We’ve been advised by the National Trust of the following plans for their properties in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Ashridge – small, outlying car parks:  all open as of Mon 11 May, with the exception of Little Gaddesden where we are keeping it closed to minimise dog fouling in the adjacent meadow while the cattle are grazing and Northchurch Flats, where we are trying to promote some grass restoration following a lot of abuse during the wet weather.

Ivinghoe Beacon and Dick’s Camp: these will open by Saturday 16 May. There will probably be third-party operated ice cream vans in both of these car parks on fine days and at weekends.

Ashridge, Monument Drive: this will remain closed until Monday 1 June.  This is because it is a very difficult site for us to try to manage numbers and any kind of social distancing. We will operate it at 50% of the usual capacity and will turn people away once it is full. We will open the toilets; if people do not observe social distancing whilst using them, we will close them again. The shop and visitor centre will remain closed. There may be a reduced, take away offer available from the café. The Juice Dub is likely to be on site at weekends from 1 June.

Dunstable Downs: we will open the main car park and the beach car park at 50% of their usual capacity from 10am – 4pm daily from Monday 18 May. The car park machines will be operating using the ‘Pay by Phone’ facility and the charge will be £3.50 per visit.  The toilets will be open and we will monitor use to ensure social distancing is being observed. There will be a third party operated ice cream van in the beach car park on fine days. Cars that cannot be accommodated will be turned away.

Sharpenhoe, Totternhoe, Whipsnade Heath: all open from Wednesday 13 May.

Sundon Hills and Morven Park: still open – never closed.  There is no parking at Morven.

Whipsnade Tree Cathedral: this will remain closed for now.

Shaw’s Corner: this will remain closed for a long time yet. There is little prospect of us re-opening until social distancing is no longer required. We may look to operate some kind of pre-booked visits later in the season.

Dacorum have published the new Local Plan for the Borough for consultation which sets out significant growth and investment over the coming decades, particularly in housing and employment. If you want to read the full (359 pages … + extensive appendices!) report you can find it at http://www.dacorum.gov.uk/localplan, or there’s a more accessible “virtual” exhibition at https://dacorumlocalplan.consultation.ai/. Everyone is encouraged to comment on the plan either direct to Dacorum at https://consult.dacorum.gov.uk/kse/event/35755 or by inputting your views to the Parish Council. The deadline for comments is 7th February 2021. It sounds dry, and in large part it is, but it will fundamentally shape the community we live in and so deserves your attention. Enjoy!

It’s out with the old ..

and in with new!

We are thrilled to confirm that thanks to the generosity of our parishioners together with grants from The National Lottery Awards for All, Dacorum Community Fund, the Parish Council and the Hertfordshire Locality Fund the new playground installation will start on Monday 11 March and is due to be completed on 30 March just in time for the Easter holidays.

During this time the playground will be securely and safely fenced off. But the goal and astroturf and the rest of Spencer Holland will be available to use.

We will need some parking spaces for the contractors so these will be coned off. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Thanks for all your support. It will be very exciting to have a modern playground for our children after 40 years!

The Parish Councils February meeting will start with a presentation by Mr Paul Miller, General Manager, National Trust Ashridge Estate, who will be talking about the very special and diverse Ashridge Estate, the significant current and future challenges across the estate, and the strategic approach the NT are taking to mitigate these challenges. ‘Protecting our Roots’ is the NT project developing the necessary transformational change, collaboratively with a range of stakeholders.

The Trust’s plans for the Estate include restrictions on parking in Monument Drive and more visitor centres to move visitors away from the Monument. More information can be found on the National Trust website. 

Highways

The flooding along Hempstead Lane is clearly causing significant inconvenience to the residents directly affected and to everyone who uses the road. A meeting involving Sir Mike Penning MP, County Cllr Terry Douris, the immediately affected residents and Highways was held on 9th February and there are now proposals for a short-term (as in any day now) and long-term solution. Details will be announced as soon as the plans have been finalised.

The Council will also consider a number of highways-related issues affecting Frithsden, including a proposal to install chevrons at the junction of Nettleden Rd and Frithsden Lane which has been the site of a number of accidents recently.

Open Spaces

Essential tree maintenance on the Old Green has been completed to remove some dangerous trees and allow more light into the area. Further work will be undertaken to reduce the amount of ivy on some of the trees. We are aware that the access to the Old Green from The Front is becoming more uneven and have included a proposal to improve it as one of the projects under consideration for funding from the CIL funds (see below).

The Council will be considering a proposal for a short term extension to the grass cutting contract. In itself this isn’t very contentious but the extension is to allow time to consider a proposal that the council change the grass cutting regime on the Old Green, part of The Green, and possibly the burial ground to improve the ecology of those areas. The Council would be very interested to hear resident’s views on this proposal.

The recent wet weather has further delayed work to cut back the trees overhanging the football pitch on the sports field but we hope that this will be completed as soon as possible. In the meantime we are about to submit a grant application to the Football Foundation to support a six year programme to improve the quality of the football pitch.

Dacorum have launched a consultation exercise on plans to improve cycling and walking routes in the borough. The aim is to identify walking and cycling routes of most importance to the community over the next 10 years and to make them more attractive and viable options than using a car. Funding will be sought from central Government. At first sight their plans appear to be very focused on urban routes so its important that everyone expresses their views.

Planning

Since the last meeting the council supported an application for a single storey extension and various other alterations to Crossways on Little Heath Lane (24/00090/FHA). 

At the meeting the council will consider an application at Mollcroft, Hempstead Lane (24/00157/FUL) for a change of use for an existing detached residential annex building to a separate dwellinghouse.

The council has received notification of appeals against the decisions by Dacorum to refuse permission for the new dwelling at Frithsden Vineyard (22/02538/FUL) and the retention of and addition to decking at 7 Olivers Close (23/01330/FUL). The Parish Council objected to both applications.

Finance and admin

At the January council meeting the Council agreed its budget for 2024/25 and the amount of Precept it requires to deliver its plans – the ‘Precept’ is that part of your Council Tax which is collected on behalf of the Parish Council. You can see the presentation given to the January Council Meeting explaining the main factors determining the level of precept here.

The Council has been considering possible areas in which to invest the £72,000 it received from the Valerie Way development in Potten End; the provisional list of projects was presented to the January Council meeting. It’s taken slightly longer to pull together high-level details of the various projects than we’d hoped but the Council will now consider them in early March before consulting with the community on priorities.

What is this?

• The Parish Council has CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) income that we need to spend on infrastructure projects in the Parish.

• There are clear criteria for CIL investment.

• It is for the Parish Council (PC) to decide how to allocate this spending, but we want to hear the views of a wide cohort of residents.

What has happened so far?

• The Parish Council put out a general call for ideas from members of the public, approached parish clubs to encourage submissions, conducted due diligence on all ideas – and discarded some as unfeasible

• We identified some projects which could be approved at a public meeting

• We identified seven projects to be taken forward to public consultation

Completing this Survey – Guidance

• This survey is designed with simplicity in mind: Rank these projects (1 being top), and add any comments. Your comments are as important as your ranking, as we are taking a qualitative approach.

• think about the MERIT of the project rather than the COST. Many of these projects may be eligible for additional grant funding

• The details of each project can be seen online

• It is not too late to propose new ideas! (but do check out the list of ideas deemed unfeasible online)

• Bear in mind that some cost estimates may have shifted since quotations

The survey will be distributed in paper format with the next Parish Magazine, but to complete the survey and see details of the possible projects go to bit.ly/cilsurvey2025