Tuesday, April 11, 2006
County Councillor’s annual report Bucks County Council 2005-6
These have been some of the main concerns of the Council as a whole this year
Budget setting and ‘medium term plan’
With limiting council tax increase to 4.9% and changes in government grant calculation, the shortfall between income and expenditure was a gap of £15M. The Council met this in the main by saving,s and reducing growth to meet increases in service demand. This year schools received their budgets directly from government, not the LEA.
As opposition we use the information at our disposal to challenge the assumptions behind the decisions. Although the Leader in his speech told Council that adjustments had been made to the budget to take in to account the results of the consultation in the Bucks Times, the figures presented to vote on, both before and after the consultation, were identical.
Local Area Agreement
An agreement was signed in March between County and District Councils, the Primary Care Trusts, Fire service , and Thames Valley Police, called ‘Promoting Prosperity, Tackling Inequalities.’ If the targets are achieved it will gain £11M additional funding for Bucks. I signed it in my role as Chair of the Vale of Aylesbury PCT.
Consultations
Two major consultations have been undertaken this financial year, on the Waste Strategy and the Local Transport Plan.
Every Child Matters
Bucks County Council has been re-organising to meet the requirements of the Government and the Childrens' White Paper and has made progress as far as to set up a shadow Children's Trust to deliver services jointly with it's statutory partners.
Four Stars
BCC can’t rest on its’ laurels. Hot on the heels of four stars received at the end of 2005, BCC is now preparing for a further assessment this year plus a Joint Area Review of Children’s services.
Customer Contact Centre
In February the Customer Contact Centre, opened, where anyone can call on any subject from 8am to 6.30 pm. Highways on Call is soon to become part of it.
Community leaders Fund
This financial year the fund at my disposal for Ivinghoe Division has supported
Cheddington Scouts refurbishment of the Scout Hut £250
Dagnall over 60s £250
Slapton Village newsletter £500
Ford End Watermill £170
Pitstone and Ivinghoe Youth Hostel £500
Cheddington School PTA £500
Cheddington Village hall £330
Proposed Closure Ivinghoe Youth Hostel
On April 20th those concerned at the proposals to close the youth Hostel, will be meeting representatives of the YHA executive. The YHA hopes to explain why it is necessary and desirable to close the hostel.
The main points made by the YHA are
- YHA has re stated its aim to work with families with children, schools and youth organisations and young people travelling independently for the first time.
- Changing tastes and markets have left YHA with too many under - used properties in less popular locations. It is intended to use sale proceeds from these properties to raise funds for YHA's plans to improve successful hostels, while creating and relocating facilities in top rural and urban target locations,where demand for accomodation amongst young people is high.
- Ivinghoe hostel is only 1* and would require an investment of approx £250k to bring it up to standard and make it fit for purpose. The annual occupancy rate has consistently been running at 35% with approx 6k overnights per annum.
- YHA has a popular hostel on the Ridgeway and is planning to develop the Jordans site as our main hostel in the 'classic' Chiltern woodland countryside.
Campaigners met in March to voice their opposition, and want to know why the following have not been taken in to consideration when the hostel is valued highly by all who have stayed here, both in the experience it offers of staying in a Georgian building, and in enabling young people to fully explore surrounding educational and countryside resources – windmill, watermill, farm museum, church, canal, mountain biking and boarding, Ashridge, Ridgeway long distance trail, Whipsnade zoo. The Chilterns AONB sustains 7 million day visitors per annum, and expects more to come as Ivinghoe is within 10 miles of the Aylesbury sector of the MKSM sustainable communities growth programme, and the Luton South Beds growth area.
The hostel is an essential feature of the Ivinghoe conservation area and has been part of daily village life for 80 years and integral to the success of village businesses such as the Post Office and Countryside Centre, as well as voluntary societies.
Maybe on 20th April the following questions (and more) will be answered
- The YHA’s mission statement is to aim to help all, especially the young of limited means, to greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside. How does the decision to close this hostel square with this mission? Ivinghoe Hostel currently enables more than 600 schoolchildren a year, often from deprived areas, to experience the countryside, as well as other visitors?
- If as stated in press coverage the YHA is going to invest the proceeds of the sale in upgrading all its hostels to 3* how does that help the young of limited means? Why is it considered necessary to refurbish to such a high standard? Ivinghoe Youth Hostel has had a major refurbishment recently.
- When the YHA sold the hostel garden to create Windmill Close both in the last 10 years and previously, why weren’t some of the proceeds invested in refurbishment then? The current estimate of £250,000 is a very small proportion of the sale value of that land, and could be raised today by the sale of the ‘camping field’.
- Although said to be running at 35% capacity or 6000 overnight stays pa, is this above or below average for hostels?
- Does the relatively high overnight rate for a ‘one star’ hostel discourage visitors?
If numbers are the issue, where is the YHA’s marketing strategy? The YHA have also been quoted as saying Ivinghoe Hostel is a non-strategic destination catering only for walkers and cyclists, not the four groups the YHA are pledged to cater for. In fact Ivinghoe Youth Hostel caters for far more than walkers, and on a direct public transport route from Luton Airport and less than 2 miles from the main rail route in to London, has the potential for far more.
- Why is Ivinghoe YHA not marketed by the YHA as part of the Chilterns and Ridgeway long distance trail, but as in the heart of England and WYE VALLEY?
- Developing Jordans may be restricted by Chiltern DC’s planning policies.
- If Ivinghoe Youth Hostel is closed before change of use is applied for, what guarantee is there that it will be quickly disposed of, and not become derelict?
- How confident is the YHA that planning permission can be obtained and the estimated value of the hostel realised in view of the restrictions that are placed on a grade II listed building that is the focal point of a conservation area?
- Was the hostel bougt by the YHA, or donated? If it was donated, are there conditions attached to the gift?
- What value other than monetary does the YHA place on this hostel?
All details of the campaign are on http://www.pitstone.co.uk/
Write to Mark Farmer, The Youth Hostel Association, Trevelyan House, Dimple Road, MATLOCK. DE4 3XB
Thursday, April 06, 2006
April 2006 news roundup
In the Autumn the Three Counties Project - Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire County Councils, the National Trust and the Chilterns Conservation Board installed special acoustic devices on the Northchurch Road to give off a sound when triggered by passing traffic to stop deer from going on to the road. In March additional interactive signs have been installed near the Ashridge Golf Course. These signs will be activated both by speeding traffic and by deer crossing the road. If found to be effective, they will be extended to other areas. Ashridge road safety review
Hertfordshire County Council are also currently consulting on a comprehensive range of measures to improve road safety in the Ashridge area including speed restrictions and road markings and other safety features.
Area speed limit review
Speed limit review for the whole area (Ivinghoe Division, part Wing, part Bierton.) is currently undergoing ‘formal consultation’ with statutory agencies. It will be ready for public consultation followed by implementation in 2008. (for those new to the area this is running at least 3 years late)
Community Policing
Thames valley police are beginning a community policing scheme in Aylesbury Vale before going on to the rest of their patch. A launch meeting was held in Pitstone Hall for all the villages in ‘Wing South’ - Wingrave to Dagnall more or less. The meeting was poorly attended compared to some others in the Vale, probably due to insufficient publicity. Improving the ‘visibility’ of the police was an important issue raised, along with road safety and anti-social behaviour. The local Neighbourhood Action Group, meeting in Pitstone Hall on June 8th will tackle these and other issues.
One important announcement made by the police at the meeting was that Ivinghoe, Pitstone and Edlesborough’s bid for a Police Community Support Officer has been successful, and someone is currently being recruited and trained to begin work in the summer.
Station car parking
A planning application has been put into Dacorum BC for a car park on the unsurfaced part of the existing car park at Tring Station within the bounds of railway property, not on the extended car park, now closed, in the AONB. The car park will be two storeys high, the top floor level with the existing surfaced car park. A condition of the new car park will be improvements to all means of transport to the station including bus travel. Bucks County Council officers have already joined forces with Silverlink and the Herts CC to negotiate bus services to Pitstone.
Corry Cashman, Lib Dem District Councillor for Cheddington, has taken Silverlink on over the charges at Cheddington Station, asking for reductions to be considered for weekends and off peak as well as improvements to the layout of the car park. This is as well as Bucks CC negotiating for free parking for cars arriving with more than one passenger.
Luton Airport
Luton Airport gained approval to extend its western airspace applied for in 2004. This means that when the wind is in the east planes can now approach the airport over villages to the north west of the airport, avoiding Luton itself and Leighton Buzzard. As previously, planes will still line up with Pitstone Windmill on their descent to the runway, so no change there. There may be more planes over Cheddington, but as the airspace was previously un-allocated to any airport, Luton planes have been using it when free for some time.
If the proposals to replace the runway at Luton are approved, a new runway will be built almost 1KM south of the present one, necessitating alterations to all flight paths.
Ivinghoe Youth Hostel proposed closure
GROUP FORMED TO RESIST CLOSING IVINGHOE YOUTH HOSTEL
Local people and amenity groups have stepped up their campaign to save the Ivinghoe youth hostel, threatened with closure later this year.
A crowded meeting in the Ivinghoe Village centre agreed to seek urgent responses to key unanswered questions about the Youth Hostel Association’s (YHA) case for shutting the 80-year-old hostel.
“The proposed closure could make it much harder for young people to visit and enjoy the local facilities and some beautiful countryside, in part of the Chilterns’ Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,” said local councillor Mrs Avril Davies.
“ We believe the hostel is an essential feature of the Ivinghoe conservation area and has been part of daily village life for 80 years. We need to know if the YHA has spoken to the affected communities, or consulted with anyone on this important decision.
“The YHA’s mission statement is to aim to help all, especially the young of limited means, to greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside. How does the decision to close this hostel square with this mission?”
Various speakers reiterated how well positioned the hostel was very long list of attractions. As well as enabling the study of a village community, it is a within walking distance of Pitstone Farm Museum, Pitstone Windmill and Ford End Watermill. The European award -winning College Lake nature reserve, the Ridgeway long distance path, the Chilterns chalk downland, Ashridge forest, the Grand Union canal, Tring reservoirs, and Whipsnade zoo are all close by.
Local people highlighted the hostel’s other uses. The hostel had been the baby clinic for years, it is currently used by the Ivinghoe handbell ringers for practice, by the church for social occasions,.
The meeting was read a letter from the YHA, which wants to close the hostel from October this year. The letter said the Ivinghoe hostel is only up to one star standard , and would require an investment of about £250, 000 to bring it up to the association’s required three star standard. According to the YHA, the hostel is only 35% full over the year, with around 6000 overnight stays a year.
However speakers at the meeting questioned these figures, and asked that the YHA explain them. For instance, were the hostel’s accommodation figures above or below the average for YHA hostels? And if numbers are the issue, where is the YHA’s marketing strategy? Has consideration been given to extending the activities available at the hostel?
The meeting agreed that the next steps would be to form a campaigning group, and to write as individuals to: YHA trustees; the YHA chief executive and
regional director; to the Charity Commission, and other influential bodies involved in the countryside.
It agreed to create a dossier of all letters, the history of the hostel and its role within the village, to send on behalf of the group to key individuals in the decision making process. Cllr Mrs Davies said the aim was to support the hostel to stay open by whatever means appropriate, and invite the YHA to talk.
Contact Avril Davies on 01296 668152
acdavies@buckscc.gov.uk
January 2006
Lorry Watch
In November Keith Shaw one of the highway network managers for Bucks County Council made a presentation of the Local Transport plan to a joint meeting of parish councils for the Ivinghoe Division. I brought up the subject again of a weight limit on Ivinghoe High Street and Marsworth Road. Keith told the meeting that recent environmental weight limits had been challenged by the road transport lobby and taken to public enquiry. In his opinion the most effective way to prevent unnecessary through traffic by heavy vehicles was to contact the lorry companies. He volunteered to do this if people could let him know which firms were involved. You can either contact him direct or through me.
Tring Station Bus
Following BCCs unsuccessful attempts to resurrect our own service by combining it with the Tring Station to Aldbury bus, I have joined forces with the Hertfordshire County Councillor for Tring to try and get Bucks and Herts around the table to see sense. With the mayhem of closing the new bit of the station car park the future of Tring station may soon depend on good bus services.
Cheddington station
The off peak train service from Cheddington now takes only 42 mins to Euston, leaving at 32 mins past the hour, but don’t get caught without the £4.00 for the car park. Because parking along station road forces cars on to the wrong side of the road along a bend, the police are blitzing parked cars for obstruction. (Peak train times are still half hourly.)
Time extension to Ivinghoe Aston Quarry applied for
On 18th January the Ivinghoe Aston Quarry Liaison Committee met to hear the details of a planning application submitted by Clark Contracting to Bucks County Council in late December to extend operations at Ivinghoe Aston Quarry for a further 12 months, and question the applicant and planning officer.
Their stated reason for the application is that in the early years of operation before the exemption of restoration sites from landfill tax, they received very little material to fill the site in the face of competition from unlicensed sites which were never liable for the tax. After the site was exempted, business picked up but remained restricted to the agreed number of lorry loads per day, so they have been unable to complete the restoration within the required timescale.
Additionally in recent years operators of such sites have been directed by the government to recycle as much material as possible, so an additional 15% of material has been needed to complete the scheme.
The application states that from December 2005 to June 2006 material will still be brought to the site as at present, with recycling continuing, although topsoil will remain on site for final restoration.
From June to August phase 1 and phase 3 will be restored. In September the bund around Briar Bush House will be removed and phase 2 will be restored and the area of the recycling plant. Finally from October to December the restored area will be sown, the wheel wash removed and restored, the buildings dismantled and recycling equipment removed.
All existing conditions will still be applied to the operation including the financial bond in case of defaulting on the scheme.
Technically three applications have been made, the main one being the extension of operations as outlined above, with separate applications for the recycling centre and the buildings to remain on site for the duration.
Comments can be received for inclusion in the report to committee up to the end of January, although late submissions will be taken in to account. The applications can be found on the Bucks County Council website www.buckscc.gov.uk numbered 98/0116/AMI; AWD/0991/93; 96/0919/AWD.
I called the committee together as soon as I received the details of the application, as a means of understanding this application, and getting an informal update on progress with quarry 2 at Pitstone from Clarks who also lease that site. The legal agreement binding conditions on the landfill permission for part of quarry two has been 18 months in the making and is still not complete. The conditions include a geological liner and pollution control measures imposed by the Environment Agency. Once this legal agreement is signed a license to operate must be applied for to the Environment Agency and may take up to a further 12 months to complete. The operator of Ivinghoe Aston has personally undertaken not to begin any operations in quarry 2 until the Ivinghoe Aston scheme is complete.
