News

Braddan Parish Day 2015

We’re looking for some volunteers to help with our next Parish Day on 4 May 2015.

We’d like to form a small committee to come up with ideas and to organise the next event. The last two Parish Days have been arranged by the Commissioners’ staff and whilst we’ve made a lot of useful contacts, it would be great if the event became more community led.

The aim would be to hold some monthly meetings over the winter so it wouldn’t be too onerous a task.

So if you think you can help please contact the Commissioners’ Office.

Photo L to R George Fincher, Joe Collister, Ken Callister, Andrew Jessopp, Don Ault.

The Commissioners’ Chairman, Andrew Jessopp said he was delighted at the amount of money that had been raised by the Parish Day. A total of £1421.75 had been donated either on the day in charity buckets and the raffle or via stall pitch fees. He thanked the Commissioners’ staff for their hard work in organising and overseeing a very well attended and enjoyable family day out and all of the stall holders and businesses that had made it possible. Mr Jessopp added that the Commissioners had selected three charities to support; The Manx Workshop for the Disabled, The Ardwhallan Jubilee Trust and the Manx Energy Advice Centre and was pleased to present them each with a cheque for £473.92.

Mr Ault from The Manx Workshop for the Disabled said the money would be swiftly put to use as the workshop had recently experienced some issues with its machinery. The money would be used to purchase new parts to repair and restore the equipment. Mr Ault explained to the Commissioners that the workshop was funded by grants and fundraising as well any funds raised from the sale of their products.  The workshop provides meaningful employment to disabled people and acts as a stepping stone to enable them to move on to gainful employment in the future.

Ken Callister from the Ardwhallan Jubilee Trust thanked the Commissioners for their ongoing support, not only the money received today but also the allowances they grant for the Rates, which helps young people from the whole island who use Ardwhallan Outdoor Centre.  Mr Callister explained that the Trust pays for the equipment and running costs of the centre and the Department of Education fund the staffing costs. He introduced Joe Collister who had worked his way through their young instructors training programme and was now working at the Centre as an instructor. He went onto explain that the centre is used by schools for many different courses. It allows children who aren’t academic who are often classed as difficult, to test themselves, learn team building and build strong characters by getting cold and wet and cooking over a camp stove. The Centre also enables schools to expand the offering to those studying GCSEs in Physical Education; it no longer has to be just team and field sports as they offer sailing, kayaking and climbing facilities.  Mr Callister said the centre needs this kind of support to continue providing the services to young people across the island.

George Fincher from the Manx Energy Advice Centre thanked the Commissioners for their support, he said the money would be used to help fund the work carried out by the Charity at the Green Centre, in Chester Street. They had recently sourced some LED light panels and the donation would enable them to purchase more of these to demonstrate from the centre. Mr Fincher explained that the centre provides advice to homeowners, businesses and government on how to save energy and cut costs.

The next Braddan Parish Day will be held on the first May Bank Holiday (4th) in 2015. The Commissioners would like to hear from individuals and/or businesses that could help plan and organise the day, or suggestions to make it bigger and even better than this year’s event.

For more details see our events calendar.

The Mobile Family Library visits Braddan every other  Wednesday and stops at the following locations:-

10.00 Outside the Commissioners Office

10.50 Cronkbourne Village

11.15 Strang Close

11.30 Ballamillaghyn

It’s such a great resource that some of the Commissioners’ members of staff have recently become members. It carries a large selection of books and you can order books and audio books from their computer catalogue of over 36,000 items.

For more information please see the Mobile Family Library website

Local authority general byelaws are made by a local authority under the powers of section 28 of the Local Government Act 1985. However, under Tynwald standing orders the Minister for Infrastructure has responsibility for reporting to Tynwald on the Byelaws. These byelaws are designed to deal with matters affecting a local community and the Minister for Infrastructure is primarily to facilitate the referral of the local authority byelaws to this honourable Court for approval.

The byelaws are intended to regulate various activities and are aimed at preventing and suppressing nuisances or minor acts of anti – social behaviour within the parish district of Braddan. This general power is subject to the proviso that the subject matter of the byelaws must not already be covered by other legislation and that the byelaws must be approved by Tynwald.

The byelaws have been subject to extensive consultation within the community of Braddan and have been formally approved by Braddan Parish Commissioners.

The Braddan General Byelaws are similar to General Byelaws that have been recently approved for Ramsey and Douglas.

Concerns were raised about the byelaws being draconian but many of the byelaws include a proviso which means that the byelaw will only apply if the activity the person is involved in creates a danger or nuisance or annoyance to other persons.  In addition, local authorities need to demonstrate that, where applicable, the byelaws are designed to deal with genuine problems in their district.

People have been concerned about overzealous enforcement of the byelaws. Although enforcement of the bylaws can be undertaken by police officers, or by an authorised officer of the local authority, it is a directive from the Commissioners that considerable discretion be exercised when enforcing the byelaws. A verbal or a written warning may be all that is required, especially if juveniles are involved, and any action through the Courts is only likely to be considered if all other options have proved unsuccessful.

The wording of the general byelaws will be uniform as this will help ensure continuity across the Island, but it is up to each individual local authority to decide which of the model bylaws they wish to adopt. It is likely therefore, that any general byelaws which are made by a parish authority will not contain as many provisions as those from a larger local authority district.

Braddan has an important role to play in developing recreational and sporting facilities in their district and the Commissioners have been proactive in recent times and have built major new developments in recent years such as the urban skate park and BMX track in Grianagh Park.

The new general byelaws will replace similar general byelaws which were made in 1991 and which ceased to have effect in 2011.  Many of the provisions in the 1991 byelaws have been reproduced in the new 2014 byelaws.

The byelaws were approved by Tynwald on 17^th July 2014 and come into operation on 1st August 2014.

A copy of the byelaws can be found below.

This advert appeared in the Courier and the Examiner last week. Please note that the closing date for responses is Friday 11 July 2014. For more information please contact the Clerk.

Reduce the amount of waste you throw away and improve your garden at the same time!! Eden Park, in conjunction with the Isle of Man Government currently have a special offer on compost bins. Contact Eden Park for more details.

Special Offer on compost bins

Douglas Borough Council have announced new charges for residents using the Eastern Civic Amenity Site.

For more information please see their website.

Charles “Buster” Lewin lose Legal Action against Braddan Commissioners

2014/15 Parish Rates – Tuesday 28th January 2014

At the meeting of the Commissioners held on Thursday 23rd March 2014, the Chairman Mr Andrew Jessopp announced that the Commissioners’ rate for 2014/15 would be set at 219p in the pound, a reduction of 6p from the previous year.

Very careful consideration was given to the potential costs of the Authority’s development plans for the …forthcoming year, details of which will be released in their Business Plan in April, as well as the increased waste disposal charges predominantly due to the staged removal of the central government subsidy of the gate fees at the Energy from Waste plant.

As a way to counter balance these increased charges the Commissioners remain heavily committed to the principle of recycling and in particular the kerbside collection service. They ask all residents to continue their participation in this scheme and to remain committed to recycling as it helps to offset other rising waste disposal costs.

Whilst making their decision on the rates the Commissioners were very conscious of the impact on its residents of the proposed increase in the all island water rate and the introduction of a new flat rate sewage rate, which now transpires to be £50 per household.

The Commissioners have, over recent years, adopted a policy of building sufficient reserves to allow them to react to unforeseen circumstances that require a large capital commitment, and cover any other liabilities including legal actions.

The improving chances of seeing an end to a longstanding potential liability was a contributory factor in the Board’s decision to reduce the rate, and they hope to release further details of this over the next few weeks.

The Commissioners will continue to examine ways of keeping the rates to the lowest possible level, whilst still maintaining a good value for money service, by entering into working relationships with other Authorities in order to try and achieve savings through economies of scale.

In concluding his speech Mr Jessopp stated this reduction may be a short term issue because, like other Local Authorities, the Board is unsure of the implications of the changes to Central Government in the light of the Scope of Government report and what impact it will have on the Parish; but at least the reduction will help cushion any other burden passed over to ratepayers in these continuing difficult economic times.

J C Whiteway MBA
Clerk