The Parish Council will be meeting at 7.30pm on Thursday, 21^st January 2021. You can join the meeting

Online at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88429006356?pwd=L0wyUVRDYlFMYUgrdi9IMG54ZURQUT09 or by phone on 0203 901 7895 or 0131 460 1196 using the meeting ID: 884 2900 6356 and passcode: 723386.

The agenda contains links to all supporting documentation (please note that a second version of the agenda was uploaded at 10am on Saturday 16th January correcting a broken link and adding a new item 21/006.c).

Ten flowering cherry trees, six Prunus serrulta kanzan (pink) and four Prunus shirotae (white) were planted in alternating pairs along the path running through the burial ground as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to commemorate Her Majesty’s Platinum Anniversary. The trees were funded predominantly by contributions from the families of those buried in the burial ground together wit contributions from Holy Trinity Church, Potten End , Hertfordshire County Council and the Parish Council. Further details regarding the Burial Ground are available here.

The Parish Council meets on Thursday, 18th April at 7.30pm in the Church Rooms at Potten End. The agenda for the meeting can be downloaded from the Council’s website. If you’d like to get more information about items on the agenda it includes links to supporting documents, and if that doesn’t satisfy you, please come to the meeting and ask questions or contact me! Ashridge House The meeting will start with a presentation by Mr David Evans, Managing Director, Ashridge House who will be talking about their plans for future events.  National Trust At the February Council meeting we heard from Paul Miller from the National Trust about the significant challenges facing the NT from increased footfall at the Ashridge Estate. The NT will be giving an update on their plans at a public engagement event behind the Visitor Centre on Monument Drive on May 25th and 26th between 11am and 4pm. Details are available on the NT website. Highways Please note that the DENS Hillbuster cycle ride takes place on 28th April with routes through the parish. There are no road closures but there will be more bikes around than normal! More details are available on the council briefing note. The work to correct the flooding along Hempstead Lane has started with the road closure scheduled to last another 10 days. Potten End Hill is scheduled to be closed from 8 – 10 May and 10 June; see one.network for details. At the March meeting the Council agreed to pay for the installation of a gateway to emphasise the change in speed limit on The Common when approaching from Berkhamsted as part of the project from Herts County Council to standardise the speed on The Common to 40mph. As the land in question is owned by the Golf Club their permission has been requested. Little Jim’s bus service (532/502) has been deregistered. Residents wanting to use a bus should consider HertsLynx, an on-demand bus service that doesn’t run on a scheduled route but does need to be booked in advance. Open spaces The Plough has asked for permission to install more picnic benches on Spencer Holland. The Council would appreciate residents views on how to tackle an issue where cricket balls are landing in the gardens of Vicarage Rd and Vicarage Gardens – there’s more details about the issues involved in the Council’s briefing note. Congratulations to the Potten End Football Team who after making the final of the Aylesbury and District Football League’s Sheffield Jackman Cup last year went one better this year to win it. Planning At the last meeting the council supported an application for a new pitched roof over a garage and various other works at 18 Hempstead Lane (24/00459/FHA) and since that meeting has also supported an application for a single storey rear extension and various other works at Fryth View, Vicarage Rd (24/00656/FHA). The Council will consider applications from 21 Hedgeside for a new porch and various other works (24/00655/RET) and various detailed changes to the proposed new property for which planning permission has already been given at 31 Hempstead Lane (24/00778/DRC). The Council will also receive an update on a proposal to create a “SANG” – a publicly accessible green space which largely fills the area between Nettleden Rd and Potten End Hill, and from the Leighton Buzzard Rd to beyond Binghams Park Farm. The majority of this proposal is in Great Gaddesden Parish where there was a lively council meeting on Monday when the developers presented their proposals. CIL project prioritisation The Parish Council received £72,024.35 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) from the development at Valerie Way which has to be spent on infrastructure in the parish. Over 35 ideas of what to spend the money on have been received covering projects as widely different in scale as improvements to the Brownie’s cupboard in the Church Room to the replacement of the Scout Hut. The Council intends to consult with the community about which projects should be prioritised but before it does so has identified projects which for a number of reasons such as lack of space or not meeting the requirements for CIL expenditure it doesn’t propose to take forward to consultation. At the moment this is a draft list and if you think that the categorisation is incorrect the Council would like to hear from you before the next Council meeting in May. End of year accounts The Council’s financial year ends in March and the draft year end results for 2023/24 will be considered. Dates for your diaries The next two Council meetings will take place on 16th May and 20th June.

There are two planning applications in the pipeline which technically fall outside the parish but might be of interest to residents – a change of use for Hilliers Garden Centre on the Leighton Buzzard Rd, and changes to parking along Monument Drive at Ashridge.

Hilliers

A proposal has been submitted to demolish the existing buildings and structures of the Hilliers garden centre on the Leighton Buzzard Road and to redevelop the site for storage or distribution with ancillary offices and associated parking. This proposal will be considered by Great Gaddesden Parish Council at its meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday 29 April at Gaddesden Row Village Hall when representatives of both Hilliers and the developers are expected to attend.

Ashridge

The National Trust has submitted a planning application to stop parking along Monument Drive at Ashridge and create a new pay and display carpark on the meadow behind the café. I assume that the carpark will be free for members as elsewhere but haven’t seen this confirmed. This forms part of a longer term strategy to redistribute visitors to the estate by creating two new ‘gateway’ visitor centres to the north and south of the drive, at which point parking spaces at the Monument will be reduced, and to divert visitors from the estate by creating green spaces (‘SANGs’) when undertaking any new housing development. 

Paul Miller, General Manager of the NT Ashridge Estate will be giving a presentation on their plans for Ashridge before the council meeting at 7:30pm on Thursday 19 March (i.e. he will start at 7:30pm and the council meeting will start at about 8pm). The presentation will cover changes to parking and new visitor centres at Ashridge.

May I draw your attention to the planning item on Mollcroft. The council will be reconsidering its previous objection to the proposed development of three houses in the light of Dacorum’s advice that the site will be classified as ‘grey belt’, not because of the existence of previous development but simply because this green belt land is on the edge of a village rather than the edge of a town. So far as I can see this is an accurate interpretation of government policy and implies that all of the green belt land around Potten End could be classified as grey belt. Please see the council briefing note for the detailed arguments.

Highways

The Cadent work has finished ….. almost! They’re still having problems with Church Road so the traffic lights will be back as they try to do whatever they’re supposed to be doing for the third time over the May half term. The work to Nettleden Road and Gravel Path has been completed, the latter is particularly impressive, and the next few months seem moderately calm on the road works front. As always for more up to date information on road closures please refer to Causeway one network.

Please report any problems with potholes at Report a street light, pothole or other problem | Hertfordshire County Council and blocked drains at Highway Fault Reporting Flooding

Planning

Since February when we had a flurry of planning applications things have calmed down, although what we lose in terms of volume is more than made up for in terms of the importance of the issues to be considered.

i. 25/03120/FHA – Brickwall Cottage, Frithsden Gardens, Frithsden, HP1 3DE – Conversion and minor extensions to existing stable to create annexe dwelling and merging of existing annexe back into principal house – was resubmitted with some minor alterations and was supported by the council. 

At the meeting on Thursday the Council will consider:

i. 26/00562/TPO – Williams Wood, Vicarage Rd, Potten End, HP4 2RA – work to trees

ii 26/00534/FHA – Pipers Cottage, Nettleden Rd, HP1 3DQ – Installation of solar panels system on the roof of the Annex to Pipers Cottage. Housing a storage battery and electric car charger in an external alcove to the side of the garage doors

iii 25/02852/OUT – Mollcroft, 69 Hempstead Lane, Potten End, HP4 2RZ – for the construction of up to three self/custom built dwellings. See the comment at the top of this newsletter.

The Planning Appeal lodged by 26 Hempstead Lane relating to the construction of gates too close to the road has been dismissed and the ruling by the Planning Inspectors is a must read if you’re considering installing gates to your drive.

Along with most other Parish and Town Councils in the Borough, the Council lodged a number of objections to proposals from Dacorum to change the process by which some planning applications will be managed, reducing the amount of local input to certain applications. We’ve yet to receive formal feedback but understand informally that at least some of these proposals are to be reconsidered.

The Parish Council participated in the final stages of the Planning Inspectors’ review of Dacorum’s draft Local Plan, arguing that the proposal to build 750 houses near Polehanger Lane which would significantly reduce the gap between Potten End and Hemel was not included in earlier drafts of the Local Plan and therefore failed to follow due process resulting in residents being unable to comment. Also that as the development lies equidistant between Hemel and Berkhamsted that at least some of the increased traffic would flow through Potten End. We’re now waiting for the Inspector’s comments.

The Parish Council will be considering whether to ask for volunteers to undertake a character appraisal of the Potten End Conservation Area.

Open Spaces

The Council agreed not to allow Berkhamsted Raiders to use the football pitch because of the difficulty of managing parking on Homefield. However it did agree to allow PE Cricket Club to enter into an agreement with a second cricket club to use the sports field on the weekends when it is available for a trial season. 

The play equipment has successfully past it’s first professional inspection of the year with only a few minor repairs required.