Great Bardfield Parish Council  

'ESSEX VILLAGE OF THE YEAR 2009'

I am pleased to be able to present the Parish Council Review report covering the last 12 months.

Each year sees discussion and activity on a wide-range of issues including those that come up rarely and those which seem to be a continuous agenda item and remain of concern to the community.

We continue to discuss the challenges of traffic and parking issues in the village. We experience increased parking problems around the school and the shop and have recently had discussion with the Co-op regarding delivery times and lorry sizes. Of course, it is not just the Co-op lorries that are the issue and unfortunately a number of households have experienced close contact by articulated lorries unable to negotiate the tight corners typical of a small village. We are currently discussing what we see as increased heavy traffic movements in the village, with the County Council.

In partnership with Wethersfield and Finchingfield Parish Councils we have recently purchased a mobile Speed Indicator Device (known as Sid) which will soon be in operation around all 3 villages on a rota basis. I hope you will welcome this newcomer to the village.

Litter and dog fouling are issues that crop up time after time. We know it is a disappointment for many that a minority of inconsiderate individuals can spoil the cleanliness of our village and we continue to work towards reducing these problems. We have in the last year purchased and installed a new litter bin placed outside the Co-op (thank you to the Co-op for its financial assistance).

Doggy bags are available free of charge from the CIP and two more dog ‘poo’ bins have been placed at locations suggested by residents. We know these are very well utilised, however we still see blatant evidence of some people’s disregard of their neighbours and locale. We would like to remind you that with your assistance in advising him where, when, and if possible who, the dog warden will visit the village with the objective of catching and fining the culprits.

The Pavilion/Playingfield project is progressing well. We received planning permission last autumn and are currently awaiting approval of a slight change in the location of the building. Funding possibilities are being investigated and we hope to see some local fund-raising activities over the next few months. This is a major project involving improvements to access, parking, drainage and the play area as well as the construction of a shiny new building with increased and much improved facilities and accommodation. Fund raising recently received a huge boost when Danny Mercer, Secretary for the Bardfield Mud Dogs and Cllr Steve Slemmings visited the Essex Football Association. The FA can contribute towards the pavilion, the multi use games area, pitch drainage, the car park and access road. They have £45,000,000 a year to fund exactly these sort of projects and they could contribute up to 80% or £1,000,000 to ours. Of course they want others to contribute and they are keen on local contributions, however, small, to demonstrate community commitment to the project.

This year we have considered and responded to Braintree District Council on 19 planning applications, including 10 applications for extensions, 2 for conservatories, 2 for replacement windows, 2 for new business signage, a new classroom for the school and a demolish and rebuild. We have also had 3 applications for tree works.

Having managed to get the fountain flowing again last year, we have had additional problems with it this year. A concern on the quality of the water has been traced to contamination by groundwater at the source of the spring and remedial action to prevent this has begun. Unfortunately the flow has reduced again recently. This is felt to be caused by problems with the original Victorian pipe work and investigations are underway to determine how this can be repaired or replaced.

An exciting event during this year has been the purchase of the Lordship of the Manor by the Parish Council. Tony Hayward will be speaking more on this shortly so I shall simply say that the Council are pleased to have secured this for the community.

There are other activities in the village which the Parish Council have been pleased to have been involved with and thrilled with their success. Firstly, that of the Ox-lip project which has involved local people, including the active involvement of the primary school children. Pipers Meadow, only one of a number of local sites, is now being managed to ensure the ideal environment for our own Oxlip. An information board is now in situ and a formal Open Day has recently taken place.

We are also very pleased to see the re-opening of the Youth Club at the playingfields following its closure last summer. Firstly I would like to thank, on behalf of the council, Myra Tew and Sue Cornell, for their many years of dedication to the Youth Club and the hundreds of children who attended it over the years. We were concerned about its closure and extremely grateful to Steve Slemmings and the enthusiasm of the team of volunteers for working so hard to enable the Youth Club to re-open in January. It seems to be going from strength to strength and we recognise it as vitally important to the village and particularly for its members.

Finally I would like to confirm that the Parish Council continues to be active on your behalf in opposing increased development at Stansted Airport. We support the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign, have contributed to consultation exercises, making our objections known and will continue to do so. Last year saw the Public Enquiry regarding BAA’s plans to expand their usage of the current runway (rejected by Uttlesford District Council) and we await the findings of that enquiry. Recently BAA has submitted their formal application for a second runway and ancillary development. We oppose this application.

We are also in the process of responding to a consultation exercise on proposed changes to the use of airspace by NATS (responsible for air traffic control in the UK). The proposals, if implemented, are likely to impact this area with a potential for increased and closer flight paths from Stansted and other airports in the South-East.

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Last modified: 10/28/09