White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne Parish Council Documents
White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne
Parish Council
White Colne
The Parish Council has had another busy year, and thanks to a group of hard working volunteers we have been able to complete the village design statement, improve the village hall and organize several well supported events.
The White Colne Community Design Group, led by Sarah Adlem started the Village Design Statement project in October 2008 and, 2000 volunteer hours later, the final document was printed in November last year. A copy of the VDS has been delivered to every household in the village and to the majority of those who own land in White Colne but live outside the village. The document has received very positive feedback and it's certainly proving a useful point of reference to the Parish Council when considering planning applications in the village
The Village Hall was successfully transformed into a pub on 8th May last year to launch the draft Village Design Statement. Led by Rita Pearcey the pub opened again last July with the benefit of a grant from Essex County Council as part of the Essex Legacy Open Weekend to celebrate 2 years to go until the 2012 Olympic Games. Over 120 villagers and friends supported the Olympic pub and barbecue and many joined in a 2km walk, sports quiz and competitions for table tennis, darts and petanque. Further successful pub nights were held last October and March, each supported by over 80 villagers with the profits going to the '50' Club to help fund village hall projects.
The Stationmaster's Arms seems to have enhanced community spirit within the village and more residents have joined the village's team of volunteers. Thanks to those volunteers for setting up and running the pub and to all those who come along to support the pub nights -
The Village Hall Management committee meets 3 times a year in January, May and September. The level of hiring remains consistent.
The majority of maintenance around the hall and its management work is completely voluntary. This allows a significant proportion of hiring income to be used to improve the Hall. Thanks to everyone who has supported and organised events which have raised funds to contribute toward these improvement works for the benefit of those in the community.
The village has recently been awarded a £5000 grant by ECC to fund the purchase of bar equipment for the Village Hall and £9350 from BDC Local Committee’s fund to provide a disabled access. Our application for £25,000 to Essex Communities fund to help to enlarge the hall has sadly not been successful, but we will apply to other bodies and hope for some good news later in the year .
Chis Pearcey and John Watt have been busy with Highways matters throughout the year
We finally acquired the new bus shelter outside the Old Kings Head pub in May of last year together with a new bus stop flag and timetable . A new 'official' stop and flag has also just been installed opposite York House and we are currently seeking confirmation that the stop applies to both sides of the carriageway and for both bus companies.
Through ECC funding we were able to secure a portable Speed Indicator Device (SID) which has been initially sited near to Heating & Eating Results collected over the last 2 months confirm that excessive speeding is an issue for the village with 85% to 90% of vehicles shown to be exceeding 30mph when they are first picked up by the device. Unfortunately habitual speeders will never change their ways, but at least we now have the data available to present to the police to give them a chance of tackling the problem.
On a more a negative theme the double yellow lines were finally installed at the bottom of the village green last month on a temporary basis. Highways were convinced that cars parked at the bottom of the junction were contributing to the damage to the wall opposite as they felt there was insufficient room for large vehicles to turn right at the junction. Residents will surely have noticed further damage to the recently renovated wall and we have made Highways aware of these latest incidents with photographic evidence. Clearly, as we knew all along, the lines were not the answer to the problem and we hope Highways will now remove them when the time comes.
The hedges and banks of Boley Road have continued to suffer damage from HGVs particularly on its 'Protected' section near the A1124 and we have enlisted the help of our District Councillor to help to try to solve the problem.
This meeting brings an end to the four year term of this Council. The election in May has not been contested and at this stage 7 candidates have put their names forward for the seven seats. Michael Abrahams has resigned due mainly to the fact that he now lives in Earls Colne.
Michael joined the Council in 2007 and we are indebted to him for all his work for our Parish over the last 4 years, in particularly for his contribution towards the planning appeal over 41 Colchester Road.
In November last year Kevin Nolan resigned as Chairman due to changes in his working life.
Kevin joined the Council in 2005 and took up the Chair early in 2007. Kevin steered the Council through financial restraints, keeping the Precept low and often managing to secure extra support from our local businesses. Kevin worked continually on the planning problems associated with ECC’s development behind the hall and I know that he was disappointed not to be able to finish that particular job. He remained steadfast in discussions and was adamant that we should secure the best deal for the village. These plans are now coming to fruition and we expect to hear that the outline planning permission has been granted at the end of this month.
The position of Chairman takes up a great deal of personal time, and by way of thanks for all Kevin’s endeavours, (not forgetting him wearing his dry suit to tackle problems in the Meadows’ pond,) we are pleased to make this special presentation. Thank you very much Kevin
Finally I am pleased to report that we have been able to freeze the precept again for this financial year, and that all the accounts are now audited.
We all look forward to another good year for our Council and our village, and we hope to see as many of you as possible at our future events and meetings.
With grateful thanks to everyone who has supported us over the year,
Jane Taylor – Chair,
Parish Council Chairman’s Report to Annual Electors’ Meeting 2011
Dear Residents,
A few weeks ago the Parish Council met with ECC’s agents to discuss the final arrangements for the disposal of the land behind the village hall. The whole site is expected to come onto the market very soon, with a completion date anticipated for sometime in the autumn. At the time of the sale, the PC will receive the tenure of the hall, together with the land we currently use ie. the football, basket ball and table tennis areas, car park and the petanque court. The outstanding legal fees will also be paid plus all the fees which will accrue up to the time of the sale.
Furthermore, we have negotiated to receive the redundant railway line land stretching down to Colne Park Road, but we have insisted that we cannot be responsible for the maintenance of the old railway bridge supports facing Colne Park Road; we expect ECC to continue their responsibility for these structures. There will also be an extra length of new pavement in Bures Road. Instead of stopping at the village hall, it will continue up to the Chase leading to the allotments and Meadows.
Once the site is sold, it will be for the developer to apply to BDC for full planning permission. These plans will come before the PC in the normal way and we shall have our usual opportunity to make comments and represent our residents' views. We will of course keep you fully informed as the situation progresses.
More good news! We have been awarded a small grant of £250 to help us celebrate the Olympic Legacy weekend on July 23rd. There is more info about this on page 8. This will be a lovely family day and we hope to see you all there.
Jane Taylor
Parish Council Chairman’s Letter -
At the Parish Council Annual General Meeting 2011
the following were elected:
Chair, Parish Council: Jane Taylor
Vice Chair, Parish Council: John Brace
Sub Committees:
Footpaths: John Watt
Transport: Chris Pearcey, John Watt
Allotments: John Brace, John Watt
Newsletter: Peter Norris
Village Hall: Sarah Adlem, Peter Norris, Laura Giles
together with Colin Armstrong, Jean Armstrong and Rita Pearcey
Dear Residents,
As this is the last full Newsletter of the year, it's natural to glance back over
the year and take stock. It seems that the old saying "time flies when you're having
fun" certainly rings true in White Colne. There's been a great deal of fun at our
wonderful pub nights, and it's very pleasing to see the number of volunteers increasing
at each event. There are just two more events to finish off the year -
November 26th also sees the start of National Tree week during which we will be receiving a commemorative oak tree from BDC to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The oak will be approximately 1.5m in height and 13 – 14cm in girth, so it should make an immediate impact on the Meadows. The exact date of planting is yet to be decided – we shall post details on the web site and send an email alert; please do come along if you can, to witness this rather special commemorative event.
Following complaints about the poor state of the river down near Riverside Spice,
we have made representations to the Environment Agency. We are also pushing ECC to
update us on the progress of the development behind the hall -
Finally, it may be a little early, but in case we don’t see you over the next few weeks, everyone on the Parish Council would like to wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.
Ja n e Ta yl or ,
Parish Council Chairman’s Letter -