EVERLEIGH PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting
held at Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall on Tuesday 12th May 2026
Chair: Cllr D Bottomley (Chair).
Present: Cllr K Wheeler-Mallows (Vice Chair), Cllr T Martin; Cllr L Wheeler-Mallows.
Apologies: Cllr A Earle; Cllr P Evans; Cllr H Waight
In Attendance: Ms H Boulton (Clerk/RFO), Wilts Cllr C Williams (Wiltshire Councillor),
- Chairman’s Report.
Our Everleigh Enhancement plans have continued to progress well over the past 12 months. The eight village planters are flourishing thanks to the continued enthusiasm of those residents who have adopted them. In April last year, a flagpole was installed in the vicinity of the Crown bus shelter and a damaged football goal post has been replaced at the playground. Last December, we planted a traditional Christmas tree in front of The Crown bus shelter. In 2026, we have achieved several objectives: two street name signs on Marlborough Road; a revised street map at the Crown bus shelter lay by and a second street map at the junction of The Street/West View; and the replacement of our village defibrillator at the end of its 7 year lifespan.
Other activities this year have included constructive liaison with HQ Salisbury Plain Training Area and Wilts Council on the sump pond at Lower Everleigh and action to enhance signs and road markings on the A342 and Marlborough Road;
Our village commemoration to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Victory in Europe (VE) Day landings took place on Thursday 8th May at the Jubilee field opposite the playground, in line with national celebrations. The event was well attended by about 40 parishioners. This was a time for reflection and an opportunity for villagers to get together and reflect on the end of the Second World War. The evening culminated with the lighting of a bonfire beacon at 9.30pm to coincide with others across the nation. This was a very enjoyable evening.
An Everleigh Village Walk, planned for Saturday 7th June, was cancelled due to the forecast of heavy rain including the possibility of thunderstorms. We now intend to conduct the walk in 2026 on Saturday 6th June, with a fallback option of Saturday 13th June.
Parishioners enjoyed the St Andrew’s Church Fete on Saturday 6th September, with Team Everleigh providing a brave effort in the tug of war competitions. The event was well organised and was a great way to develop community spirit with our neighbours from Collingbourne Kingston and Collingbourne Ducis.
A Harvest Festival service took place in St Peter’s Church on Saturday 4th October. The Church was decorated beautifully by volunteers, who arranged a stunning floral display. Rev Jo Reid conducted an excellent service. Harvest gifts were gratefully received and donated to the Trussel Trust food bank in Andover.
Our village bonfire night took place on Saturday 8th November at the Jubilee Field opposite the playground. The event was highly successful, with spectacular fireworks, excellent refreshments and a high turnout from both Everleigh and neighbouring communities. Many villagers pulled together to produce an excellent joint community affair, with the Collingbourne Cricket Club again providing drinks. We are also pleased to report that the event raised £400 for the British Heart Foundation charity. It was a strong Team Everleigh effort, with close support from Collingbourne cricketers!
Our Christmas Carol Service took place at St Peter’s Church on Saturday 13th December. The church was again superbly decorated by volunteers, led by Elizabeth East. Our thanks also go to Gail Barkes and Alice Adams for organising absolutely delicious mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies after the service.
We have also organised two village litter picks over the past year. An Autumn gathering took place on Saturday 18th October, with 9 volunteers collecting 11 bags of rubbish, and we conducted a Spring litter pick on Saturday 7th March; 13 volunteers collected 12 bags of rubbish. Everleigh certainly looked a lot cleaner as a result.
A village work party took place on Saturday 18th April to conduct general maintenance and tidying up at the playground. Many thanks go to the nine volunteers who cleaned and painted all the equipment, carried out repairs and strimmed the perimeter fence. This play area is now looking very smart!
The Parish is fortunate to receive excellent support from other directions. Our Wiltshire Councillor, Chris Williams, has provided close support for the Parish Council over the past year. On the policing front, Wilts Police Community Policing Team continue to provide security for the village within limited resources.
For the future, the Parish Council has 3 main objectives:
• Maintain the village’s infrastructure, particularly the playground;
• Develop Everleigh Enhancement projects;
• Conduct several events per year to enhance village community spirit.
Finally, I would like to thank my fellow parish councillors and the parish clerk, Ms Hazel Boulton, for all their support, enthusiasm and hard work during the past 12 months; Team Everleigh continues to thrive!
2. Finance Report.
The finances remain in a healthy condition with the cash balance in all accounts at £4018.87
at year end. This is £1290.25 more than last years closing balance. The variances have been explained within the AGAR. The final salary of the clerk was not paid until April 26. The MOD rent, usually paid in advance, was not paid until April 26. In addition the budget for the IT has not been fully spent on hardware, instead the amount has been brought forward into 2026/27 to enable assertion 10 to be fully funded.
The Parish Council decided to raise the reserve to £2500 at the Annual PC meeting in May 2025. I would suggest that this limit remains in place for 26/27
The Council raised the Precept for 26/27 to £4453.46 which is an increase of £232.62
This equates to an average Band D increase of £2.24 which represents a 4.9% increase
The accounts have been prepared by the Clerk, audited by the Internal Auditor and on the recommendation of the Internal Auditor the Council intends to exempt itself from a Limited Assurance Review which negates the need to send the accounts to the External Auditor.
Income for 25/26 was £7675 : £427 VAT, £4221 precept, £200 marquee hire,
£1986 bonfire night which included a £150 donation from CD Cricket Club and £841 CIL Grant
Expenditure for 25/26 was £6385 : £418 Vat which was refunded in April 26, £667 fireworks and £571 on cost of Bonfire event, £400 donation to BHF, £437 insurance, £370 grass cutting, £205 other village events, £1691 cost of the clerk plus £511 paid in 2026, £340 election costs and the remaining £1286 on general maintenance and other such routine costs needed to run the Parish Council.
- Wiltshire Councillor Report. Wilts Cllr Williams reported the following annual summary
“It has been an interesting and at times, challenging year at Wiltshire Council. The Liberal Democrat minority administration brought forward its budget for 2026/27 alongside a three year financial forecast. My Conservative colleagues and I had serious concerns about several elements of the proposed budget and its long term impact on Wiltshire taxpayers. These concerns included plans for three weekly bin collections, the rebuild of St Stephens Car Park, significant increases in parking charges, and £20 million of new borrowing, contributing to more than £76 million in long term costs.
Following a series of U turns by the Liberal Democrats — including reversing proposals to close the Household Recycling Centres at Lower Compton and Purton and to cease support for Community Transport — the budget was ultimately passed with the support of Independent and Labour councillors. Regrettably, the alternative Conservative budget, which focused on strategic savings and greater financial stability, was rejected. I remain concerned that this approach will lead to service reductions, harm to the local economy and residents paying the price for decades to come.
At the Full Council Budget Setting meeting concerns about proposed parking charge increases, including raising Sunday charges to match Monday–Saturday rates and extending charging hours to 7am–7pm were raised by conservative members. These changes will inevitably affect hospitality businesses, retail workers and people attending places of worship. A technical Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) consultation is taking place for comments from residents and businesses. It is important to be clear that this is not a full public consultation, as the anticipated increase in income is already built into the budget. More worryingly, the Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Ian Thorn, has publicly stated that there is a strong case for harmonising parking charges across the county — meaning the smaller market towns such as Devizes and Marlborough could be brought into line with higher charging areas like Salisbury.
Changes to waste and recycling services have also been agreed, which I voted against. These include moving general household waste (black bin) collections from every two weeks to every three weeks and introducing a slot booking system at Household Recycling Centres — changes that many residents are understandably concerned about.
Concerns about highways, road conditions and potholes continue to fill my inbox and are raised regularly at Parish Council meetings. As always, please report issues via the MyWilts app. If problems persist, please escalate them through your Parish Clerk and contact me directly — I am always happy to follow up with highways engineers on your behalf. I am particularly concerned that the Liberal Democrat budget relies on borrowing £15 million to supplement the Department for Transport highways maintenance grant. By contrast, the Conservative alternative budget provided £18.6 million of additional revenue funding over three years without borrowing. The £15 million loan is forecast to cost £58 million in interest and charges over 50 years — meaning, quite starkly, that our great grandchildren will still be paying for the road repairs carried out over the next few years.
I remain concerned about the rejection of Wiltshire’s draft Local Plan by Government inspectors following nationally imposed changes that have increased the county’s housing target by 81%. This creates significant uncertainty for communities and increases the risk of speculative planning applications across Wiltshire. The council now faces restarting an extremely complex and costly plan making process that is likely to take several years, made even harder by the withdrawal of funding for neighbourhood plans.
I will continue to keep you updated over the coming months on all these important issues at Parish Council meetings and via facebook. Finally, thank you to all our Parish Councils and the many community groups who work tirelessly to keep villages in our community area vibrant, resilient and wonderful places to live.”
- Wiltshire Police Report. No annual report has been submitted. Wilts Police priorities for our area remain:
- Hare Coursing.
- Bikers on Salisbury Plain.
- Theft from homes, garden sheds and parked vehicles.
5. Questions. There being no written questions or other business the Chairman thanked all who attend and closed the Annual Parish Meeting at 7.20pm.
Signed: Date:
