Annual Parish Meeting – June 2023
The Annual Parish Meeting took place on June 20th at St. Mary’s church. The church was packed with about 65 residents in attendance, plus councillors and speakers, some of whom had stands displaying information. After a welcome from the OWPC Chair, Cllr. Charlotte Hall, the meeting was given over to MKCC Environmental Services where Rebecca Trouse – Commissioning Programme Manager and Euan Darling – Landscape Client Services Manager presented on behalf of Nick Hannon, Head of Environmental Services at MKCC. Also in attendance was Kay Petit – Programme Manager (Parish and Town Councils). 
Their presentation was on MK City Council’s new services contract with SUEZ, which comes into effect this September. You can view the presentation slides here. They also outlined the options available to OWPC, and all parishes, for how landscaping and maintenance are delivered within the parish under this new contract. They then took many questions from the floor. Details of the questions answered and those that required follow up will documented in the Autumn parish newsletter.
After the full discussion on environmental services, it was the turn of Waste and Recycling Team – ‘Bins on Tour’, the team managing the rollout of the new wheelie bins, which form part of the new MKCC waste and recycling contract. The amusing presentation by Gennaro Corrado, Waste Services Transformation Team Leader,
reinforced the various communications from MKCC about the use of the new wheelie bins. The waste and recycling team, Waste and Recycling Officers Amy Armstrong &
Izzy Jones, brought with them examples of the new bins which were subsequently delivered to residents throughout the parish in the following two weeks ready for the first use of the bins on the 5th of September 2023. It is worth noting that the 5th of September is a Tuesday, the new day in the week for rubbish collection within the parish. Bins need to be out for collection by 7am on Tuesdays. The MKCC waste and recycling team then took questions from residents. MKCC have a page on their website giving details about the new waste collection service here.
After the two presentations refreshments were available and the chairs were moved back to allow everybody to circulate, discuss what they’d heard and question the presenters further. There was also a stand from the rejuvenated Milton Keynes Neighbourhood Watch group who were able to explain what they do and how to join them. 
The final stand available was manned by Maralyn Smith, the CEO of MK Dons Set charity who have recently taken over the contract to manage the pavilion and playing fields. Maralyn was able to explain the range of activities that the charity delivers for the community. No doubt we will be hearing more in the future as they develop their plans for the pavilion and playing fields.
The format for the meeting appeared to be very successful and could form the template for future similar meetings for residents.
