CHAVEY DOWN September 2015
NEWS AND VIEWS
Published by The Chavey Down Association Number 51
Local Neighbourhood Development Plan
Winkfield Parish Council is currently discussing the possibility of a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP). In our last newsletter and at our AGM we asked for your thoughts and offers of help. WPC has repeated this request in its newsletter but unfortunately we have received little feedback. The most successful NDPs are community led and, although WPC will play a leading role in its production, we must have community volunteers if we are to satisfy Planning Inspectors. Please do email Anne-Marie Edwards, Clerk of WPC, at or phone her on 885110 to get involved.
Update on War Memorial in Chavey Down
After many years of hard work the date for the dedication and unveiling of the war memorial will take place on 21st November at 11 am.The stonework may be finished by Remembrance Sunday but as the British Legion, local Councillors and others will be at Civic Services, Chavey Down wanted to have its own special day. The Rev Simon Baynes, a previous vicar of St Martin’s, has agreed to unveil and dedicate the memorial and we would love to see you there.
Ruth Timbrell started investigating the possibility of a memorial back in 2002, having spent some considerable time researching the names of our village men and boys who served in WW1. Thank you to the War Memorial Committee and to everyone involved (including Bill Weedon for making our marvelous Fundraising Thermometer). Finally, thank you to everyone who donated, large and small. It could not have been done without you!
The Memory Garden
You may have noticed quite a bit of work taking place in the Memory Garden recently. The railings along the path have been repaired and the solar lights replaced by Dennis Britten. As a joint project with St Martin’s Church, the PCC and the CDA, we have had the holly tree removed and the footpath repaired. This has really opened up the garden and it is now much brighter. A white camellia has been planted in memory of those who lost their lives in WW1.
Thank you to those who turned up at our last tidy up morning in August. The next date is on Saturday 17th October at 9.30am. All volunteers welcome even if you can only do half an hour. Please bring garden tools. Even if you can’t come, could we use your brown bin? We now have a small compost bin for some of the garden rubbish, donated by Frank van Oeffelen, but we always have more waste than we can accommodate!
Summer Outing
We are so, so grateful to Tina Chapman for once again organising the summer outing back in June. Local residents enjoyed a lovely day in Portsmouth. Tina always plans a fantastic fun-filled day for everyone and already folks are looking forward to next year’s trip!
Subscriptions for membership of the Chavey Down Association
For those of you who may have forgotten to renew your CDA subscription, please can we kindly ask that you do so as soon as possible, otherwise you could lose some of the benefits that membership brings. These should be posted to the Treasurer at 26 Church Road (or if it is easier, please give to a committee member).
Thank you to everyone who made additional donations. This year people were given the opportunity to donate to the Village War Memorial, as well as the Benefit Fund (which allows us to fund activities throughout the year such as the summer outing, Christmas hampers), or the General Fund to help with the day to day running costs. These donations have been gratefully received, and have resulted in the target for the War Memorial being reached.
Planning
14/01333/out: Up to 88 dwellings on Land at Locks Ride. After substantial opposition organised by the residents of Locks Ride and the CDA the Borough planning meeting of 16th July was packed to witness the Borough refuse this extremely unpopular application. The CDA submitted a petition of 222 signatures and Ruth Lyes from Locks Ride spoke brilliantly against this application. The Borough said “The proposed development would be poorly located with regard to services and facilities with inadequate accessibility to non-car modes of transport which would leave future residents with no real choice about how they travel. Furthermore it would detract from the character and appearance of the countryside. The proposal is therefore not sustainable. It has not been demonstrated that the impact of the proposed development on the local road network can be fully mitigated. As it could adversely affect road safety and the flow of traffic the proposal is therefore contrary to Policy.” Drainage also proved to be an important issue.
We are fully expecting an appeal and in view of the fact that Great Crested Newts are in this area we would urge residents, when they see them to take dated photographs that prove location. The applicant, Gladman Developments, recently suffered an unusual set back at Winslow where they were defeated because of a well supported Neighbourhood Plan which showed massive community solidarity. That’s why we need volunteers for ours!
15/00200/ful Land at The Yard, Chavey Down Road: Erection of a 5 bedroom dwelling, a 4 bedroom dwellings and 2 x 3 bedroom dwellings following demolition of the existing structures. Pending.
15/00005/3 St Marys School: Erection of single-storey extension forming surge classroom and formation of new parking. Now that this has been approved there is no reason why the village school can’t be returned to the village. We shall be pressing the Borough hard, with the support of Councillors to ensure that this happens.
15/00416/t Locks Ride Playing Fields: Temporary siting of a mobile catering unit. Approved.
15/00500/ful: Land adjacent to Sunrise, Birch Lane: Erection of agricultural building and greenhouses for market garden. Refused.
15/00383/ful Chavey Down Farm: Change of use of land for the siting of up to 100 mobile homes. A time extension has been agreed to allow the applicant to provide further information. There have been a substantial number of objections to what we believe is an unacceptable application.
15/00309/ful The Oaks 108 Locks Ride: Erection of 4 x 5 bed dwellings with associated garages and parking access and construction of a new access road. Pending.
AGM
Thank you to members and invited guests who attended our 53rd AGM on 15th May and to Ruth for her very interesting talk on Chavey Down Farm. What wonderful documents and pictures we saw of this historic building.
All the committee were re-elected. There are still 2 places to fill and we really would love volunteers from Locks Ride and Priory Road. Some people in Locks Ride may not realise that they are in the CDA catchment area. YOU ARE! And we’d love to have you on board! Just to remind you the following roads are included within the boundaries of the Association: The whole of Locks Ride J The whole of Longhill Road and the whole of Priory Road! Chavey Down Road up to but not including Woolford Close, Sandy Lane up to and including Silverdale, Bakehouse Court, Canon and Scotts Mews, Birch Lane, Church Road and North Road.
Some of the topics discussed at the AGM were:
1. Parking in the Church Car Park.
2. Speeding in Village roads: We have explored many options over the decades, campaigned heavily and sat on many public bodies to try and address these issues. We have had some successes with the plugs but the speed management scheme in Longhill Road has had little effect. As in previous years, the Chairman suggested that perhaps a “traffic committee” could be formed to handle this but there have been no volunteers. Without active support and a willingness to get involved the committee feels that there is little more that it can realistically achieve.
3. St Martins Hall and the black railings have been repainted. Thanks to Dorothy Hayes and Tony Virgo for organising and paying for this from their Members’ funds. Also on their list are potentially the waxing of St Martin’s floor and the painting of the memory garden handrails.
4. Winkfield Good Neighbours: The Association were pleased to make a substantial donation to this much appreciated local cause. 5. Footpaths in Strongs Woods. Thanks to the tenacity of Ivan Parr (and Dorothy Hayes’s and Tony Virgo’s funds!) we have had 2 new beautiful sets of steps at either end of the footpaths. It is such a pleasure to see so many people regularly using this walk and our Councillors have pledged to help us get the whole of the walk made into a dedicated public footpath rather than having half of it a dedicated footpath and half of it permitted. It makes no sense to have a public footpath that stops in the middle of nowhere! There was a lovely photo on display at the AGM.
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Fireworks
We know it’s only September but Firework Night is only a couple of weeks away, so this is a plea to residents to please take care with your fireworks, and consider wildlife and pets. More pets are lost during this period than the whole of the rest of the year so please keep them inside, be considerate of those neighbours who have pets (perhaps let them know in advance if you are having fireworks).
Bonfires
Every year, neighbours are unable to enjoy their gardens, open windows or hang washing out because of bonfires or smelly BBQ’s. They can be a real nuisance and can cause problems for asthmatics, bronchitis sufferers and people with heart conditions .Please be considerate towards your neighbours.
Christmas Celebration
Richard Hyslop is organising a Chavey Down Village Carol Service on Saturday, XXXX at XXXXX. The service will be held in St Martin's church and will be followed by mulled wine and homemade mince pies. This service is open to all villagers and we hope that as many as possible will come along. For more information please contact Richard on 07974 133651.
Heathrow
We would urge all of you to keep up the pressure on Heathrow, as well as NATS, with your complaints.
http://www.heathrowairport.com/noise/what-you-can-do/make-a-complaint-about-noise For further information residents are also directed to HACAN website http://hacan.org.uk/
On the 2nd September, the Coalition Against Heathrow Expansion launched their first campaign against a possible 3rd runway The Coalition includes the Mayor of London, Conservative MP, Zac Goldsmith, five councils, Cross-Party MPs and campaign groups including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. You are invited to join a demonstration in Central London in Parliament Square 10.30-12.30 on October 10th.
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