Howard Craft, Club Manager of Berkhamsted Golf Club, gave a presentation to the Annual Parish Meeting on 17th March 2022. The presentation outlined how the Club owns 530 acres of Common land on Berkhamsted Common, the largest area of heathland in Hertfordshire, and how the Club is trying to proactively manage the estate to achieve a balance between woodland and heathland, working with Middlesex Wildlife Trust on how best to achieve this. Future plans include an extension to the Clubhouse and grazing on the Common using ‘virtual fences’.

The Parish Council meets on Thursday, 16th May at 7.30pm in the Church Room 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! Consultations/information sessions 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. A reminder that 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. The Local Government Boundary Commission is consulting on ward boundaries in Dacorum. More information is available on their website. The closing date for comments is 15 July. We’ve been approached about whether there might be any interest in a mobile vet service visiting Potten End – there are no details of timings or venue yet but please let us know if this might be of interest. Highways Both the tragic accident at the drainage works outside 76 Hempstead Lane and the accident at the junction of Church Rd and Water End Rd are scheduled for updates. The scheduled closure of Potten End Hill from 8 – 10 May has been cancelled because of the delay to the Hempstead Lane works but the closure on 10 June remains. Roman Road will be closed from 3-7 June for drainage works. See one.network for details of roadworks. Open spaces The Plough has asked for permission to install more picnic benches on Spencer Holland. This was scheduled for discussion in April but was delayed to allow time to investigate possible implications. Planning The Council will consider applications from: Brynnon Cottage, The Back for a single storey extension (24/01020/LDP)  Cleft Oak Cottage, Hollybush Close for a double storey extensions to front, single storey extension to side and part single- part double-storey extension to rear, increased main roof and chimney heights, fenestration changes and new pitched roof to garage, all following demolition of existing conservatory (24/01041/FHA) 38 Rambling Way (aka Valerie Way) for removal of Condition 2 (Approved Plans) attached to planning permission 21/00138/FUL (Construction of 5 dwellinghouses including associated hard and soft landscaping) (24/01053/ROC) 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.  At the May Council Meeting it is proposed that the Council proceeds with the following projects without consultation:  to improve accessibility to open spaces to improve the Brownies cupboard in the Church Room to repair the entrance pathway to the Old Green a roadside data recorder to protect the verges around The Green The Council will consult with the community to prioritise a further nine projects. Dates for your diaries The next two Council meetings will take place on 20th June and 18th July

The Parish Council meets at 7.30pm on Thursday, 20 March in the Church Room at Potten End. The agenda can be downloaded and contains links to all the supporting papers.

HertsLynx

The meeting will start with a presentation from Alice Missler of Hertfordshire County Council who will provide an update on the HertsLynx service. If you have any questions or observations on the service – this is your opportunity to raise them!.

Local Government re-organisation

As I reported last month, the Government has announced plans to re-organise local government and has asked Hertfordshire County Council and its districts, including Dacorum, to submit interim plans by 21 March 2025 with full proposals to follow by 28 November. The Government has made it very clear that it expects the plans to be for one or more new unitary councils in Hertfordshire, 

The Council has received a letter from the Chief Executive of Dacorum asking for its views and will discuss at the meeting whether it should respond given that the preliminary response to the Government is due this Friday, and if so how.

Highways

There are even more road closures in and around the parish over the next three months for a variety of reasons. 

• Frithsden Land  is closed for work to the road surface from 17 – 22 March
• Roman Rd is closed for drainage investigation from 17 – 22 March
• Leighton Buzzard Rd will be closed overnight between 2 and 4 April for resurfacing. 
• Hempstead Lane will have traffic restrictions at various times in March, April and May for Highways and Affinity Water
• Water End Rd will also have various closures in May and June for Open Reach and Highways

For more up to date information on roadworks please refer to Causeway one network

Planning

The Council will consider the following applications at its meeting (reference numbers relate to the Dacorum Planning Portal):

• 15 The Back, Potten End – first floor rear extension (25/00570/FHA)

Potten End needs YOU!

Looking for a new challenge?

Perhaps you would you like to be more involved in our village….

Maybe you have retired but would like to make use the skills you have developed over the years …..

Our Village Hall is a resource for everyone, home to many local clubs and organisations and an important Potten End landmark. She is approaching her centenary and, whilst in pretty good shape, still needs to be carefully and prudently looked after. This is done by a board of trustees, however, after 10 years at the helm, the current Chair of the trustees, Mike Wallis, will be stepping down at the next AGM in June, so the Village Hall is looking for someone to take over the lead. Could you be that person?

The Hall has a comprehensive Business Plan in place and the Chairperson is supported by a management team of Buildings Adviser, Treasurer and Secretary. The day-to-day management of the Hall is carried out by the Caretaker Manager, Gary, who lives onsite. The board of trustees are a friendly bunch and meet 3 times a year to monitor the progress of the Business Plan, agree new priorities and consider issues that may arise and plan a couple of fundraising events each year to help meet the costs of maintaining an aging building.

If you have a glimmer of interest and would like to find out more about the role of the Chair or perhaps becoming a trustee of the Hall, Mike, or any of the Trustees, would be very happy to have an informal chat with you.

The footpath connecting Frithsden Copse to the Hertfordshire Way near to Horseshoe Pond (FP17) has just been resurfaced by Dacorum Borough Council.  Note that footpaths in the parish are maintained by Dacorum through its Rights of Way Officer.  The parish council keeps a watching brief on them and reports problems so that they can be addressed as soon as possible.  Whilst Dacorum looks after the surface of paths it is the responsibility of adjoining landowners to ensure that there are no vegetation, or any other, encroachments.