NEWS

Information from Kemi Badenoch, MP for the Saffron Walden constituency regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

This is a worrying and challenging time for us all and the advice on Coronavirus is changing day by day because of the fast-moving environment. I understand it is difficult to know what advice to follow when there is so much information out there.

Furthermore, I am receiving messages from constituents who are offering to help and others who want to know how they can help. It is good to see the community coming together in a desire to support one another, especially the elderly and vulnerable.

For both these reasons, I have put together a page on my website that includes the links to the most up to date information from all the various bodies I am in touch with.  These include the Government, local authorities such as Essex County Council, Uttlesford District Council and Chelmsford City Council, as well as information from local organisations and charities across the constituency. Please follow this link to access it: www.kemibadenoch.org.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-and-guidance

For constituents who do not have access to the internet, as advised by Public Health England, if you think you have might have coronavirus don’t go to your doctor’s surgery or hospital. If you need to speak to someone, call 111 and they will make arrangements directly for testing and treatment or 999 if you require urgent medical treatment. Carers are also advised to call 111 or doctor surgeries for specific advice.

The Government will be holding daily televised briefings on Coronavirus and I would encourage constituents to tune in for the most up to date information and advice.

If you do have any individual concerns, please do contact me via email at ku.tnemailrapobfsctd-2cc947@pm.hconedab.imek or call my office on 0207 219 1934 and we will endeavour to sign post you to the relevant organisation for information.

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We have received a number of notices regarding road closures around Felsted to allow the installation of broadband services. Please see below for details:

ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 – SECTION 14(1)

Temporary Traffic Regulation Order of Cock Green Road, Bannister Green, Felsted 

Please click on the following link https://one.network/?tm=116464829 to find details of the intended closure of Cock Green Road, Bannister Green, due to commence on 26th March 2020 for 2 days. The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while County Broadband LTD undertakes To install duct, chambers & poles. Complete cabling, civils work & tree cutting under road closure.

Temporary Traffic Regulation Order of Evelyn Road, Felsted 

Please click on the following link https://one.network/?tm=116465222 to find details of the intended closure of Evelyn Road, due to commence on 31st March 2020 for 10 days. The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while County Broadband LTD undertakes Lay Ducting , Cabling , Poles and Tree Cutting in the verge under a road closure.

Temporary Traffic Regulation Order of Molehill Green Road, Felsted

Please click on the following link https://one.network/?tm=116465435 to find details of the intended closure of Molehill Green Road, due to commence on 7th April 2020 for 9 days. The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while County Broadband LTD undertakes Lay Ductng , Poling , Cabling , Tree Cutting in the verge , under road closure.

Temporary Traffic Regulation Order of Hollow Road, Felsted

Please click on the following link https://one.network/?tm=116464866 to find details of the intended closure of Hollow Road, due to commence on 15th April 2020 for 8 days. The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while County Broadband LTD undertakes works to install duct, chambers & poles. Complete cabling, civils work & tree cutting under road closure.

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ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 – SECTION 14(1)

Please click on the following link https://one.network/?tm=116707753 to find details of the intended closure of Station Road, due to commence on 17th April 2020 for 5 days. The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while Essex County Council undertakes Pre-patching for surface dressing 2020 (2000-0500).

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Following the resignation of Alan Mackrill the Council have a vacant seat on the Parish Council, which will be filled by co-option.

If you are interested in becoming a Parish Councillor and wish to be considered for this vacancy please let the Clerk know by  18 March 2020. Interviews will then be held and the Council will appoint the most suitable candidate.

If you wish to know more about the role and what it entails please feel free to contact the Clerk, or any Councillor, for more information.

Diane Smith

Clerk to Felsted Parish Council

Office: 01371 823071                  E mail: ku.vog.cp-detslefobfsctd-29d9b4@krelc

The Parish Council has once again booked the popular green waste skip service for the coming gardening season.

The collection will take place at Bannister Green from 9-10am every Sunday between 8 March and 6 December 2020.

Please ‘spread the word’ amongst your gardening friends.

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Felsted United Charities is a charitable organisation set up many years ago.

The charitable objectives of the Trust are for “the benefit of persons resident in the Parish of Felsted and who are over sixty years of age, OR who are suffering from any illness disability or disablement or otherwise in special need”.

Applications can be made to the Treasurer at any time of the year if such a need arises and each case is dealt with on an individual basis and in confidence.

The Trustees can consider a variety of needs such as heating costs, transport costs to hospitals out of the area, financial assistance for the replacement of necessary electrical goods, etc.

Should you wish to apply, please write to:  The Treasurer, Felsted United Charities, Larkins, Bannister Green, Felsted, Dunmow, CM6 3NQ.

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We are delighted to say that after over 5 years of work and some dispiriting setbacks, our Felsted Neighbourhood Plan finally passed the Referendum yesterday.

We have a Neighbourhood Plan!

The turnout for the vote for the plan was 754, or over 31% of the electorate. Of those that voted, 687 voted in favour of the Plan and 65 voted against (2 papers were spoilt). Over 91% of those that voted were in favour of the plan. We are really pleased that the result was so clear.

From now on, the Felsted NP will be a ‘material consideration’ for the Uttlesford District Council Planning Committee and for any Planning Appeals Inspector considering any planning application in Felsted.

The Parish Council, who have supported the Plan throughout, will now have its position strengthened.

We all owe a great debt of thanks to the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.

They have devoted thousands of hours of their time and have worked tirelessly for many years to bring this Plan to fruition for the benefit of our Community.

If you don’t know them, they are:

Roy Ramm (Chair)

Richard Freeman (Vice Chair)

Richard Silcock (Treasurer)

Diane Smith (Secretary)

Bill Miler

Margaret Attwood

John Moore

Nicholas Hinde

Dr Hywel Jones 

A simple thank you to you all on behalf of the Parish Council and the people of Felsted.

Today is the day to cast your vote on the Felsted Neighbourhood Plan.  

Please vote at the Memorial Hall or Crix Mission between 7am and 10pm.

www.felstednp.org.uk

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It’s time to have your say and vote on the Felsted Neighbourhood Plan on 30th January.

With the Uttlesford Local Plan ruled unsound by the Inspectors, it is vital that we have our local voices heard when decisions are made regarding new house building in our Parish.

The Neighbourhood Planning process is designed to get local voices heard when making planning decisions and, in the process, delivering community facilities.

You can read the full Plan information leaflet  here.

The Referendum will take place at the Felsted Memorial Hall, Braintree Road, and at the Crix Green Mission Hall between 7am and 10pm on Thursday 30^th January 2020

If you have registered ONLY for a postal vote in General Elections, you WILL NOT receive a postal Referendum ballot.  If you have registered for a Postal Vote in General AND Local elections, YOU WILL receive a postal ballot. 

For more information about the Felsted Neighbourhood Plan, please visit: www.felstednp.org.uk

For more information about the Referendum, please visit www.uttlesford.gov.uk

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The application to further expand Stansted airport is currently being heard by Uttlesford District Council Planning Committee.

Day 1 of the hearing was yesterday, 17th January, where Parish Councils and members of the public were given opportunities to speak. The second and final day will be on Friday 24th January at the Council offices in Saffron Walden. This second day encompass presentations by Stop Stansted Expansion and the airport itself.

Following a debate by Committee members, it will end with a vote. Full details here. The meeting is open to members of the public.

Cllr Andy Bennett represented Felsted Parish yesterday, making the following statement:

Good morning I am Andy Bennett, Chair of Felsted Parish Council Planning Committee.

We are objecting to this application.

Today you are invited to consider if there have been any new material considerations or changes in circumstances.

I propose that there most certainly have been and will cover 4 of the most important ones.



Firstly, under numbers of flights

The application stated that there would be no increase in flights, as allowed by the current planning approval for 274,000 flights a year. 

Whilst technically true, it is morally corrupt.

Stansted airport itself projects that fewer than 227,000 flights would be needed for the current limit of 35 million passengers and cargo.

If you approve this new single passenger and cargo total of 274,000 flights, you will release a true increase of 47,000 flights a year.

Correspondence suggests that even Cllr Alan Mills, the previous Chair of the Planning committee, who provided 2 of the votes to approve the original application, perhaps did not see that approval would lead to a real life increase in flights.

When combined with MAG trimming off a year from the forecast numbers to keep the application away from central government, this sleight of hand is a scandal and should cause you to consider it a material consideration.



Secondly, Under Aircraft noise

The application relied on a forecast reduction in noise contours and the promise of 50% quieter aircraft.

The Cole Jarman noise report first assumed 80% of planes would be new quieter aircraft, later they reduced this to 50% as a claimed typo.

With Boeing’s order book suggesting a sub 30% level, even this 50% was clearly beyond possibility.

More importantly, they also assumed the use of quieter B737 MAX aircraft, the entire fleet of which is now grounded indefinitely.  

Whilst the airport takes the only defensive position it can, claiming that this has all been scheduled into the noise forecasts, their noise reduction forecasts are now implausible and a material change in circumstances.




Thirdly, regarding environmental considerations

In August 2019 UDC declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency and committed to make the authority carbon neutral by 2030.

MAG’s own figures project that, with this application, CO2 emissions (excluding road traffic impacts) would increase, from 1.56 million tonnes in the Base Year, by an additional million tonnes a year in 2028.

You cannot simply pick and choose which bits of carbon dioxide you are going to count. Buying a few electric vehicles for the Council, whilst approving the release of a million tonnes a year of Co2 into the air around Stansted, is missing the point entirely.

In making his casting vote to pass the original application, the Chair of Planning summed up that he was doing so in support of the next generation.

If the Extinction Rebellion movement and the one girl crusade which is Greta Thunberg, are telling us anything, it is that the youth of today don’t want cheap flights to Spain, they want breathable air and a world with a future in which to raise their children.

In approving this application in the name of the youth of today, I have a feeling Greta Thunberg may well respond with ‘how… dare… you…’

This must be considered a change in circumstances.

 

Fourthly, you want to build 3000 new houses as part of the WoB development. At the Inspector’s review of UDC’s Plan, Alistair Andrew, MAG’s Head of Planning, in responding to a point I made regarding emerging Government guidance concerning planes not overflying densely populated areas at under 7000 feet, stated that he agreed the area designated for WoB was impacted by runway 04 flights and that in his opinion all houses should be marketed as being under a flightpath.

Adding in the new WHO guidance, calling for a dramatic reduction in acceptable noise levels for communities, and you can’t have it both ways. Even if it survives the Local Plan process, you can’t build houses in the WoB area, under the flightpath, and still approve this application, releasing 47,000 flights.

This emerging government and WHO guidance must be considered a new material consideration. 

 

In summary

I have demonstrated that there are at least 4 new material considerations and changes in circumstances:

No-one denies that Stansted is an important local resource, but MAG needs to respect and to respond to the concerns from the communities their business impacts, and currently they do not.

Against falling passenger numbers, this application is being rushed through in advance of the introduction of new noise regulations which would govern it, just like the 2016 flightpath change, forced through 12 months before tighter regulations on changes to flightpaths were introduced.

This is wrong.

I urge you to do what the failed and rejected previous Conservative administration did not, listen to your community, do what is right, and reject this application.

Thank you