News during week commencing 10th
February 2014
There were two significant meetings
affecting the Parish. A public meeting with Yarmouth Town Council
and Island Roads, on 11th February and then the Shalfleet
Parish Council meeting on 12th February. Bouldnor Road
was discussed at both meetings.
Proposed Closure of Bouldnor Road
Public Meeting Island Roads and
Yarmouth Town Council held at Yarmouth Institute on Tuesday 11th
February.
The meeting was very well attended, with standing room
only, for some, and difficulty for others to even get their heads
round the corner and into the room! Clearly the interest overwhelmed
the Council and, I imagine, Island Roads. I am not attempting here
to write up the notes of the meeting, which will no doubt be
published by the Council in due course, but to pick out the key
concerns.
Safety
Island Roads were unable to
provide a satisfactory answer to questions asked by the public and
councillors. In my opinion Island Roads have been grossly negligent
with insufficient risk assessment/management, insufficient
consultation and neglect in planning and agreements with the
emergency services. I believe that there is a significant risk of
injury or loss of life during the proposed seven week period. I
expressed these views at both the Yarmouth and the Shalfleet meetings
and have written to the YTC, the SPC and Cllr Stuart Hutchinson with
a link to the official manual setting out the rules for temporary
traffic arrangements. The manual can be downloaded from
http://tinyurl.com/poqgvd5
One would think that whatever Island Roads' contract states, they
must still abide by Government rules. The closure could still at
this stage be stopped at the eleventh hour on safety grounds.
Yarmouth Businesses
A number of
Yarmouth businesses were represented at the meeting and the general
feeling was that the total road closure will make it uneconomic to
even open.
Wightlink
Apparently Wightlink will be
showing some information on a TV screen (the advertisement screen).
I don't believe that is sufficient. I believe there needs to be a
printed leaflet showing the diversions and showing where the local
shops and hostelries are. That is not intended as a criticism of
Wightlink, it isn't their job but they might be persuaded to hand a
leaflet to every motorist arriving at Yarmouth.
Buses
There are now timetables for Route 7 covering the proposed closure period, which were freely available at the Yarmouth and Shalfleet meetings. They are also online on the Southern Vectis website. Many concerns were raised. This is still being worked on by Shalfleet Parish Council and there are discussions with the FYT bus. Funding is an issue and at the meeting Island Roads promised to consider funding the extra fuel FYT bus would need to extend their service.
Shalfleet Parish Council meeting 12th
February 2014
The agenda is available on the link to
the right side of this page. I won't cover the purely procedural or
trivial matters.
The Ashlar proposed Housing Estate
Spectrum have written to SPC with an
offer stating that if they get planning permission, go ahead, and
purchase the land they will gift the land to SPC for the sum of £1
on condition that the land will be used for community purposes or
returned to Spectrum. There were various points raised by the
councillors and, later, by the public. It was decided that a working
party be formed including members from the Council, School and the
public. I don't believe that anyone was charged with getting the WP
together and there was no discussion about terms of reference...not
off to a flying start?
My own view is that Spectrum's offer is
to cover an objection in the planning process. Namely that while in
the plans they mention giving the unwanted land to the community, it
was a valueless offer without explicit detail. Now they have given
that detail, that objection is overcome, helping to free the way for
planning consent. If I understood the councillors correctly, they
instructed the Clerk to write to Spectrum, accepting the offer in
principle, subject to agreement. [Note: Since writing that I have discussed with Pam Broadhead, Chairman of SPC and my understanding was wrong. In fact the council decided to form a working party and not to discuss with Spectrum until the WP have reported. Sorry for the misunderstanding and I am pleased to make this correction.] The working party is likely to consist of two councillors, one from the school and one from the public, but the exact constitution hasn't been decided.
I have expressed my view to the SPC that there are legal issues. Spectrum don't own the land (yet), existing restrictive covenants, planning consent, and the School's need to keep and maintain their septic tank and drainage field on that land. Shalfleet Parish Council should take professional legal advice before entering into any detailed discussion, in my opinion.
I have expressed my view to the SPC that there are legal issues. Spectrum don't own the land (yet), existing restrictive covenants, planning consent, and the School's need to keep and maintain their septic tank and drainage field on that land. Shalfleet Parish Council should take professional legal advice before entering into any detailed discussion, in my opinion.
Finally, on the matter of The Ashlar,
one councillor referred to Spectrum as being a 'Housing Association'.
In the public questions session I pointed out that Spectrum is a
Property Development company NOT a Housing Association. For anyone
wishing to see for themselves just how many companies are tied up in
the Spectrum group, see http://companycheck.co.uk/
which provides a great deal of free information or Companies' House
online service, which charges a few pounds per company, but is the
source of the registered information.
Shalfleet Parish Precept rise
The precept is the money available for
the Parish Council to spend. See
http://www.cpalc.org.uk/q-what-is-a-parish-council-precept-or-tax
This year the SPC have agreed to raise it by 1.7% in line with
inflation bringing the figure to £28,336. You have a right to see
all the accounts and budgets. I will ask the Clerk to let me have
the figures and post them as pdf files on this blog. To my mind we
get amazingly good value for money, as residents. This is only
possible because most of the hard work is done in the free time of
the unpaid councillors. They spend a lot of time on our behalf who
get a lot of stick and usually very little thanks. That's why the
cost is so low for what we get (in my opinion).
Wightlink
Our Ward Councillor, Stuart Hutchinson,
is meeting with the MD of Wightlink to discuss the Yarmouth service.
Wightlink claim that the Y-L service is the least profitable of its
routes. I did question why, if it is so unprofitable, Wightlink
spent a vast sum refurbing the ferry dock in Lymington last year and
have continued to fight against movement limitations in Lymington.
If it is so unprofitable why would they bother? No doubt Stuart will
find out when he meets with them and will share his findings with us.
Andrew Turner coming to town!
Andrew Turner (our Island MP) will be
coming to meet folk at the regular Wellow Institute coffee morning on
the last Saturday of March between 100-1200, and then onto the Sun
where, I believe, we are welcome to buy him a pint to wash down the
coffee! Andrew has a website at http://www.andrew-turner.org.uk
I think those are the main things.
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