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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2008

This has been my first year as the Chairman of the Parish Council and my first Chairman’s report.  The purpose of this report is to give a summary of what the Parish Council has been doing during the last year and to comment on the major issues that we are facing as a parish. There is more information available on all these subjects on our website at www.eastwickandgilston.org.uk and also the STOP Harlow North website at www.stopharlownorth.com

During the year, the Parish Council have held six Parish Council meetings and an Annual Parish meeting.  Individual Parish Councillors took the following responsibilities.

Mark Orson - Chairman

Keith Harvey – Vice Chairman and Post Code Change campaign

Tim Geddes – Parish Councillor and PC Parish Plan Steering Group representative

Alan Jenkins – Parish Councillor and PC STOP Harlow North representative

Colin Marston – Parish Councillor and PC Highways matters

Albert Towse – Parish Councillor and Parish Paths

Christine Law – Parish Clerk

Albert Towse recently resigned as a Parish Councillor for Eastwick due to his continued poor health however I am delighted that Albert is now getting stronger and has agreed to take on the role of Footpath Warden.  Albert joined the PC in May 1999 and took responsibility for Parish Paths and later also dealt with Highways issues and meetings with the Highways Officers.  He was instrumental in the work to reinstate Cock Robin Lane, which was a major project; the improved maintenance of the footpath network generally; persuading the farmers and landowners to fulfil their responsibilities on footpath matters and the provision of the display footpath maps and printed leaflets.  He has also played a major part in obtaining funds and organising restoration of the War Memorials at Eastwick and Gilston

Albert’s departure left a vacancy for a Parish Councillor in Eastwick and I am very pleased that Brenda Gallantree has agreed to take this role and will be co-opted to the Parish Council at our May 2008 meeting.

On PC administrative matters during the last year we have reviewed and adopted new Financial Regulations, changes to the Parish Clerk’s Contract of employment and job evaluation.

Congratulations to our Parish Clerk Christine Law who achieved the SLCC Certificate of Achievement qualification ‘Working with your Council’.

Harlow North
As a small parish adjacent to Harlow with Metropolitan Green Belt designation we have spent the last 25 years, if not longer, in the frontline of pressures for development.  At the time of writing we are still awaiting the Government’s response to the latest round of consultation on the Further Proposed Changes to the Draft East of England Plan which includes Harlow North. On this round there were 1800 individual responses received via the STOP Harlow North website (generating over 7000 objections to specific sections of the Plan) with many more submissions on postcards or by letter. We continue to vigorously oppose the development of the land north of Harlow through our involvement in the STOP Harlow North campaign group and independently in our responses to this consultation and the East Herts consultation on the Core Strategy for the Local Development Framework. 

As a parish we recognise that change is a reality, even with Metropolitan Green Belt status, and that there are a host of opportunities for change, which we believe fit with national priorities and policies and our needs locally.  However there is no local need for housing development on this scale. If approved, this would compound massively the existing problems with our road and rail transport infrastructure deficit and would overwhelm the water supply and drainage / sewage treatment capacity in addition to the irrevocable loss of greenbelt land.

Gilston Great Park
Parishes north of Harlow are united in their view of an appropriate future for the area. It is one of conservation of the rural economy, landscape enhancement and the introduction of more leisure uses.  These views are set out in the plan for Gilston Great Park.  The GGP plan is consistent with the Green Infrastructure Plan prepared by local authorities and Natural England

Post Code
We are still battling to get our postcode changed so that we appear as a village in Hertfordshire rather than in Essex and as part of Harlow. Ideally, we would have a Sawbridgeworth postcode.  It has been a long and tedious process but we are sticking to it. If anybody has any examples of when our Harlow postcode has disadvantaged them, please let Keith Harvey know. Every incident, however small, strengthens our case.

Highways
We continue to work closely with Highways to ensure that Highways maintenance activities are carried out effectively and meet our local needs. As with all local services Highways work is governed by budget and availability of resources and getting work carried out in a timely manner can sometimes be a frustrating struggle.  However we have an agreed schedule of outstanding work and take every opportunity to push for priority treatment. This year we have had the potholes in Gilston lane and Burnt Mill Lane filled and the roads resurfaced which have both been major improvements.

There are serious concerns regarding the dangers of speeding and high traffic volumes generally on the C161 through Pye Corner, which come up at every Parish Council meeting. For pedestrians it is very intimidating walking along the pavement through the village and a risk when crossing the road at any point due to line of sight and speed of traffic approach – it is no exaggeration to say that we are very fortunate not to have had a fatal accident.

The history of these problems is well documented over many years (decades) and we are looking for a real long-term solution rather than having more surveys and discussion.  We have had Highways initiatives to put “gates” at the beginning of the village, additional road markings and speed limit signs plus the 30mph flashing signs all of which have had some degree of impact in the short term.  The reality is that this road is a strategic route used by exceptional and very high volumes of traffic that were never intended when the road was built.  We know that the Police and Highways have resource constraints however we believe that Gilston deserves a solution that will work and have a permanent effect.

We have written to HCC to state our concerns and they have suggested that, as we do not qualify for further action based on road traffic accident statistics that a possible way forward is to use the 'speed limit compliance targets' initiative as part of the Local Transport Plan.  To be considered under this initiative the Parish Council must create a Parish Plan which will include a section on transport and travel and we will be exploring this as part of the Eastwick and Gilston Parish Plan.

We will also be looking at this approach to revisit the 50 mph speed limit on the A414 which we want extended from beyond Acorn Street on the eastbound carriageway to the Eastwick Lodge roundabout, protecting vulnerable traffic turning right out of Eastwick towards Hertford which so far Highways have not been keen to implement.

Planning
We have had a number of planning applications to comment on during the year and most have been reasonably straightforward and non contentious changes to existing properties.  We may face a major planning application later this year with the potential sale of the Terlings Park site which Merck Sharp and Dohme are now actively marketing through their agents.  This site is just less than 30 acres in size and although there will no doubt be challenges clearing the site as there are major parts of the buildings which are under ground this is of a size which if approved could accommodate up to 500 houses.

There is also a 4.7 acre site next to the centre of Eastwick that is being marketed as Strategic Development Land at Harlow North.  A site of this size could accommodate up to 80 houses if approved.

Both the Terlings Park site and the Eastwick site are designated as Green Belt. There are no plans to change this status and they do not feature in any local plan.  On this basis a purchase with intent to build houses on either site is certainly speculative. The Parish Council view on large scale housing development has been clearly stated in our opposition to Harlow North and STOP Harlow North has always argued against breaching the natural boundaries of the river, railway line and A414 as once breached there is no natural boundary until the A120. We have already been in contact with East Herts Planning regarding the future of Terlings Park in October 2006 and have written again to Bryan Thomsett East Herts Head of Planning Policy to request a meeting to discuss this and the Eastwick site and to register our interest as stakeholders.  We have also stated that we are in the process of developing our Parish Plan and will want to ensure that we are involved at an early stage in planning consultation and decisions for these sites.

Parish Paths
The Parish footpath network is a real asset and I would encourage anyone who hasn’t walked them to try and find the time as it will give you another perspective on our local area. Our footpaths are well maintained and we have continued to keep them so during the last year with grants and practical help from the Rights of Way department and Countryside Management Service.  You will find a number of display maps of the footpath network located around the parishes including both the Eastwick and Gilston War Memorial sites.

War Memorial
The Eastwick War Memorial renovation was finished last year however there is still outstanding some fencing around the memorial and a minor repair to one of the steps.  We will be pursuing both of these points during the coming year.  With regard to Gilston War Memorial, we have now had grants approved from HCC and English Heritage for cleaning the stone work; repairing the lettering and repairs to the steps.  This work is scheduled to be carried out during July 2008.  The grants for this work do not cover the total cost of work and it was very fortunate that we have received a generous donation from Frank Lyons to pay for the balance. There will be some funds remaining from the donation and it is expected that these will be used for completing the last of the work at Eastwick mentioned above.

Parish Plan
Thanks to Anthony Bickmore who chairs the Parish Plan Steering Group and members of the team.  The Parish Plan Steering Group has so far met 11 times, written to all households and businesses to raise money and also successfully applied for an EHDC grant. All funds received are being managed by the Parish Council.  A Parish Survey has been developed to provide key inputs to the plan and this is now ready to proceed. It is expected that students from The Hertfordshire University Business School will assist with the survey data capture and analysis. It is planned to arrange a time with each household to visit and complete the survey questions.  The parish survey is now likely to commence at the end of May with workshops in September based on the survey results. We are looking forward to seeing the early results of this work.

Village of the Year
We looked at taking part in the 2008 Village of the Year competition but overall did not believe that we are sufficiently ready or have enough time to prepare successfully for this year.  We will look at this again later in the year when we will consider the possibility of entering the 2009 competition.

Parish Precept
You will have recently received the booklet from East Herts District Council outlining your rates for 2008/2009. A band D property has increased by around 3.5%. Part of the rates is made up of the Parish Precept which is set by the Parish Council to cover small running costs and a number of initiatives we undertake including maintaining the Parish Paths and War Memorials. The amount attaching to your rates for the parish is a function of what we spend and the number of properties and their valuation bands in the area.

This year we deliberately maintained our precept at the same level as 2007/2008.

If you have views on how we should spend our money and if we should spend more or less then let one of the Parish Councillors know or attend a Parish Council meeting. We are always keen to hear views and enjoy the interaction with members of the public at the meetings – all are welcome

Website
The Parish Council is taking a fresh look at our website www.eastwickandgilston.org.uk and the parish’s needs and priorities for the information, facilities and services that this might provide to us. Thanks to Bob Mitchell our developer for all his work building and supporting the website so far.  It has done a good job and there is a lot that is right about the existing website but it has been up and running for a few years now and it is time to take stock and decide where we can go next with this. As a first step we have written in the April edition of the Parish Magazine asking for views on how the website might be improved and will be meeting again around the end of May to discuss comments received and next steps on website changes.

Conclusion
Overall, we have made some good progress this year and there are clearly some challenges for the year ahead. We are fortunate to have a dedicated and hard working team of Councillors. They devote a lot of their time for the benefit of the community which is unpaid and they claim no expenses. Thanks to Deborah Clark and Tony Dodd who are our District and County Councillors respectively. They continue to give valued support to the Parish Council.

Thanks also to Christine Law, our Parish Clerk. Without Christine, the Parish Council simply wouldn’t function.

Mark Orson