Highlights of the Much Hadham Parish Council Meeting of Tuesday 24th January 2006

After many years service on the Parish Council Gill Sayer had let the Council know that for personal reasons and commitments she would be resigning form the Council. She was thanked for all of her hard work and effort. A notice would appear in the village in due course to inform residents that they had the right to call for an election to fill the vacancy following Gill’s resignation.

Traffic and Highways. You may be aware that the traffic calming and improvement works in the High Street came to a halt some time ago. This was because there was an outstanding legal matter to be resolved, which has now been finalised. The Local Authority are now making arrangements for the works to be scheduled and to be resumed as soon as possible. I’m sure that we are all becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of any progress or work on the Widford Road at the Gingercress Farm/Blackbridge Road intersection. We had been told by the Local Authority work would commence at the end of last year, which it sadly didn’t. We are pressing them to let us know when it will.

Footpaths. The footpath that emerges at the ford and runs down the back of Ash Meadow is to have 3 drain covers repaired and will be re-surfaced in the near future. It was noted that some footpaths have been ploughed over making it difficult and muddy for walkers to proceed along them. This is being investigated. Motor cyclists and scrambers have been using some of our footpaths, this is illegal, damaging the footpaths and very dangerous. Please contact us or the police if you see this occurring. Your contact on the Council for footpaths is Carmel Naughton.

War Memorial. You may recall that we made an application to the War Memorial Trust for a grant. They wanted further information which we supplied and we recently heard that they had turned down our application. They say that we should manage with what is left of the old memorial rather than rebuild it. The cost of replacement will be in the region of 15,000/20,000 and there is the further problem that the memorial is a listed monument. We are speaking to the planners about this and will want to hear what you have to say at the Annual Parish Meeting on 2nd March.

The Sports Association. We now have a representative on the association, Alex Farmer. Alex has been present at recent meetings and was concerned at the lack of interest being shown by the respective sport associations. There is an urgent need for a new Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. Although the sports of football, cricket, tennis and bowls continue it is the Sports Association that manage the sports field and organize the application for grant money, insurance etc. We would urge the various sports associations to think about this as soon as possible so that the Sports Association can continue in the way we all want it to.

Play Equipment at the Playing Fields. The safety surfaces under the swings and merry-go-round need replacing and also the individual play items need refreshing with bark and weeding. This was not possible prior to Christmas but we will now be proceeding with this.

Neighbourhood Watch. The local police are anxious to re-vamp this facility and we are having meetings with them. We will keep you informed of all developments.

StopHarlowNorth. We are a member of this group, which comprises representatives from the local Parish Councils who object to the proposal by BP to build 20,000 new houses just outside Harlow in the High Wych/Hunsdon area. The whole subject of development in the east of England is the subject of a public inquiry. On 14th February this will consider the impact of the plan on the Stansted/M11 corridor. This is vitally important for each and every one of us and our children and grand children. StopHarlowNorth have been invited to put their case along with officers of the East Herts Council and Herts County Council. They would like as many people as possible to join them at the inquiry on 14th February at 9.00am to show the support of the local community and our MP Mark Prisk will be there to show his support.

The inquiry is at the Spirella Building in Bridge Road, Letchworth, which is just a couple of minutes walk from the rail station and is opposite the police station. There are 3 or 4 public car parks within walking distance. If you can please make the effort and show your support on 14th February.