Marsh Lane Watch
Some dry patching of small potholes. Doubt if they will stay long but better than nothing. Flytipping of cardboard packaging in ditch beyond the church. Reported.
GCSE results at CHSG show 67% of students got A-C grades, 58% including Maths and English. This is about the same as two years ago but while the school might have wished for better, I am not dissatisfied. It's a perfectly creditable result for a non selective school. The only way we are going to do better on a permanent basis is to have more resources so as to have smaller classes and a catchment area with more supportive parents. If pigs had wings....
Concern received from residents by Oving Parish Council about possible health risk from spraying of lettuce crops at Oving. This will be discussed at the OPC on September 9. Meanwhile I have asked the resident for any supporting documentation.
This comes at a time when a Chichester resident in another ward is fighting a case to the effect that government policy on the use of pesticides is harmful to residents. See her press release following rejection of her case by the Court of Appeal last month. Meanwhile the EU is considering legislation to halve the use of toxic products in farming by 2013.
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Marsh Lane Watch
August 20. Strong winds today carrying odour to the hamlet. I called the Environment Agency late afternoon to complain. I rated the odour 4/10 where 10 is top end of odour intensity. The EA person asked if it was bad enough for the windows to be closed and I confirmed so.
Complained to the Langmead Farms crop protection controller about single shots late in the evening after 21:00. He said all his gas guns shut down at 19:30 but would enquire around. He may have done the trick. The guns, if guns they were, were silent last night.
Bumped into Community Warden Sue Long at EPH car park and mentioned floodlighting at the Mercedes Garage, Colworth. She wondered if it was the security lights whose angle might need adjusting. She will leave a note for fellow warden Dawn as she is off on holiday to the Dordogne where she used to live.
Daily Telegraph reports that CHSG (I think it includes CHSB as the sixth form is joint) secures 48 per cent A/B grades at A level. This is a very creditable result for two non selective schools in a community where there is a semi selective school that creams off some of the more able students. It backs up the 'Good' rating awarded to the joint CHSG/CHSB sixth form in the recent Ofsted inspection. Congratulations to all the A level students and their teachers.
What we won't know as governors until later is the overall pass rate and more important still how some of the less able fared because they too need to be congratulated on whatever pass they achieved.
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Marsh Lane Watch
Week of August 10. No odour either in village or Marsh Lane this week. Meanwhile consultations on the application for permanent processing of green waste continue. I am assuming it will go to committee next month.
CDC Contract Services, who clear flytipping in the district, excelled themselves by removing bags of green waste tipped into stream south of the church. Good on them. It was probably the responsibility of the landowner.
Grapes of Wrath at CFT. As brilliant a production as Oklahoma was ordinary. Most affecting. Great acting, clever set, good adaptation of the novel, in some ways a more powerful rendering of the theme of unremitting bleakness than the book itself which in my view tends to go on a bit.
First meeting of the panel that is charged with reviewing how we govern ourselves and account for our actions to residents. I shall be looking at scrutiny and communications. Our recent visit to Canterbury with its more committed approach and greater involvement of the community was timely.
CDC announces consultation on proposed changes to car parking charges. This is a most important matter, as strategic as many of our activities. I invite as many residents as possible to complete the questionnaire (can be downloaded from the CDC website, just follow the links from the home page). Closing date, September 11.
I will return to the matter but there are a number of aspects to consider when it comes to fixing charges.
Striking a balance between these factors is no easy task.
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