Vacancies
Two vacancies arose as a result of the resignation of Ron King and the departure from the district of Nicci Gagel. No election was requested and so the Parish Council needs to co-opt people to fill the vacancies. Fay Merrick was co-opted to one of the vacancies in September 2024 so there is one remaining.
If you would like to know more please contact the Clerk
clerk@ashburnham-penhurst.net
Your representatives
There are seven seats on your Parish Council – five for the parish of Ashburnham (A) and two for the parish of Penhurst (P). If there are insufficient nominations at an election or if a vacancy arises during the four year term of office of the council, then the council must co-opt members to fill the vacancies. The new four year term started in May 2019. There were three vacant seats after the election, but these have now been filled by co-option. These are your representatives (scroll down to see their lead responsibilities):
Jay Ashworth (A) – elected
07876 484945 ashworthjay1@gmail.com
Chris Sinden (P) – elected
07917826051 sindens4@btinternet.com
Fay Merrick (A) – co-opted
01424 893414 fay@brayshill.co.uk
Paul Spicer (A) -co-opted
pspicer852@gmail.com
Chairman 2024
Richard White (A) – elected
01424 892481 richardwhite@farming.co.uk
Fraser Williamson (A) – elected
fraser@fraserfinewines.co.uk
The Parish Clerk is Brian Holdstock who may be contacted by email to clerk@ashburnham-penhurst.net or by phone on 01323 832082.
Councillors’ Lead Responsibilities
This list shows the broad division of responsibilities. In 2022, with the arrival of three new parish councillor replacements, we decided to group the topics differently. Instead of grouping them by councillor, we are grouping them according to the areas of interest and, taking a leaf out of “20 Questions”, grouping them into Animal (the human world, society), Vegetable (the natural world) and Mineral (the build environment).
Parish Councillors do not possess a wide enough range of skills to cover all topics so we are inviting parishioners with special knowledge or interest to act as the councillor’s ‘correspondent’. If you would like to join their ranks, whether or not there is a lead councillor, then we’d love to hear from you.
Finally, if there is a topic you want to see in the list but which is not there then please contact the clerk.
Animal (the human world, society)
Communications, Website, Social media Jay Ashworth
Rural broadband Andrew Hoad (correspondent)
Events Chris Sinden
Police liaison Fraser Williamson
Phone box
Public transport A correspondent
Public health: defibrillators Chris Sinden
Public health: exercise facilities Richard White
Vegetable (the natural world)
Verges Paul Spicer
Environment: Litter Jay Ashworth
Environment: Aircraft noise Andrew Hoad, Clive O’Sullivan
(correspondents)
Environment: Ecology, climate change A correspondent
Mineral (the built environment)
Highways
Housing A correspondent
Premises Richard White
Planning All councillors
Rights of way, footpaths Paul Spicer
Councillors’ Declarations of Interest
The law requires councillors to publicly declare their interests and for the declarations to be publicly available. They are listed below.
JayAshworth
Chris Sinden
Paul Spicer
Richard White
Fraser Williamson