Highways

Both Cadent and Affinity appear to have taken themselves off somewhere else – and now we have a twelve week closure of Hempstead Lane supposedly starting with immediate effect from No 76 (basically the edge of the village) to Pouchen End Lane by Herts Highways for which the only detail we have is that it’s for ‘drainage works’. I’m trying to find out whether this is the final stage of the work to stop the flooding outside No 76 and will include the removal of the pump.

Details of road works

Herts Highways have published a new Speed Management Strategy that will fundamentally change the approach to speed limits in the county. As a headline small roads in built-up areas will be 20mph (down from 30) and in rural areas 40mph (down from 60) – although there’s a lot more detail to get your head around. 

Click here for a summary of the proposals

Click here to go to the questionnaire about the new proposals

An application has been submitted to Herts Highways to close The Common outside the church on the morning of 8 November for the annual Remembrance Service.

Open Spaces

At the moment there is no water supply to the burial ground and the water buttes used by families to water flowers for their loved ones are filled manually by the Parish Warden. This isn’t sustainable, particularly as the number of burials increases. The Parish Council will consider two options – either to install a mains supply (a relatively high up front cost but low running costs) or a large tank that can be filled commercially once or twice a year (a lower up front cost but higher running costs).

Water supply to the burial ground

There was some concern when caravans started arriving in the field next to Crossways Farm in June. It transpired that this related to a Romany Light and Life Festival. Dacorum Planning visited the site very promptly to satisfy themselves that it wasn’t a repeat of what happened at Flamstead. The Romanys explained that they were only going to be there for a week and on departing left the site as they found it.

Dacorum have removed the single use dog poo bins because all rubbish can now be placed in the larger black bins. Not all of the old single-use bins have been replaced and we’re aware that there is some concern particularly about the removal of the bins that used to be on the corner of Plough Lane and in the Old Green. Borough Councillor Terry Douris is raising this with Dacorum.

Planning

At the meeting on Thursday the Council will consider:

26/01449/FHA – Holly Bush Glen, Water End Road, Potten End, HP4 2SH – Single storey rear extension, raising roof with front and rear dormers

26/01480/LBC – The Barn, Little Heath Lane, HP4 2RT – mezzanine and roof truss work

The parish council is responsible for maintaining, and ensuring the safety of, the equipment on the Spencer Holland Recreation Ground. It has recently replaced two swing seats and chains, and resurfaced the area under the climbing frame. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has just given both the play area and sports ground clean bills of health following its annual inspection.

Members of the parish council often report problems such as fly-tipping, potholes in roads, fallen trees on footpaths and overflowing waste bins. Actually this can be done directly by any member of the public. Our Useful Links contain information on how to do this – they are simple processes and can lead to a speedier resolution than first trying to contact a council member.

The next meeting to be held will be at 7.30pm on Thursday 19th July 2019 in the Potten End Church Rooms. All meetings include an opportunity for the general public to contribute.  The council aims to have minutes posted on this website within seven days of each meeting.

Hertfordshire County Council have announced that part of The Common (marked in red on the map) will be closed on 11 July for tree felling, along with a 520 metre section of the Nettleden Road north west of the village (not shown on this map).
If you have any queries about these works or the temporary road closures, please contact Colin Cromar tel.01379 676 462 at TMO Highways or Joanne Robinson tel.0300 123 4047 at Hertfordshire County Council