Hawkwell Residents Association

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If you have any items of interest that you think would be suitable to be included in next newsletter please let us know via the website Contact Us , phone 01702 207297 or drop in to 2 Englefield Close. Only electronic documents please and if we believe they are appropriate we will include them. To print these pages it is best to use landscape.

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Our Autumn 2011 Hawkwell Voice Content

From Your Hawkwell Residents Association Established 1994

(or click on the pdf version: Hawkwell Residents Association Autumn 2011 Hawkwell Voice Newsletter Please Note in this pdf version and the distributed version, under ''Police Neighbourhood Meetings'' it should read: ''The Hawkwell area south and west of the Liverpool Street Line'' not ''south and east'').

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RDC Core Strategy

Rochford District Council (RDC) has had its request refused to delay the Core Strategy progression until December when the Localism Bill should have gone through Parliament. This would also have meant a further delay to the Hockley Area Action Plan, which will probably not happen anyway because of the current financial climate.In the meantime the developer David Wilson Homes (part of Barratt Homes) after having plans for 330 homes on the Christmas Tree Farm Area in Rectory Road rejected by RDC, has now submitted plans for 176 homes on this site. Coincidently this is just one more than the 175 RDC wanted in our area, with the additional home replacing one they would demolish. We have made it clear along with many others, that we do not believe this green belt area is a good location for development. Apart from spoiling the character of the area, Rectory Road joins the busy B1013 at one end and has single file traffic lights at the other. This is an area prone to frequent electricity black outs and we are sure other services would require considerable updating. Even though Clements Hall is in this area, there is only a limited bus service during the day and nothing in the evenings. The Christmas Tree Farm area is also a vital part of a green and wildlife corridor that runs through Hawkwell. The ‘Christmas Tree Farm Development Action Group’ has given RDC a petition of 791 signatures objecting to a development on this area. If you would like to add your objection please submit your comments about this application 11/00259/FUL on the RDC website under planning or by letter to the RDC Planning Department in South Street, Rochford. A decision should be made by RDC during September 2011.

Police Neighbourhood Meetings

Due to the way the police are organised locally, Hawkwell is split into two areas and we now attend the police Neighbourhood Meetings for both these areas. Some residents have asked why this is, and the answer is a bit complicated. The Hawkwell area south and west of the Liverpool Street Line is part of the Hockley policing area and has its own monthly police neighbourhood meetings at Clements Hall and they are separate from the Hockley meetings. The Hawkwell area north and east of the Liverpool Street Line is part of the Rochford policing area and has its bi-monthly police neighbourhood meetings at the Rochford Parish Council Meeting Room and they are integrated with the Rochford meetings. The good news is Hawkwell remains a relatively low crime area. Hockley has now joined Rochford in having a Dispersal Order against anti-social behaviour. The order that came into force in July and runs until January 2012 has already seen 57 people dispersed. We are informed that early indications are that anti-social behaviour in Hawkwell has started to drop. Please see the Police Information page on our website.

Summer Fayre

Hawkwell Parish Council is now planning their next Summer Fayre that is becoming a very successful bi-annual event with something for everyone from dog shows to belly dancers. The fayre will take place as it did last year on the Rochford Hundred Rugby Club ground in Magnolia Road from 12 noon on Saturday 2nd June 2012. If you are interested in getting involved or would like a stall at the fayre please contact the clerk Stuart Mennell on 01702 207710.

Digital TV Switchover

The Anglia TV region digital switchover took place in July and we have only heard of one issue. Some London and Southern region Freeview viewers are changed to Anglia when they retune their boxes, even though their aerials are not pointing in that direction. For more information please visit the switchover website: www.helpscheme.co.uk

Refuse Collection

Recycling has now been extended to flats but this has turned some areas into ‘Bin City’. Unfortunately unless someone can come up with a better system, we will have to put up with it.

Hawkwell Parade

Two and a half years ago we tried to get something done about the poor state of Hawkwell Parade but we did not get anywhere with the owner and the council’s health and safety department. Two years on and nothing has been done, so we intend to pursue this issue again. If any residents have issues with this area please let us know by writing or through the website as this will add weight to our case.

Central Area Committee

These bi-monthly Rochford District Council (RDC) public meetings were cancelled about six months ago. There were three areas for Rochford: west, central and east and we believe RDC intend to replace these with just two areas: west and east. We have also heard that they intend calling it a Community Forum meeting and they would be held every six months in two locations. Although we have put many residents’ questions to the old CAC meetings, we still have not so far received any information on this from RDC. In our opinion these meetings will be a bigger waste of time than the old CAC meetings, as to hold just two meeting a year in hard to get to locations will just make the situation worse. Also the old meetings were poorly attended because RDC seldom answered residents’ questions sufficiently. They were always on the defensive and mainly came up with the excuse that it was someone else’s problem and they would not be taking up the issue. For these reasons it is doubtful we will attend these meetings in the future.

Airport Expansion

Leases holders of the airport Stobart Group have opened the new station and control tower, the new bypass road is almost complete and objections to the runway extension have now been rejected. Aer Arann that are part owned by Stobart are running flights to two destinations in Ireland. EasyJet are now taking bookings for flights to eight European destinations that will start in April 2012 and they state that two more destinations are planned. The new terminal should be complete by then and the new airport four star hotel by the summer. We just hope Southend do not go back on their promises not to allow an increase in night flights to and from the airport. We have noticed that the Southend Park & Ride car park that was shown on the airport plans seems to have now been overlooked. The other development planned for the airport area is a new business park. We believe this is an unnecessary development on green belt land and the planned relocation of Eldon Way and the Foundry Estate Hockley industrial areas to this site would be a detrimental step. Moving Eldon Way and the Foundry Estate will increase mileage for employees and the lack of public transport will limit employment to car users only. We believe cycling there would be a poor and unrealistic substitute as at the moment there is a lack of cycle routes. In any case it is doubtful if this development would go ahead for some time due to the current economic climate.

Hawkwell Parish Plan Group Survey

The Hawkwell Parish Plan Group (HPPG) is an independent group that will produce a parish plan for Hawkwell. To find out just what Hawkwell residents want they sent out a questionnaire and have now had the results of their survey. They will soon publish the date of a further public meeting to announce and discuss these findings. The Hawkwell Parish Plan Group website can be found at: www.hawkwellolan.org.uk . The Group is arranging Heritage Walks around Hawkwell throughout 2011 in order to stay in touch with residents in around the area. You may contact HPPG by email to: libarratt@yahoo.co.uk or write to The Chairman, Byeways, Ironwell Lane.

Coach trips with pickup points in Hawkwell

Hockley Residents Association still has coach trips for 2011 with pickup points in Hawkwell:
Saturday 24th September – East Anglia & Bury St. Edmunds.
Sunday 30th October – Rutland Water & Burghley House.
For further details please visit Local Events page on our website at hawkwell.org or phone Brian O’Shea (highly commended in RDC citizen of the year awards 2010) on 01702 204334.

Thank you to our Newsletter Volunteers

We would like to thank our folders, distributors and deliverers that make our Newsletter possible and affordable. We are always looking for volunteers to help deliver to every home in our area. In order for this service to continue we need more help. If you are not already a deliverer and can spare an hour every 6 months we would be very grateful.

Subscriptions Now Due

If you have not already paid your subscriptions for this year, please send it to the addresses below. We know that finances are tight at the moment but please remember that even though our subs are low, without these funds we cannot help you the residents of Hawkwell.

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If you have not already paid your subscriptions for this year, please send it to: Hawkwell Residents Association at 2 Englefield Close, Hawkwell, SS5 4LE or 25B Belchamps Way, Hawkwell, SS5 4NT.

No cash by post please – however 1st and 2nd class stamps only, postal orders or cheques payable to Hawkwell Residents Association are fine.

I enclose £……………. being my / our subscription for this year (50 pence per person per calendar year) together with any additional voluntary donation. In order to reduce costs a receipt will not be issued unless a stamped addressed envelope is enclosed.

If you are not already a deliverer, would you deliver the Hawkwell Residents Association Newsletter in your road or another road? (please circle)   YES / NO

Is there an issue in Hawkwell that you would like us to address or help you with? …………………………………………...……………..…..

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I am Interested in joining the committee (please circle) YES / NO

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Our Spring 2011 Hawkwell Voice Content – Formerly Community Voice

From Your Hawkwell Residents Association Established 1994

(or click on the pdf version: Hawkwell Residents Association Spring 2011 Hawkwell Voice Newsletter )

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RDC Central Area Committee Meetings

During the last two years your residents association has been attending the Rochford District Council Central Area Committee (RDC CAC) meetings that are held around every two months rotating between Hawkwell, Hockley and Hullbridge. At these meetings the public are allowed to put questions to the committee and hopefully get answers from RDC at these meetings or in the following minutes. We have asked many questions on behalf of our members but with a mixed satisfaction in their answers. As we have said in the past this may be the reason that so few residents attend these meetings, in fact quite often there are as many as four councillors present for every visitor. As well as our central area, there are also meetings held for the east and west areas of the district. We have now had an unconfirmed report that RDC are going to cut these meetings down to every six months and combine them with the east and west areas, holding them just in Rayleigh and Rochford town centres. We understand the need to save money but there are a couple of points that we are unhappy with. If an issue arises just after a meeting we may need to wait six months to get a satisfactory response. If there are only two meetings per year for half of the district there could be a long list of questions to get through. Finally as a large area of Hawkwell has no bus service in the evenings, some residents would not be able to attend these meetings. We have just attended the March meeting and as residents were not informed of the date of the next meeting, this could mean we will now need to wait six months before we can ask future questions from our members.

RDC Core Strategy

Just when we thought we had won the fight to save the Christmas Tree Farm green belt area in Rectory Road from David Wilson Homes (Barrett Homes) building 330 homes there, they now intend requesting to build 175. They lost their appeal in 2010 but they have wasted no time in coming back with this new proposal. We are sure it’s no coincidence that 175 is the number Rochford District Council (RDC) has reduced theirs to in its Core Strategy. We believe the Rectory Road is not a suitable place to build this number of additional homes. Apart from spoiling the character of the area, the road joins the busy B1013 at one end and has single file traffic lights at the other. This is an area prone to frequent electricity black outs and we are sure other services would require considerable updating. Even though Clements Hall is in this area, there is only a limited bus service during the day and nothing in the evenings.

Police NAM’s

We attended the police Neighbourhood Action Meetings (NAM) – they have dropped the word panel from the title to attract more members of the public to these meetings. The meetings are held monthly in Hawkwell West at Clements Hall and bi-monthly in Rochford / Hawkwell East at the Rochford Parish Council Rooms. The crime figures etc are always relatively low in Hawkwell compared with Rochford and Rayleigh town centres. One of the priorities last month was cars parked on the pavement in Victor Gardens and three car owners have now been given verbal warnings.

AGM

Your Hawkwell Residents Association AGM will be held at 7.30pm in the Hawkwell Village Hall Annex on 11/08/11.

Pot Holes

You have probably noticed the considerable number of pot holes this winter. It has been reported that ECC Highways have now received £5.3m from the Government to tackle this work. You may report pot holes in an email to: H&TLocalism&CustomerSouth@essex.gov.uk or from the link on page one of our website.

HAAP 2

Since our last news letter a second Hockley Area Action Plan (HAAP) has been out for consultation. Residents’ responses were required before the 4 February 2011 closing date. We do not have sufficient space to include our response in this newsletter but it can be found on the first page of our website (address below).

Cabinet System Cost

It has been reported that the highest single council tax increase over the past five years was made by Rochford District Council, where your councillors’ allowances increased by 158% - almost ten times the rate of inflation over the same period. If you believe this is excessive you can send your views to your MP Mark Francois at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

Airport Update

The new terminal is now halfway to completion. Although Stobart PLC had planning permission from RDC to build the new terminal, which is in the RDC area, it has been reported that they have only just received permission from Southend Council who own the land. Despite the appeal still going on, Stobart are pushing ahead with the runway extension. Night flights have now been cut from 915 to 120 per month and Aer Arann who is part owned by Stobart will be running flights to Ireland from the end of March.

Hawkwell Parish Plan Group

The Hawkwell Parish Plan Group (HPPG) is an independent group that will produce a parish plan for Hawkwell. To find out just what Hawkwell residents want for the parish they are currently preparing a questionnaire for residents that is nearing completion. The Hawkwell Parish Plan Group website can be found at: www.hawkwellolan.org.uk. The Group has already undertaken one successful Heritage Walk around Hawkwell and further walks will be arranged throughout 2011 in order to stay in touch with residents in Hawkwell. Email libarratt@yahoo.co.uk or write to HPPG Chairman, Byeways, Ironwell Lane, Hawkwell SS5 4JY.

Coach trips with pickup points in Hawkwell

Hockley Residents Association has coach trips for 2011 with pickup points in Hawkwell:

Saturday 14th May – Half a Sixpence at the Cliffs Pavilion.

Sunday 22nd May – Bognor Regis & Ramster Garden.

Sunday 10th July – Aldeburgh & Suffolk Punch Horse Centre.

Thursday 11th August – The Buckinghamshire Chilterns.

Saturday 24th September – East Anglia & Bury St. Edmunds.

Sunday 30th October – Rutland Water & Burghley House.

For further details please visit Local Events page on our website at hawkwell.org or phone Brian O’Shea (highly commended in RDC citizen of the year awards 2010) on 01702 204334.

Thank you to our Newsletter Volunteers

We would like to thank our folders, distributors and deliverers that make our Newsletter possible and affordable. We are always looking for volunteers to deliver to every home in our area. In order for this service to continue we need more help. If you are not already a deliverer and can spare an hour every 6 months we would be very grateful.

National Health PCT

We have been informed that the NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) will be replaced by 2013 by a number of doctors’ consortiums. It is proposed to have at least five in the Southend area alone. We are very concerned by this national proposal and the economics of breaking up the PCT into smaller units. From our experience doctors have very little time to see their patients at the moment so how can it make sense that they should find the time to be involved with this exercise. No doubt the existing PCT employees would find jobs in these consortiums but we fail to see how fragmenting their work into smaller separate units could benefit patients or save money. It makes no sense that in an era of pooling resources in the private and public sectors that these proposals should be instigated. It would also mean the benefits of joined up ideas and policies would be lost.

Digital TV Switchover

The Anglia TV switchover for our local area will take place in July 2011 but some of you may be tuned into London or Meridian. For more info please visit the website: www.helpscheme.co.uk

Subscriptions Now Due

If you have not already paid your subscriptions for this year, please send it to the addresses below. We know that finances are tight at the moment but please remember that even though our subs are low, without these funds we cannot help you the residents of Hawkwell.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you are not already a deliverer, would you deliver the Hawkwell Residents Association Newsletter in your road or another road? (please circle) YES / NO

Is there an issue in Hawkwell that you would like us to address or help you with?

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................

I am Interested in joining the committee (please circle) YES / NO