Community, Parish Council & Village
CBC Declares us to be a ‘Sustainable Village’Colchester Borough Council’s Local Plan Committee is about to review its draft Local Plan and associated reports on 5th July. The village features in this draft plan as a ‘sustainable village’.
Whereas this may sound like a comforting declaration, it also heralds the prospect of further growth, although the village has escaped Continue reading “CBC Declares us to be a Sustainable Village”
Neighbourhood Plan Makes ProgressThe Neighbourhood Plan meeting that took place earlier this month resulted in much progress with an almost completed first draft plan. The picture on the right shows the Contents page to give some idea of what to expect when the final report is published (click on it for larger picture).
You will notice that a lot of the the section headings have blank ‘App Buttons’ and, since the plan will impact the children’s future, the NP group are running a competition for the pupils at Heathlands to design what the blanks should be filled in with.
There are 8 categories and these are listed below, there will be a winner and a prize selected for each App Button. The Categories are:
The Neighbourhood Plan AGM with the NP Steering Group is on Wednesday 4th November 2015 at 7.30pm in the John Lampon Hall. Do come along to find out about the progress of the Plan. We would also welcome anyone who would like to become a member of the NP Steering Group.
The production of the West Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan is progressing well. After the successful and well-attended exhibitions earlier in the year at the Orpen Hall more completed questionnaires were sent in by hand or on the web.
Over the summer period the NP Steering Group has completed analysing all the questionnaire responses and the results will shortly be available on this web site.
Sub-groups of the Steering Group have now been formed to write a narrative of the questionnaire results in all the categories for the Plan. You can follow news related to the Neighbourhood Plan by using the Facebook Group or checking our news page periodically which will include PC meetings where the Neighbourhood Plan has been discussed.
For further information please check the links below or contact:- Chris Stevenson (NP chairperson) 241708.
The 2015 Parish Meeting saw over 100 local residents attending to receive the annual report from the Parish Council, the draft minutes of the meeting have already been published online but the following are highlights of the event.
In his last Annual Meeting as Chairman, John Gili-Ross reflected on the importance of the Neighbourhood Plan in ensuring West Bergholt develops in accordance with the wishes of the local community. On the subject of community, John also discussed the important part played by the many local volunteers:
Our future lies firmly within the many volunteers who help provide a vibrant and interesting village life. Imagine how different our village would be without the many volunteers who provide our village with clubs, recreational pursuits, youth organisations, church communities, institutes and associations. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all our village volunteers.
Other areas he covered included the Superfast Essex broadband project, the achievement of the Local Council Quality Award, and the commitment of local councillors. In winding up his Introductory messages he gave thanks to Val Walsom who will be retiring as Parish Clerk after many years, also to Vicky Beckwith-Cole, Halls Administrator and Stephen Cook, village handyman.
Harry Stone reported on the wide span of responsibility this committee covers including:
Phil Walby reported on the halls and the high levels of lettings and events, not least by regular groups. Projects undertaken in the past year included the resurfacing and new LED lights for the car park, interior hall redecoration and provision of all-weather football facilities. Projects planned for the upcoming year (funds permitting) include safety improvements to play equipment, stage curtains, floor treatments and introducing new regular events such as film nights.
Chris Stevenson reported that the busiest part of this portfolio related to 43 planing applications in the past year (20% higher than the previous year) where the committee supported 19, objected to just 5 but made observations on a further 19. Longer term, more strategic, activities included consultations with the Borough Council on Local Planning and provision of design guidance. The committee was also deeply involved with the Orpen Hall car park resurfacing project.
Chris Stevenson was able to report that most elements of the Parish plan, produced in 2008, have now been addressed and that progress has been made on its successor, the Neighbourhood Plan, through collection of evidence, analysis and eventual plan production – it is planned for a draft consultation document to be issued by the end of 2015.
Andrew Savage reported that the 2013/14 accounts were signed off by the external auditor. Financial activities in the past year were dominated by the Orpen Hall car park resurfacing which cost over £60k, but other projects have also been progressed including new chairs for both halls. Projects like these are often fully or partly funded by grants, and indeed, some grant income did support these, but these are becoming increasingly difficult to secure and so to continue moving forward a small increase in the parish precept has had to be made.
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.
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:-
The beers on offer are also very good with a great selection!!
Read archive Village Bulletins and News on the Village Bulletin & News webpage.
Visit the Neighbourhood Plan exhibition at the Orpen Hall, on Saturdays 11th and 18th April 11am to 4pm, to find out how the Neighbourhood Plan Group would respond to this question; refreshments will be available. But the Neighbourhood Plan Group really need your views as well and are looking for a response from as many people as possible. It takes about 20 minutes to view the exhibition, if you want to discuss any of the proposals, members of the steering group will be available.
Do you like their suggestions? If not, tell them why? THIS IS YOUR CHANCE, TO HAVE YOUR SAY.
Find out more on our website at:
Over the next two months from March to end of April the West Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group is holding an “issues and options” consultation which aims to present the issues and priorities for our community. This is an important stage as the next stage of the plan is to write a draft document and to submit this to the authorities for formal examination.
So please take part in way you can. Your choices are as follows:
Further details appear below.
The following is available through this website:
West Bergholt’s future for the next 30 years is being shaped and developed using a National planning scheme known as the Neighbourhood Plan. For the first time in our history the people of West Bergholt have the opportunity to shape our village future in terms of what is most important to us as residents and includes –
All these points and more must form part of our Neighbourhood Plan before it can be accepted as the model for our village future. This is our opportunity to state what we want to avoid our village future being determined by housing developers and/or external government bodies.
2015 will see the completion of the Neighbourhood Plan prior it being subject to a village wide referendum before it can be adopted.
The plan outline findings and the vision for the future compiled from surveys and questionnaires will be on display and discussed on
WEDNESDAY 25th March 2015 at 7.30pm in the Orpen Hall
at the Annual Parish Meeting.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend – refreshments provided.
Two other exhibitions will also be held at the Orpen Hall on:- Saturday April 11th and Saturday April 18th, both from 11am. Choose which event will suit you best. Questionnaires will be available at all events for comment and to express your views for the final time on the future of West Bergholt.
Now is your unique opportunity to influence the development of the village over the next few decades.
Colchester Local Plan ConsultationCBC is in the process of creating a ‘Local plan’ and have started the consultation process, The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group will be responding to this consultation as will the Parish Council. A separate consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan is planned for the end of February to mid April. For those interested in contributing directly the Borough Council recently issued the following notice:
Colchester Borough Council has started work on its new Local Plan for the Borough covering the period 2017-2032.
The Planning Policy team will be running the Issues and Options Consultation from the 16 January 2015 until 27 February 2015 at the following locations:
- Tiptree Community Centre – Saturday 7 February 2015 (10am-2pm)
- Mersea Centre (MICA) – Wednesday 11 February 2015 (4pm-8pm)
- Wivenhoe Scout & Guide Hut – Saturday 14 February 2015 (10am-2pm)
- Hythe Community Centre – Monday 16 February 2015 (12 noon – 8pm)
- Great Horkesley Village Hall – Saturday 31 January 2015 (10am – 2pm)
- Marks Tey Village Hall – Saturday 21 February 2015 (10am-2pm)
In addition to the above drop in sessions there will also be additional consultation drop is sessions at Colchester Library (Saturday 17 January 2015 10am-2pm & Tuesday 27 January 2015 2pm-6pm) and at Asda (on 24 January 2015 10am-2pm).
For those interested in attending you might want to access some of the project teams documentation inn advance, if so please visit the Colchester Borough Council website.
Neighbourhood Plan FundingThe Neighbourhood Plan Group have been successful in their application for funding for their project which is great news for the village. The following was the letter received confirming this success:
On behalf of The Department for Communities and Local Government, I would like to congratulate you and your organisation for being selected as one of the recipients of a Supporting Communities in Neighbourhood Planning grant.
You have been awarded a grant of £3,390 and the first installment of your grant (£3,051) has been approved for payment. Please ensure that you have read the Terms & Conditions of your grant thoroughly to ensure you are clear on the requirements of the grant, including the reporting required to release the final installment. Guidance on how to complete the grant monitoring forms is attached below.
Please accept our warm congratulations on the success of your application. We look forward to working with you on this important project.
With best wishes,
Alice Wilcock
Director, Partnerships & Innovation
Since this project is a key project for the future of the village the funding is a critical success so well done to the team behind it!
Celebrate Local VolunteersCelebrating local volunteers is at the cornerstone of the upcoming Annual Parish Meeting on 21st May starting at 7pm in the John Lampon Hall (adjacent to Orpen Hall). Refreshments will also be available as will the opportunity to discuss other important issues for the Village such as: