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Parish Council Newsletter Coronavirus edition

COVID 19 and our Community: Little Gaddesden Parish Council

In these unprecedented times, working together as a community is more important than ever. The Council have been extremely impressed with the initiatives that are already under way, proving once again what a special place Little Gaddesden is to live. Details of these initiatives are below.
An apology: We are sorry that we had to cancel the last Parish Council Meeting at incredibly short notice but as a public body we are bound to follow government guidelines for the safety of council members and parishioners alike. We will be putting measures in place to hold meetings remotely going forward where possible. Please do watch this space for further details.

Village Shop and Pub
The Pub has rightly shut for the time being, they are still very much part of the community and will be looking at ways to support. The Village Shop remains open and remarkably well stocked as you would expect. It has very kindly offered to take telephone orders and deliver groceries for vulnerable and elderly customers. Please call 01442 842448 should you need this service.

Church: The Church have responded correctly to received advice to suspend public worship and is also now closed during the day. The Church as we are all aware are still working hard to support the community both practically and spiritually. The church website has very useful information – www.littlegaddesdenchurch.org.uk

VPA: The VPA has reluctantly decided, for the safety and well-being of its customers and volunteers, that the Garden Store should be closed for a while during this unprecedented time. Subject to the Government’s guidelines the VPA will offer home deliveries where it can. See VPA website store page for how to place an order. https://lgvpa.org/vpa-store/

The Little Gaddesden Charities: The aim of the charity is to aid anyone in need within the Parish of Little Gaddesden, who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress by making grants of money or providing or paying for items, services or facilities calculated to redress the need hardship of such persons. We maintain strict confidentiality in all we do, to enable those who need support to be fully confident that no one other than the Trustees will ever know of any request or grant that has been given.
For further information please contact: Reverend John Russell on 01442 214898

Community First Responders: Sarah Gall and Wendy Molloy have led a team of wonderful volunteers to support all villagers during the COVID 19 distancing/isolation measures. Our thanks go out to them. You should have received a card through your door giving details of who to contact for support. If you need to contact Wendy or Sarah you can use the numbers below.

Wendy Molloy 01442 843215 / 07771 762505
Sarah Gall 01442 842422 / 07717 068280
Various email and social media groups have already been set up to make sure everyone in our own little part of the village is cared for. Please also feel free to call Councillor Sarah Lawson should you need any assistance on 01442 842311 as she will be liaising with Wendy and Sarah on this initiative.

Sports Clubs: with thanks to the various Sports Clubs who have already implemented extremely sensible social distancing measures/closures. We look forward to these resuming at the appropriate time.

Public areas and playgrounds: Whilst we do not intend, for now, to officially close the village public areas, do please be sensible and avoid large groups of social contact where possible. We do unfortunately have to advise that both the adult and children’s play equipment is out of bounds at the moment.
Staying in touch as a Community: Please do continue to (safely) contact your neighbours and see if they are OK. A phone call with a friendly word could make all the difference to someone alone and vulnerable.

We will continue to keep parishioners informed via the Notice Board, Parish Council Meeting and our website – https://littlegaddesden-pc.gov.uk/ which includes details of how to get in touch with Council members. We would encourage you to ‘subscribe to our mailing list’ by going to the bottom of the Home page and adding your email address. You can ‘Unsubscribe’ at any time but we are keen that you automatically get sent our Newsletters.

Little Gaddesden Rules! Do check out the village support information being posted on this Facebook site.
Stay safe everyone and see you on the other side!

Dacorum Borough Council have published this Tree Preservation Order to ensure that no-one cuts down any trees in the designated area of the TPO i.e. the land shown on the attached order. (see link below)  It would be helpful, if residents agree with the order, to send in a letter of support to Philip Stanley, Special Projects (Planning), Dacorum Borough Council, The Forum, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP1 1DN. before 20th March, 2020.

TPO 576 Served Order (signed) and map

Little Gaddesden Parish Council propose to object to the application to develop plot 7 for residential use and a draft of the objection is set out below. The Parish Council would like to encourage objections to the application and suggest that if you agree you write to Dacorum Borough Council setting out your reasons for opposing the development. You may wish to use the information below and from other documents attached and the Parish Council suggests that you submit your objections by 24th February either in writing to:-

Development Management, Dacorum Borough Council, The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1DN

or online using the Planning Department portal link below.

https://planning.dacorum.gov.uk/publicaccess/

search for application 20/00176/FUL

login or if you are new to this service register first

add your comments against this application

Objection to planning application – 20/00176/FUL – Plot 7, Church Road

Little Gaddesden Parish Council would like to object to the above application on the following grounds:

1. There is insufficient information on the application form to be a validated application and upon which to base a valid planning assessment by Little Gaddesden Parish Council. Specifically:
(a) There is no Heritage Statement, required because the proposal is within setting of Grade I listed Church;
(b) The is no mention of the Chiltern Way foot path, running through the land;
(c) There are no details of how to sewage will be accommodated in the absence of a mains sewage to the plot;
(d) There is no Bat Survey, required on all applications in that area;
(e) The land is incorrectly listed as paddock, but is agricultural;
(f) There is no “full tree survey”, a requirement of the application;
(g) We understand that the Mead Trust is still the current owners of the land, and not as stated on the application form.

2. The proposal is in the setting of the Church, a Grade I listed Heritage Asset and would be detrimental to this asset and the setting. In particular it would interrupt the views of the Church from numerous perspectives.

3. The proposal is in the setting of John O’Gaddesden’s House, a Grade II listed Heritage Asset and would be detrimental to the setting. There has always been a clear line of site between John O’Gaddesden’s House and the Church.

4. The proposal is in the Chiltern AONB and would be detrimental to numerous local and national strategies.

5. The Core Strategy of Dacorum, adopted in September 2013, permits no new housing development in Little Gaddesden. This proposal contravenes this policy.

6. The proposed plans interrupt the Chiltern Way, a nationally important footpath. This proposal would be detrimental to the characteristic open aspect of the footpath on this section of the Chiltern AONB as outlined in numerous strategy and planning frameworks.

7. This plot is in the Conservation Area of Little Gaddesden. The Conservation Area designation was placed on this land to protect the open aspect of land in the AONB in the setting of Heritage Assets.

8. The land in this proposal is agricultural land and numerous policies protect this land from development.

In addition to the Parish Council draft objection, residents may wish to view the objection by the Chilterns Conservation board and a letter to residents from Stewart Stanley who lives opposite plot 7.

Objection to Plot 7 by Chilterns Conservation Board

Letter to Little Gaddesden Residents from Stewart Stanley, Church Road

Dacorum Borough Council have made an Article 4 direction which helps to protect land at Church Road. For details please see the files attached.
If you wish to support DBC and write to them please see contact details below.
Representations concerning this Article 4(1) Direction can be made to the local planning authority by e-mail: planning@dacorum.gov.uk
or by writing to: Planning Department, Dacorum Borough Council, The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1DN.
These representations can be made to Dacorum Borough Council between 14 November 2019 and 15 December 2019.

Sealed Art. 4 Direction (Land SE Church rd Lt Gad) Map (004)ARTICLE 4(1)

DIRECTION PUBLIC NOTICE Land SE of Church Rd Lt Gad (003)

The land which has been put up for sale in a number of plots is some of the most highly protected land in Hertfordshire.

The planning restrictions on the land are extensive:

* The land is situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Chilterns AONB) – similar protection as National Parks.

* No new housing development is permitted in Little Gaddesden – Dacorum Core Strategy / Local Planning Framework.

* Part of the land is in the Village Conservation Area.

* The land borders a Grade One listed Heritage Asset – The Church. The views of the Church from the rest of the village are considered part of the heritage of the village.

* The Planning Authority, Dacorum Borough Council, have made an Article 4(1) Direction – removing Permitted Development Rights related to fencing, access from Church Road and temporary use of the land.

* The land is agricultural/equestrian land in a rural area.

* The land has numerous footpaths crossing it, including the Chiltern Way.

The Parish Council will always fight plans to build on this historic land.

Barry Deadman asked the Parish Council if he could place a picnic bench on the playing fields at Church Road in order to commemorate his wife Barbara, who passed away this year. She used to enjoy the play area with her grandchildren and her other connection with the village was that she kept the two Shetland Ponies in the paddock behind the school.  Here, her friends and family attend the installation ceremony.

We are consulting and asking for your feedback on our expansion plans to make best use of the runway at London Luton Airport. We are London Luton Airport Ltd – the company that owns London Luton Airport.

Expanding London Luton Airport to handle up to 32 million passengers a year would bring significant benefits that would be shared locally, regionally and nationally.

We recognise that our proposals would bring impacts, for the environment and people who live and work nearby.

We are committed to minimising and mitigating these impacts and are setting out measures to tackle them, including for noise, climate change, air quality and transport.

Our consultation begins on Wednesday 16 October and ends at 11:59pm on Monday 16 December. Our proposed development for achieving phased airport growth to 2039 will be displayed at a series of consultation events in your area.

At the events you will have an opportunity to view the proposals, speak to members of the expert project team, and provide your feedback.

Since our first consultation held in summer 2018, we have reviewed all of the feedback provided to help develop our proposals.

We are consulting again now to show you how our plans have developed, and to hear your views.’

 

On the gloriously sunny day at the Village Sports Day on 8 September 2019, Mayor of Dacorum, Councillor Terry Douris joined an impressive turnout of Council Members and local villagers in congratulating (ex-Councillor) Rachel Heaphy and Councillor and Vice Chair Kathryn Magson and local teens for all their hard work to fund this new equipment. Teens had met with each other (and even set up a WhatsApp discussion Group) to discuss what they felt the village needed in June of last year and put their proposals to the Council. Then then helped run a Village Curry and Quiz Evening where they pledged a variety of jobs and services around the village at a silent auction to help raise funds. This sum was supported by a number of village groups (VPA, Gadd Soc, Football Club and Cricket Club) including money from the Parish Council, and finally augmented by an impressive contribution from Lawton Trust. Raising a whopping £15,000 in total which enabled the Council to make their ideas a reality in less than a year from start to finish!
Our thanks to Rachel, Kathryn and the rest of the Council, our village teens and their village supporters at various events together with all our sponsors for generating this impressive sum and then executing the plan so efficiently!
Councillor, Kathryn Magson would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who helped make this significant project happen. This is a huge achievement for the younger members of our community.
Playing Fields Liaison, Councillor Lyn Hyde, campaigned/raised funds for the original Church Road play equipment 10 years ago and has worked tirelessly on the Village Playgrounds on Church Road and Cromer Close. She attended the ceremony and said “It’s great to see both old and young alike using the new equipment and it’s great to see our sports field space have so many facilities for our community to use.”
Lyn has recently been involved in making sure the equipment on both sites is safe and refurbished using Council funds for recent re-painting works, following our Annual ROSPA Report on the play facilities. Parish Clerk, Alastair Greene is now also qualified to carry out a monthly inspection after attending a playground inspection course.
Watch this space for further improvements to the Church Road Playground, including resurfacing of the flooring around the roundabout.

How to Contact Us
If you have any comments about the Playing Areas at Church Road or Cromer Close or have any suggestions about how they can be improved, please contact Lyn Hyde or Sarah Lawson in the first instance [click here for details] or come along to our monthly Council Meetings (held the third Monday of every month at the Village Hall at 8pm. For details of future Meetings and the Minutes of Past meetings, go to Parish Council, Meetings (Minutes and Agendas)
Authors: Sarah Lawson and Kathryn Magson

The Parish Council has been fortunate over a number of years to share the Gaddesden Society web site and our news and policies have been hosted there. However, ‘Best Practice’ these days is for every Parish Council to have a dedicated web site, hence this new web site created by a company called ‘Town and Parish Council web sites’. The Parish Council were very lucky to receive the development of the site for no charge (as we were the 100th web site to be created by this Company). However we will have a maintenance charge and support charge and we have budgeted for that.

The Clerk, Alastair Greene and Councillor Sarah Lawson will be the main editors of the content and would welcome suggestions for items to be covered and links to be created.

 

 

 

The Parish Council with support from DBC Councillor Terry Douris have funded the restoration of the Lady Marian Alford Memorial and to celebrate the completion of the works a little ceremony of thanks and rededication of the memorial was held on Tuesday 19th June 2018. Roger Bolton explained to the gathered audience a little of the history of Lady Marian and the Vicar John Russell re-dedicated the memorial, then Councillors Rachel Heaphy and Lyn Hyde offered everyone cream teas

Lady Marian died in 1888 and a collection was taken for a memorial.  The donors ranged from Victorian nobility to her estate workers.  The cross and seat at the entrance to Ashridge Park were erected in her memory and were unveiled three years later in 1891 on her birthday, Sunday 21st June. For some years after Mrs Wheatley, wife of Lord Brownlow’s Estate Agent, kept alive the memory of Lady Marian’s goodness among the children of Little Gaddesden by distributing bags of sweets each year to children gathered near the cross on the anniversary.

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