Former council chair is freeman

A FORMER chairman of Watlington Parish Council has been named the town’s first “Freeman”.

Ian Hill, 80, received the award at a parish council meeting on Tuesday last week, where he was presented with a brooch by chairwoman Nicky Smallbone.

The former chairman served on the parish council for about 25 years before stepping down earlier this year.

Mr Hill said he was motivated to serve on the parish council by a desire to get “more involved” in the town after moving there in 2000.

He said he was encouraged to lead the council by the previous chair.

Mr Hill said a highlight of his time on the council was developing the Watlington neighbourhood plan, which was adopted by South Oxfordshire District Council in 2018 to guide the growth of the town.

“That took up a lot of my time,” Mr Hill said. “From making suggestions to having it accepted, launching it and then getting it going.”

Another achievement, he said, was the introduction of electric vehicle charging points in the parish council-run car park in Hill Road, which Mr Hill said brought the town in-line with a national increase in electric vehicle infrastructure.

He also pointed to the installation of mains drainage at the sports club and recreation ground as another success.

“We were originally told it wasn’t possible but it actually turned out to be relatively easy,” he said.

One development the parish council did not see during Mr Hill’s tenure was the construction of the Watlington relief road.

Mr Hill said his own road, Couching Street, leads to the town centre and often sees a build-up of traffic but the relief road will be “for someone else to achieve”.

Mr Hill attended the presentation with his partner and longtime Watlington resident Marie-Claude Jourzac, and enjoyed a glass of wine afterwards. “I am very flattered by it,” he said. “I can’t claim that everything the council has achieved has been my achievement, I’ve had support from all the councillors all the way through and I am just glad about everything we’ve done.”

Chairwoman Nicky Smallbone said: “He just did things without making a fuss, without expecting to be thanked, and he just got on and did.

“We could do with more people like him in the world. He was the perfect candidate for the first person to get the freedom of the town.”

The parish council hopes to install a plaque in the town hall to honour its freemen and women, though it has no immediate plans to name another.

Cllr Smallbone said: “We just want to leave him on his own for a bit to be the only one — the special one. He’s given so much of his time for nothing and is just a very nice man. I’m glad we did what we did.”