Great Notley Garden Village Residents Association
Newsletter Number 19
Date : September 2001.
Chairman : Ken Game. Telephone - 343030. Secretary : Bert Rix. Telephone - 341066.
E-mail : herbertrix@btinternet.com
PARISH MAPS IN CUCKOO WAY AND AT "MRS HEDGES".
The saga of the above map boards began early last year when the Chairman of the Residents Association raised with Countryside plc. the updating of the original map boards during a meeting of the Great Notley Forum and was told that the boards would be updated. At a subsequent meeting of the Forum it transpired that some communication had taken place between the Chairman of the Parish Council and Countryside resulting in a decision that no updating would then take place.
Following a further approach to Countryside, we were told that Countryside were removing all unwanted sign boards,
to which the R.A. responded by asking whether we could take over the two boards if they were no longer required by Countryside. At this point, Countryside donated the two boards to the R.A. and at the same time a public spirited R.A.
member who owns a sign-writing company offered to undertake the updating work.
The Residents Association are delighted and grateful to announce that the updating, renovation and installation of the two boards is now complete and all who have commented on them have said what a wonderful job Neil Churchman of Solar- Graphics has done. On top of this it is reported that as many people as ever are consulting the boards, so the whole exer- cise has been well worth while.
There is still much building work to be completed along Hawthorne Rise and Grantham Avenue when we hope to enjoy the co-operation of Neil Churchman again, possibly in about two year's time. The cost of the work is being shared between SolarGraphics and the Residents Association.
SPEEDING IN GREAT NOTLEY GARDEN VILLAGE.
It has been noticed that the official speed limit of 20mph in the whole of Great Notley Garden Village is being increasingly ignored. and not all the culprits are young teenage drivers.
This matter was discussed at a recent Parish Council meeting and the Secretary of the Residents Association agreed to mention the matter in the next newsletter in the hope that people will pay more regard to the speed limit. There are many children on cycles in Great Notley and far from all of these are traffic wise.
Strangely enough as the writer was walking along Cuckoo Way recently there was a car parked on the bend where the new map board stands. Two young ladies were talking to the teenage driver when a fourth person arrived on a cycle. In passing, the driver of the car was heard to admit that he had been "done" for speeding again and added that he already had six points on his licence. That is not something to be proud of because his attitude to driving is irresponsible
With three strikes against him he had better realise quickly that driving a car is a privilege and that requires a responsible attitude and is not a toy in which to show off.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS MAST AT GREAT SLAMSEYS FARM.
When a submission was made to install a mobile-phone mast near to the roundabout at Slamseys Farm, the R.A. wrote a letter of protest to B.D.C. B.D.C. have agreed that the application is acceptable because the site is considered to be screened by both the existing buildings and vegetation. The applicant has agreed to undertake further planting and the application is granted. In their acceptance of the phone mast at Slamsey's Farm B.D.C. said that the fact of health grounds was not relevant.
NEWSPAPER DELIVERIES IN GREAT NOTLEY GARDEN VILLAGE.
It is with considerable regret that notice has been received from White Court Stores that due to problems experienced with delivery of newspapers the service will be discontinued after the 6th. October. Barry Wright has assured the Residents Association that he has tried to find an alternative supplier, but without success.
The reasons given are three fold, disruption from publishers, scarcity of reliable paper boys and girls and late payment of bills. A fourth problem which does not seem obvious at first is that White Court is an enclave with only a single entrance and exit and no direct through link with G.N.G.V.
TESCO have not shown any interest in paper deliveries, so our daily delivered papers and, soon, milk deliveries will join the dinosaur in the waste bin of history.
DO IT YOURSELF CONVEYANCING.
Following our comments in Newsletter No.18, we did have a small number of orders and the writer went to Woolwich with money and brought a number of orders back.
The two books are entitled "The Conveyancing Fraud" and "Lawyers Can Seriously Damage Your Health" . At £4 and £3 each respectively they make good reading and explain many things that the legal profession would prefer us not to know.
Regarding conveyancing it is an eye-opener to realise how little work the average solicitor does for his money and that work in many cases is entrusted to a lowly clerk who is supposed to be under supervision, but rarely is.
Again, it is instructive to read in the book on conveyancing how easy it is for the average person to not only do the work themselves, but to do a better job than they will get from a solicitor. Step by step instructions are given for a wide variety of situations like leasehold, freehold, new properties and second-hand houses.
A small number of these books were brought back from Woolwich on a sale or return basis. If any person would like one
or both of these books just telephone Bert Rix on 01376-341066
DISPOSAL OF YELLOW PAGES BOOKS AND TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES.
It may be of interest to know that Yellow Pages and obsolete telephone books are able to be disposed of together with any cardboard at either of the Civic Amenity Centres in Witham or Chelmsford. The tip in Chelmsford is near the old cattle market at the rear of Sainsbury's supermarket in Springfield.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH.
When the writer first came to Great Notley Garden Village (Oaklands Manor, Development, Estate, call it what you will)
just over 4 years ago there was a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in place, though it didn't seem to work very well. The main problem in Highclere Road was that a newsletter originating from the police was given to the "first" house to be read, initialled and passed on. From house to house the interval lengthened and the information petered out before reaching this end of Highclere Road.
We now have a self-help system between several friendly houses who keep watch on each others' properties. Each friend knows his opposite number's alarm code and investigates if the alarm goes off. There have been false alarms in very hot weather caused by a metal strip in the alarm warping.
It should be remembered that to leave a house for any length of time without setting the alarm cancels out the burglary cover under the rule of not taking every reasonable precaution.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ARTICLE ON GREAT NOTLEY DATED 12TH. AUGUST, 2001.
The article is re-printed in this Newsletter with the permission of the Sunday Telegraph because not everybody takes the Sunday Telegraph and those who first read the article made their own comments and other people who missed out wished they had seen the article.
It is a moot point as to whether Ross Clark was trying to be amusing , snide or facetious at our expense. For a start he failed to get "White Court" right as a name, calling it "White Lodge". He wrote that White Court was built with no "soul" such as a pub, no shop and no recreation ground and that cannot be disputed. He claimed he was told that Braintree D.C. hadn't wanted White Court Estate to be built in the first place and the application was refused on two grounds. No.1. B.D.C. did not want houses on the old hospital site and No.2. The sewage facilities were not considered adequate to deal with another 600 houses. While that does sound reasonable, I don't know of any upgrading of sewage facilities, but this was before my time. This information was gleaned from a visit to Causeway House.
Ross Clark said "the Developer won planning permission on appeal , and if you do that you don't have to provide facilities". His remark about winning planning permission on appeal is not true. This rumour has been around ever since I, as Secretary moved to Great Notley in May, 1997. In White Court there are many people who firmly believe that the planning legislation cheated them out of.the Great Notley Community Hall.
It was clearly time to try to get at the truth and so the Residents Association went looking. On top of visiting Causeway House a letter was written to Mr. A. Butcher, Head of Development Control at B.D.C. so that his comments might be on record. His letter is too long to be quoted in full and some of the legislation mentioned by him post-dates the building of White Court so is hardly relevant to that event. If anyone wants the text of my letter and Mr. Butcher's reply, photo- copies are available. Just ring the Residents Association Secretary on 01376-341066.
Mr. Butcher wrote "I am afraid that there is not a wholly straightforward answer to your questions (as is the case with most planning legislation!) and there are a number of permutations that arise."
"Regarding your specific question, if on appeal a developer is able to make out a case that it is not necessary to enter an agreement to provide for the example you have given, (i.e. community facilities) it would then be a matter for the Inspector as to whether to accept his arguments." So the assertion in the rumour does not appear to be set in stone.
"If his arguments show that the obligations do not meet the tests of government circular No,1/97; so falls after the planning appeal, it may well be the case that an Inspector could allow the appeal and grant planning permission without requiring the developer to provide such facilities. This would not, therefore, be an anomaly as such, but a process that has to be the subject of legal submissions and arguments at the Appeal itself." This is irrelevant because White Court was already existing. Why quote a circular 20 years older than W.C.?
"It is certainly not always the case that the developer uses these arguments and there are many cases where Councils have sought obligations, they have been contested by developers at Appeal, but planning permission has been refused because the Inspector was able to support the Council's submissions that the obligations sought met the tests of the Circular."
Pieces of Mr. Butcher's letter have been omitted where they do not appear to be relevant or clarify the answer. The substance of the question seems to be subject to the whim of whoever is debating the planning application at the time. So there appear to be no grounds to assert that White Court lost out on community facilities because of precise legislation. Legislation quoted in the letter of reply is mainly subsequent to the White Court development so could not have applied in the 1970s. Otherwise planning matters, as I read them, appear to be on an ad hoc basis (catch as catch can?). Thus there seems no grounds for the assertion that White Court lost out on "community facilities" because "the legislation said so" I hope this old chestnut has now been laid to rest.
Ross Clark spoke to two teenagers who were riding their mountain bikes around the outfield. When asked about enter- tainments in the village they said "it's alright if you like flower arranging or keep fit" Somebody else is quoted as having said "There's a lot going on for the young children and a lot for the oldies, But for those inbetween not much. It has to be said that the children are certainly looked after and the "oldies" have got off their chairs and made lives for themselves. These "oldies" have not waited to be spoon fed. So to the dis-satisfied teenagers could the wise works of Abraham Lincoln be appropriate? You cannot do more to help a man than he can do to help himself".
Ross Clark mentions one coach outing to Newmarket races. Nothing is mentioned about the fund of events and outings arranged by Club 55. In fairness to Club 55 it must be said that their calender for outings, shows and holiday haunts is quite fully booked. It is obvious that Club 55 does rather better than one trip to Newmarket races in a year. There are many sub-groups in the Community Association and they are far from limited to "oldies". All ages are well catered for.
Finally, the local vandals get a mention. The old netball pitch has been refurbished with vandalproof equipment. Is there any point in trying to make sports equipment vandalproof when we know the vandals will try to match their wits in destroying the new posts and nets. Is not some form of education called for first before wasting money?
September, 2001.
