, have you visited recently? Perhaps you have noticed our new and repaired car park barriers? We would like to thank our volunteers for their fantastic work to restore the barriers to their former glory.
We also recently took part in the Big River Watch and Great UK Water Blitz, carrying out a visual assessment of the river and taking water samples to check for things like phosphate levels. We took samples at the picnic site and Sellack Boat Bridge, and you can check out the results on the Fresh Water Watch website.
Benches – did you know we have a Queen Elizabeth coronation bench in the parish? The bench was located at a bus stop near Caradoc (what3words: ///length.bunk.unscathed), but has recently been removed to carry out urgent repairs. We hope that it is salvageable and, if it is, believe it would be better used if moved to a new location in the parish. We welcome resident views on an alternative location. Please email our Clerk with your comments.
Enhancing our Footpaths
Our Parish Footpath Officer, Cllr Mark Robinson, continues to keep a close eye on our footpath network and can carry out minor repairs and clearance, particularly to and around footpath furniture.
We also continue to move towards the replacement of all stiles in the parish with more accessible gates, working closely with landowners to achieve this target.
What is a Lengthsman?
Historically, a lengthsman was a person tasked with keeping a length of road neat, tidy and passable. This was usually a road between nearby villages. In a more modern sense, it is someone, appointed by a parish or town council, to undertake small highway maintenance works within a specified area.
Sellack Parish Council contracts a local lengthsman to carry out maintenance days along our highways, such as removing vegetation that is obstructing signs or blocking visibility at junctions. In recent years, we have also contracted our lengthsman to carry out minor drainage works, as and when Herefordshire Council funding is available. We have recently submitted an application to Herefordshire Council, to carry out a number of drainage works over the next six months and are awaiting the outcome of that application.
Emergency planning, extreme weather and grit bins
Herefordshire Council’s winter maintenance team looks after Herefordshire’s roads, from November to March each year, salting key roads as and when needed, including the main C1261 classified road through Sellack.
If you spot a grit bin that needs refilling or repair, please contact our Clerk with the location details.
Herefordshire Council also has an Emergency Planning webpage, which includes information on community risk, flooding, health and what to do in an emergency. Visit https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/community/emergency-planning-in-herefordshire/ for more information.
Budget
We will be approving our annual budget and agreeing our precept (how much money we would like to raise from our taxpayers) at our November meeting. Residents are welcome to come along and listen to that discussion. In 2024/25, we set our precept at £13,600, increasing this by 6% to £14,500 in 2025/26. Our precept is collected through your Council tax. At last year’s budget setting, we agreed to start ‘earmarking’ reserves for Backney Bridge Picnic Site and for emergency drainage works that are not covered by Herefordshire Council grants.
In addition, we use the precept to maintain parish assets including benches, the war memorial and the defibrillator, that is located at the parish hall. We also use it to pay our one (part time) member of staff – our Parish Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer. All of the Parish Councillors carry out the role on a voluntary basis.
We recently completed our annual governance review and internal audit of our finances and you can view all of these documents on our website at https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/accounts/
We Don’t Buy Crime
West Mercia Police attended our Annual Parish meeting, in March, to talk about ‘We don’t buy Crime’, a department that tackles acquisitive crime including burglary, robbery and theft. West Mercia Police recommends protecting household possessions using a forensic property marking product called ‘SmartWater’.
The Parish Council is keen to understand if SmartWater is of interest to our local residents, as the Council would be willing to cover the cost of providing kits to our residents. However, we would need to ensure at least 80% of the parish want a kit.
At this stage, we are asking you to register your interest in receiving a free kit, by completing the short interest form on our website, at:
https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/our-parish-council/smartwatersurvey/
Neighbourhood Watch – Would you be interested in joining a scheme? We are keen to understand if this is of interest to local residents, and have included a question on this within the short interest form mentioned above.
We Need Your Help
The Parish Council currently has one vacancy for a Parish Councillor. Looking for ways to make a difference in your local community? Want to get more involved in local decision making?
Find out more at https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/new-parish-councillors-wanted/
Stay in touch
We hope you have found this update useful. Please stay in touch, get involved and have your say by:
- Visiting our website, where you can subscribe to free updates at https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk (scroll to the bottom of the webpage to share your email address)
- Following us on Facebook (search for Sellack Parish Council)
- Coming along to one of our Parish Council meetings – there is always an Agenda item, where local residents can raise any issues (to be discussed at a later meeting, if necessary), or just come and listen. Our next meetings are Tuesday 11th November, Tues 13th Jan and 10th March 2026 (7pm at Sellack Parish Hall).
- Emailing the Clerk, Claire Vaughan with any queries or comments via our Contact page https://sellackparishcouncil.gov.uk/contact/