Steve Jarvis

Below is the actual decision of the County Council’s Development Control Commitee, as it will be recorded in the minutes: 

1.  NORTH HERTS DISTRICT - CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW MAINSTREAM
     SECONDARY SCHOOL ON LAND AT GREAT ASHBY, WESTON /
     STEVENAGE FOR THE RELOCATION OF THE THOMAS ALLEYNE HIGH SCHOOL

RESOLVED

That consideration of outline planning application ref 1/1349-09 for the proposed relocation of Thomas Alleyne School to land at Great Ashby, Weston / Stevenage, be deferred to enable the following to be provided  : -

         a)  information on likely on site parking to be provided to include 6th form parking  to enable the concerns over foreseen on street parking to be assessed.

        b)  information on the number of trees likely to be removed in providing the access road and the likely number to be provided as part of the landscaping scheme,

        c)  information that demonstrates that the likely growth of need for school places  in the north of Stevenage and consequently shows it is not premature,

       d)  any further information that will assist the Committee in considering whether the special circumstances involved with the current outline planning application have been met in particular whether the St Nicholas Park site is or is not  a suitable alternative site.

Herts County Council’s Development Control Committee voted to defer a decision on the Tilekiln school planning application until its next meeting - scheduled for 2nd March.

Councillors decided that they wanted more information on alternative sites, parking provision and impact on the adjacent woods before making a decision.

There were more than 30 people from Weston and Great Ashby at the meeting, including three who spoke against the application.

The meeting is a 10.00 tomorrow (Tuesday) in the Council Chamber at County Hall in Hertford SG13 8DQ. It is a public meeting, but the only people who can speak are those presenting petitions. Alistair Schofield from Weston Parish Council is presenting a petition and will therefore be speaking against the planning application. Although others are not be able to speak it would be useful to have as many people as possible there to show that local people are concerned. I know that Alistair would like as many people as possible present to add weight to what he is planning to say. 

I will be there and I know that some others are planning to go. Come along if you can.

A number of people have commented on the very long gaps between the collection of brown bins which affects Clothall and Rushden (amongst other places) particularly badly.

Herts County Council has abandoned gritting village roads and, until further notice will only grit A and B roads.

In our area that means that the only gritted roads will be the A505 and the A507.

Although the weather has been unusually cold the County Council should have made better plans after the problems that they had last winter. It is simply not acceptable to abandon all the rural areas in this way.

A Stevenage man has pleaded guilty to dumping rubbish including a TV, a vacuum cleaner and a rug alongside the road between Weston and Stevenage last March.

He was fined £800 and ordered to pay £200 toward the costs of clearing away the rubbish.

Herts County Council will decide whether to grant itself planning permission at a meeting of its Development Control Committee next Tuesday (19th January).

The officer’s report recommends that permission should be granted. You can see the report at http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/civic_calendar/archive/Development%20Control%20Committee_44/02%20Item1%20Thomas%20Alleyne%20-%20Great%20Ashby%20Stevenage%20planning%20application.pdf.

If the Committee decides to grant planning permission it will then be referred to the Secretary of State as a “departure from Green Belt policy”. If the Secretary of State (actually it’s a civil servant in Cambridge who decides) thinks it is “of more than local significance” he can call it in and hold a public enquiry.

The meeting on Tuesday is at 10.00 at County Hall and is open to the public.

Every month the police check traffic speeds in Damask Green Road in Weston and Mill End in Rushden along with eight other locations in North Herts villages. Most of these checks are done by PCSOs who cannot prosecute any drivers who are speeding but each month a selection are done by our local PC Paul Marina that can lead to prosecutions.

This month the check in Weston was abandoned because of the weather. The results for Rushden were:

Mill End, Rushden (15th December , 1700 - 1730)  
21 vehicles. Average speed 31mph, highest speed 55mph

It now seems that the SNAP proposals will not be going to the next meeting of NHDC’s cabinet on 26th January. The planning officers have been asked to look at a number of issues, including the location of the travellers’ site (which everybody seems to agree cannot be located alongside the road from Warrens Green to Halls Green, as was previously suggested), the link road and how the proposed development boundaries relate to the landscape.

There is, of course, no guarantee that this will result in any change to the proposals or, if there are changes, that they will not be even worse, but any delay is welcome.

The District Council’s Planning Committee has decided that it does not support the school planning application - but it doesn’t oppose it either!

Steve Jarvis said, “It’s a small step in the right direction, but its disappointing that councillors chose to sit on the fence in this way. If they did not support the application why didn’t they oppose it?