NEWS
Litter pick 1st April: its no joke
We are holding our next little pick on Saturday 1st April.
If you can come along and spend a little time helping keep our Parish clean, then meet in the Playing Field Car Park (off Jollyboys Lane North – CM6 3DU) anytime between 10am and 2pm.
You can choose which area you ‘pick’ and high viz vests will be provided, along with grabbers and refuse bags.
Any queries please ring Diane Smith (Clerk) on 01371 823071.
Your help really will make a difference. last time we collected 30 bags of rubbish, some tyres and traffic cones.
If you can’t this date then be sure to put October 21 in your diaries.
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Standsted flightpath changes: 12 month review and the last chance to have your say
The 12 month review of the change to Stansted flightpaths, which resulted in a doubling of flights over our parish, and a 10 fold increase in noise complaints, is happening now.
You can read the background to the changes through our previous news items, here.
We have written to the CAA to repeat our objection to the flightpath changes. We are calling for the review to reverse the flightpath changes and for mitigation to be introduced to more fairly share the noise burden.
You can read our letter here.
As always it is important for individuals to also shout loud and clear. We had a great response to the event held by Stansted airport in November, with Stansted’s feedback forms running out before the event was half way through.
This is our last opportunity to object to these changes. Don’t miss it.
You can write to the CAA, as we have done, or you can simply use the SSE form, here to have your say.
Just use the free write box in the SSE form to make your views clear and have your objection to the flightpath changes registered, so that we might have them reversed as part of the 12 month review.
Remember, in the coming months, Stansted airport is expected to apply for a doubling of passenger numbers, so the flight noise will only increase if we do not get the changes reversed.
Not forgetting to also use the SSE form to complain about individual noisy planes, and to have your say about future night flights, here.
Stansted airport night flight consultation
The Government has published a consultation on night flight restrictions for airports in the south, including for Stansted airport.
The current regulations expire in October of this year and this new consultation will establish rules for the next 5 years.
The Government acknowledges that noise at night represents the least acceptable form of aircraft noise. However, night flights are supported for providing ‘extra choice for passengers’ and night operations for the freight sector.
The full consultation can be read here and responses submitted here.
Responses need to be submitted by 28 February. Your Parish Council will be submitting a response. However, it is vital that residents also make their opinions known.
Whilst there are some aspects of the proposals which are welcome, specifically ending night quota exemptions for certain flights, they do not go far enough to reduce highly disruptive night flights, particularly in the ‘shoulder’ periods at the end of the evening and first thing in the morning at 6am.
Too many people in Felsted thought that the last changes to daytime flights would have no impact on them and so did not submit to the previous consultation. But Stansted has seen a 10 fold increase in complaints and Felsted has suffered from increased aircraft noise.
Make sure you have your say now.
Sharing advice and thoughts from Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE):
Stansted currently has permission for 12,000 night flights a year, more than twice as many as are permitted at Heathrow. SSE has long argued to the Government that night flights have a far greater impact on local residents around Stansted because of its rural location, where background noise levels at night are generally very low.
Furthermore, the 12,000 annual limit applies only to the 6½ hours from 11.30pm to 6.00am whereas the normal definition of ‘night’ is the 8 hours from 11.00pm to 7.00am. Moreover, a large number of Stansted’s night flights are large, noisy cargo aircraft, many of which are very old. Unsurprisingly, these give rise to a disproportionately high level of noise complaints. There are also a rapidly increasing number of ‘exempt’ aircraft flying at night, currently approaching an additional 2000 movements annually.
The Government proposes to maintain the present night limit on aircraft movements at Stansted, whilst at the same time removing the current exemption for less noisy aircraft and increasing the movements limit accordingly. This aspect of the Government’s proposals is welcome since the number of exempt aircraft has been increasing at Stansted Airport in recent years, to nearly 2000, and all aircraft movements at night – the least noisy as well as the most noisy – create noise nuisance and cause widespread sleep disturbance for local residents. This proposal will cap this increase.
SSE’s main criticism of the Government’s latest night flights proposals is that they do not go nearly far enough to tackle the very serious impacts of night flights in terms of sleep disturbance for local residents around Stansted and under its flight paths.
Felsted Parish council is joining SSE in calling for:
- An unequivocal Government commitment to phase out all night flights at Stansted by 2030, except in the case of genuine emergencies;
- In the meantime, for the annual limit on Stansted night flights to apply, not just from 11.30pm to 6.00am, but from 11.00pm to 7.00am, so that ‘night’ truly means ‘night’, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Guidelines on Community Noise;
- A radical overhaul of the current ‘averaging’ method for measuring aircraft noise so that the official Government noise statistics start to represent what people actually have to endure.
We would urge residents to consider spending a few minutes making their own voices heard by completing the online consultation.
Public Meeting with Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner
The Parish Council are concerned at the level of ‘minor crime’ occurring in the village and the poor police response to these events.
We have therefore arranged a meeting with Jane Gardner (Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex) to discuss our, and your, concerns.
It will be held on Thursday 26 January 2017 at 7.30 pm at:
U R C Hall, Stebbing Road, Felsted, CM6 3JD
The agenda is here.
Please come along and take this opportunity to raise your own concerns with local policing matters.
*************************************
To receive notification of local news items as they are posted on this site by Felsted Parish Council, please enter your email address in the box at the bottom of this page. Your details will never be passed on and only ever used for this purpose
Bus service 16 disruption
Essex County Council has alerted us to disruption to a number of bus services, including service 16, which passes through Felsted.
Due to an emergency road closure at Bridge Street in Great Bardfield preventing buses operating their route between Great Bardfield and Finchingfield, services 9/9A, 16, 417 and 418 will be severely disrupted and passengers may not be able to complete their journeys.
Passengers are advised to contact Stephensons of Essex on 01376 503050 or visit www.stephensonsofessex.com for more information.
A full list of services affected follows:
- 9/9A Great Bardfield – Finchingfield – Wethersfield…- Braintree (ECC contracted service)
- 16 Wethersfield – Finchingfield – Great Bardfield… – Chelmsford (ECC contracted service)
- 417 Rayne… – Great Bardfield – Finchingfield… – Saffron Walden & Newport Schools (Commercial service)
- 418 Great Saling… – Great Bardfield – Finchingfield… – Saffron Walden & Newport Schools (Commercial service)
These are all operated by Stephensons of Essex.
SERCLE newsletter, fighting the proposal for 13,000 homes
SERCLE (Stop the Erosion of Rural Communities in Local Essex) is a local community group, established to fight the proposed West of Braintree new town settlement of 13,000 homes.
You can download the latest SERCLE newsletter here and read more about SERCLE here.
SERCLE is supported by local Parish Councils, including Felsted.
The impact on our Parish of 13,000 new houses just to the north of Felsted would be severe. Traffic congestion would hit the village centre in particular, as commuters find routes to their places of work and, already overloaded, local services would be stretched to breaking point.
Working with other parishes, we have issued news releases explaining how we are fighting the New Town proposal, currently being considered by Uttlesford and Braintree District Councils within their Local Plan processes.
Future water pressure improvements in Felsted
At a recent Parish Council Monthly meeting, representatives from Affinity Water gave a presentation explaining their future plans for water supplies in the area. Most notably was the belief that, whilst water supplies are forecast to reduce, demand is forecast to double, due to current house building plans.
The plans included compulsory installation of water meters across the area, with a 2 year period of adjustment before the meters would be compulsorily used to calculate bills. Letters have begun to arrive at households with more details.
Your council also raised the problem of poor water pressure in much of the Parish.
Affinity Water have now advised that they are currently working on a plan for a reinforcement scheme for the area. This would improve the performance of the local network in Felsted, which should increase the water pressure. The timetable will depend on permissions and permits being granted but the scheme is due for completion in 2017.
We will keep you updated as we hear from Affinity Water.
*************************************
To receive notification of local news items as they are posted on this site by Felsted Parish Council, please enter your email address in the box at the bottom of this page. Your details will never be passed on and only ever used for this purpose.
Bus services in Felsted
The following is a news update regarding our bus services, as written by Bryan Grimshaw.
For a rural area we are quite fortunate to have two regular bus services.
The 133 (Arriva) between Stansted airport and Braintree is part-funded by Stansted airport. It runs approximately hourly and the new timetable restores our 9.35am service towards Stansted, plus a later bus leaving Braintree at 11.15pm. The fact that the majority of services now start and finish at Braintree should make timekeeping even better.
The 16 (Stephensons) from Wethersfield to Chelmsford runs four times a day in both directions, but this service is very much under threat.
It is fully funded by Essex County Council and the subsidy is currently above their limit of £5 per passenger journey, which means that it could be withdrawn at any time. So please use this bus, whether you are paying the fare or using a concessionary pass; the journey to Chelmsford would be much less convenient without it. Remember that it also calls at Broomfield hospital.
There is good news for users of the old 314 service to Braintree. This route is now being covered by the DRT2 service of Arrow Taxis. DRT stands for Demand Responsive Transport, and this means that you must “book” the bus in advance. If you wish to travel from Bannister Green, Cock Green, Willows Green or Bartholomew Green, leaving around 10am and returning at 1pm on Wednesday or Saturday, you should call 01621 874411 (if it’s the first time, ask for Andy Ambrose).
The bus is free to concessionary pass holders but of course fare-paying passengers are also welcome.
You are welcome to telephone Bryan Grimshaw on 01371 820730 to help with arranging DRT (it’s easy after your first booking!) or for any other information on our bus services.
Please use our buses.
Feedback from Stansted airport drop-in session
On Tuesday 15 November Stansted airport, in partnership with the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), held a drop-in session in Felsted.
The event was organised to give residents the opportunity to tell the airport, NATS and the CAA just how disruptive flightpath changes have been to their lives.
You can read the full story of the changes, and how your Parish Council has been fighting them, here.
The session was extremely well attended, so much so that the 100 comment cards provided by the airport ran out before the session was half way through.
The arguments we have presented are:
- The change was implemented despite 86% of respondees saying no, including Uttlesford District Council.
- This has doubled the number of planes using the Clacton route over Felsted Parish.
- We are not NIMBYS, we accept our share of flights, but not everyone else’s share too.
- The change has resulted in an unacceptable increase in noise over rural communities, including Felsted.
- At the February 2017 review, the change should be reversed and actions taken to share the noise burden rather than focus it on the few.
At the meeting we learnt the following:
- Our complaints are being heard. They will form a very important input to the change review, due to take place in February 2017. This review will decide if the change should be reversed, modified or approved. It is vital that everyone continues to have their voice heard. If you are disturbed by a noisy plane, or want to complain about the overall noise increase from the change in flightpath usage, then please do so here.
- Current government guidance is to concentrate planes on fewer people, rather than share the noise disturbance. Meanwhile in America they follow principles of dispersal. New UK guidance is due to be released for public consultation in January/February. It is anticipated that this will follow the American model, proposing changes which would reduce acceptable noise levels and provide for dispersal of the noise burden. This consultation will likely be valuable to our cause, providing a mechanism to introduce the dispersal of flights and so share the noise burden.
- We will share news about this consultation through the website, so please register for news alerts using the email box below.
For more information please contact Cllr Andy Bennett
*************************************
To receive notification of local news items as they are posted on this site by Felsted Parish Council, please enter your email address in the box at the bottom of this page. Your details will never be passed on and only ever used for this purpose.
Reminder: Stansted flightpath changes: drop-in session
In February of this year Stansted airport changed its flightpath usage.
The result is that planes, which previously headed south on the ‘Dover’ route, were moved to the ‘Clacton’ route, which passes over the Parish of Felsted. This has resulted in a massive increase in noise disturbance in the Parish and a ten fold increase in complaints logged against Stansted airport.
Read our earlier news items here for more background.
There is a review of this flightpath change in February 2017. The airport are currently gathering views and opinions from residents to feed into the review.
On Tuesday 15 November, at 4-8pm, in the Felsted Memorial Hall, Braintree Rd, CM6 3DS, Stansted airport is holding a drop-in session, in partnership with the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), to discuss residents’ concerns and share further information regarding airspace changes.
It is important to remember that the airport is currently operating at half capacity and is about to submit a planning application to build a new terminal building. Noise disturbance will inevitably get even worse as flights increase, unless we make our voices heard, by calling to have the changes reversed, and have measures introduced to reduce disturbance.
Whilst you might be thinking that noise levels have reduced in the last few weeks, this is because Stansted is in its quieter winter schedule.
Your council is doing all it can. We have worked with Stebbing and High Easter Parish councils, to secure a letter from Uttlesford District Council, calling for the flightpath changes to be reversed. We have also attended a Stansted Airport Consultation Committee (STACC) meeting to request the same from them.
It is vitally important that you, as Parish residents, now take this opportunity to speak directly with representatives from Stansted airport and have your say.
Do not miss this opportunity.
For more information please contact Cllr Andy Bennett
*************************************
To receive notification of local news items as they are posted on this site by Felsted Parish Council, please enter your email address in the box at the bottom of this page. Your details will never be passed on and only ever used for this purpose.
Felsted Focus Magazine
Download the latest issues of our community magazine.