If you have something to say about Bus Services Travel Essex is waiting to hear from you.
Travel Essex is conducting a survey to better understand public opinion on the bus services in Essex. They are looking for responses from both bus users and non-bus users.
They are committed to enhancing public transportation services across the region. To achieve this goal they are seeking valuable insights from residents with their opinions and suggestions to improve services in Essex.
The online survey is now online, and will remain so until Sunday, March 17th, 2024. You can access the survey at:
All of the questions are multiple choice. This survey is completely anonymous but you will have the option to leave your email address if you would like to an emailed copy of your responses to be sent to you.
If you want to make your point in person, they will also be conducting face-to-face surveys in Osbourne Street, Colchester.
On this website
This website has details of local bus services and other transport-related links here.
Handymen undertook activities from tree -trimming to churchyard-tending. Additional help required October – November. Their new vehicle is now in operation,
The Cherry trees at Orpen Hall are dying, what to do?
Environmental plan, volunteers needed to maintain ponds. Hall Road pond overgrown,
The Environment & Highways Sub-Committee of West Bergholt Parish Council met on 8th February and discussed progress made on a range of issues such as tree maintenance, gorse clearance, village ponds, signs to deter HGVs in Argents Lane, bus parking, flooding and an Eco-survey.
The Safer Colchester Partnership (SCP) is conducting a survey to ask local residents for their views on crime and anti-social behaviour in the Borough. The SCP produces a yearly Annual Partnership Plan which contains actions to help lessen crime and the fear of crime in Colchester. The results from this survey will inform future priorities and actions for the Safer Colchester Partnership.
Essex County Council is a major funder of local passenger transport services including:
providing transport for over 20,000 children to travel to mainstream and special need schools each day.
providing transport for children in care, older people and people with learning disabilities and physical or sensory impairments.
supporting around 15% of local bus services in the County including many evening, rural and Sunday buses that are socially necessary but loss-making and so need funding support.
The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group held 3 exhibitions in March and April explaining the development of the Plan. They were well attended by many village residents and by Parish Councillors from other nearby villages and were most successful. This has resulted in more questionnaires being completed – the more we receive the more we can represent village views. The collection box will remain in the Post Office in the Coop until 21st May. So, if you haven’t sent yours in yet – do it now!!! Alternatively, you can complete it online (which will save the Steering Group time transcribing paper copies).
The results will be collated and analysed by the steering group to produce a definitive Neighbourhood Plan and will be made public to all residents later in the year.
For further information on the NP contact :- Chris Stevenson NP chairperson at:- cdstevenson @gmail.com or visit the Neighbourhood Plan webpages.
The White Hart
It is great to see this local village Pub is now doing well. It has been taken on by Mark Killick as the landlord and you will always receive a cheerful welcome from him and his staff. Mark has seen the pub refurbished and it now looks very bright and inviting and very family friendly.
Mark is a trained chef and has previously worked in several Essex village pubs as a chef so you can be sure the meals on offer will be really good.
The opening times of the pub are:-
Monday to Saturday, 12md – 11pm.
Sunday, 12md – 6pm.
Lunches are served on Mondays and Tuesdays from 12md – 4.0pm
Meals served on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12md – 8.30pm
The famous Sunday roasts are from 12md – 4pm.
The beers on offer are also very good with a great selection!!
The NE Essex CCG, which is responsible for planning and buying local healthcare services for the Colchester and Tendring areas of Essex, is always keen to obtain feedback from users of NHS Healthcare services in their area. They are now asking recent parents in North East Essex to help with a local survey about maternity services. They have issued the following:
If you or your partner has given birth recently – how was your experience of pregnancy and birthing services?
North East Essex MSLC (Maternity Services Liaison Committee) wants to hear from recent parents about their experience of having a baby in Colchester, Clacton or Harwich hospitals or at home. Please help us by responding to the online survey at:
This news release is issued on behalf of the MSLC, which is made up of local parents and health professionals and advises the local NHS about the care they provide to women, their partners and their babies during pregnancy, birth and in the weeks after the baby’s arrival. Their role is to help the NHS listen to and take account of the views and experiences of people who use their maternity services. The MSLC is hoping for a significant number of responses by the end of July.
If you run a local business we need your help to shape the future of West Bergholt. Please take a few minutes to complete a questionnaire by clicking on:
Your response will be invaluable to assisting the production of a Neighbourhood Plan for our village and wider parish area. Neighbourhood Plans are fairly new and you may not have heard of them yet. They form part of Neighbourhood Planning which is a Government initiative which enables local communities to produce Development plans for their areas rather than for these to be produced by District Councils, in our case Colchester Borough Council.
So what exactly is Neighbourhood Planning?
Neighbourhood Planning is a new right for communities to create agreed policies and proposals for their localities. For us this will be for West Bergholt and surrounding Parish area.
The plan will be used to decide the future of the development of West Bergholt including answering the following :
where should new houses, shops or employment areas be built?
should they be built?
do we want further community assets and amenities?
should we preserve existing open spaces and provide more?
Aside from development aspects what other improvements do you want to see in areas such as traffic, policing, environmental improvements etc?
The list could be endless – but is nevertheless of vital importance and must be made and agreed by you.
Who is responsible for preparing the plan?
The Plan is sponsored by the Parish Council but the steering group overseeing the plan is drawn from the wider community and comprises 20 people drawn from all walks of life. A full listing of FAQs has been assembled on the village website, look for the Neighbourhood Plan tab.
In order to inform the NP a series of surveys is being conducted. We have already conducted a household community survey and a survey of younger people’s views is under way. However we recognise that the village and wider parish area has a large number of businesses and we are keen to get a view of your needs and concerns so that we can plan not just for community needs such as housing and amenities, but also the needs of businesses.
Please complete the on-line questionnaire by the end of February 2014. If you need to find out more please contact any of the following:
The neighbourhood survey has resulted in around 450 replies representing around a third of all households! The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group have issued the following update:
A Big “Thank you” to all who completed the:
Neighbourhood Plan Questionnaire
The West Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan Questionnaire which appeared in June’s Bulletin has been enthusiastically supported by residents in the village and wider parish area. Around 450 replies were received with a third being filled in on line via the link in the West Bergholt Website.
A big THANK YOU to all who filled it in; this represents about a third of all households who receive the Bulletin and means that the survey will be a representative sample of the community’s views. A big THANK YOU also to Ash’s, the doctor’s surgery and the Co-op for their willingness to have the collection boxes. The draws for the hamper and the voucher for the youngsters will be made shortly.
All the written comments have been read, and we will endeavour to incorporate them in our final analysis. That will now take place over the next few weeks with the Steering Group members busily collating and reading all responses. Without wanting to give too much away: traffic issues topped the list of concerns as it did with the previous Parish Plan survey.
The area of the Neighbourhood Plan has now also been ratified by the Borough Council. Following the end of the consultation on this matter and a recent Planning Committee, our plan area is now confirmed as corresponding to the existing Parish boundary.
We will keep you informed of the outcome of the questionnaire analysis via future Bulletins but the survey results are likely to be published initially on www.westbergholt.net. We will also endeavour to contact those that showed an interest in joining the Steering Group – but why not check the notice boards and come along to the next advertised meeting.
As ever please feel free to contact Chris Stevenson ([antibot mailto=”[email protected]”] or 01206 241708) or Murray Harlow ([antibot mailto=”[email protected]”] or 01206 240792) on any aspect of the plan and its preparation.
We look forward to reading your responses.