Avril Davies

County Councillor's Annual Report 2010 - 11

2011-04-25T18:25:00.001Z

2010-11 has been an interesting year of change. The County Council put a lot of activity on hold not only in the time running up to the general election, but for several months afterwards until it was sure of the direction of change. It took the opportunity of that time to attempt to see where it could remove £90M from its budget over 3 years.

The Government did slash public spending in some areas, while spending more in others. Local Government appeared to have taken a very big hit, particularly this year, with what is described as 'front loaded' cuts, meaning more has had to come out of the budget this year than in the next two.

In the event, Bucks County Council had a far better settlement than expected. It is partly cushioned by the fact that 80% of its budget is already funded by Council tax, so was not affected, and only 20% is funded by the Revenue Support Grant. The revenue support grant was cut by less than 1% overall, and by not increasing council tax the County was paid around £5m extra by the government. The County also received about £36m capital grant which was totally unexpected, very welcome, and much needed.

The reason the County has had still to make about £20M cuts is that inflation has to be taken into account, so rising costs have not been met, and specific funding grants for specific services and projects have been taken away, and merged in to the overall grant.

There will be an effect on front line services, disproportionately in social care, learning disability and mental health. But the most obvious one locally is the change to the rural library service, where 14 local libraries, including Ivinghoe, where 50% of the funding is being withdrawn, and they are being asked to become Community Libraries, so that the service can be delivered in a different way.

As a Lib Dem Group we opposed the budget on the grounds of the choice to spend £9Mpa plus £30M capital on EFW plant at Calvert. Our alternative would have been to invest in more waste reduction and recycling and share EFW facilities on the County borders. I called it Buckinghamshire’s ‘Trident’ meaning that it was the most expensive budget item, with other possible alternatives, but was being driven along by a political agenda.

We chose, as examples for alternative investment of some of the money earmarked for waste; school improvement to close the achievement gap which is very noticeable in Bucks; no further increases in charges for social care, because that can lead to bigger bills later on as people do without support; and restoring bus subsidies, as these were decided on with no research. It was then established that nearly all users of subsidized evening and weekend services are using he buses for work, or other economic activity, such as shopping or leisure, or for caring for relatives in hospital or at home.

Locally we have been affected by the library issue. In Ivinghoe negotiations are going forward for the Town Hall trustees to look after the library, which is in the same building. The Trustees, with the friends of Ivinghoe Library, are negotiating a ‘service level agreement’ or equivalent with BCC for staff, books, and IT. Savings will be made through being able to pay for overheads independently, being a charity, and, hopefully, keeping the rent from the post office as income. They will need to generate income through grant applications, and the use of volunteers. The Friends and Trustees will be able to run the library independently.

The other very big issue exercising the Count Council has been the High Speed Rail proposals, HS2. The intense opposition from the communities along the preferred route, through Great Missenden and Wendover led to the County Council opposing the preferred route, but advocating a West Coast main line alternative. This option had been ruled out by the government, and those of us living with the line know how impractical and disruptive this would be, and highly unlikely to be implemented. However I have made it more than clear that while opposing the preferred route on the grounds of the business case and the effect on the Chilterns AONB, the County's position of supporting the west coast main line undermines their arguments, as if there is no business case there is no business case for the line anywhere. The west coast main line also runs through the Chilterns AONB - or didn't they know? I have not voted for any of the proposals to put money in to a fighting fund against HS2 because of the position on the West Coast main line.

Stop press. On Thursday 22nd April the County Council formally dropped their West Coast Main Line position.

My fellow county councilors who co-chair the GBWI Local Area Forum with me I think that the Forum has been very successful in bringing people together to share local concerns and common interests, and in putting funding in to local priorities. - Footpaths – Cheddington, Edlesborough, Aston Abbots, Ivinghoe; GBWI pilot FQP (see below); Youth activities

The Freight Quality Partnership to tackle the inappropriate use of country lanes by HGVs. An inaugural meeting was well attended by parishes from the three county divisions involved, Great Brickhill, Wing and Ivinghoe, as all have these problems. The freight industry also attended, as did the police, county and district councils. The working party and second full meeting has already made considerable progress towards collecting traffic information, contacting freight operators, getting full support of the County and District Councils, and setting up a website.

‘Objective

This Freight Quality Partnership aims to work collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to direct heavy goods traffic to roads of most suitable use and to ensure that Buckinghamshire’s roads provide freight transport operators with the most efficient and user friendly routes through the county

Outcome

This Freight Quality Partnership believes that if the objective can be achieved the outcome of the work undertaken by and on behalf of the group will enable the County to get traffic flowing in a way that benefits the economy and the environment’

April 2011 News Round Up

2011-04-06T11:25:00.001Z

Pitstone Quarry 2 Application for landfill turned down

The long history of the quarry under Pitstone Hill completed another chapter in March when Bucks County Council refused planning permission for the quarry to be used for the disposal of inert waste. A site such as this in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty can only be used when there is inadequate provision in the County plan for waste disposal for the next 15 years. The County were able to show that there is enough landfill capacity elsewhere within the County, to prove there was no need to use Pitstone.

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty were designated alongside National Parks, and have the same status, the difference being that AONBs are closer to centres of population.

Cheddington Station Booking Office closure proposed. (result unknown at time of writing)

Many people including myself have written to deplore these proposals. Not only had the booking office been recently refurbished with toilets – more than can be said for Tring station – but the office provides a warm and sheltered place to wait, pick up a newspaper and a coffee, also better than Tring. Most importantly, not everyone is happy to use ticket machines. They are difficult to see in certain lights, slow, confusing, occasionally out of order, and above all don’t sell season tickets. And buying a ticket on the train you run the risk of getting fined.

Home to School Transport – Bucks County Council want changes to save £1.8M

At the time of writing changes to eligibility for free transport to school are being proposed by Bucks County Council in an effort to save £1.8M. By the time you read this, changes may already be decided, or the whole thing called in. Pupils travelling to Cottesloe School are unaffected, and I have had it in writing that free transport to Tring School from Ivinghoe and Pitstone will also not be affected, nor from Marsworth where the walking route is just short of three miles and considered unsafe. This is because Tring is the nearest secondary school. There is a ‘line’ in Cheddington however where Tring School and the Cottesloe school are equidistant, and I have requested clarification. I have also written to protest at the ridiculous proposal to provide free transport ONLY to the nearest school in a catchment area. This means that from this side of Aylesbury, grammar school pupils opting for the Henry Floyd would not get free transport, although had they opted for the High or Aylesbury Grammar they would. From the Haddenham side of Aylesbury, the position would be exactly in reverse. Additionally any changes would be applied to existing pupils even though last year it was made quite clear when choosing schools that transport to all three schools of more than 3 miles was free. This has caused a big stir especially in the south of the County, where parents have enlisted the help of their MP, Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, and may be calling for judicial review.

The Scrutiny Committee of which I am a member, has heard from parents affected, and criticised the way the consultation was inadequately publicised, difficult to access, and will be questioning the cabinet member concerned at a special meeting on 12th April

Local Initiatives

The County Council, as part of its economy drive has proposed that 14 rural libraries become community owned and managed. After several exploratory meetings following on from a presentation from the Library service in December, the Friends of Ivinghoe Library have re-formed, and the Ivinghoe Town Hall trustees have agreed to carry work forward. The new post office and shop in the building is really welcome.

The first meeting of the local Freight Quality Partnership pilot took place in February and again in April, and has set up a working group. The Partnership has members from most Parish Councils in the Great Brickhill, Wing and Ivinghoe Area, AVDC and Bucks County Council, the Police, the freight industry associations, and the Council for the protection of Rural England. The working group is currently collecting information, setting up a website, and making contact with adjacent counties, with a long term view of providing the tools to better manage freight journeys for the benefit of local residents and the freight operators.

County Council Budget Cuts

I usually steer clear of trying to explain complex financial issues, but the whole country is talking about ‘Cuts’ and here is no exception.

After the 2010 election and before the announcement of the spending review, Bucks County Council took the opportunity to see if it could remove £90M from its budget over 3 years.

When the cuts came the Government did slash public spending in some areas, while spending more in others. Local Government appeared to have taken a very big hit, particularly this year, with what is described as 'front loaded' cuts, meaning more has had to come out of the budget this year than in the next two.

Bucks County Council had a far better settlement than expected. It is partly cushioned by the fact that 80% of its budget is already funded by Council Tax, so was not affected, and only 20% is funded by the Revenue Support Grant. The revenue support grant was cut by less than 1% overall, and by not increasing council tax the County was paid around £5m extra by the government. The County also received about £36m capital grant which was totally unexpected, very welcome, and much needed.

The reason the County has had still to make about £20M cuts this year is that inflation has to be taken into account, so rising costs have not been met, and specific funding grants for specific services and projects have been taken away, or merged in to the overall grant.

There will be an effect on front line services, disproportionately in social care, learning disability and mental health. But the most obvious one locally is the change to the rural library service, where 14 local libraries, including Ivinghoe, where 50% of the funding is being withdrawn. They are proposed to become Community Libraries, so that the service can be delivered in a different way.

I and others think that the proposed spending of £30M capital and £9M pa revenue on a waste to energy plant at Calvert is unnecessary, and I described it as ‘Buckinghamshire’s Trident’ to the delight of the Bucks Herald headline writers. By which I meant that the money was needed more elsewhere.

Aylesbury Vale District Council has also received a significant reduction in grant. However it has decided to take the shortfall out of reserves in the immediate future, and bring forward a revised budget after the elections.

January 2011

2011-01-09T12:47:00.000Z

Ivinghoe Library Two important dates for your diary.
A good number of people turned out on December 16th to hear Paula Buck, acting head of head of culture and learning, and Cllr David Schofield cabinet spokesperson for libraries, to hear about BCC’s need to make less money go further in the library service.

By turning over the management of the library to a voluntary committee, and providing core funding, it is hoped to not only keep the library and librarian, but open longer and provide a wider variety of services. This way of operating would free the library from the restrictions of the Libraries Act, and a local management committee would be able to fund raise in ways the library service cannot.

On Tuesday February 1st there will be a meeting at Ivinghoe Village Centre at 7pm to re-form the FRIENDS OF IVINGHOE LIBRARY and brainstorm ideas of how we want Ivinghoe Library to be in future.

This will be followed on Thursday February 17th with another meeting in the Town Hall with the County Library people, working out how to take those ideas forward.

Road gritting information on line.

Many people will have already found the BCC web page http://www.transportforbucks.net/Winter-maintenance.aspx that tells you where the gritting vehicles are, when gritting is taking place, and how much grit is being applied. There is also a link to this on the village website http://www.ivinghoe.co.uk/
where BCC gritting news updates sent out on Twitter also appear automatically.

Refuse and recycling information by text
Although most of the waste and recycling collections have continued in the snow and ice, rounds have taken longer and unfortunately not all streets can be covered in the time. Finish times are dictated by the closing time of Newton Longville landfill site, and once or twice in the bad weather this site did not open at all.

For free up to the minute information text avdc sub Friday to 60060 and register for free text updates throughout the year on refuse and recycling collections. Or you can do it on line, at http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/do-it-online/avdc-text-alerts/

Area 13 speed limit review recommendations agreed by BCC cabinet

The long awaited recommendations to changes to some local speed limits were approved on 24th December. The full details of the decision can be found here http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/moderngov/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=2175
and the review, here http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/transport/area_13.page.

Now that we have finally got here, whether or not they can be implemented in the current financial climate remains to be seen.

Councils hit hard in Government spending review cuts.

The County Council says that although the cut in the rate support grant will be only 0.6% of an overall budget of nearly £400m it will actually lose nearer 14% or £11m when other grants are taken in to account in 2011. A further £8m will be cut in 2012. However those grants were often given for specific projects, now completed.

The County has been planning for £90M in cuts over 4 years, which some have challenged as an extreme reaction. Cutting staff and services causes a great deal of stress to Council staff, and very vulnerable people who receive services, or who may need services but will lose their entitlement. That is not to say that there is not a case to reduce management overheads, inefficiencies, and provide service in a different, more cost effective way.

Aylesbury Vale District Council says it is the worst hit of all the Districts in the country, with cuts of 14% in grant this year.

Both Councils will have tough choices to make at budget time and their priorities will be widely challenged.

Energy from Waste (EFW) decision for Calvert called in

The BCC cabinet decision to go ahead with provision of an EFW plant at Calvert has been called in by the local County Councillor and is currently being taken through scrutiny special meetings before being returned to cabinet for further deliberation.

Local Area Forum and Freight Quality Partnership

Led by Ivinghoe Parish Council, Christabel Boersma and I have called an inaugural meeting on 3rd February at County Hall for people interested in forming a Freight Quality Partnership for the Great Brickhill, Wing and Ivinghoe Area. The money to pilot this project has been made available through the Local Area Forum which next meets in IVINGHOE TOWN HALL at 7.00 pm on February 15th , where the meeting of February 3rd will report back. FQPs in other areas have been able to bring road hauliers and residents face to face to understand each others needs and make mutually beneficial changes.

Best wishes for 2011

Avril Davies

District Councillor Ivinghoe and Pitstone

County Councillor

Ivinghoe Division

October 2010

2010-10-14T10:14:00.002Z

Aylesbury Growth Area

After years of talking and preparing for thousands of homes to be built around Aylesbury, the new government has abandoned the plans. AVDC had not completed the planning for this growth, but had been given notice by the Planning Inspectorate that the controversial plans to site the development on Aylesbury’s ‘Eastern Arc’ were likely to be found ‘unsound’. As a result AVDC has voted to withdraw those plans, and fall back on the saved plans from the previous District Wide Local Plan, now about 10 years old. Although this will have no effect on individual planning applications in the villages, it does leave the Vale vulnerable to speculative major developments such as seen recently in Buckingham, Soulbury, Fleet Marston and Winslow.

Waste and recycling

AVDC has now sunk to 232nd out of 394 authorities for the percentage of waste recycled – having previously been 71st out of 408. This is mainly because AVDC does not collect garden waste for composting. Other authorities have introduced this on a fortnightly rotation which has vastly increased both the amount of waste collected as well as the percentage recycled. However, Worcester recycles the same way as AVDC and manages to recycle 36% compared to AVDCs 23%. The government targets are based on weight, and AVDC introduced glass recycling in response to this, but what AVDC collects, steel, aluminium and plastic, which have most value and positive effect on the environment, is disadvantaged. The main point I am making is that although we have a fantastic household waste site at Aston Clinton, not everyone can take advantage of it, and there are many elderly people and those without a car who need to have garden waste collected for composting. The green bag scheme which operates at the moment is totally inadequate for hedge cuttings and woody waste which needs shredding and cannot be home composted. The County Council has been unable to secure composting sites in Aylesbury Vale, and it is almost impossible for community composting schemes to get licences. The District Council has used this as an excuse not to improve anything about the recycling service at all and do not have any sense of urgency about it. In an answer to a question from Cllr Cashman (Cheddington) they are still only considering measures recommended in a scrutiny review eight years ago to increase the size of the containers, collect mixed recycling including card and textiles.

Quarry 2 Pitstone

Several years ago BCC granted permission for Clark Contracting to restore part of the quarry with inert waste. About 2 years ago Clarks applied for a variation to that permission. BCC have been unable to determine this while waiting for the Environment Agency to respond with their view. The Environment Agency in their turn have to be satisfied that the applicants could fulfil the terms of the licence they would require should planning permission be given. Meanwhile I understand that Chilterns AONB have objected to the current application, although they did not object to the earlier one. This means effectively that we are back to the drawing board on this one. Bucks planners are hoping to bring this all to Committee for decision on December 14th.

HS2 update

The Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond has undertaken several well publicised tours of the route, and high profile meetings with Buckinghamshire MPs and Councils. The report back on this is that he remains adamant that HS2 will go ahead on the preferred route through the Chilterns. While this may be good news for those living near the West Coast Main Line as we do, it is not good news for those near the other route.

I am still incensed that Bucks County Council are arguing that there is no business case for HS2 and that it should not run through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, while promoting a West Coast Main Line (new route or upgrade is not clear) alternative on the case for business, and which also runs through the AONB. Surely this position undermines their whole case?

Libraries

Thank you to the two people who came forward to stand by as Friends of Ivinghoe Library after my item in the last issue. Bucks have drawn up a libraries strategy and I have been invited to a special preview as Ivinghoe is included. I will be meeting with Paula Buck, head of Libraries on October 26. I expect to hear that we can have a community library supported by the council at best, and no library at worst. I will keep everyone informed as the Library needs supporters.

The Bucks Debate and Public Spending Cuts

While there is so much speculation in the papers about cuts it is a good time to get away with cutting services. The County Council latest is that it thinks it will be facing a £90M budget deficit next year. How much of this is from reduced grant and how much from overspending may never be known. The Government spending review hasn’t taken place at the time of writing, and next years budgets are not yet known. Facts are in short supply. Bucks County Council held a series of events around the County in September called ‘The Bucks Debate’ where members of the public were given information on about 30 services provided by the council and asked whether they wanted them to remain as they are, reduce, or discontinue. Unfortunately they did not allow for the option that the Council should hand them over to someone else, such as a Trust, another council, or charity. I am chairing a review of the County Council’s consultation processes at the moment and we will be asking consultees, members of the public, outside experts, and others their views on how Bucks communicates, and how it uses the responses, including The Bucks Debate.

Speed Limit Review Area 13

This is plodding on.The steering group of local councillors, the review team and the police met on October 7th and with two exceptions, all the changes consulted on are being recommended for implementation – next financial year. Meanwhile there is considerable work to be completed before then, publishing the changes, surveying the sites for signage, and getting tenders for the work. In the climate of cuts I referred to earlier the little things that matter so much to rural communities seem most vulnerable. We have a ‘big society’ in our village communities, but volunteers are run ragged already. The only thing we can do about speeding is be responsible for our own driving.

Community Car Scheme

Even though the Ivinghoe Division, I am reliably informed, does not fit the profile for ‘Big Society’ maximum volunteering ( not enough wealthy retired folk) I’m delighted that the meeting in the summer to get a community car scheme running in our villages has found enough people to be able to start.

July 2010 Newsletter

2010-07-17T14:04:00.003Z

HS2 Latest
Back in April Bucks County Council stated their preferred alternative route for HS2 was along the West Coast Main Line. They weren't too clear whether they meant upgrading the existing line, or following one of the HS2 alternative routes that swept through Pitstone Green business park and on to Cheddington. Either proposal was equally unacceptable to me and I proposed, and lost, an amendment to a motion at the County Council requesting that this preference be deleted from their submission to HS2 and that all routes through the Chilterns AONB be opposed equally. After the discussion several Aylesbury Vale Conservative Councillors told me they supported me but had not been able to vote for me on party lines.
Many people have subsequently pressed the County Council to come round to this view, including our MP, the Chilterns Conservation Board, and local individuals. At a meeting in July with the cabinet member for transportation Val Letheren, hinted to me that the County were now re-considering their position as expressing a preferred alternative could weaken their overall case - exactly the point I made at Council.
My opinion is that the West Coast Mail line option is so impracticable and expensive it was rightly discarded in the first place by HS2 as a viable alternative; but that the County Council should not have suggested damaging one part of the County in order to protect another 'more valuable' part. Val Letheren in debate said that 'their' Chilterns AONB was 'more valuable' than 'ours'.
The government are currently reviewing the whole thing to see if it can link in Heathrow Airport .

Changes to Adult Social Care Services
Changes have already begun in Bucks and elsewhere so that people needing social care (to enable them to live in their own homes for example) are able to decide for themselves what services they need, through spending their own personal allowance. Eventually everyone eligible will receive their own budget. This means people will need very good advice and information on choices available to them, and a much more diverse range of services will have to be made available to people. As part of these changes the County Council are looking at day care services. They have begun to talk to individual users of day care centres and to the wider public on how the current service might be provided in the future. In Aylesbury Vale they are proposing a new super-centre in Aylesbury, with a subsidiary centre in Buckingham, and a network of community facilities where users can choose to go in the day. The detail on these community facilities has not yet been filled in, nor how people will be supported in choosing what to do if they don’t want or are not able to attend the new day centre. I am expecting a lot more information on which to make a judgement after the consultation has been completed and people’s preferences have been heard, the financial aspects have been looked at and the full plan proposed. Naturally current users and their carers have been very unsettled by this. However it is very early days, and although it is expected day centres will be closing, there are no dates, and changes for people will happen on an individual basis only when their needs are being provided for.

Friends of Ivinghoe Library needed

There are NO PLANS TO CLOSE IVINGHOE LIBRARY. But how it is run MIGHT change. We need a re-formed Friends of Ivinghoe Library to meet that challenge when it comes.
The Government comprehensive spending review in the autumn is expected to lead to budget cuts in local government. The libraries are always vulnerable. As it is, nearly all BCC’s library resource has been poured in to the new library at High Wycombe, and it’s still unable to open on Mondays. In the past the County has always closed down what it cannot control. In the last round of library cuts everything was taken out of the affected libraries; computers, books, shelves, even the kettle. The community libraries that were set up in their place started with nothing. The two in the Chalfonts have been so successful that the County are considering a re-think whereby the county could partner a community library. In other words they could call on the community to support a much depleted service, while still providing the building and the IT for example, but leaving the community group to find the books, and even the staff. This would be bad news for Ivinghoe, and I would do all I could to prevent it, but closing the library would be even worse. To help stave off the day when we might be faced with this please contact me about becoming a Friend of Ivinghoe Library.

Great Gap Circular Walk grand opening September

This project began as a long held aspiration for a safe footway to link Great Gap to Ivinghoe. A bid put in by Ivinghoe parish Council was supported by other Parishes in the Local Area Forum, and developed in to a circular walk right up to the canal at The Brownlow. The path will open in September once the nesting season is over and it becomes possible to breach the necessary gaps in the hedges. This project, made possible only by the vision of the BCC rights of way team in seizing an opportunity, and the hard work of Jackie Wesley, BCC Local Area Forum Co-ordinator and Ivinghoe resident, in bringing grant funding bodies and landowners together, has so caught the imagination that not only has the BCC cabinet heard all about it in great detail, and sanctioned the grand opening, but BBC Radio is supposed to be making a programme about it ( and may have already done so).
Cheddington High Street and Footpath to Cooks Wharf

The High Street is going to be resurfaced in August, Hooray. The final length of the footpath project has been awarded funding from the Local Area Forum and the Comma Fund and can now be completed too the benefit of three parishes, Marsworth Pitstone and Cheddington.

Community Car Scheme and trial Freight Quality Partnership

These two new projects are being initiated through the Local Area Forum - where the County and District meet the Parish Councils and interested members of the public. The initial car scheme meeting is planned for 14th July and it is intended that two schemes will cover the villages of the Ivinghoe County Division along the lines of other successful schemes throughout the country.

The Freight Quality Partnership is a piece of work that will look at how villages in other parts of the country have worked with local and national businesses to promote mutual understanding of the needs of the haulage industry and residents, with the aim of reducing the impact of freight on the rural environment. Although the County’s emerging transport plan had this as a priority, everything is on hold until the government’s spending plans are known(!) so the Forum has agreed to support the preliminary work by the community in setting up a partnership . Anyone interested in finding out more baout either of these please contact me acdavies@buckscc.gov.uk. or jwesley@buckscc.gov.uk
The Local Area Forum has a delegated budget to spend on priorities put forward and decided on by the members, and is able to attract additional funding for nearly all it does.

Community Leaders Fund

The first call on the fund for this Division this year was to ensure the Great Gap Circular walk didn’t fail ‘for want of a nail’. Subsequently it has been able to pay for deer alarms (that broadcast radio4) for the new Pitstone allotments and benches for the Cheddington School orchard. These small sums have all been little nails completing bigger projects, and there is still a bit of money in the pot.

Bucks County Council wants High Speed Rail next to the West Coast Line

2010-04-24T10:39:00.001Z

A report in The Bucks Herald on Wed 31st March, stated that: “Bucks County Council, supported by all of Bucks district councils, is advocating a route which follows the west coast mainline and includes an intermediate station at Milton Keynes”.

It must be made clear at this point that as far as HS2 Ltd and the Department of Transport, the West Coast Main Line options have been rejected and Bucks County Council have not been invited to state a preference. Consultation on a single route west of Wendover and Aylesbury is scheduled to begin in October 2010.

Bucks County Council has published a full colour A3 leaflet opposing the officially proposed route, proposing instead one of the rejected alternatives along the West Coast Main Line, supported by all County Districts.

At an AVDC council meeting on 14th April, under pressure from Avril Davies, (Lib Dem, Pitstone and Ivinghoe) Corry Cashman (Lib Dem, Cheddington and Marsworth) and Peter Cooper (Independent, Wingrave and Aston Abbots) the District Council withdrew its support from the west coast main line option, and declared its opposition to all HS2 routes through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding natural beauty and Aylesbury Vale.

However the County Council Conservative administration put a motion to the County Council on 22nd April which stated that ‘any routing’ through the AONB was unacceptable, and that the proposed alternative routings through Buckinghamshire are ‘equally unacceptable’. They then went on to say that if a case was made for high speed rail the council’s preferred routes are ’along the West Coast Main Line or in a non-AONB routing.’ The County Council cabinet members were unable to clarify if they were referring to the HS2 (rejected) west coast main line proposal, passing MK to the west, or an option of their own devising alongside the existing route.

Avril Davies proposed an amendment to the motion, requesting removal of any mention of the west coast main line preference, which was defeated on party lines. She said that if the main reason for opposing the route was the effect on the AONB, preferring a different route, still through the AONB, would weaken their case. That it was not clear which route they meant, that it is not necessary to commit to any route at this stage, and that they no longer had the support of AVDC. Persisting in advocating the WCML would bring a blight on house prices in the area which HS2 had specifically intended to avoid by proposing one route only.

There are many other very good reasons for HS2 not to follow the WCML, most of which contribute to its official rejection by HS2 and the government as an option.

In the County Council debate the cabinet member for Transportation made it clear that they wanted to use the west coast main line option as a trade off for ‘our more beautiful Chilterns’, and said that ‘people who live by the West Coast Main Line knew they were near the railway when they bought their houses’. The Cabinet member for planning stated that the possibility of a station at Milton Keynes would bring benefit to the Bucks economy.

Afterwards Avril Davies said ‘Their motion was nothing more than crocodile tears about the AONB, as they made it quite clear they are perfectly happy to offer up parts of it as a sacrifice to protect their own back yards, and gain some economic advantage at the expense of others, namely, us. They made it quite clear they place a lower value on the quality of life for residents of this part of Bucks’.

County Councillors Annual Report 2009-10

2010-04-16T14:55:00.003Z

County Councillors Annual Report 2009-10
Each year some of the Parishes in the Ivinghoe Division ask me to contribute an annual report as County Councillor so I usually make it my contribution to the newsletter at this time, to share it more widely. I am County Councillor for Ivinghoe, Ivinghoe Aston, Pitstone, Edlesborough, Dagnall, Northallm Slapton Cheddington and Marsworth and was re-elected in July 2009 for a third term. I am also District Councillor for Pitstone and Ivinghoe and I will write a similar report for the next newsletter for the District Council as well as any up to date news.

In June 2009 four yearly elections were held and the County Council began a new term with 46 Conservatives and 11 Liberal Democrats. There are no Labour members. Two former Labour members who joined the Liberal Democrats were re-elected for a High Wycombe Division. All members sign a Code of Conduct, make a Declaration of Interests on the public record, and are paid independently assessed allowances, which are also published. Local Government is far more tightly regulated and far more transparent than National Government on these matters.

The County Council is run on a Cabinet system with cabinet members responsible for service areas, and a Scrutiny Committee which keeps controversial decisions under review and sets up working groups to scrutinise aspects of the County Council services and make recommendations to Cabinet. The County is responsible for Adult and Family well-being, which includes Social Services; Children’s Services including Child Protection and Education; Transportation, Planning (some) and Environment. It has Libraries, Trading Standards, Archaeology, Archives, and Museums, Registrars and Economic Development, Country Parks and other such discrete services fitted in to the three main directorates. This is also the first year that services have been delivered in a significantly different way via two major contracts; one for home to school transport and one for highways and related matters.
The very wide range of County services is reflected in the Cabinet Forward Plan. For July there were 60 items, and it rolls forward throughout the 4 year term. Many decisions (in the plan) are about long term strategy documents, and service plans, such as the Freight Strategy and the Local Transport Plan 3 that are being consulted on at the moment and have been to the Local Area Forum for example. Some, but very few, are major strategic decisions such as the Energy From Waste Procurement decision, from Covanta in Bedfordshire, which I mentioned in my October report, but which is currently being re-visited because of a legal matter. Most decisions are operational, about a school, such as Academy Status for Quarrendon, or additional money for potholes.
All this can be found on the County Council website, but only a taste in the Buckinghamshire Times. The website recently won a SOCITM award for its design ,content and useability.

To give you a personal flavour, as it’s very hard to know what to report on in such a report, I would say that since the elections the main preoccupations of the Council have been the ‘transformation’ of the organisation - its structure, its way of working, its use of IT, in order to reduce its costs. So far about half of the 500 anticipated staff cuts have been made and as you can imagine this makes working at the County Council very difficult for people not knowing how long they will have a job for, and inevitably services will suffer to an extent. For two years or more the County has been working with the four Buckingamshire Districts and the Fire Authority to set up a shared ‘back office’ service with a partner from the commercial sector such as BT or IBM. The costs of this so outweighed the savings that all the Districts and the Fire Authority withdrew in the New Year. The budget process takes a good 4 - 6 months with officer reviews, majority party reviews, and finally a public questioning by an all party scrutiny panel of each cabinet member over 2 days. Fourthly, the two contracts I referred to above with Amey and Jacobs Ringway have also had to bed down , and among members there is considerable concern as to whether these are going to be able to deliver.
Locally, looking at my quarterly reports over the year, published since 2008 on the County Council website, this year has been no exception with items on the perennial topics of HGV traffic and the Speed Limit Review, Now finally in Public Consultation for this area. It will take as long to develop the Freight Strategy Partnership approach to HGVs, as outlined in the recent consultation, but it is better than doing nothing, which is the current approach. The major planning application for Quarry 2 Pitstone still hasn’t come to committee more than a year after it was submitted,. The Children’s Centre in Ivinghoe, but for the whole Division, should begin building any day now - as with the speed limit review this part of the County is last or nearly last to be commenced. The Household Waste and Recycling Centre has opened at Aston Clinton which has been good news.

Finally, very locally I am always pleased to be able to put the Community Leaders’ Fund to good use and this year it has helped Cheddington Scouts, Slapton Village Hall toilets, Marsworth Parish Newsletter, and a new stairlift for Ivinghoe Town Hall.

The Local Area Forum has made a big difference to how the parish Councils and the County Council work together. The parishes from three County Divisions, Wing, Great Brickhill and Ivinghoe have worked together on their priorities and made some major achievements. The budget grant went to Cheddington last year for its footway, but the Ivinghoe circular walk which links Ford End, Great Gap and the Grand Union Canal attracted enough grant funding from elsewhere to make it look as if it’s going to happen any time now. Aston Abbots was also successful in getting a footway. Each Forum opens with a police and highway maintenance ‘clinic’ and has a varied agenda to follow. It has looked at good neighbour and community car schemes for example, and has had information directly on the Childrens Centres, Adult Social Care, Buses, and meets annually with London Midland Trains.

My role as a Councillor, as well as the local casework and correspondence which is easily an hour a day checking emails or phone calls plus at half to a whole day actually doing something about them, is meetings and preparing for meetings. I am a member of the Scrutiny Commissioning Committee which since July has had quite a heavy workload. It has looked at the value of all County ‘discretionary’ - prevention in social care for example. I have looked at the Swan Rider scheme which was losing #4M a year, and am currently looking at the Thames Valley Partnership which costs Bucks #1.4M to maintain speed cameras from which it gets no return, and other speed enforcement. I went out to Whaddon one morning at 7.30 am with an enforcement team recently. I didn’t do the budget examination this year, although I did on two previous years. Important reviews coming up are the Winter Maintenance review which will look at everything connected with gritting and potholes. I have been in correspondence with a local resident and asked if his letters can go to the review group as evidence of how the County is perceived by a reasonable citizen, with a view to the committee putting that point of view to those responsible for winter maintenance, both officers and cabinet member. Performance of both the major new contracts are going to be scrutinised minutely. In September I am going to chair a review of how the County carries out its consultations.

I am also a member of the Public Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee which is the local statutory watchdog for health services locally. This committee has recently joined with Oxfordshire and Hampshire to look at rural response times for the Ambulance Service. I am also the spokesperson on Adult Social Care for the Lib Dem group. Finally I am a member of the Bucks and MK Fire Authority where my main interest is the work the fire authority can do in reducing health inequalities with the PCT and County Council.
Avril Davies

Profile Edited April 2010

2008-02-24T11:10:00.010Z

Avril Davies District Councillor for Pitstone Ward ( Pitstone and Ivinghoe villages) Aylesbury Vale District Council.
County Councillor for Ivinghoe Division ( Ivinghoe, Pitstone, Cheddington, Marsworth, Horton, Slapton, Northall, Edlesborough and Dagnall villages) Bucks County Council. Liberal Democrat.
Avril has lived with her family in Pitstone for 25 years. She was first elected to Bucks County Council in 2001, and re-elected in May 2005 and 2009. She holds the Lib Dem shadow portfolio for Adult Social Care. She has supported local residents on education and social service issues, local schools on capacity problems, traffic calming and speed reduction campaigns.

Avril has also represented Pitstone Ward on Aylesbury Vale District Council since 1991 where she is currently Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem group and Spokesperson on Strategic Planning. Previously she has been the Chairman of AVDC, and Chairman of Environment and Health Committee.

2008-01-11T17:37:00.000Z

Ivinghoe Division News January 2008

Avril Davies

District Councillor Pitstone Ward (Ivinghoe and Pitstone)

County Councillor Ivinghoe Division (Edlesborough, Northall, Dagnall, Ivinghoe Aston Slapton, Horton, Cheddington, Marsworth, Ivinghoe, Pitstone)

Cairns and Camiers applications to increase vehicle traffic refused

Residents of Ivinghoe and Pitstone joined people from Cheddington and other affected villages at the Planning Committee held at Bucks County Council on 21^st December to determine the above application. The committee, on the officers recommendation, turned down both applications to increase lorry movements and in addition endorsed enforcement action on all breaches of planning control.

The reasons stated for Cairns were the that the applicant had failed to operate since 16^th January 2007 in accordance with the details set out in previous applications and consents, and that the proposed increase in vehicle movements would generate a significant additional level of disturbance to the amenity of local residents and other road users by way of noise, vibration and the additional number of traffic movements.

There were two red herrings at the meeting. A brief discussion on the definition of lorry and HGV. The committee needed to agree identical wording throughout. It did not need to identify the definition of an HGV – that needs consideration and is done at the legal agreement stage. Also the applicants attempted to imply that the Cheddington Ward Focus delivered by the District Councillor and myself, the County Councillor, was in fact the pre-determined Liberal Democrat group position on the development Control Committee. Ward matters, and particularly planning matters, are never pre determined by our group or any other group to my knowledge, but it was necessary to re-iterate this and as a result I also had to leave the public gallery for the discussion.

Community leaders fund.

So far this financial year I have been able to support all requests I have received as a result of publicizing the fund in Focus newsletters delivered to every door in the Division. These have been to

The National Trust, Ashridge, towards flailing hawthorn scrub between Edlesborough and Ivinghoe adjacent B488. This helps maintain chalk grassland and improve road safety as it reduces roadside cover for deer.

St John Ambulance Community Responders fluorescent jackets torches and other equipment not provided by NHS for volunteers running the scheme in Marsworth and Pitstone. This scheme uses volunteers trained to use de-fibrillators who are called out in their area to heart attack victims ahead of the ambulance.

Tuesday club Christmas outing

Aylesbury Vale Multicultural Centre events to mark the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

Pitstone and Ivinghoe junior football club goal posts

Pitstone and Ivinghoe baby and toddler club equipment

There is still some money left for this year and next year’s funding begins on April 1^st.

College Road Aston Clinton

The proposed energy from waste plant at College Road Aston Clinton has been dropped from the County Council’s consultations because the height of the chimney would have contravened defence airspace requirements around RAF Halton! Work will go ahead on the opposite side of the road on a badly needed household waste site, agreed some time ago at public enquiry.

Wing bypass.

A decision on the route of the road has been postponed because new rules brought in by the government would require this scheme to be part funded by the County Council, and the future growth plans for Leighton Buzzard and Luton are not sufficiently advanced for the effect on the routes to be calculated. The so-called ‘Cheddington route’ was definitely ruled out some time previously. The ‘alternative’ report by Friends of the earth local groups has just been published proposing measures to reduce traffic along the route.

Parking restrictions station road Cheddington.

It was proposed that Station road Cheddington should be incorporated into the Aylesbury Vale Special Parking Area and restrictions introduced. This proposal will be advertised in the local press in the new year. Parking is free at the station after 10am.

Interim findings on the Ashridge deer collision prevention trials

At a recent seminar it was shown that deer ignore the warning sounds and no more connect them with danger, than headlights. Once spooked the herd instinct takes over. It also appears that drivers are no smarter, as despite deer activated warning signs, and speed limit changes, drivers don’t register the risk and slow down. In Thetford Chase there has been more success with rumble strips which have reduced speeds by 5mph, which seems to have made a difference to collisions.

Northfield Road

Local Cyclists are lobbying Herts CC for urgent repairs to Northfield Road. I have joined in with representation to the local county councilor for that area and a direct approach to Herts County Council.

Planning application received for the next phase of Castlemead

This was registered in December. Work is starting on the highway and community requirements that will be the condition of any permission. I have already been in discussion about a cycleway along Northfield Road and proper joined up planning with Dacorum and Hertfordshire and the new Rail Franchise Midland Rail to restore the bus service to Tring station.

Water on Westfield Road and manhole on Marsworth Road Pitstone

Much effort has been put in by many people to get these two problems sorted. The water running across Westfield road appears to be run-off from the vacant site next to Goodrich. Several accidents were caused when it froze over. Taylor Wimpey constantly chase the owners to remedy the situation.

Similarly the County Council are chasing Anglian Water to fix the broken manhole cover on Marsworth Road at the end of Rushendon Furlong. It took months for Anglian Water to admit responsibility, but the date of repair 21^st December came and went with no action.

Best Wishes for 2008

September 2007

2007-11-29T15:06:00.000Z

Marsworth Airfield North - Applications submitted to increase vehicle movements

In January Bucks County Council granted retrospective approval to Cairns Skips operating from Marsworth Airfield North, for re-siting of buildings and the operation of recycling equipment. Conditions were attached to the permission, enforceable by legal agreement. BCC continued to monitor compliance with the existing conditions, including traffic movement.

By August the legal agreement on the new conditions was still not signed off, but Cairns submitted an amendment to increase vehicle movements from 24 to 84 per day. In September the other waste transfer business on the Airfield, Camiers, submitted an application to increase their vehicle movements to 124 per day.

Several years ago BCC and AVDC lost an appeal against development on the site. The planners have to balance the rights of the applicants and the interests of those employed on the site with the amenity of nearby residents.

Here are some questions the Council needs to address to get the right balance that will stand up to appeal.

Both applications are a challenge to the existing conditions. Are the existing conditions enforceable? If not what conditions could be put in place to improve enforcement? Why can’t the existing capacity of the site be maintained and enforced?

Currently waste vehicles over a certain size accessing the airfield may not go through Cheddington, Mentmore or Long Marston. Does this put an unfair burden on Ivinghoe, Pitstone, Horton and Northall? Doesn’t this show that the whole road network is unsuitable and the site is effectively landlocked. ?
Construction waste should be disposed of ‘locally’. How far away is local? The applicants suggest High Wycombe and Hemel Hempstead. I think those two towns should have their own facilities and not export waste to Aylesbury Vale. The County Council must make a ruling on its own policies. With quarry two at Pitstone having permission ( but not yet a licence) for similar operations, is there not already adequate capacity to treat local waste?
A time limit on signing off the legal agreement must be imposed. With a retrospective application the operators have continued to run for ten months without complying with the new conditions. While we can see the traffic, equally important, but away from public view, the other detrimental environmental effects still continue unmitigated by any conditions.

I hope to make sure the planning committee have enough evidence to limit and enforce these operations to the size already agreed.

Pitstone and Ivinghoe Aston Quarries

I have called a meeting of the liaison committee for the Pitstone quarry on October 24, as activity there continues. Enforcement officers have visited, but members of the public still have many unanswered questions of both the enforcement team and the operator. Prior to the Pitstone meeting we will review progress on the seeding of the restored Ivinghoe Aston quarry.

Wing Bypass

The decision on the route this may take has been postponed, probably for several years. New rules brought in by the government will make the County pay £8m towards the road (10% of the cost) and 20% of any overspend. As the County now has to pay commercial rates on borrowed capital, and has a long list of school building priorities, and infrastructure for growth in Aylesbury, this makes the scheme more or less unaffordable. The route was also given a very low priority in the Highways agency spending plans.

In addition, the traffic growth that will arise from the proposed growth of Luton, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, similar to that in Aylesbury, was not announced at the time of initial studies of the routes. When the Bedfordshire plans materialize, they may send the bypass options back to the drawing board.

Energy From Waste (EFW) proposals College Farm Aston Clinton.

Bucks County Council has consulted on the use of this site for a full range of waste treatment facilities from household amenity site to power generation. There are so many factors against using this site for EFW generation that I would be very surprised if it was chosen. MoD rules, I am told, mean the chimneys would be too near RAF Halton. The land may not now be available. The views from the Chilterns AONB are an important factor, and the proposal runs contrary to the County’s own policy that such a facility should be built on an existing waste disposal site. The traffic generation however would be a very small percentage set against the traffic growth from the proposed 9,000 homes to the south of Aylesbury. Finally the decision is due to be taken in spring 2009, immediately prior to the County elections!

The principle of utilizing EFW technology was not up for discussion in this consultation, only the proposed sites. The EFW decision was taken about two years ago, and reflects many other local authorities such as Hertfordshire, and Hampshire where EFW plants are already operating. This followed an even more extensive consultation that the recent one.

Aylesbury Southern Arc development propsals.

In my view, the proposed 9,000 homes clustered within an arc from Stone to Bierton, as consulted on this summer by AVDC, take the risk of eggs in a basket. The balance of advantage between this proposal, and the inclusion of sites to the north along trunk routes and the new railway station, is too close to call, and may jeopardize the Council’s planning powers if the government thinks AVDCs proposals are not robust enough. The Council has until May next year to develop the plan to pass the governments ‘soundness’ tests.

Second Class Refuse Collection

In a recent leaflet on waste and recycling AVDC announced that in 2008 it was going to extend to the whole district the current scheme operating in Winslow and Buckingham of alternate weekly collections of household waste and garden waste and other recycling.

Because of poor planning and lack of interest in the last 8 years, not only has AVDC dropped to the bottom of the recycling league tables, but it will not now be possible to put food waste in both collections. This is because AVDC has not developed the composting facilities that can legally take cooked food waste along with garden waste and cardboard, leaving the only option for food waste to be landfill.

In my questions to Council on this I have received three different answers from different members of the cabinet. One saying weekly collections will continue, but not specifically weekly collections of food waste. One confirming the alternate weekly collections as announced in the leaflet. The latest one this week specifically promised composting facilities that will enable weekly collection of food waste.

I have a motion to Council this month on the subject. I hope to achieve a U turn in the policies if it is not too late.

July 2007 - Latest on Ivinghoe Youth Hostel and traffic matters round up

2007-07-24T16:41:00.000Z

Ivinghoe Youth Hostel

Last November a small working group put forward proposals to the YHA to keep the hostel going, as a trust, while releasing the capital the YHA needed. In June I finally received a letter from them saying they were still proceeding with the sale in October.

The YHA were never prepared to talk to us, although they repeatedly assured us they would be making contact. We made our own arrangements to see the consultants they employed to produce a feasibility study for a YHA presence in the Chilterns, to ensure they understood the full potential of Ivinghoe. Thanks to the good offices of Steve Rodrick chief officer of the Chilterns Conservation Board who part funded the study, we discovered that although Ivinghoe was one of the three options put forward in the proposals, the consultants advised that the funding would be uncertain. At that stage a project plan hadn’t been put together for Ivinghoe , and no funders approached, so we will never know. But we did hear from Steve that if a local group such as ourselves tried to take our project forward, the YHA would have actively prevented us from approaching any funding partners they themselves would be approaching for their preferred options of Jordans or Halton. This makes me think our proposals weren’t so uncertain after all. The YHAs deadline of closing the hostel in October would have to be postponed for any alternative scheme to get off the ground, and I don’t think they will change this for anyone, especially us, who if we were to find funding for a project manager in that time, they would be very unlikely to do anything to help us keep a hostel which would eventually be competing with them.

Meanwhile there has been other interest in the hostel from a group of young people who want to live there as a group to show how by sharing resources a modern professional lifestyle can have a zero carbon footprint, including running the accommodation business to support the educational activities of the Chilterns Study Centre and College Lake. Originally conceived as a television reality show(!) the TV opportunity has now passed, but the intention to buy the hostel for the purpose still remains. I and Julie Lloyd Evans who owns and runs the study centre, will be offering this group as much support as we can give them. I understand they are actively seeking a mortgage in time for October. I hope the YHA don’t perceive them as a threat as well.

Traffic matters

On 6^th June clerks and councillors from all 6 parish councils in Ivinghoe division met with BCC to raise all the traffic issues of their parishioners. Tim Fowler, Group Manager Area maintenance North has ten follow up actions from the meeting, which he won’t be allowed to forget either by me or the individual Parishes.

Traffic Growth

Because of the M1 widening at Luton the A4148 at Northall has experienced an 8% growth this year, and a knock on effect in this area, which is hoped will reduce when the roadworks are complete.

I receive daily complaints about skip lorries and motorway maintenance vehicles from the airfield, which are duly passed on to the appropriate authorities to enforce planning and speeding restrictions. These are local businesses carrying out local journeys. Eddie Stobart on the other hand is not a local business carrying out a local journey. He is probably using sat nav to avoid the M1 roadworks.

Bucks is preparing an HGV strategy to restrict vehicles to preferred routes, but, to quote the ‘Ivinghoe Beacon’ I don’t hold my breath, as the Speed Limit review is currently running about 7 years behind schedule - public consultation now 2009, implementation 2010 - so what hope is there for an HGV strategy to be implemented?

Signage

A short term fix is to review the signs. There are too many anyway, but at the meeting It was suggested that Parish Councils could undertake to review local signage for improvements and consistency.

Weight Limits on bridges

There is currently a 17t limit at the White Lion Marsworth, and 8t and 6t axle weights at the other two bridges ( now out of date) There is no signed weight limit at the Brownlow bridge, which is being looked into – supposedly.

Community Speedwatch - what is this?

The villages of Cuddington and Swanbourne have recently completed a speedwatch trial, and it is hoped all villages will soon be able to do the same in conjunction with the police and neighbourhood action groups. Volunteers are trained to use radar speed checks, offending motorists are written to by the policeand Neighbourhood Action Group, and repeat offenders prosecuted in the usual way.

Grass cutting

I have formally submitted to the county consultation that grass verges within villages are all cut as if they are within the 30mph signs. For example, this would mean the footpath verge in Ivinghoe Aston, Watery Lane Marsworth, and Marsworth Road Pitstone between Westfield road and the roundabout would be cut more regularly.

Winter gritting

I also proposed that less weight was placed on traffic volume on rural roads which scored high on other factors in the the precautionary winter gritting assessment such as school bus routes, schools, bends and gradient, and that known accidents when the gritting had been withdrawn was also included in the assessment. This would apply to Ivinghoe Aston Hill, Slapton, Edlesborough High Street and Marsworth Vicarage Road.

Community Leaders Fund

As County Councillor I have access to about £2000 of funding for community projects. Please contact me if you would like to apply on behalf of an organisation. Over the years I have supported fundraising projects by scouts, playgroups, youth clubs, village halls, sports clubs, events, and parish councils.

January 2007

2007-01-23T21:02:00.000Z

Campaign to restore road gritting cuts

In October BCC announced a reduction in the winter gritting schedules, affecting many roads in this area, to meet a savings target of £200,000 by reducing the vehicle fleet. On October 17^th I wrote to protest and challenge the decision and after much prompting received a response confirming and endorsing the decision on November 22^nd. Local residents were by this time adding their voices of protest to those responsible at County Hall.

My concern for the roads affected in Ivinghoe Aston, Cheddington, Slapton, Edlesborough, Marsworth and Pitstone, was not only for motorists safety, but particularly for children waiting for school buses, often in the dark, and where there are no pavements. They are vulnerable to any skidding vehicle.

The cabinet member for transportation, Mrs Val Letheren, responded by agreeing to ask for the restoration of the budget cuts for next year – which is not the same as agreeing to restore the budget cuts next year, and totally inadequate for this year.

Unfortunately on Tuesday 19^th December there were multiple accidents on Ivinghoe Aston hill. I had had enough by then, and alerted the Bucks Herald, unnecessarily it transpired, as their own reporter had been involved in accident on an unsalted road at Aston Abbots.

On January 18^th I formally presented the dossier of correspondence, photographs and newspaper cuttings to the leader of Bucks County Council and the cabinet member for transportation, with a request for emergency funding to grit Ivinghoe Aston this winter by re-routing or the use of contract vehicles. By putting the matter on the public record as a petition, the issue must be addressed and a formal response made to the Local Aylesbury Vale committee.

On Monday 22^nd January the Cabinet member wrote to the residents of Ivinghoe Aston informing them the gritters would be routed down the hill in the afternoon.

Ivinghoe Youth Hostel Proposal

In December an outline proposal written by myself, Dave Sivers and Julie Lloyd Evans, was submitted to the chief executive of YHA.

The essence of the proposal is to create a Trust within which the YHA remains an active partner, but with others to establish a ‘high quality, nationally recognised, integrated centre for education and leisure in the Chilterns area of Outstanding naturl Beauty, offering overnight accommodation, tailor made activity programmes, and ‘signposting’ services to visiting schools, organisations, families and individuals’.

The only copy so far distributed has gone to the YHA out of courtesy. As soon as their response is is known it will be posted on the website and made available to anyone.

If the proposal is viewed favourably the next step would be to seek funding for a feasibility study.

Tring station car park and bus service.

Dacorum DC have granted permission for the proposed 2 storey car park at the lower end of the existing car park to go ahead as soon as possible, and temporary re-opening of the car park extension. Hertfordshire County Council have been interviewing bidders for the rail franchise currently run by Siverlink. Now that is complete, the Herts County Councillor, Nick Hollinghurst, and myself will be approaching Red Rose Buses directly to look at the feasibility of combining the Tring station bus service with Ivinghoe and Pitstone.

Cheddington Station parking

Parking restrictions for station road are on the council list for consideration! However, thanks to the District Councillor for Cheddington, Corry Cashman, undertaking correspondence and meetings with railtrack, parking at Cheddington is now free after mid day.

Local Government Reorganisation

The government white paper published last year challenged councils to cut costs and make decision making more local. It offered councils a choice to remain as separate Districts and Counties but save money by working together, or reorganise as unitary councils.

These proposals affect Districts and County structure, but not Parishes. Councils wanting to meet the challenge with change must submit proposals by 25^th January, for the government to accept or reject by March.

Over the past weeks and months two competing proposals have been prepared that in Buckinghamshire. One proposal is to form a single new council to represent Bucks (but not Milton Keynes which is already a Unitary Authority). It would have 19 community forums to reflect the diverse localities of Bucks, involve Parishes in decisions and offer more choice to Parish Councils about services they would like to undertake themselves. This proposal has been independently costed to save £9.2M.

The other proposal began as simply to improve two tier working between Districts and County as at present, but merging some services, eg legal, financial and IT, some planning, some public transport, some social care and housing. These proposals were estimated to save between £7.5 and £6.4M.

On the morning of January 18^th a deal was reached between the County Council and all the Bucks Districts to beef up the proposals for ‘Enhanced Two Tier’ into a ‘Pathfinder’ bid which is much more radical than the enhanced two tier working originally envisaged. This was voted on and agreed by the County Council in the afternoon.

Because this was a compromise, agreed on by all, there are as yet no published details of what will happen and how it will work!

The District Councils have agreed to pass the same deal through their Councils by the 25^th January deadline.

If the proposals don’t work, of if the Government doesn’t think they can work, the government will still reduce Bucks funding by it’s own estimated amount, probably around £10M. and it reserves the right to impose structural change to achieve the saving.

Whatever happens the District and Parish Council Elections will still take place on May 3^rd this year. Elections for the County Council will be in 2009.

Avril Davies

October 2006

2006-10-17T17:03:00.000Z

Substantial cuts to road gritting programme will affect our villages

On October 12th the gritting routes for winter were published. Substantial cuts have been made from gritting 47% of the county roads down to 34% to achieve a £200,000 budget reduction. In a letter to me Jim Stevens, Infrastructure Manager, says that Hampshire only salts 26%, Kent 28%, Wiltshire 25% and Dorset 29%, but when asked at the Local Committee what percent of the roads in Beds,Herts and Oxon are salted, which have population densities and road networks much more like Bucks, he was unable to say!

Jim Stevens says that roads no longer on the "priority salting network" will now only be "salted on a secondary basis if cold conditions persist for a period of time".
I am told that roads no longer gritted have been identified by a matrix of factors, including traffic, gradient, bends and school bus routes. Unfortunately these factors seem to have been applied perversely in our case, as Ivinghoe Aston Hill, the Slapton bends and Long Marston Road, Cheddington, are all on school bus routes, but are no longer on the "priority salting network".

In addition in Pitstone, Vicarage Road and possibly Cheddington Road will not be gritted; the whole of Edlesborough village off the main road, and Wingrave to Leighton Buzzard. Mentmore has never been gritted.

I have written to protest to Jim Stevens, copying in the council leaders, asking for the statistics informing the decision, and am finding out from other sources what happens in Herts.

Ivinghoe Youth Hostel

Following a meeting in July with the Chief Executive of the YHA Roger Clarke, where he agreed to consider a proposal for the future of the hostel a small group has got together to write and submit one before the end of the year . The initial proposal will be broad brush, outlining possible options. If the YHA like to direction, the proposal can be worked on further and possibly funding could be found for a project manager to carry it forward.

In brief, the idea is to turn the hostel in to a high quality, nationally recognised, integrated centre for education and leisure in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, offering overnight accommodation, tailor-made activity programmes and ‘signposting’ services to visiting schools, organisations, families and individuals. It could be owned and run by a Trust which includes the YHA, and other partners from voluntary and statutory organisations.

Ivinghoe Aston Quarry

The quarry operators sought and gained permission to extend operations for twelve months to complete restoration according to plan. A recent site visit by the liaison committee didn’t think that the work was as far on as it should have been according to the timetable submitted with the application. Unfortunately the operator couldn’t attend the liaison committee meeting, so two more have been scheduled before the end of November so that our questions can be answered and the committee be kept completely up to date with progress. The committee has also asked the BCC monitoring officer to keep a close watch.

Planning Application Marsworth Airfield

A planning application submitted in May by Euro-Demolition (Acorn Waste Management) to double the number of lorries using the site from 12 per day to 24 was withdrawn, when on visiting the site BCC planning officers discovered that the conditions of the original planning application had not been implemented. I was told that officers were expecting a new application to be submitted to ‘regularise’ this!! Several months on, nothing has happened. I have been reliably informed that on certain days 100 vehicle movements to this operation can take place. I have contacted the planning office and insisted that action be taken. There are many businesses on the airfield already abiding by planning conditions.

Deer collisions update

Latest figures from Ashridge show deer collisions this year to be down by half on the previous year. This is an ‘unofficial’ estimate, and the pilot scheme to warn motorists and deer alike has still more time to run before being fully evaluated. In addition new speed limits on the Ashridge estate are about to be introduced by Herts County Council.

Intelligent Road Studs

This is the latest iniative from BCC to reduce electricity costs for street lighting, and cut down light pollution. Tests are being carried out on stretches of road in Bucks and elsewhere using these and it is hoped that as well as being used on new road schemes, existing lighting will be replaced in sensitive areas where it is safe to do so. I am asking that the roundabout at Northfield Road be considered a priority for this, in view of the widespread objection to the lighting being there in the first place.

Electricity bills – bad news and good.

The Bucks County Council’s electricity bill is up 50% on three years ago, although consumption has gone up only 13%. In answer to a written question I put to the Council in September I was told that street lighting energy contracts are on a fixed price basis from April 06. Other gas and electricity contracts have always been on a fixed tariff. As well as the County’s own premises, schools will be the hardest hit with price rises.

These contracts are negotiated on behalf of the County by LASER, the largest energy purchasing consortium in the country which includes about 10 other County Councils along with industry and universities. The good news is that BCC buy their electricity from Scottish Hydro ( all electricity bought from renewable sources saves generating it with coal).

The County |Council belongs to the Carbon Trust, and is committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 3.8% by 2008/9 and is already ahead of target.

BCC Call Centre.

The call centre for all BCC enquiries 01296 395000 handled 1500-1900 calls a day in it’s first six months of operation. It is now handling Highways On Call as well, with limited success. The good news is that Highways On Call is now subject to the same performance measurement as the call centre, with jobs allocated a number, and tracked for response and completion times.

Sixty percent of calls are answered within 45 seconds, except in September. In September the call centre received 3,000 calls a day. This surge was the result of the forms going out for transfer to secondary education, as many people were unable to complete the form with the guidance given. As a result the form will be redesigned for next year. In previous years queries have been handled directly by the service, or in libraries, and the number of callers, and the problem, has never been identified.

You can also email the call centre and should have your enquiry fully answered inside 5 days. www.buckscc.gov.uk

Avril Davies

2006-08-19T13:32:00.000Z

Council houses transfer to Vale of Aylesbury Housing Association

On July 17th Aylesbury Vale DC will transfer all it’s housing to the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust. For tenants there will be little if any disruption, and for the first six months or so the housing trust will operate from AVDC offices with many of the same staff. The reason for the transfer is that instead of making over tenants rent payments to a national pool for redistribution to poorer authorities for housing improvements long since achieved by AVDC, the housing association can keep rent within Aylesbury Vale for improvements, and borrow additional funds to build more houses for families on the waiting list. AVDC like all other councils has not been allowed to use proceeds of the sale of council houses or raise money to build new homes for the twenty or so years since sales were first introduced. The Vale of Aylesbury Housing trust has an ambitious plan for improving former AVDC council houses with a five year programme of new kitchens and bathrooms.

Aylesbury New Lodge to be replaced – at last

In September this year the Bromford Housing Group will begin the total redevelopment of the Aylesbury New Lodge, the hostel for families made homeless. The redevelopment will be called Griffin Place and comprise 105 rooms and flats. The majority of homes will have their own bathrooms and kitchens, and be as close to a normal domestic environment as possible, but with an on site management team and high level family support and training facilities.

Green waste trial in Winslow to extend to Buckingham

The much publicised introduction of a brown second bin for garden waste and cardboard, including the up-to-now unrecyclable Yellow Pages, alongside a fortnightly collection of the ‘main’ bin, and continued collection of paper, cans, and plastic, has proved so successful it is being extended to cover Buckingham.

As a result householders are able to recycle as much as 60% of their rubbish. The recycling rate has increased in Winslow from 17% to 55% although that is expected to reduce over the winter months.

Bottle banks at Pitstone Wharf (Grebe Canal Cruises)
Please use the newly installed bottle banks at Pitstone Wharf if you find the kerbside container too small, or if the service cannot reach you. These banks are really close, and all recycling credits earned from them benefit you, the AVDC council tax payer, unlike the Tring ones, which benefit Dacorum.

Ivinghoe Youth Hostel Proposed Closure

After the public meeting in April, I composed a paper setting out the case for the hostel remaining open and sent it to all the 24 trustees, and to the all-party Parliamentary Youth Hostel group. As a result the Chief executive of the YHA has agreed to meet me at the hostel on July 20th.

Quarrendon Ancient Monument

Bucks Herald readers may wonder why I have taken the lead on AVDC in persuading the council to do more than the bare minimum to protect this site from the 6000+ houses that are going to be build next to it. It is because as chair of the Environment Scrutiny Committee more than four years ago, I set up a sub-committee to look in to the future of this important site. The sub committee commissioned a management plan from leading environmental and historic monument consultants, Alison Farmer Associates, who came up with a plan to safeguard the site and manage it in the future. The scrutiny committee under a new conservative chair unanimously recommended to the AVDC Conservative cabinet that funding be sought to implement the plan. Unfortunately the leader of the council refers to the monument as ‘ a pile of old stones’ and the cabinet are prepared only to ensure it is fenced off. They refuse to approach other partners such as English Heritage, or the EU, for help. The monument is currently owned by the Church Commissioners, but it is AVDC’s plans that are endangering the site.

The site was once a mediaeval village, with church and almshouses, and then an Elizabethan manor house with rabbit warren, seasonally flooded watermeadows for grazing, a mill, and ornamental watergardens. Nothing is left now except a series of moats and earthworks, and a bit of the church. However, because it has not been overlaid in subsequent centuries with other developments it has more to tell than most sites about it’s period, the air photographs are very clear, and the whole area which can only be grazed by sheep, is an oasis for wildlife. It is counted a site of regional importance.

It can be reached on foot from the A41 Waddesdon Road along the Aylesbury Ring footpath.

Avril Davies
12th July 2006

County Councillor’s annual report Bucks County Council 2005-6

2006-04-11T21:12:00.000Z

In the new Council elected in May 2005 I have the role of shadow portfolio holder for resources. This covers Finance, Risk Management, Property, Human Resources, Communications and Information Technology.

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

2006-04-11T21:07:00.000Z

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

April 2006 news roundup

2006-04-06T20:00:00.000Z

Deer Collision Project stage 2
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

2006-04-06T19:57:00.000Z

PRESS RELEASE 25TH FEBRUARY 2006
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

2006-04-06T19:51:00.000Z

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.

October News Update for Ivinghoe Division

2005-10-24T19:34:00.000Z

News Update for Ivinghoe, Ivinghoe Aston, Slapton, Edlesborough, Northall, Dagnall, Pitstone, Cheddington and Marsworth

Deer accident prevention trials at last

Field trials to reduce deer collisions are finally taking place along the B4506 Northchurch to Dagnall road through Ashridge in time for the dark evenings when this type of accident is at its worst.
Devices are to be installed on posts near the road which are triggered by passing traffic to give off a whistle to startle deer and prevent them dashing on to the road.
At the same time, an interactive sign that can be set off by the animals will warn drivers to slow down.
This is a joint project which has been going on for some time between Herts and Bucks County Councils, the Ashridge Estate and the National Deer Collisions Project, as reported in this column.

120 deer are killed annually by cars in Ashridge, not to mention the serious injuries to people these accidents cause.

I hope their effectiveness will be proved and they will be installed to protect local black spots where the deer cross regularly.

In addition to these Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire are exploring the idea of lower speed limits on an experimental basis across the Ashridge Estate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/4319238.stm

Tring Station Car Park Extension Closed

Although NOT my patch, the County Councillor for Tring brought to my attention that Dacorum Borough Council have refused a planning application to make this a permanent car park, mainly on the grounds of it being in the Green Belt and the AONB. The committee report for the application 4/01509/05/RET can be found on the Dacorum website. In essence permission was granted for a temporary car park and works site until December 2004, then the plans to reinstate the whole site to pastureland were approved. This was partly carried out, except for the removal of the car park. Another application was then made to keep the car park, which was turned down at the end of September.had it been approved it would have been a direct contradiction of the earlier decisions, and contrary to the Council’s expressed position on the countryside.

This decision has implications for this Division as many residents use the station and will want to know what has happened. It is ironic that within weeks of the car park closure the 170 bus service from the three villages will cease. The decision is controversial and runs against Tring Town Council’s aspirations for a Gateway Station, as well as being seen as a disincentive to rail users. (Although I think the £4 charge even on Sundays does that.)

There was a suggestion from Dacorum members that a S106 planning contribution from Castlemead phase 2 might pay for a 2 storey car park on the existing site. ( In my view this would be even more unsuitable in the AONB and could reduce funding available for school expansion and amenities in Pitstone) However the planning brief is now agreed and it is a little late in the day to suggest this.

In Brief

The County Council library service has recently proposed closing some branch libraries. Fortunately Ivinghoe Library was not one of them. Stewkley and Steeple Claydon were not so lucky. The decision on which libraries are to be axed seems to have been made by simply dividing the number of books borrowed by the cost of running the library. Luckily for Ivinghoe the costs of issuing a book are less than High Wycombe and many other places. It is sad that the value of a library is measured in the costs of issuing a book.

Protests have been submitted to the Cabinet member for community services for the way in which the decision has been taken and announced without consultation.

Following on from the joint parishes transport meeting, a meeting with the users of the Tring Station service was held on October 13th and five users attended. BCC had not been able to progress the taxi franchise as John’s Taxis had declined and no response had been received from Masons. There is no news yet on the outcome of the Community Bus bid.

Bucks CC car sharing scheme is open to all Bucks residents and at the meeting Mark Oldfield who has responsibility for the scheme has undertaken to approach Silverlink to negotiate free parking at Tring station for anyone participating in the scheme and going to the Station with 3 passengers. This agreement has already been made with Chiltern Railways.

The speed limit review for this area holds its inaugural meeting on November 30th about 12 months late. This is area 13. BCC is just implementing area 5.

Taylor Woodrow have failed to address the problems with the new football pitch opposite the Castlemead estate, supposed to be in use this season. More talks are underway to resolve this, and an independent consultant has been called in to adjudicate – yet again.

No news on when the next phase of Castlemead will begin. The development brief has been finally agreed and is available to the public on the AVDC website or Ivinghoe Library. Posts appearing in Quarry 1 are not for building but to improve conservation http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/ourenvironment/planning/news/pitstone.htm

The new classroom at Brookmead school will be officially opened on 4th November. It didn’t quite meet it’s deadline of the beginning of term, but squeezed under the line a few days late. I understand all pupils wishing to go to Brookmead this September were able to do so.

Avril Davies

August

2005-09-01T19:30:00.000Z

I took a working holiday alongside my husband in New Orleans, getting back a few days before the hurricane hit. I can't think of anything else except the devastation of that fascinating and historic city.

I particularly wanted to put up the information that in August the final draft plan for Pitstone was agreed between AVDC, Taylor Woodrow and Pitstone Parish Council and is on http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/ourenvironment/planning/news/pitstone.htm
Alternatively, a copy can be viewed at Ivinghoe library, or viewed or purchased (£10) at the AVDC Customer Service Centre, 66 High Street, Aylesbury, or purchased by telephoning 01296 585439.

No planning application has yet been received.

July update

2005-08-04T09:51:00.000Z

County Council Elections

I would like to thank all those who supported me in the elections. I was elected with an increased majority to represent the Ivinghoe Division of Bucks County Council. The Division includes Ivinghoe, Ivinghoe Aston, Slapton, Pitstone, Cheddington, Marsworth, Edlesborough, Northall and Dagnall.

Contrary to reports in the Buckinghamshire Times I remain a member of the Liberal Democrat group. The next edition of the Bucks times, the County Council’s own newsletter, will have to rectify six errors – not least three members attributed to the wrong party and one omitted entirely.

Community Leaders Scheme

Bucks County Council funds a ‘Community Leaders Scheme’which grants small sums of money to be used for community purposes within each division. Ivinghoe Division has £2,500 to be allocated this year, of which £250 has been earmarked for environmental enhancements. In the last four years many groups have benefited from the fund, so please contact me if you think your project could be eligible.

Grasscutting

The grasscutting contract is carried out by AVDC on it’s own land and on County Council land and highway verges. A new contract was put in place this year without benefit of maps! This has been rectified but the contractors are running behind because of the slow start without maps. In rural areas the contract is for 10 cuts spread over 10 months and the Parish Clerk has been notified of the cutting dates. I personally think a two or three week cutting schedule in the main growing season, and no cutting in November, December, January and February would be better, and I am talking to AVDC about this, as well as all the areas that have been left out, not only for cutting, but gardening maintenance as well.

The contractor, John O’Conner, has responded well to Councillors complaints and has an email address for members of the public to contact them for both complaints AND compliments enquiries@johnoconner.co.uk.

2005-04-10T17:12:00.000Z

Councillor Mrs Avril Davies

2005-03-28T17:56:00.002Z

I am the County Councillor for the Ivinghoe Division of Bucks County Council. I'm launching this blog in order to give local people an idea of the work I am involved in as your representative, and also to bring you up to date with local matters.
Councillor Mrs Avril Davies