Great Tey Parish Council

A vacancy has arisen on Great Tey Parish Council for a councillor. If you are interested please read the application process below. Applications should be submitted via the attached form.

Notice of vacancy to be filled by co-option

The Electoral Services department of Colchester City Council has confirmed that the regulation 10 requests from electors have not been fulfilled and the parish council may now fill the casual vacancy by co-option.

If you are interested in serving as a parish councillor, please apply to the clerk confirming that you are qualified to be a councillor – see below. The council meets once a month on the second Tuesday in the month and the role is voluntary.  If you would like to know more about the role and to obtain an application form then please contact the clerk either by email at Greatteyparishcouncil@outlook.com or phone 0771 3791871.

Closing date for applications will be Friday 16^th May 2025

Candidates will be invited to speak with members of the Council from the week commencing 26^th May 2025 and the full council will vote at the June Parish council meeting.

Full details of the co-option process and qualifying criteria can be found below.

This notice is also available on the parish council noticeboard and the Parish council website.

CO-OPTION PROCEDURE
Introduction
If no request for an election is received by Great Tey Parish Council by the date of the Notice of Vacancy, the Electoral Services department will advise the parish council that it may co-opt to the vacancy. Co-option is the process by which the parish council selects a new councillor and it is done as an agenda item within an Ordinary Parish Council meeting.

The parish council manages the process of co-option by itself and aims to demonstrate that it is fair and transparent by following the procedure set out below:

Procedure
1. Great Tey Parish council invites interested candidates to apply to the Clerk by a specified date via notices placed on its main noticeboard and website. The application form will ask candidates to confirm they are qualified to be a Councillor and a brief explanation of why they would like to be a parish councillor.

2. All applicant candidates will be invited to meet with representatives of the council.

3. Following this meeting the committee will make a recommendation to full council of candidate(s) for co-option.

4. Candidates(s) recommended for co-option, will be invited to the next meeting of full council for the purpose of being elected as a member of the parish council.

6. At the meeting of full council, the successful candidate(s) will be declared co-opted to the parish council and, after signing the declaration of acceptance of office, will be asked to join the meeting.

7. The successful candidate is a councillor and is no different to any other member; co-option is a legitimate form of election as part of the election process.

Qualifications to be a Councillor
A person is qualified to be elected and to be a Councillor if they are a British, Commonwealth, Irish or European Union citizen and on the relevant day (that is, the day of nomination or election) they are 18 or over.

In addition, the person must meet at least one of the following criteria
(1) on the relevant day and thereafter they continue to be on the electoral register for the parish, or
(2) during the whole of the twelve months before that day they have owned or tenanted land or premises in the parish, or
(3) during the whole of the twelve months before that day their principal or only place of work has been in the parish, or
(4) during the whole of the twelve months before that day they have resided in the parish or within three miles of it.

Except for qualification (1), these qualifications then continue for the full term of office, until the next ordinary elections.

Certain people are disqualified from standing, and these include paid officers (including the Clerk) of the council, bankrupts, and those subject to recent sentences of imprisonment.

In other news the Annual Parish meeting will be held on Tuesday 13^th May at 7.00pm in the Village Hall.  This is your opportunity to come and find out more about what the Parish council are doing and to have your say about matters in the Village that are important to you and what you would like to see going forward.  This will be followed by the Annual General Meeting and the Ordinary Parish council meeting which all members of the public are invited to attend. 

Defib and Basic First Aid Training – Register your interest

You will be aware that there are two defibrillators located in the Village; one outside the Village Hall and one in the Pub. 

Hopefully, the situation never arises where a resident needs to use the defibrillator but, if they did, we have been given an opportunity to host a training session on how to use this life saving equipment along with some basic first aid skills.  The session will last for approximately 2 hours and will be held in the Village Hall.  There are no dates yet as we want to get an idea of numbers and whether a weekend or evening session would be preferred.  If you are interested, please do email the clerk at Greatteyparishcouncil@outlook.com. 

If you cannot make that but would like some online training on how to use the “defibs” then check out the courses offered by Essex and Herts Air Ambulance service on Unlock Life-Saving Knowledge | Essex & Herts Air Ambulance

Have your Say – What is your vision for Great Tey?

The Parish council need your help in planning for the future of our village.  This is particularly important given the current focus by Colchester City Council on the development of the local plan and what that means in terms of allocations for new housing especially in rural areas. 

Whilst nothing has been decided yet, it would be great if we could gauge your thoughts on what the Village might need to support any potential growth.  Ideas could include more footways to make it safe for pedestrians to move around the village, traffic calming measures in key areas, more green spaces, and further development of our existing play area to include such things as an outdoor adult gym, sports facilities etc.  The list is not exhaustive and your ideas and views count so please do email the Parish council at Greatteyparishcouncil@outlook.com with your suggestions.  Once we have a rough idea of requirements we will then follow through with an online survey and village meeting that all will be invited to.  This will enable us to formulate a vision for the future.   

Dear Residents 

The Parish council have received reports that, the Contractors working on the New Barn Road development site, have been starting work before the agreed time of 8am.  This has been addressed with Mersea Homes who have reiterated to those contractors that works on the development site must not commence before 8am.   

However, there are no time restrictions in place for the work taking place on the highway so Centaur are starting work at 7.30am to achieve all of the work needed during the allotted road closure timings.  Unfortunately, they were also a day late in starting due to the emergency works undertaken by Anglian Water at the top end of The Street.  They are therefore trying to make up time in order to minimise the impact of the road closure on nearby residents. 

Therefore, whilst the road closure is in place the contractors working on the highway may start at 7.30am so it is likely that you may hear the movement of heavy machinery associated to that road closure work only.  If that is not the case and work starts before 8am on the development site, then please do continue to let the Parish council know by email at greatteyparishcouncil@outlook.com

Apologies for the inconvenience that this causes. 

On 20 Sep 1944, two Lancaster’s from 622 Sqn based at RAF Mildenhall and outward bound on an operational mission collided mid-air in bad weather and impacted on farmland between Earls Colne and Great Tey, Essex. 15 aircrew died instantly. 4 of the crew were from New Zealand & 1 from Canada. Over the last 80 years the knowledge of the crash locations had been gradually lost to history. Now, following research by the Earls Colne Heritage Museum permission has been granted to install a memorial at Holmwood Farm.

The Lancaster memorial ceremony can be viewed here https://www.shealolin.co.uk/lancaster-memorial for anyone that was unable to attend but wishes to watch.

Lancaster Memorial story

GREAT TEY COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH GROUP

The group are always seeking volunteers to help to monitor and hopefully reduce speed of traffic through our village. If you have a few hours to spare each month and would like to help, please contact the parish clerk David Williams on  01787 224895 or by email at greatteyparishcouncil@outlook.com.