Category: Parish Council

Community & Parish Updates

There was a further Little Waltham Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 4th June and a number of issues were discussed that impact on the Channels Development. You will note from the updates below that the Parish Council, together with City & County Councillors, are all very supportive of residents on the Channels Development and the Community Group has forged good relationships with each of them to ensure continued engagement.

Planning Applications
The Parish Council will formally submit an objection to application 19/00581/REM which proposes the construction of 300 new dwellings in the area on the other side of the bridle path (Zones K and L). This is on the grounds that the design of the dwellings are not in keeping with the surrounding area and more importantly that there is insufficient infrastructure in place to support them, including the lack of a crossing at the bottom of the bridle path on Essex Regiment Way.

Bus Service (51)
The Parish Clerk and Parish Councillor Melanie Williamson attended a transport stakeholder meeting on 4th June and it transpired that First Bus have amended timetables (by increasing the gap between buses) to ensure buses run on time. First Bus indicated that once the new route begins to include the parts of the wider development on the other side of the Radial Distributor Road, the time between the 51 services will increase with the service only running every 40/45 minutes (assuming it’s on time!) rather than the 30 minutes as originally planned, even at peak times.

This is considered unacceptable and County Councillor John Aldridge confirmed to the Parish Council that he would take up this issue on behalf of residents. The Community Group will also write to Councillor John Aldridge on behalf of residents and will again make contact with the organisation (Transport Planning Associates) that was initially secured to arrange the contract with First Bus as we believe that developers have provided funding to deliver a bus service every 30 minutes.

Crossing for Essex Regiment Way
The Parish Council confirmed that it would formally support Councillor John Aldridge in continuing to lobby for a crossing at the bottom of the bridle path to enable safe passage across Essex Regiment Way. Councillor Aldridge believes that residents are essentially ‘land locked’ and does not accept that there are any valid reasons as to why a crossing cannot be installed immediately, even if it is not in line with the planned trajectory for the work taking place. The Community Group will additionally write to Councillor Aldridge on behalf of residents noting the same concerns.

Highways Adoption for Phase 1/2
Residents will no doubt be aware of the poor state of the roads on the Bellway phase of the development. Many of the roads are only a few months old and yet look more like they have been in place for many years. There are sunken drains, sunken paving, damaged and poorly laid paving, pooling of water, weed growth and general poor workmanship. The Community Group has been pushing Bellway in recent months about this and yet we have only received high level generic updates and no evidence of any tangible corrective action.

As a result contact has been made with City Councillor Barry Knight who has raised the issue on our behalf and he formally advised the Parish Council that he will be supporting residents in ensuring the problems are resolved. Key stakeholders within the City Council (Planning) and County Council (Highways) are aware and are currently investigating.

Community News

Parish Council Update
There is some more good news in that a further two residents, Chloe Tron & Michael Eve, have been co-opted onto Little Waltham Parish Council (following a formal application process). Together with Melanie Williamson, we now have three residents involved which will help give us a voice in what happens locally in what is a rapidly growing Parish.

We are still waiting for the outcome of our petition to amend parish boundaries so that the Bellway estate forms part of the Little Waltham Parish along with the rest of the wider Channels development. The City Council has been busy over the last couple of months preparing for both the City Council elections and the European Elections however we are due to receive an update imminently.

Site Wide Update
The village green area adjacent to the Channels complex will soon be ready for use by residents and as soon as confirmation is received, a notice will be posted on the website.

The landowner, land agent, developer and design company also met at the end of last week to discuss the construction plans for the public open spaces and information is awaited as to which areas will be made available for residents to access over the next few months. Again as soon as confirmation is received, the areas that can be used will be posted on the website.

Phase 1/2 Update
Bellway have advised that they will be leaving the site within the next month, although it may not be until the end of June. The central green open space between Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde will be landscaped and the nursery site will be prepared although as yet it is not clear how this will be left. There are still multiple highway snagging issues which need to be addressed and which are a cause for concern. These issues have been raised with both Bellway and local councillors.

Summer Community Event!
Following the success of the Christmas event (if a little damp), it has been suggested that residents get together and organise a summer event including a fete and if possible an open air cinema. The owners of the Channels complex are very keen to work with the community on this project and the new village green area will be an ideal location.

If you want to get involved in planning and running the event, click here!

Parish Council Meeting

Little Waltham Parish Council has its next meeting on Monday 20 May 2019 in the Tufnell Hall, The Street at 7.30pm.

The agenda can be found here and any resident is welcome to attend. There is a public session during each meeting if you wish to raise an issue.

We do have a resident, Melanie Williamson, who has recently been elected as a Councillor for Little Waltham Parish Council and we are still awaiting the outcome of a recent petition to Chelmsford City Council in relation to our homes on the Bellway development becoming part of the Parish.

There is more information about the Parish Council generally at: https://www.essexinfo.net/littlewaltham/

Parish Council Update

Dear Residents,

You will recall that Little Waltham Parish Council, at their meeting on 4th December, formally supported triggering a formal process to amend parish boundaries to ensure that we formed part of the Parish along with the rest of the wider Channels development. The information originally posted explaining the rationale for the change of boundaries can be found here and the Parish Council is still very keen to begin a new era with the Channels development becoming part of their Parish area.

Unfortunately we have been informed by the City Council that a large number of residents that signed the petition (required to kick off the formal process) were not actually registered as a Local Government Electors and as such we have been collecting more signatures to ensure that the process can move forwards.

With local government elections just around the corner, it is important that every resident is registered. You must register again if you’ve changed address and if you believe you are not registered for any reason, the easiest way to do so is via www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

On 2nd May 2019 the election for Little Waltham Parish Council will take place. The election was officially declared on 26th March 2019 and the notice may be viewed by clicking here.

The allotted number of Councillors for Little Waltham is 9 however as less than 9 people were nominated for election those persons will be elected on 2nd May and there will not be a contested poll. Notice of the uncontested election may be viewed by clicking here.

The fantastic news is that we now have a Channels resident, Melanie Williamson, duly elected as a Little Waltham Parish Councillor. Whilst our part of the development may not yet formally be part of the Parish, it does mean we have someone that can represent our views (and of course those of the wider development who do already sit within the Parish) on the council.

There are still 3 spaces to fill and the Parish Council will be at liberty to co-opt new Councillors after the election date so if anyone else is interested, you can find out more by clicking here.

You can also complete an application form which you can download and that can be sent via email to the Parish Clerk at littlewaltham@gmail.com.

Lastly, if you do want to vote in any of the local government elections, the deadline to register to vote is Friday 12 April!

Local Planning Application

Residents may be interested to know that following preliminary discussion with Chelmsford City Planning Officers, there is an intention to bring forward a planning application for a David Lloyd Health & Racquets Club on the land shown below:

This information has come to light through a letter received by Little Waltham Parish Council on behalf of the developer.

As part of the community engagement process, residents are welcome to attend the next Parish Council meeting to better understand what is being proposed and to ask questions about the plans. The developer (or their representative) will be present.

The next Parish Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 5th February at 7.30pm at the Tufnell Hall, The Street, Little Waltham.

Little Waltham Parish Magazine

The Winter Edition of the Little Waltham Parish Magazine is published and available on the Parish Council Website for viewing.

By way of a reminder, don’t forget to sign the petition to invoke the process for amendment of the Parish Council boundaries. If you have not yet signed and want to, fill in the form below and someone will visit with a clipboard and a pen over the next few days!

Go back

Your message has been sent

The next Parish Council Meeting is due to be held on Tuesday 8th January at 7.30pm at the Tufnell Hall, The Street, Little Waltham. At each meeting there is an opportunity for residents to raise issues that are relevant to the Parish. Future meeting dates can be found here.

Parish Boundaries Update

Dear Residents,

Thanks to everyone who voted in the ‘unofficial’ survey asking which Parish Council area you believe we should fall within. The overwhelming majority of responses (98%) was a preference for Little Waltham with every respondent noting that they would be happy to sign a petition to trigger the formal process of amending the parish boundaries.

Little Waltham Parish Council, at their meeting on 4th December, formally supported this course of action and have written to the City Council accordingly noting the requirement for a Community Governance Review.

Whilst the survey was clearly representative of local views, legislation requires that any petition submitted must be paper based with ‘wet ink’ signatures. We will therefore be undertaking an exercise to collect signatures on the formal petition in due course.

It is important to note that not every resident is potentially registered as a Local Government Elector as there is always a state of flux between those who are registered, those who have just moved in but are yet to register, and those who the council have sent forms to that have not responded.

You must register again if you’ve changed address and if you believe you are not registered for any reason, the easiest way to do so is via www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

The information originally posted explaining the rationale for the change of boundaries can be found here. The Parish Council is very keen to begin a new era with the Channels development becoming part of their Parish area.

Residents Update

Estate Management: Remedial Works
Members of the Community Group Committee met with Bellway, DJC and a Channels Estate representative on 22nd November to undertake an inspection of the on-going remedial works, specifically in relation to soft landscaping.

Due to over-running civil engineering works, we have missed a key window for undertaking some key landscaping work (e.g. grass re-seeding), and it became apparent that a number of areas will not be ready for sign off and handover until Spring 2019. There is also a great deal of work required in relation to weed treatment that needs to take place during the winter months and this also needs to be completed prior to sign off.

Committee Members are meeting with Bellway on Friday 30th November to specifically discuss the on-going management of the remedial works and to ensure that all necessary work continues to be carried out at no additional cost to residents.

Service Charges
Residents should have received notification from DJC (Housing Association tenants may receive notification directly from their Housing Association) of the Service Charge for the period 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2019. Please note that this is merely the second half of the annual charge notified in June this year and there have been no changes to the chargeable amount.

Committee Members will begin discussions with DJC early in the new year about how future service charges are calculated so that residents can be clear where the money is being targeted and to ensure there is transparency that we are paying a fair price for the services received.

Parish Counncil Boundaries
There have been 59 responses to the survey in relation to Parish Council boundaries. Whilst the vast majority (96%) feel that we should fall within the Little Waltham Parish, we will need 250 electors willing to sign a petition before the City Council (and indeed the Little Waltham Parish Council) will consider progressing a Community Governance Review.

Please complete the survey if you haven’t done so and encourage anyone else you know to do the same!

https://surveyhero.com/c/ecbb111b

Neighbourhood Watch
Exploratory work is on-going to determine whether we can expand Neighbourhood Watch across the development (there is currently a ‘watch’ set up for Jigger Gardens), what this might involve and whether there is the desire from residents to get involved.

There is some useful information on the Chelmsford Neighbourhood Watch website which is worth a read.

Little Waltham Parish

Dear Residents,

You will probably be aware that our part of the Channels development falls within the boundary of Little Waltham Parish Council. The Parish Council is keen to make sure that it communicates with all residents in the Parish including new residents moving into the Channels development.

The Parish magazine was distributed last weekend and a copy can also be viewed on the Parish Council website at this link. Everyone in the Parish should have received a copy.

The Clerk for the Parish Council (Suzanne Walker) has forwarded a schedule of Parish Council Meetings which usually take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm in the Tufnell Hall, The Street, Little Waltham.

Residents are welcome to attend and there is an opportunity for people to speak at the start of the meeting. Residents are also welcome to raise questions and queries via the Clerk at littlewaltham@gmail.com.

Andrew Wright
Channels Residents Community Group