onlineFOCUS – News and Stuff For Rochford District

5th Rayleigh Scouts, Cubs and Beavers joined forces on Wednesday evening for a litter pick at Sweyne Park. The weather was very kind to them and they picked up a good quantity of litter. It was part of their “Scout Community Week” (Bob-a-job week to those of us who remember it!).

We publish these photos with the permission of the scout leader. (double click on the images to enlarge)

Great work guys – you are a credit to our town.

This also gives us a good opportunity to remind people about the Party In the Park this Sunday:

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It’s been announced today that a planning inspector has refused permission to Sainsbury’s for an out-of-town store near Saffron Walden in Essex.

Although it’s not directly relevant to our district, the inspector’s decision would be useful reading for councillors , traders and campaigners interested in planning. You can download her decision here. (225k)

The key paragraph is right at the end:

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75. Notwithstanding the above advantages the appeal proposals would not result in a sustainable form of development resulting in sustainable economic growth.
The impact on the convenience turnover of the town centre and the probable loss of an investment opportunity are matters of overriding importance. In the face of such significant adverse impacts Paragraph 27 of the Framework
[of the coalition government's new planning policies] says that such proposals should be refused. Whilst I have taken account of all other matters raised I have found nothing to alter my conclusion that the appeals
should not succeed.
Christina Downes
INSPECTOR

Basically, the inspector is following new government guidelines on a strong ‘town centre first’ policy. One of the things she mentioned was the importance of an existing Waitrose store in Saffron Walden town centre. It seems that Sainsbury’s ingeniously argued that Waitrose customers would be so loyal to their usual store that it wouldn’t suffer much loss in trade. In return it seems that Waitrose warned that it would lose trade, and if Sainsburys got permission Waitrose would cancel a planned extension to their own store.

The inspector commented in her decision that:

51….. The Council’s analysis seems more credible and
for a town centre to lose as much as 43% to 50% of its convenience turnover
is likely to result in serious and significant harm to vitality, viability and retail
function even for a town centre as healthy and relatively prosperous as Saffron
Walden. Those food shops with small profit margins would undoubtedly suffer
and market traders may find it difficult to remain viable…..

The Saffron Walden Reporter has a report on the appeal here.

Sainsbury’s website puts forward their point of view here.

A local campaigners’ website is here.

The local Lib Dems opposed the store – see here.

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From the Rayleigh Cat Protection website today:

Boo came into the Branch’s care because her owner could no longer cope with her and wanted her rehomed. At the time she was being collected by one of our volunteer fosterers, the owner mentioned that the cat had a bad leg… The “bad leg” turned out to be her pelvis, broken in 3 places, which would have caused Boo a great deal of pain and made her the angry cat that she was at the time.
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Thanks to the public, who so kindly support this Branch, we were able to meet the costs of the operation that Boo needed and Boo’s fosterer has been looking after her with great care, trying to win her trust and to reassure her that life isn’t all pain but also to be enjoyed.
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Boo is now looking for a new home and we’re hoping to find her a family who will make a fuss of her and give her lots of tlc. She is a very pretty black, semi long haired cat who now loves to be where her fosterer is, racing to get her nose into any cupboard or drawer. As a fostered cat, she can’t go outside but it seems she is longing to get out of doors….
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If you are interested in Boo, or any of the cats on this website, please contact Yvonne on 01268 750831.

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Chris Stanley has been asked by a resident when the grass verges will be cut in Hambro Avenue, Rayleigh.

We’ve asked the District Council – and the answer is , it should be cut this week.

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An interesting question from Lesley Dunne on the District Council website:

Lesley Dunne Says:
April 24th, 2012 at 6:28 am

Hi, will the council be putting up bunting this summer or Union Jack flags. It would make the town look very traditional and I believe help add to the feel good factor this year. Both events are one in a life time so it would make sense to push the boat out. As with the Christmas light switch on a small donation from local businesses may help?

And the answer seems to be …. yes

admin Says:
May 1st, 2012 at 9:33 am

Thank you for your comment.

Official Olympic flags will be flown in Rayleigh during the Olympic Torch Relay and the Olympic and Paralympic Games themselves.

Also during the Torch Relay sections of the route will be branded with official Olympic bunting and flags.

There will also be various walk about acts performing in the High Street to keep spectators entertained after the Torch has passed through Rayleigh.

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We’ve just reported this pothole on FixMyStreet – can you identify the location ? There’s a lot of cars bumping over it at the moment…

Hint: it’s a very busy bit of highway…..

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From Rayleigh’s own food blog, Big Spud, Burger with red onion and red wine sauce:

“There’s always room on the cookbook shelf for someone offering midweek family meals done in an interesting way. And that’s the motto of Alex Mackay’s new book “Everybody, Everyday…. ”
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There are a few downsides to the recipes I’ve tried so far though: the recipes take a while. I can be nippy in the kitchen when I want to be, but I’m taking an hour on each one so far. And they use pans by the bucket, plenty of hob-juggling required which requires good planning or washing up inbetween. Some of the recipes have got the odd text error in as well which is a shame. Don’t let that detract from the great inspiration on offer though, each recipe I’ve cooked so far has been packed with flavour and extremely tasty. Like this one – a minced beef patty, topped with a glossy and rich meaty gravy and served with crisp saute potatoes. Delicious!”

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District Councillor Keith Hudson has just made an ‘urgent decision’ under the powers he’s been given.

It’s not on the council website yet but we will link to it when we can. (the report and decision are 10 pages long)

Basildon Borough Council have now prepared their own Core Strategy for future housing and Cllr Keith Hudson has made the decision to object to it, for important reasons:

“Rochford District Council has serious concerns as to the impact that these policies will have on Rochford District and the Thames Gateway….”

Whats happening here? Well, Basildon Borough has come up with an option for housing that says Basildon will focus on building in existing urban areas and not allow any use of its Green Belt. As a result of this Basildon will only provide 6500 dwellings. Basildon acknowledge that this will fall short of its predicted future demand. To quote their strategy document:

“Although this is less than the Borough’s natural increase, it means that the Green Belt can continue to be afforded the highest protection with no land releases for development”

This is a very different situation to Rochford. Our council has tried to meet housing demand, and sacrificed some Green Belt for development out of fear that if they didn’t, developers would wreak havoc by picking their own greenfield sites and getting permission from a government inspector.

The concern for Rochford District is this – the government’s “National Planning Policy Framework” says that councils will be required to meet neighbouring authorities unmet housing needs “where it is reasonable to do so and consistent with achieving sustainable development”.

If Basildon are right, and they are able to protect their Green Belt, then Rochford will have allowed development on our Green Belt unnecessarily. The District Council would have a lot of explaining to do.

If Basildon are wrong, then developers might zoom in on Green Belt sites in Basildon, but possibly also in our district too…..

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Bruce Smart has been chasing to get a street nameplate back at Mortimer Road, Rayleigh.

We’ve now been advised by the District Council that it should be in place during the first half of June….

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From the District Council website:

National Mills Open Weekend on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May 2012 is the perfect excuse to explore the Rayleigh Windmill.
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Rochford District Council is celebrating National Mills Weekend by inviting visitors to celebrate the UK’s milling heritage by visiting the Windmill. There are free guided tours where you will discover its long history as well as the milling process.
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The two day event will see the return of the popular Sails in the Wind Exhibition, including a special display of various windmill related items….. The Windmill opening hours will be 1pm-4pm Saturday and Sunday. Entry is free of charge……

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We’ve recently added links to three Southend blogs in our right sidebar. Rather neatly , there’s one Lib Dem, one Conservative and one Labour. Though we haven’t done this out of any deliberate political balance – they are all worth a look in their own right.

Neil Monnery is a Liberal Democrat in Southend who writes in a thoughtful but frank manner.

Anna Waite is a well-known Conservative and former Borough Councillor who actually lives in Barling.

Ms Jack Monroe is a Labour blogger in Southend who writes in a pretty lively manner. Some of her recent posts are particularly interesting; she is attempting this years Living Below The Line Challenge. As she explains:

I’m a day late with this one, but I thought I’d join in with this years Live Below The Line challenge, whereby participants are challenged to live on £1 a day for food.

Having done this already when I left the Fire Service, I figure that I’m a bit more prepared than most people for how to actually prepare 3 meals a day for less than a pound. So I’ve got 4 days left, £4 to spend, and 12 meals to keep myself going on. I’ll blog my progress here…

One of her meals was carrot, cumin and kidney bean soup for 14p…

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The Cabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Mike Steptoe, made an interesting decision on April 30th. The District Council will be applying to the government for extra grant to bring back weekly recycling for all items for flats.

Basically, the government is keen to bring back weekly recycling across the UK, and is providing 250 million Pounds towards this. Now, the government is trying to cut the national deficit , which needs to be done. So it’s a bit surprising that the government is willing to hand out 250 million Pounds in this way, especially when districts such as Rochford have shown you can do so well with fortnightly collection of dry items.

But anyway, that’s the amount of money thats around, and there’s been around 180 bids so far from councils for this cash. Rochford is applying for a relatively modest amount, to help with the most difficult places to recycle – flats without much space to store waste. The extra grant would help with the extra costs of a weekly collection for flats, plus two smaller vehicles. This seems a sensible thing to do, we back Cllr Steptoe and the officers on this, so lets hope we can have a successful bid.

You can download the decision and the background report from here – it’s the decision made on April 30th (113kb)

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From Fixmystreet today, about Mill Lane in Stambridge:

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A couple of photos … double-click on the thumbnails to enlarge…

(if you have any better ones, please send to us, and we’ll publish ‘em either anonymously or with your name attached…)

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