Calvert Green Parish newsletter – Winter 13/14
Your Parish Council
We still have vacancies for Councillors. If you are interested in helping your community, or have an interest in a particular issue or project, please get in touch. It would be great to have a full complement and the job is not too difficult! Projects we would like to move on, but don’t currently have the time to do, include Broadband improvements– an area of concern for many residents.
Your Parish Clerk
· Karen McMahon: email
Your Parish councillors:
· Graeham Bowles (Chair)
· Gavin Massie (Vice Chair)
· Phil Gaskin
· Sarah Smith
· Amanda Bowles
Next meeting: Tuesday 21st January at 8 pm
Precept
The precept is the share of Council tax that goes to parishes. Calvert Green Parish Council has taken the decision to increase the precept by 48% next year. The average precept will increase to around £70 PA.
We took this decision in order to make sure that we have funds in place for the Village Hall development. We are applying for grant funding, but the bulk of the funding will come from a Government loan.
We increased the precept to ensure that we are able to cover the loan repayments in the event that we have to borrow the full amount of the hall development cost. In reality we expect to gain grant funding, in which case we will need to borrow less and can reduce the precept in future years.
HS2 Report
The HS2 Property Compensation Consultation closed in early December and we are awaiting feedback on this consultation. When available, the results will be accessible at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-property-compensation-consultation-2013
We are hoping for a property bond to be adopted by the government. If adopted, the Property Bond would inject confidence into housing markets which are currently paralysed, as buyers would have the confidence of knowing they would be able to sell their property or be eligible for compensation in the future. The current hardship based scheme doesn’t provide such confidence that the costs of blight will be addressed because anyone buying in the knowledge of HS2 is not entitled to compensation should they need to sell in the future.
Along with many residents, the Parish Council responded to this consultation in support of a fairer approach to blight compensation for local residents.
Late last year HS2 also published its formal Environmental Statement - all 55,000 pages of it - You can view the pages relevant to Calvert Green at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-phase-one-environmental-statement-volume-2-community-forum-area-reports-and-map-books/hs2-phase-one-environmental-statement-volume-2-community-forum-area-reports-and-map-books (we are area CFA13).
A consultation on the formal Environmental Statement has been launched setting out the social and environmental effects of Phase One and the measures proposed for managing them.
This consultation is required by parliamentary rules to allow members of the public and other interested parties to comment on the environmental statement which accompanies the HS2 Phase One hybrid bill.
The Parish Council is currently responding to the Environmental Statement. This response will cover the many HS2 impacts to Calvert Green and its local environment; in particular focussing on the cumulative blight from the HS2 line, the Infrastructure Maintenance Depot, enforced landfill operation nearer to Calvert and a further satellite depot in Calvert (to mention just a few).
You can still have your say by responding to the Environmental Statement consultation by 24th January 2014 at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-phase-one-environmental-statement
The hybrid bill is a powerful planning tool which, if passed, would provide broad powers necessary for the construction and operation of HS2. In particular it would entitle HS2 Ltd to operate without reference to usual planning requirements and enable key legal protections (including environmental protection measures) to be bypassed.
Once passed, HS2 Ltd will have all the legal and planning powers necessary to commence construction of Stage One of the route (London to Birmingham). If the hybrid bill is passed by parliament, the principle of the Bill can no longer be opposed. However, it is possible to submit a petition opposing any particular detail of the Bill (for example details of the route) if an individual, group of individuals, or organisation can demonstrate that they are directly and specially affected.
Valid petitions will be heard before the Select Committee. If the Select Committee agrees with the objections it has the power to change the Bill accordingly. We will be petitioning the select committee in conjunction with Charndon parish council to ensure that our objections are relevant and thereby giving us the maximum (and final) opportunity to make changes to the bill.
It does seem that HS2 is now almost unstoppable and will significantly impact the future of our community. During construction road closures and additional construction traffic are already identified by HS2 Ltd as causing severe disruptions. The road from Calvert to Steeple Claydon will be closed for years and we are likely to have utility services affected by disruptions during the construction of the Infrastructure Maintenance depot between Calvert and Steeple Claydon. Broadband is predicted to be disrupted for a period of 18 months too.
We will continue to fight for the best mitigation for Calvert Green parishioners.
Landfill and Energy from Waste update
During the last FCC community liaison meeting we raised many concerns of local residents regarding the increased size and number of Energy for Waste (EFW) incinerator construction vehicles. One huge vehicle was too big to turn into Brackley Lane forwards and had to reverse down causing traffic chaos at school collection time as well as damage to lawns and verges.
We presented FCC with several photographs and videos demonstrating the dangerous condition of roads and pavements in the area. All caused by vehicles leaving the landfill site with unwashed wheels and bodywork.
FCC was given one week to improve conditions. Although there was a last minute flurry of activity before Christmas, it was felt that conditions were still unacceptable and consequently we escalated matters to our County Councillor, Angela MacPherson who has since engaged other council officers and cabinet members. Our MP John Bercow was also involved and wrote to FCC asking them to improve conditions for local residents.
Although the condition of our roads are still not perfect, FCC has now agreed to clean access roads on Saturdays with a "back to black" road sweeper to return the road surface back from mud to tarmac. This started on 11th January and after it was pointed out that the road sweeper wasn't being used correctly, FCC did improve the road conditions on Brackley Lane and the end of Cotswolds Way. We will endeavour to have this used on a more regular basis.
We also had FCC pressure wash the pavements of Brackley Lane and the junction of Cotswolds Way. We have also asked that they do the same for the pavement between Calvert and the crossroads with Perry Hill road. Again we want to see pavement cleaning done on a more regular basis. FCC will also enforce use of the HGV wheel wash facility prior to vehicles leaving their site.
Concerns of HGV speed and behaviour was also raised and FCC confirmed that several drivers have been banned from site, either permanently or temporarily as a result of their actions. If you witness an incident involving a vehicle using the landfill site, please report it to FCC directly giving the registration plate, date and time and information about the incident (telephone: 01296 738837).
Construction of the new access road between the far side of the landfill site and the A41 at Woodham has started. You may have noticed the road works on the A41 at Woodham. Once this road is finished (hopefully late summer) all construction vehicles for the EFW will have to use this access. Furthermore all refuse vehicles will also have to use this new access. The existing access on Brackley Lane will then become an access for staff vehicles and emergency use.
It was noted that there were less landfill odours over the last year when compared to previous years. There have been a few odours over the last week with the temperatures dropping and we would urge you to call the environment agency to report all odours. The telephone number is 0800 807 060. You can also contact FCC at the landfill site directly and find out more information at http://www.fccenvironment.co.uk/calvert-landfill.html
We will continue to push for better conditions for our environment. Please see the attached letter from FCC to Calvert residents.
Village Projects
Over the past year the Parish Council have:
· Campaigned on behalf of Calvert Green for a better deal from HS2
· Liaised with FCC on landfill issues
· Bought a storage shed for the Hall and donated this to the CGCA
· Installed a shelter and solar lighting
· Planted a Diamond Jubilee Oak – which appears to be surviving OK!
· Supported Play in the Parishes
· Installed additional salt bins and dog bins
· Carried out necessary repairs on the Hall
· Replaced and repaired broken wooden bollards on the road
· Paid for the Hall development plans
· Gained grant funding for the petanque pit
The Parish Council asked for your input on which projects you would like to see taken forward.
Petanque (Boules) Pit
After gaining a grant towards this project we will be starting building soon. if you are a builder and would like to bid for this project please contact the Clerk ASAP.
Tennis Court
We are currently applying for funding towards this project and we hope to have a court in place by next spring.
Bollards
If the wooden bollards are damaged the Parish Council has to pay for repairs. We have recently repaired 7 broken bollards. If you see anyone damaging the bollards please keep a record of their registration details so we can try to reclaim the cost of repairs.
Speeding
After the recent speedwatch exercise we are still getting complaints that people are driving too fast in the village. Although the speed limit is 30mph this is actually too fast to be safe in an area where there are narrow roads, unmarked junctions and children playing. 20 is plenty.
Please slow down. Several pets have been killed recently and nobody wants a child to be next.
The PC have looked into options to tackle this problem and it’s not an easy one to solve. If you would like to join the PC and help tackle this issue please let us know.
Hall Development
We have now been granted planning permission for the Hall Development. Many thanks to the Hall Development Committee, chaired by Tony Pringle, for their help in taking the project through the consultation and plans stage.
To move forward with the project we will be using an industry standard project management process. Full details of this are available on the PC website. The development project will be properly project managed. If you are a qualified project manager and would like to be involved, please contact the Parish Clerk. There is scope for local residents and users of the Hall to be involved in the project so please get in touch if you want to take part.
Winter Weather
There are a number of salt bins around the village and these have been topped up with salt. This is for the roads, not for people’s driveways. If you live near a salt bin, and you have the time and are able, please could you throw some on the roads in icy or snowy conditions. The paved corners can be particularly dangerous when it’s very cold and icy.
Youth Parish Council News
Unfortunately the Parish Council are no longer able to support the Youth Parish Council. We would very much like to continue support but sadly it’s not possible at the moment. The YPC will be closing for now but hopefully can start up again soon. Apologies to those young people who said they wanted to join the YPC or were keen to take part in future projects that the YPC were planning; the skate day, young cyclist road safety training, or movie nights.
The idea of a Youth Parish Council is to get young people involved in local democracy and community projects. Our YPC successfully applied for, and were awarded, a generous grant towards hiring a skate ramp and professional training workshops for Calvert youngsters. The Parish Council hope that the new Youth Club can take advantage of this funding. You may remember the YPC organised a wonderful Kite Day on the Green over the Summer, this was a non-profit family event open to everyone for free. They also paid for and planted flowers round the village gates and are currently designing a village information sign; which will sadly be their final project for now. The money raised by the YPC from recycling cans went straight to these projects to benefit the community, so thanks to everyone who saved cans, but please let AVDC collect them for now.
The Parish Council would like to thank the past and present members of YPC for their community spirit and hard work. Hopefully we can start up again in the future.
Neighbourhood watch