Community, Parish Council & Village
Great Interest in Better BroadbandLast week’s Parish Council meeting saw more than 40 residents attending in order to hear Aaron Williams’ presentation on the options available for better broadband delivery to West Bergholt. His presentation set out the options available to the village, comprising improved connectivity via Continue reading “Great Interest in Better Broadband”
Earlier today there was an incident in New Church Road whereby a bus struck a tree causing the road to become blocked and passengers, none of whom are believed to have been injured, to be evacuated from the vehicle.
It is understood from early reports Continue reading “Bus Service Strikes Tree in New Church Road”
For some time now people in the village have been enquiring about when we will receive Superfast Broadband Services (Internet). As residents will know we already have access to this service via County Broadband, but we have asked to be considered for entry into Essex County Council’s Superfast Broadband programme & we await response to enquiries about progress.
Most recently a resident in the village made an enquiry to BT Openreach direct, and received a quotation to supply the village; some will have seen this reproduced on the Hub & Community Facebook pages, which received tens of comments as a result. In order to shed some light on the matter, I have said, at the recent Annual Parish Meeting, that all the possible options need an airing so that people in the village can fully appreciate the situation. In order to help do this a resident Aaron Williams has independently undertaken some research into our options and submitted his ideas to the Parish Council. He also attended the Annual Parish Meeting and gave a synopsis of this work.
The article below and the slideshow (download file) give an introduction to some options. Aaron will make a short presentation on this matter at the next Parish Council meeting (to which all are welcome).
Chris Stevenson
Local villager, Aaron Williams is keen to get better internet in West Bergholt, so keen, in fact, that he is prepared to travel to Lancaster to find out how Rural Communities in the North of England got together to build their very own high speed fibre-to-the-door internet service. The Broadband for the Rural North project (B4RN) now has over 800km of core network in Lancashire, North Yorks & Cumbria and offers fibre speeds of up to 1,000Mbps to every property in their area.
Obviously building your own network isn’t the only option for improving Broadband in West Bergholt and Aaron has written an informative presentation for those wanting to find out more about his researches on the subject. He will be presenting this at the next Parish Council meeting on 27th April and all are, as with any Parish Council meeting, welcome to attend. Other options include paying BT or working with existing altnets such as County Broadband. You can download a copy of the presentation below.
B4RN are running a ‘Show-Tell’ day on Tuesday 26th April (9:00 – 16:30), which Aaron intends attending (leaving on 25th and staying overnight in the Carnforth area), and he would be happy to travel with any fellow villagers interested in seeing B4RN in action, as they say:
These now legendary events are an opportunity to meet up with like minded folk, to learn and share the knowledge of rural broadband deployment. These are great events for communities who want to learn how deploy a community based world class broadband network. They are free to attend thanks to our sponsors.
The date for the ninth Show-Tell day is set for the Tuesday 26th April 2016. These events have been extremely popular and have allowed valuable information to be shared. The day includes field visits to see various aspects of the B4RN community fibre broadband deployment.
The event, as before will be jointly hosted by B4RN and Emtelle in Lancaster and the surrounding B4RN area. The day will focus on sharing experiences and demonstrating installation techniques for rural fibre to the home/broadband initiatives.
Topics to be covered include:-
- Customer Engagement
- Product Selection
- Network Planning
- Content
- Active Equipment
- Hands on demonstrations
- Field trip
- Meeting volunteers
We hope you will be able to join us for a fully interactive day! It is advised that due to the locations visited on the field trip that delegates bring suitable clothing such as a raincoat and walking boots or wellies!
If interested, please register for attendance by emailing [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”], you will then be sent further details regarding the full agenda and location.
Aaron is happy to discuss any of this further if you have an interest and he can be contacted by email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”] or mobile, call 07910 007508; if you are interested in attending the Show-Tell day, you can also use these to contact Aaron and arrange to travel together.
The Annual Parish Meeting on 23rd March 2016 is for all local residents to hear what is happening and, by raising issues and asking questions, to put their mark on the village’s future.
Dear Resident,
You are invited to attend West Bergholt’s Annual Village Meeting, which will be held in the Orpen Hall (main hall) at 7.30pm on Wednesday 23rd March 2016.
Chris Stephenson
Chair – West Bergholt Parish Council
Refreshments will be available.
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:
Goodbye Doctor MilneAfter more than 20 years serving the village, Doctor Milne is retiring at the end of March. His care has been much valued and respected by many over this time and it is thought to be fitting that the village recognise this with a gift. Any residents wishing to contribute to this can make a donation, collection boxes will be available in the Pharmacy and the Co-op, alternatively contributions can be left with the Parish Clerk at 80 Chapel Road.
The presentation will be made at the Annual Village Meeting which starts at 7:30pm in the Orpen Hall on 23rd March.
Essex Seek Parish Safety VolunteersFurther to the earlier news item (more details here), we have received the following update about Safety Volunteers from Essex Community Messaging:
The Parish Safety Volunteer Programme is a new community safety initiative, delivered in partnership by Essex Police, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and volunteers from local communities.
Parish Safety Volunteers are trained by experts from our organisations to deliver bespoke fire and crime safety advice and fit smoke detectors in homes. Parish Safety Volunteers will work in pairs, in a smart but comfortable uniform and visit people in their own homes to offer this bespoke service. A diverse range of people will benefit from the Parish Safety Volunteer programme from young families, to the elderly and those vulnerable to the risk of fire or fear of crime.
You must be over 18, know your local area well and be able to commit to an average of 10 hours each month. Everyone who volunteers as a Parish Safety Volunteer will be interviewed, provide two references, complete standard Police security checks and a confidential health questionnaire. Good all-round communication skills are also a must. Reasonable expenses will be paid.
If you are interested in finding out more about what is involved in becoming a Parish Safety Volunteer, please visit www.essex-fire.gov.uk/
Recycling & Waste ConsultationColchester Borough Council is about to commence a consultation on its current waste and recycling service. Borough residents are being asked for their views to help Colchester Borough Council consider how best to reduce waste and increase recycling in the coming years.
All residents are invited to give their views through the online survey at www.colchester.gov.uk/recyclingsurvey between Monday 7 March and 5pm Friday 3 June 2016.
Help to complete the survey is available at free Online Skills events across the borough listed at www.colchester.gov.uk/go-online . Residents with accessibility needs can request assistance from a Customer Advisor at the Community Hub in the town centre.
From 7 March to 29 March and Monday 9 May to Friday 3 June selected homes across the borough with kerbside or communal bin collections will also be visited. Face to face feedback on recycling and waste collections will be gathered from around 1,000 residents.
Home visits will take place borough-wide between 9am and 8pm, Monday to Saturday to households representative of Colchester’s demographic mix.
All survey responses will be used to help the Council understand what residents think including: satisfaction with the type and number of containers used for home storage and collection of waste and recycling; frequency of collections; and ideas for improvement that would help residents send less waste to landfill and recycle more. Household characteristics, including number of residents at the property and availability of outdoor and container storage areas, will also be gathered.
The consultation is part of a full review of the Council’s waste and recycling service including considering different collection methods and best practice nationally.
Most of January & February was crime free, with just one minor crime, theft, reported occurring on 1st February. There have been two information releases, however, one referring to the risks of car key burglary and the other inviting the public to participate in a consultation exercise being undertaken by Essex County Fire & Rescue Service into the three options they are considering for the future shape & role of the service.
Overnight on 1st February, unknown suspects removed a rear registration plate from the victim’s vehicle without causing collateral damage.
In some cases burglars are breaking into houses while you sleep with the intention of finding your car keys and stealing your car and any other small items they find on the way, what can I do?
For further crime prevention advice contact your local Crime Prevention Officer using the police non emergency number 101.
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service ConsultationThe second stage of the consultation exercise on the future shape and role of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) has begun. Three options for change have been formulated and ECFRS are now seeking your views on these.
Over the last decade, the Service has seen the number of incidents it attends reduce by around half. At the same time, the Service has increased its work on preventing fires and emergencies from happening in the first place. This consultation concludes on the 25th of April. As part of this Public Consultation Exercise there will be a series of events held at libraries across the County, including Southend and Thurrock, where people will be able to talk to Service managers about changes and options proposed in their local area, as well as fill out the survey.
A full list of dates, times and venues for these events is below:
ECFRS would like to invite you to participate in their consultation and would also be grateful if you could help them to encourage participation in the consultation through sharing/publicising the online questionnaire available via their website www.essex-fire.gov.uk and the library events.
Parish Safety VolunteersEssex Police and Essex County Fire & Rescue Service are working together to help make a difference in local communities, helping people to live & feel safer. They are launching a brand new volunteer scheme and are looking to recruit two Parish Safety Volunteers per Parish in Essex, tasked with arranging and conducting home safety visits. These volunteers will deliver crucial fire and crime prevention advice, extensive knowledge of local support services and the ability to fit smoke detectors directly into the homes of those most in need.
If you’re interested, you’ll need to apply for interview and be required to undertake Essex Police vetting. You will receive comprehensive training from both Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and Essex Police, a full uniform and all equipment required to carry out the role. To ensure volunteers are well supported, Parish Safety Volunteers from across the county will be invited to on-going training and networking opportunities throughout the year.
The purpose of this initiative is to make local communities safer, more resilient and better protected from fire and crime. It will do this by:
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service alongside Essex Police have a joint desire to increase community resilience and support the building of stronger communities in Essex.
Parish Safety Volunteers will be required to…
Parish Safety Volunteers will be expected to…
Referrals will be generated by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and Essex Police, through the processes already used by the organisations to arrange home safety visits.
Referrals will also be generated by Parish Safety Volunteers themselves, as they will be promoting the service and already have some local knowledge of areas and individuals that would benefit from a PSV visit.
Parish Safety Volunteers will not require co-ordination or management from Parish Councils as Essex County Fire and Rescue Service will provide all support needed.
However, we will set up a direct line of communication between Parish Safety Volunteers and Parish Councils. This could mean that volunteers attend Parish Council Meetings to update on progress and activity. It could also mean a telephone or email update from volunteers. This will be a local arrangement tailored to the needs of the Parish Council in question and established when the scheme is introduced to the Parish.
ECFRS will send a bi-monthly progress update to all Parish Councils for whom the Parish Safety Co-ordinator holds contact details. This will be sent on approximately the final day of the month.
The Parish Safety Volunteer Co-ordinator will carry out a robust evaluation of the PSV scheme. This will be completed in by October 2016.
Parish Safety Volunteer Co-ordinator: Essex County Fire and Rescue Service – Kieron Moir.
No: 01376576237
Please complete an application form, or get in touch using [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].
