Great Notley Garden Village Residents Association
Newsletter Number 24
Date : July 2002.
Chairman : Ken Game. Telephone - 343030. Secretary : Bert Rix. Telephone - 341066.
E-mail : herbertrix@btinternet.com
THE PARISH COUNCIL.
Parish councillors are elected to serve the community and, in the main, they do a good job. But it is regrettable that they are not high profile and like drains they work un-noticed until some controversial issue arises.
A member of the Residents Association has attended, almost every council meeting for the past four years or so. As an ex-Parish Councillor there is also a personal interest and few people are aware that before the opening of each Parish Council meeting there is a 15 minute session set aside for members of the public to comment and ask questions. These public sessions have in- cluded topics like restrictions on traffic along London Road, street lighting, the RAFT area and a skate boarding park plus vandalism. Some of the protests have been most vigourous and have almost been worthy of entertainment tax.
The current topic is about the siting of the skate board park. Many people consider it should be at the Discovery Centre, but feed-back said to come from Braintree Dictrict Council is said not to be agreeable to this. The question is being asked "what is the Discovery Centre for if not for the likes of skate board parks?". The other two suggested sites are, behind the RAFT area and on the green play area behind the Community Association car park. The residents adjacent to the latter two suggested plots don't object to day-time use of the skate board parks, but to the fact that teenagers never seem to know when to go to bed. Residents in Thorington Close have had, on occasion, to go out at 2am to ask noisy teenagers to play somewhere else. It is small wonder that residents near open spaces are against skate board parks.
VANDALISM AND AN OWN GOAL.
Vandalism is a topic that has been debated by the Parish Council on numerous occasions and no ready solution appears in sight. Great efforts have been made to provide facilities for the teen- agers, notably in the RAFT area (Recreation Area For Teenagers). One example is the bus shelter opposite the Surgery which was almost destroyed. It was replaced by a more robust steel structure and the wooden seat and metal canopy were renovated and set up in the RAFT area.
Over a relatively short period of time the seat has been damaged to such an extent that it is now being taken away entirely. This was debated at the last Parish Council meeting and after some discussion it was decided by 7 votes to 1 abstention that the seat and canopy be removed entire- ly. RoSPA did a report and found two slats on the seat were removed to leave ugly screws sticking up at least half an inch. The back of the seat had broken slats, leaving jagged wood to be a danger to anyone trying to sit on the seat. Graffiti was prolific. The metal canopy was bent through being not able to withstand the weight of hefty teenagers. That goes too.
Now, when the weather turns cold the teenagers will have no seat or shelter. Could it be too much to hope that when the weather turns bitter they will go home? TRULY AN OWN GOAL.
STREET LIGHTING IN GREAT NOTLEY GARDEN VILLAGE.
For more than 6 months three street lamps were out in Highclere Road. Numerous approaches were made to the Parish Council with no beneficial result and at last the Residents Association asked to do the job for themselves. We discovered that calls were made to Countryside plc., by the Parish Council and that was as far as things went.
Now we can inform to all concerned in Great Notley Garden Village that few roads are adopted and right now they are the responsibility of the builders. In the case of Highclere Road the builder is David Wilson and following a phone call to them in Witham the three street lights were back in service within 7 days. There is nothing like D.I.Y.
If in any doubt about failed lights please phone Bert Rix on 341066 and he will try to help.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT OFFICER.
The Parish Council has an ambition to appoint a Community Development Officer in an attempt to reduce the increasing level of vandalism in the village. Many of the teenagers approached have stated that they are booorrred, but this is no excuse for vandalism.
It has to be said that in the later years of the 1930s teenagers had few of the advantages open to teenagers of today. We had numerous hobbies and pocket money was far from today's lavish scale. Todays children have toys we never dreamed of, bicycles and quite a bit of money, yet they are still claiming to be bored.
Research tends to show that 99% of todays children are law abiding and no trouble, but it is the remaining few who do the mischief and damage. If such a Community Development Officer is appointed he/she will have little trouble with most of the children on the village, but will he/she be able to influence the 1% who are the problem? Much money has been spent in the past repairing needless damage and the RAFT area is an example where patience has now run out.
If this experiment is a success, such as to show a profit for the salary of the C.D.Officer against the cost of repairing vandalistic damage it will have been worth while. It will not be an easy
appointment but we wish it well and will follow it's success with interest.
COUNTRYSIDE PROPERTIES WALK FOR LIFE.
Countryside Properties are sponsoring a Walk For Life, which will start at 10.30am at the
Discovery Centre in Great Notley Park on Sunday, the 25th. of August. It is planned as a gentle 10km walk in a unique partnership with five local charities. These are Essex Air Ambulance, Farleigh, St Clare and St. Helena Hospices along with the Play and Resource Centre (PARC), which offers respite day care for young people with special needs.
It is hoped that this will be the first of several walks and it would be very encouraging if we had many more walkers than spectators.
CHELMSFORD AND DISTRICT FUCHSIA SOCIETY.
FUCHSIA DISPLAY.
To be held at St. John Payne School in Patching Hall Lane, Chelmsford on Saturday and Sunday the 3rd. and 4th. August between 10am--5pm. It will be in aid of handicapped children and the Chelmsford Fuchsia Society.
Plant sales, craft stalls, information desk and raffles to be included. Adults and Senior Citizens £1. Children free. There is ample free car parking. Refreshments will be available all day.
ESSEX AIR AMBULANCE -- THE SKY'S THE LIMIT.
We would draw every readers attention to the page about the Essex Air Ambulance. They exist entirely on voluntary funding and Paul Stirland has very good reason to be grateful to them. He once found himself on the "other side" and but for the swift response of the E.A.A. would have stayed there. Paul is Chairman of the Great Notley Parish Council. Please be generous.
CRIME REPORTING.
The Residents Association joins the Parish Council initiative in asking all residents to report any crime to the Police station and ask for the crime complaint number in order that we can let the police have a true picture of the crimes committed by just a few of our youths. We have had at least 10 cases of arson in the last month.
This way we may be able to reduce the crime and may be able to get police to patrol the area. Or even have a home beat officer.
Councillor Bill Howley is co-ordinating all crimes and would be obliged if you can send all details to him on 01376-347601.
UNDUE RISES IN LOCAL TAXATION.
The Residents Association has written to all 49 District Councillors and have received just 10 replies. All the respondents show understanding, but we have more letters to write yet. Details of results will be given in our September issue.
31st. July, 2002.
