Your Parish Council held another virtual meeting on Thursday 14th January 2021 at 8.00 pm. Six Parish Councillors participated along with our Parish Clerk and our ECC Councillor – Cllr. Lesley Wagland. We were also joined by two members of the public.
Reports from the ECC were mainly centred around water on the roads following the extremely heavy rainfall experienced recently. We were informed that any standing water on roads can be reported online via the interactive map. Any such reports will be treated as a major issue if the standing water remains beyond 48 hours. The petition for a new crossing on the Ongar Road is now with the LHP validation team and our pothole initiative is to come to Kelvedon Hatch in late January or early February.
The Parish Clerk reported that the conifers around the War Memorial require trimming although there is now some question as to whose responsibility it is.
The Chairman reported that he had been informed that the sale of Eagle Field and Doddinghurst Common was completed on Tuesday 12th January 2021 and that the new owners are KH Land Holdings Limited. Discussions are now taking place as to the way forward between the Chairman and the owners. Already, wheels are in motion to obtain a temporary closure of Byway 22 so that Doddinghurst Common can be made more secure. Also, it was confirmed that all monies loaned to the Parish Council by members of the public have now been repaid.
The Finance Committee’s proposed budget for 2021-22 was accepted as was the proposed precept amount of £90,023.
The Parish Council was informed by Cllr. Gorton that bus routes 21 and 71 were both using their Saturday timetable all week.
Cllr. Matthew confirmed that the dispensary in Deal Tree Health Centre is currently closed and all prescriptions are being diverted to the Village Pharmacy in Doddinghurst.
There were three planning matters, two of which the Planning Committee had no objections and the other was a request to comment on Brizes House which is a listed building.
The next Parish Council meeting is scheduled to be on Thursday 11th February at 8.00 pm. Again, this is to be another virtual one using Microsoft Teams and members of the public are encouraged to participate by contacting the Parish Clerk.
Stephen Saunders
Chairman
Kelvedon Hatch Parish Council