Parish
Council News
At the
meeting of the Parish Council held in May of this year
Councillor Andrew Davies was re-elected as
Chairman with Councillor
Jackson as Vice-Chairman. Councillor Mrs. Hughes continues to Chair the
Planning Committee, Councillor Martin is Chairman of the Properties
Committee with Councillor Rooks being Chairman of the Greens Committee.
Earlier
this year a decision was made to discontinue the separate meetings of the
Planning Committee this being due to a large reduction in the number of
planning applications being received. However the full Parish Council
continues to meet on the third Monday of each month.
If you
visit our web site www.wraysburyparishcouncil.gov.uk
you will find details of Councillors, dates of forthcoming meetings,
agendas of meetings and minutes of past meetings. The web site also gives
news items, information and links to other useful web sites. The next
Annual Parish Meeting will be held at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 21st
April 2010.
During
2008 the Parish Council formulated a traffic strategy the object of which
is to improve road safety in the village for both drivers and pedestrians.
For the past few months the Parish Council has been in discussions with
Officers of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead considering and
costing a number of possible schemes and options. One was the construction
of a continuous walkway over Wraysbury Station Bridge and another the
establishment of a cycle way between the village and Hythe End.
Unfortunately
the cost of both these projects are beyond the funds available to the
Parish Council but we continue to lobby the Borough Council for these
works to receive priority. We have asked that they be put forward for
inclusion in the projects of the Royal Borough.
However
we do have plans for the extension of the present 20 mph speed limit in
Windsor Road to include the High Street and part of Staines Road. This
would entail the construction of new speed cushions between the
Perseverance Public House and Oast House Close and additional cushions in
Windsor Road. It is also our aim to carry out improvements to improve
safety at the junction of Wraysbury Road and Feathers Lane in
Hythe End.
Unfortunately
the container library recently suffered damage as a result of vandalism
whilst parked in the Village Hall Car Park. This would seem an apt time to
remind residents of the opening hours of the library and encourage its
use.
Wednesdays:
2.00 pm to 7.00 pm
Saturdays:
10.00 am to 1.00 pm
In the
past six months the Parish Council have considered and responded to an
unusually large number of consultation documents. Two were related to
Heathrow Airport, one being Heathrow Airtrack which proposes a new rail
link from Terminal 5 to Staines via a junction with the Windsor line.
Whilst it was agreed that it is an excellent scheme which would provide a
much needed link to the south and west, there were concerns on the effect
that the increase in rail traffic to the west of Staines could have on
local road traffic as a result of delays on level crossings particularly
in Egham.
The
other document relating to Heathrow was the Draft Noise Action Plan
2010-2015. It was felt that although the plan described very well the
noise mitigation measures that are currently in place it did little to put
forward concrete proposals for significant future noise reduction. A
number of suggested specific measures were put forward to reduce noise
rather than just relying on quieter aircraft.
Two
documents on planning issues were considered, one being the Strategic
Housing Land Availability Assessment which appears to have little impact
on Wraysbury as it contained details of only 7 hectares being proposed for
development.
The
other was the Local Development Framework and in our response we
endeavoured to protect the environment of
Wraysbury, preserve the Green Belt and control development in the area
liable to flood where local policies allow. We wish to ensure that future
generations are not disadvantaged by continual and cumulative building in
the flood plain and the loss of Green Belt land.
In July
we responded to the Draft Flood & Water Management Bill. We felt that
in general the bill was drafted in clear language and was well set out.
However we considered that there needs to be some mechanism whereby the
Environment Agency can consult local communities when drawing up plans and
can explain why it has taken particular management decisions particularly
when these decisions may have an adverse impact on the local community.
Over
250 residents attended the presentation by the Environment Agency on the
Lower Thames Flood Relief Strategy which was held in the Village Hall on
27th October. At the time of writing the Parish Council were
still considering their comments.
All the
responses to the foregoing consultation documents are too large for
inclusion here However it is our intention to place such responses on our
web site in the future so that residents are able to view.
Roger P. Marlow
Clerk to the Council
December
2009
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