Marsh Lane Watch
No odour discerned this week. EA staff came to clear debris and fallen trees from ryfe along from Merston towards the church.
Oving PC planning committee meet to decide on an application to clear trees and build wall to fill gap near north corner of Church Lane. On the face of it a simple matter but on further examination quite complex. Committee gave it a lot of attention and seeking to balance environmental and practical considerations came up with some sensible recommendations. If all trees had to be removed, then no approval for wall; if just a few trees removed then OK to wall; if trees regarded as unsafe because of actual condition and risk of further bank erosion, OK to wall. Itwill now go to committee.
I don't know how the owner, who was abroad at the time, would view the outcome but he could hardly complain of superficial consideration. Oving does these planning meetings really well.
Attended an excellent seminar at Institute of Local Government Studies in Birmingham on successful scrutiny. A refresher for me but some very useful tips on managing a scrutiny programme, assessing suitable topics for scrutiny and chairing meetings.
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Marsh Lane Watch
No odour discerned this week. Flytipped dryer packaging picked up within 24 hours. Hope of prosecuting owner who left name on packaging. Maclitter on at least two days. Officer will be taking up at next meeting of Keep Britain Tidy organisation. Word has been had in the past with MacDonalds in relation to keeping area around their outlets clear of litter but this is not where the food is consumed.
On the Anne Frank tree of hope in the cathedral a child has written: 'I hope no one litters'. Amen to that.
Letter in Observer that on a visit to St Richard's on January 14 found no attempt had been made to clear public car park of ice and snow. But writer concludes ironically at least if anyone came to grief A&E services were near at hand.
CFT announce exciting programme for summer of 2010. Yes Prime Minister will be a sell out. Look forward to seeing Enron, missed last year, an Ibsen and the Turgenev. The theatre goes from strength to strength under present management. Long may they stay.
Press release about the 'snow summit' on March 11 at County Hall where the great and the good of emergency services will review what went well, not so well during snow and ice days of January. Public invited. We will receive a report at the March 17 meeting of the Policy Development Committee that I chair.
Meeting with officers to put finishing touches to reorganisation of scrutiny within the authority. Should greatly increase responsiveness and effectiveness but bigger workload for chairman. But whose idea was it anyway!
Meeting of Composting Site Liaison Committee changed by Langmead Farms from March 5 that was fixed many weeks ago to March 8, without consulting any other attendees except the EA. What did I say in my letter about insensitivity to resident interests? No better example.
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Marsh Lane Watch
Odour on several days this week along the straight stretch south of the flint wall. On at least two occasions present as late as 18:00. About 5/10. On one day coincided with turning of windrows. On Saturday February 13 at 18:00 when there was no activity on site.
Executive Board recommended a 2.5% tax increase, that for the first year for some time owed nothing to reserves but that also may be the last time for a bit depending on next year's cut in public expenditure by the incoming government. It did however owe considerably to the service review exercises in which my Policy Development Committee was very directly involved.
Also on the agenda was a progress report, if you can call it that, on the Midhurst Community Leisure Centre in the light of County's long delayed decision on its day care centre which will not now be located in the new building. There were two public questions, unusually as public questions at our meetings are a rarety. Both speakers expressed concern about the possible loss of facilities at the new Grange in light of County's decision. There was a good deal of uninformed discussion among Exec Board members about the activities of the centre and its financing. We in the PDC will need to keep a close eye on this project as it was top our ranking of major capital projects.
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Marsh Lane Watch
Collected a great deal of Macdonald litter on February 1. We need to get at this company. Locally and if need, nationally. Options: get them to put notices on their packaging eg 'bin it not throw it'; ensure all the packaging is recyclable and have it printed on the packaging; charge a returnable deposit on all take away packaging. Marsh Lane cannot be the only road in the district to get visitations from Maclitter.
The teleloader working on the Walnut Tree Farm composting site has a squawk by way of a reversing noise. By no means as irritating as the old beep beep. But when/if there are two more to load the digesters we are likely to hear them.
North Mundham Parish Council heard a presentation from CDC on the potential need for additional affordable housing in the parish. On the housing register, that stands at 6698, there are 85 households with a local connection to Mundham. This includes currently resident, employed in the parish, recently resident, close relative resident. Twenty-eight are in priority need. Interestingly 68 are resident in the parish but need/want to move to another type of house in the parish. Such people may be wishing to downsize, could be a young couple living with parents wanting their own home etc.
Of the 548 housing units in the parish, 87 are affordable, mostly rented. Since the right to buy legislation was introduced in 1980 61 units have been 'lost' to the stock of affordable housing. The 16 per cent of affordable housing compares with 18 per cent at Harting and 24 per cent at Rogate. North Mundham is rated 11th in the district in need of affordable housing.
What happens next? If the parish council is comfortable to work with CDC in providing more housing, a housing need survey is conducted. It is distributed by CDC with a covering letter from the Parish Council chairman, collected by PC helpers and analysed by CDC. At that point a small working group of P Councillors and me is formed to work with CDC and a registered social landlord, in this case HydeMartlet, to identify a site for between six and 12 units, a range of types of accommodation from flats to three bedroom houses, and agree a scheme for submission for planning. The whole process can take up to two years. At each stage checks will be made to ensure the need is unchanged. CDC out of its rural housing budget may make a financial contribution to enhance the quality of the housing.
It's a promising initiative and I will play my part to move it forward.
Talked to two Marsh Lane residents about the AD plant application. They are doing a great deal of research on ADs across the country. They agreed to join the campaign team.
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