WELCOME TO FELSTED
Located in north-west Essex and with a population of around 3,000, the Parish of Felsted has at its heart the historic village of Felsted, surrounded by Greens and Hamlets, in a beautiful rural setting.
Felsted retains the underlying charm and attraction of a rural parish, with the community and village at its heart. This is what attracts people to the area and what we as the Parish Council see as our historic duty to protect. Preservation of our heritage is balanced with a duty to ensure that the Parish thrives and meets the future needs of our community.
Winner of RCCE Village of the Year 2015
“One of the best places to live in the East of England” – The Sunday Times (2013)
LATEST NEWS
Stansted noise complaints update
Your Parish Council is continuing to work to fight the change made to Stansted airport flightpaths, which has resulted in a more than doubling of planes overflying our Parish.
Read our earlier news item here.
Cllr Andy Bennett, alongside representatives from Stebbing Parish Council and High Easter, made a statement to the last Uttlesford District Council (UDC) meeting. UDC was asked to support the Parishes by writing to Stansted and the CAA, as part of the change review process, on 2 key points:
- Call for consideration to be given to ways in which increases in noise disruption can be mitigated, whether the flightpath change is reversed or not, through a review of existing NPR routings and the use of Performance Based Navigation to introduce respite use to the flightpaths.
- Highlight the unconsidered impact of the change and call for its reversal.
We have also written to Chris Grayling MP, the new Secretary of State for transport, seeking his support and ensuring that he is aware of our grievance.
Cllr Susan Barker will be responding on behalf of UDC and we will advise UDC’s response in a future update. Cllr Keith Artus is also following up in his role as Chair of the Stansted Airport Advisory Panel. again we will report back on progress.
Following attendance at the last Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) Parish meeting, we have also written again to our MP, Sir Alan Haselhurst seeking his further support.
We have also joined the Aviation Environment Federation.
How to complain
It remains vitally important that you, as parishoners, continue to complain about problem flights, and the over arching subject of the change in flightpath usage. Given that there is soon to be a new consultation regarding night flights, it is particularly important to report night disturbances.
Stansted airport has switched off its phone complaints line, which makes it difficult for those not online to complain. The Parish clerk has helped more than one parishoner to complain, by completing the web based SSE form for them. Please visit the clerk during normal opening hours if you would like her to help you.
There is however, a further option, you can write, outlining your complaint, to:
Noise Communications Team
Enterprise House
Stansted Airport
Essex CM24 1QW
Using the form via the Stop Stansted Expansion group’s website is the preferred option for submitting a complaint. It allows your complaint to be noted and used in their arguments, whilst also being forwarded to the Stansted Airport noise complaint team.
It takes just a couple of minutes to complete the form. This can be used to complain about specific noisy planes (where you need to give the date and time of the disturbance), or about the broader noise problem. Please do both.
For more information, please contact Cllr Andy Bennett
Braintree District Council New Town proposal north of Felsted
Further to our earlier news item, Braintree District Council’s Local Plan consultation closes on 17th August.
You can submit your comments on line here.
The plan includes a proposal to build a New Town to the north of Felsted. The precise area is to be set, but the southern edge of the search area consumes Gransmore Green, within our Parish.
The impact on the Parish of Felsted from this development would be immense.
The consultation document is difficult to navigate and to understand exactly where the most important questions are.
However, SERCLE, the Stebbing based campaign group, has issued guidance notes which you might find helpful.
Please do have your say, whether you are for or against this new town development.
*************************************
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.
Uttlesford and Braintree Local Plans: update 14/7/16
Update: 14th July, public meeting for SERCLE
A public meeting has been arranged for SERCLE supporters next Thursday 21st July between 7-9pm at Stebbing Friends Meeting Hall, Stebbing High Street. This is to give everyone the opportunity to find out more about the current campaign strategy.
Sercle has also produced a flier, which can be downloaded here.
Original news item:
Your Parish Council continues to maintain awareness of, and involvement in, the Local Plan processes in Uttlesford, Chelmsford and Braintree.
Whilst the Uttlesford Plan remains our prime focus, there are issues and developments with neighbouring plans which impact the Parish of Felsted.
The Braintree Plan has entered its ‘Preferred Options’ phase, some weeks ahead of Uttlesford.
This includes a proposal for a New Town (referred to as a ‘Garden Community’) just to the north of Felsted. The potential size of this is indicated in the plan: starting at 2,500 houses, and ultimately up to 13,000 houses. Whilst the main area is within Braintree District, it also includes a significant development area within Uttlesford. Included in the ‘Area of Search’ for the New Town location is Gransmore Green, Felsted.
The potential impact on the Parish of Felsted from such a development would be massive. Alongside the impact from the physical presence of a New Town, dwarfing Felsted in size, there is the impact on roads, utilities, and services, to consider. Whilst there are plans to deliver these needs within the New Town development, the harsh reality of past developments is that facilities have followed long after the houses; in the interim local communities feel the impact. It is also likely that the village of Felsted would become a ‘rat run’ to Chelmsford for the development.
The Braintree Local Plan website is here . There are a number of public meetings to explain their plan. The feedback page for the current consultation is here. This process closes on 19th August.
A residents group, centred around Stebbing, has been set up. Whilst Felsted Parish Council has no official relationship with this group, we are pleased to share their details with Felsted residents, who may like to get in direct contact with the group:
SERCLE (Stop the Erosion of Rural Communities in Local Essex) is a resident-driven campaign whose aims are to:
- Make residents aware of the development
- Garner support for the campaign and give residents a voice
- Identify relevant (legal/compliance based) arguments opposing the development
- Make our voice heard as BDC and UDC perceive there may be no objection
The campaign has:
- A Facebook page – www.facebook.com/sercle.org and a web page (under construction)
- Petition – https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-west-of-braintree-new-settlement-development.html
*************************************
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.