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October 2011 A £100,000 project to replace all the roof tiles on the historic Messing Church is being officially launched on Saturday 1st October with a ‘Tile Signing’ session for villagers and friends.Over three years of fundraising by supporters of the church will be marked as tiles are signed before they are placed on the roof. Prior to the day of the signing £850 alone has been raised by people sponsoring the tiles, which was the brainwave of villagers, Chrissie & Keith Gooday and David Smith. A further £150 was raised at the event. All Saints Church is one of the most historic churches in North Essex, with some parts of the building dating back to the 13th century. The ancestors of US presidents George Bush and George W Bush worshipped in the church before leaving the village for America in the 17th century. The fundraising drive to replace the Victorian roof tiles began over three years ago and has successfully attracted grants from seven bodies, including English Heritage, Friends of Essex Churches, the National Churches Trust and the Cory Environmental Trust. The Friends of Messing Church group has itself raised over £21,000 in three years after a fundraising blitz. Friends of Messing Church Chair, Jan Barker said: “After so many years of fundraising, it is hard to believe the replacement of the roof is finally underway. We have been delighted with the support we have received from local people and from the charitable organisations that have contributed to our campaign.“This is a beautiful, historic church that has been looked after by the community for over 900 years. It is a wonderful thing that this generation of villagers and local people has kept up this fine tradition which will ensure the roof is in good shape for the next century and beyond.” September 2011 Henry Close-Smith 1918-2011 August 2011 Sewer work Village Hall refurbishment Due to the diary constraints of guests a rather belated launch ceremony was held on June 4th although the actual refurbishment of the hall had started on May 9th. A considerable number of village residents attended the ceremony to hear responses from Essex County Council Chairman Rodney Bass and MP Priti Patel to the village hall committees’ representative Geoff Jackson thanking all those who had worked so hard and contributed to enable the project to progress to the stage that it is at. Also attending were County Councillor John Jowers together with Borough Councillors Andrew Ellis and Kevin Bentley ably acting as MC for the occasion. A small memento of the occasion was presented to Rodney Bass prior to the cutting of a cake to mark the occasion. Pictures of the event can be seen here.
Parish council seeks your opinions
Villagers in Messing and Inworth will be asked later this year for their views on the two villages so that the parish council can create a village design statement (VDS) to encapsulate opinions of how people would like the area to develop over the next decade. The survey form that will be going to every household this summer can be completed on line, but a paper version will also be available for those without an internet connection. A VDS gives a detailed description of the existing character and features of a village and presents guidelines on how this should be respected in any new development. It identifies physical properties, special characteristics and attractive surroundings that are valued by local people. The VDS is intended to identify villagers' views on change and how it should be managed, give positive guidance to designers, architects and developers on acceptable designs, help protect important or historic buildings and open spaces, and assist Colchester Borough Council's planning department when they are dealing with planning applications. It is also intended to provide design guidance that will influence change in a positive way and improve the physical A section of the survey will be devoted to gathering the views of the young people in the villages. Answers will be confidential and completed surveys will be aggregated to help inform and produce a coherent From Messing notes by Jon Longman May 2011 Borough Councillor Andrew Ellis retains seat. Borough Councillor Andrew Ellis finally got to bed at 5am Friday morning content in the knowledge of an increased majority at this year’s local election. Commenting this morning Andrew asked that the following message be passed on to all residents: - "An enormous thank you to everyone who took the time out of their day to vote in yesterday's Borough Election. Needless to say I am delighted with the result and thoroughly looking forward to continuing in my role as your Borough Councillor, working closely as a team with Kevin Bentley. Your support means a huge amount to me and I will, as always, endeavour to earn it!"
Colchester Borough Councillors voted unanimously to recommend refusal to Essex County Council regarding the planning application for an Anaerobic Digestion plant at Birch Airfield.
Ray Gamble, chairman of the Planning Committee said: "There is no doubt this building is very conspicuous. I agree with Councillor Ellis that we must send a clear and firm message so the county does not mistake us. This is not nimbyism but protecting the policies we have developed." Derek Marriott, of Easthorpe, put the case objecting to the proposal and handed in a 763 name petition. He outlined how Essex County Council had also received 127 objections to date highlighting residents concerns about the proposal. He said: "The reason 127 people have objected is simple. Firstly the application appears to fly in the face of so many planning rules and guidance at national, county and borough level and secondly the plans submitted are wholly inadequate with worrying omissions." Councillor Kevin Bentley also attended the meeting and spoke on behalf of residents.
Jim Strathern, put the case for the application. He said:"I accept there are concerns, particularly from Messing and we will do all we can to make the screening work and have put in place a ten-year plan." However, council members objected to the proposals on the grounds of size, visual impact, and the increase in traffic movements. Councillor Andrew Ellis, Birch and Winstree, said: "This application is all about location. I agree with the concept but object to the location. This building is of industrial design and despite the applicants attempts to screen, it is is very prominent and therefore fails our policies ENV1 and DP 1. My advice is that we do not support this application and we in fact object and recommend refusal on those strong Policy grounds."
Councillors asked that more work be done to identify where the proposal conflicted with Colchester's Local Development Framework and to take a further look at the traffic impact. They also asked that safeguards and conditions be put into their advice to the County. February 2011 Battery thefts
There has been a rise in the theft of batteries from temporary traffic lights in the last fortnight. Originally in the police Central division (4 offences) but more recently in South Western (3 offences) and Western division (4 offences). Separately two offences of theft of electrical fence batteries have occurred that may be linked. The offences have taken place overnight in Hutton, Shenfield, Brentwood, Billericay, Wickford and Stanford Le Hope. The fence batteries were stolen from Writtle and Great Totham. These thefts may be linked to other Theft of Metal offences.
For those that have enquired about the works being carried
out at the above location planning authorities have been made aware of this.
It is believed that what has taken place may be in breach of conditions
4,6,8 and 11 of the planning permission that was granted on 21st October
2010. It is alleged that no conditions have been
discharged, nor applications made for them to be discharged, despite a
requirement for this to be done prior to development commencing. TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 (as amended)
Further to my email of the 25th February
2011 concerning an extension to the consultation period for members of the
public, I am writing to confirm that the
Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order
2010 (DMPO) sets out the procedure for which all planning authorities must
follow when advertising applications. The minimum requirement is that a site
notice be erected on the boundary of the site and that if any particular
development falls under the major development category then there is an
additional requirement to place an advert in the local press.
Therefore,
I must apologise for any confusion caused and I
hope that the extension of time allows residents to view the documents and
provide a response.
Regards,
The grounds for our appeal are based on the fact that we were informed this application could be viewed by residents at local libraries. Tiptree library is closed for refurbishment until 7th March and Colchester library only received their copy of the planning application yesterday.
The date for responses from residents is 15th March 2011 (28 days from their letter dated 15 Feb).
Paul Calders contact details: Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 437585 | extension: 51585 Regards,
Grass Cutting Rota - Update from David Smith David has not yet had time to organise the village grass cutting rota for the churchyard, graveyard and playground. The grass is starting to grow and as he is such a splendid guy he will be getting on with this very soon. He would like to acknowledge the time and care which Robin Hill Sanders put in to the upkeep of the graveyard and he will be sadly missed for all his efforts to keep the village looking tidy. Many villagers will remember seeing him at work strimming around untended graves and organising the bins which needed not only careful labelling to ensure the correct separation of rubbish but constant supervision. New help would be greatly appreciated in keeping the graveyard tidy with strimming apart from the normal grass cutting rota. With regard to the bins regrettably the PCC have decided to remove them meaning that any rubbish from the graveyard now needs to be taken home since it has become far too time consuming to carry on maintaining the bins. New volunteers are welcome and needed so please if you can help ring David Smith on 870828 or you can reach him via email here. Mandy and family would like to thank everyone who attended Mark’s funeral and the generous donations given in his memory. Messing Church received £263 and University College Hospital £373. A further £774 was raised by Karen and Mark in the Crown’s Xmas Draw and the village carol singers ventured out in deep snow and raised £120, both these amounts went to the Hospital. This made a grand total of £1530 plus gift aid. Linda Sutton You can still contribute to Mark's JustGiving site in aid of The Leukaemia & Lymphoma Unit of the UCLH hospital in London. at: http://www.justgiving.com/byatt-showell January 2011 Big Lottery Fund Bonus for Messing Village Hall. The Messing Village Hall committee has been successful in securing an award of £50,000 from the Big Lottery Fund's Reaching Communities programme to refurbish the village hall. The money will be used to renovate and update the village hall and, at the same time, provide new programmes and community facilities in a multi-purpose, flexible space for events, meetings, recreation, indoor sports, learning and training. The committee is hoping to start the project in May, by which time they expect other awards to have been confirmed which will enable them to refurbish the existing building, including the main hall, a new meeting room, a renovated kitchen and toilets. An extension is planned to house a plant room and provided badly needed storage space. The hall will become a sustainable building with high energy efficiency and renewable energy technology. The total cost of the project is set to reach £200,000, with additional funding coming from other organisations including Essex County Council and Cory Environmental. The committee's target is to complete the project this year in recognition of the fact that it is 100 years since the building, originally an almshouse and then a school, became a village hall for the people of Messing in 1911. Residents are keen to see the hall restored to its rightful place at the heart of village life as a modern community hall which caters for everybody, but particularly provides facilities and activities for elderly people and children. Trustee Geoff Jackson said "We are very grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for giving us this substantial award and we are confident that a renovated building, which meets the requirements of the community and is situated in its prominent site, will provide a firm basis for the social life of the village now and in the future." Oil Thefts Village design statement.
Do you care about where you live? Do you care about what your village looks like? If you do, we need volunteers like you, to help create our village design statement. This will be an important document that planners will have to consider as part of any
development for Messing or Inworth. This is your chance to make an important contribution and make a difference to our future living environment. Without a design statement we will all be very vulnerable to inappropriate development that is
out of keeping or simply hideous. The new Localism Bill published by the government on 13th December 2010 will enable local
communities to have more say on planning matters. If you care about where you live and the future of Messing and Innworth please contact: Carol Baxter 01621 815750
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