Environment & Highways – 12th October 2017
The Environment & Highways Sub-Committee of West Bergholt Parish Council met on 12th October and discussed a range of issues such as encouraging heather, clearing ponds, cleaning churchyard, allotments’ produce, resiting bus stop, village warden and a memorial bench.
Environment & Highways Report
Sub-committee Meeting held on Thurs 12th October 2017 in Orpen Hall
Sub-committee members present |
John Gili-Ross, Philip Spencer, Harry Stone, Murray Harlow, Janet Crichton, David Short, Jenny Church |
Apologies |
None |
1 |
Memorial Bench |
|
| Aileen Hirst attended to discuss placement of a bench in memory of her father. A plaque will be attached to identify this. Aileen would like it to be sited on the Heath. Harry will discuss this with school Head. Janet will coordinate the siting of the bench. | HS & Jan C | |
2 |
Matters arising from last minutes. |
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| a) Roof of duck house will be repaired by handymen before the end of the year. | ||
| b) The strimmer is not functioning properly – this will be returned to Doe’s for repair by David Hewitt. | DH | |
| c) The Village sign needs renovating. Laura is trying to get in touch with Danbury. | Laura | |
| d) Practice goal area. The AstroTurf needs repair. The goal posts have become broken and dangerous and need removing. Murray will look into replacements. Propose to investigate “Sportsafe” for replacement. | MH | |
3. |
Handymen work |
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| a) Matt, Nigel and David have been heavily involved in erecting the new storage unit. They have been litter picking and keeping up with other work. | ||
| b) There is a problem with the MUGA winding mechanism which needs investigating. | JGR & HS | |
| c) Propose to send an Application to Local Services Fund for financial support to recruit a Village Warden to assist with improving the environment. Andrew Savage will need to do this. | JGR | |
4 |
Allotments |
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| A hut has been erected to show the produce available in exchange for donations.
There is a proposal for a portable toilet to be installed on the allotment site. |
HS |
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5. |
Storage Unit |
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| The erection of the storage unit should be completed by next week.
Propose to arrange moving of equipment during half term week. |
||
6. |
Village ponds |
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| Nicola Downs from TCV will come and assess the work they can do on the ponds tomorrow. David, Jenny and Phil will attend. Norhurst will be asked to remove the spoil from Lexden Road pond and Queens Head pond.
Hall Road Pond is dreadfully overgrown, and David has arranged for it to be dredged by Tom from Seven Arches Farm. There will probably be a problem with the amount of spoil that will need to be removed. The cost of this should go to the Finance Committee for approval. |
DS & JC & PS | |
7 |
Bus Stop |
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| Re-siting of bus stop on Colchester Road is being discussed. Need to meet with Highways to discuss options. | DS & MH | |
8 |
St Mary’s Churchyard. |
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| Work has been carried out to tidy up the churchyard. | ||
9 |
Heather on Heath |
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| Need to monitor the protection of the patch of heather on the Heath to encourage it to spread. | PS | |
10 |
Wooden Barrier at entrance to Heath |
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| The school has reservations about the barrier. John to talk to headmaster. | JGR | |
11 |
New Traffic Signage |
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| David suggested that there should be better road signage for Newbridge Hill. | DS | |
12 |
Highways Briefing |
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| The meeting of Highways Briefing will be attended by John and Murray | JGR & MH | |
| Date of next meeting – Thursday 9th November 2017 at 6pm in Orpen Hall. | ||