Plan For the Environment Launched

Plan for the Environment to support diversity

Plan For the Environment Launched

The Parish Council has adopted a strategic plan for the environment; it will help it to manage the land assets under its control between now and 2026. Its scope includes:

Lorkin Daniell Field,
Poors Land
The Heath/Village Green
The various ponds,
Mumford Oak,
Allotments, &
Sundry other green spaces.

In order to develop the plan, all of these have been assessed for species diversity and rarity in accordance with Continue reading “Plan For the Environment Launched”

September 9, 2016September 10, 2016

Traffic Safety Progress

As a result of concerns about the safety of traffic in the village expressed at a recent Parish Council meeting a group consisting of Parish Councillors, Borough Councillors and village residents has been formed and met to consider what actions we can take to improve safety on our roads in the village. The aim is to produce a plan with a strategy for actions that will be adopted by the Parish Council and lead to residents feeling more safe as they move around the village.

The Parish Council approved a Traffic Safety Plan in September 2012 with the objective of dealing with such issues mainly in the area of the school. After reviewing progress on this plan the new group hopes to have revised proposals to put to the village for consultation.

You can read the 2012 plan here but in brief the vision was:

The Parish Council has a vision for the future travel environment in the village where walking and cycling become the preferred modes of travel, that traffic levels and parking do not dominate our village and that the safety of adult and child pedestrians remains paramount.

The strategy for achieving the Aims and Objectives of this plan included:

Restricting parking.
Providing alternatives for parents.
Slowing traffic.
Improving facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
Reinforcing the school travel plan.

Update on Measures Proposed

Measure		Progress
1.	A “Build Out” in New Church Road from the footpath to Mumford Close.	Not achieved due to objections from local residents but timed yellow line restriction from pathway instead.
2.	“Built up Tables” at each end of New Church Road and School Lane.	Not achieved due to objections but red patches painted in road.
3.	Yellow zig-zag lines outside school to be extended as far as bend.	Timed yellow line restriction added instead.
4.	Improved signage on approaches to school.	Achieved.
5.	New footpath along the edge of Poors Land.	Achieved.
6.	Car Parks at Orpen Hall, Treble Tile and Church to be made more available for use by parents.	Orpen Hall park improved and journey to school made safer at crossing with New Church Road. Use of Treble Tile agreed and operated for a time but then withdrawn due to misuse by parents.
7.	20 MPH limit in New Church Road.	Achieved with enhanced signage to follow.
8.	Designated space for disabled parking on Lexden Road.	Not achieved.
9.	A “Park and Walk” scheme organised by parents.	No known progress.
10.	Parents who drive to school to be encouraged to operate a voluntary one way system in School Lane.	No known progress.
11.	The school to review its Travel Plan.	Discussions between the school and Parish Council are ongoing.

May 23, 2014October 12, 2014

We’re prepared for an emergency

An Emergency Plan for West Bergholt

This is a plan which has been developed by the Parish Council with the help of Colchester Borough Council and the Emergency Services to help us in the village cope with an unforeseen situation which needs rapid and decisive action. Emergencies can occur with little or no warning and could be caused by many different factors including:

Natural disaster,
Severe weather,
Technological / industrial accidents,
Power failures,
Failure of communications (e.g. telephones or broadband),
Transport disruption and village cut off,
Terrorism.

The risk to the village from any of these events is small and difficult to assess. In the event of a situation deemed to be an emergency The Borough Council is the responsible body that will work with the Emergency Services. Our role is strictly to support these actions. The village plan focuses on how The Parish Council would assist in providing an emergency Reception Centre and how it could support vulnerable village residents. The document is deliberately short and hopefully of practical use, to view it click the link – West Bergholt Emergency Plan.

To carry out our role the Parish Council needs access to a team of volunteers who could carry out activities such as staffing a Reception Centre at the Orpen Hall. Various village groups do already have such volunteers and these will be contacted but should you be willing to assist in such activity please contact Harry Stone through the Parish Clerk [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].

The Parish Council believes that in some emergency situations (e.g. prolonged power failure in severe weather) some vulnerable residents could be at risk. A list of such residents is to be compiled although it is appreciated that holding such information has to be handled sensitively and with the accepted protection. Again existing organisations such as the Care Network and Churches will be contacted but also if a possible resident who it is known has no regular contact from relatives or friends please inform the Parish Clerk. No name will be added without personal contact being made and their agreement.

July 4, 2013

Neighbourhood survey on track, one last push needed

Our village & parish life in our hands
Click logo to complete survey.

The Neighbourhood Plan survey has drawn in an encouraging 300 responses to date, many of these online using the electronic survey. The Steering Group have a target of 500 responses in mind as this would represent about a third of all households. With this in mind the survey period has been extended to 19th July.

So if you haven’t responded yet, or if there are others in your household you could encourage to respond, please take the 10 minutes needed to complete the questionnaire ideally on line! If you prefer to respond on paper then remember the questionnaire was included as an insert in June’s Village Bulletin. If you need extra copies of the survey, the paper copy is also available to download here – WB HH Questionnaire ver 15.

Extra prize draw for under-18 survey respondents

Remember you can enter our prize draw with a chance to win a Co-op hamper! As an added incentive for younger members of the community to respond, we are creating a second prize of a £20 Amazon gift voucher available for respondents aged under 18.

March 12, 2013

Do you want to influence the Neighbourhood Plan?

Logo of the West Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan project

Do you want to influence the future of West Bergholt?

Are you interested in shaping your local area, deciding where new homes, shops and other facilities will go and what they might look like? Then have your say and get involved with the Neighbourhood Plan Group.

So what’s happened so far?

At the end of November 50 people gathered at the John Lampon Hall to discuss village issues with the aim of starting the process of establishing a Neighbourhood Plan for our area. The workshop proved to be a great start. The meeting divided into small groups to outline specific likes and dislikes that they felt to be important to the village. These were analysed and grouped under the following headings:-

Social and Community	Environment	Amenities
Commerce	Housing and Planning	Community and Safety
Transport and Highways	Recreation and Sport	Communication

Following the workshop more than a dozen interested residents convened the Neighbourhood Planning Group to get the Neighbourhood Plan under way.

Now this is where you come in –

… any interested village residents who would like to contribute in some way or, perhaps, find out a bit more about the project can contact the following for more information:-

Chris Stevenson – email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”] or tel. 241708
Murray Harlow – email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”] or tel. 242007