From Jonathan Leech, Henham

Dear Mr. Ketteridge,

I attended the council meeting last Tuesday and was dismayed by the total lack of direction the council seems to have over the Governments demands for more housing in the Uttlesford District area.

As I sat and listened I came up with an analogy which I believe you should heed...............

From Steve Jones to Mr. John Mitchell, C.E.O. of Uttlesford District Council

Mr. Mitchell,
I am greatly concerned to receive a communication from our Parish concerning the conduct and level of seriousness being taken by the members mentioned in the communication I received, below.
You should be greatly concerned at the level of seriousness, those of us who live in Elsenham, are taking with this proposal. Without question, it is objected to by 100% of people within the village, that I have spoken with. We don't all get the time to attend meetings but that does not mean we don't object as a village community. And to hear that our views are being treated with such disdain, makes me question your support of our wellbeing and opinions.
I believe this attitude is tantamount to bringing your council into disrepute.
I would like to know why this committee was being so flippant with such an important agenda and that at least, you owe a significant apology to all of us who live here.

From Mrs. Sheena Bigland to - Mr John Mitchell Chief Exec of U.D.C. re the Environment Committee Meeting on Tuesday 18 November 2008

Dear Mr Mitchell

  I attended the Tuesday 18 November meeting of the Environment Committee and felt you ought to know how badly it was run............

From Margaret Shaw to Elsenham Folk

I don't know if it is relevant but the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS)  has been imposed on Uttlesford by the East Of England Regional Assembly (EERA).  However the EERA is about to loose its powers to the unelected, government agency the Regional Development Agency.  (It will be in the December Queens speech apparently.)

EERA are about to embark on a period of consultation that will take them through to 2031

see  http://www.eera.gov.uk/What-we-do/developing-regional-strategies/east-of-england-plan/east-of-england-plan-review-to-2031/

Fairfield have already put in a proposal (for 2031)  to build 5,000 homes at Elsenham - can't get to grips on  whether this is in addition to the 3,000 that was a result of the current plan to foist 8,000 on Uttlesford by 2021 i.e. Elsenham's original 3,000 plus a further 5,000 = 8000   or 5,000 in total at Elsenham . 

We have to be careful that the politicians actually mean what they say - allowing the Districts to unwind any plans will not necessarily stop Uttlesford continuing down this route  - they still have a duty to allow homes to be built and Fairfield have certainly got them in their pocket.   Anything that Eric Pickles or Grant Schapps have to say will not stop a UDC that is hell bent on stopping building at Great Chesterford.
Call me cynical.

From Chris Bush re the D.C.L.G Road Show (my fault it is late but I had to work out how to display his pictures. Click on each one in turn to expand.- BB)

Bill

We attended the D.C.L.G Display Caravan again today in Saffron Walden having nearly drowned in it in Bishop's Stortford yesterday.
I had asked D.C.L.G for copies of the display boards but had been fobbed off with "it's all on our website"

So I took my camera today to Saffron Walden and copied them. Copy attached. It's interesting that in a number of respects Fairfield's poor proposals do not begin tie up with the fine words on the boards, e.g.

"We want to make sure eco-towns are communities from day one. That means transportation, decent infrastructure and public services."

Not in Fairfield's proposals it doesn't !

Got nowhere with the representatives on site they really weren't interested in arguments and just kept urging  a response online. Well they can certainly rely on a response.

I made it clear to the D.C.L.G's reps that in my opinion Fairfield's performance at their public exhibition had been absolutely dismal; their proposals were laughable and some of their consultants' replies arrogant in the extreme. I asked whether the D.C.L.G was really aware of that performance and happy that the eco town concept was being so blatantly exploited?

Might as well have stayed out in the rain for all the response I got !

I have been a resident of Henham for 15 years and before that I lived in Harlow New Town for 20 years and before that in Basildon New Town for 14 years.

Dear Ms Beckett,
I am writing to you about the government’s proposal to build an ECO town in our little village of Elsenham. My family and I moved here 6 years ago because we wished to be part of a rural community and we wished to bring our children up in a safer environment. However, we have now been forced to live under the dark cloud of a looming housing development, which will convert our village to a town almost over night and destroy our community................................

STANSTED

I go to an Art Class in Stansted and thought I would talk to another couple who actually live in Stansted and ask whether they had been to any of the meetings.  They had been to one and understood some of the problems that would arise for them and were vaguely worried.

I then told them about one of the proposals I was told about at the last Fairfield Presentation - namely that the parking spaces would be taken away from Lower Street as the full width of the road would be required for ........................... a Bus Lane!!  Also that traffic calming measures would be installed on Chapel Hill and elsewhere in Stansted.

I explained that Fairfield assured me that most of the people who moved into this new Eco-Town Heaven would obviously not want to leave as everything would be on their doorstep so they were not to worry at all about the 10,000 or so additional cars.  You can imagine the comments.

The residents of Stansted obviously do not quite understand how this will affect them, neither do the butchers, hairdressers, dry cleaners, etc.  Perhaps a leaflet could be given to the business in Lower Street initially and word of mouth might be a good start?
 Keep up the good work

From Cllr Catherine Dean

Hi Bill

Hi Bill,

I would like to offer you my support. I have put up a link to your site on our small village website, if there is anyway I can help spread the word please say.  If it helps please link our Village website to your support link page.

Following Fiona Price's comments:

Recently I purchased a copy of the Bishop's Stortford edition of Herts & Essex Observer...it had NO MENTION of the Fairfield Consultation report as did our local Stansted and Dunmow edition. This lack of reporting in Stortford must leave locals there very much unaware of developments with the eco town here and it's potential impact on them. We really need residents from Stansted and Stortford on our case.

Also I was looking at the BBC website recently which showed a film broadcast on Look East recently. There a huge demonstration took place to oppose the eco town proposals in Bedfordshire. Maybe we need to get more vocal too!

Fairfield Consultation

For the Attention Mr Henry Cleary

Dept for Communities and Local government

Further to the insulting consultation and Public Exhibition promoting the Fairfield Market Town in Uttlesford I have been encouraged to express my opinion of the exhibition and Fairfield's plans.

Why do I use the word insulting to describe the consultation.

The only new plan for moving people in the area appears to be to provide more buses, when buses have difficulty already in the area with the narrow roads and particularly slow journeys. Surely you should solve your travel problems before you pick an area for development.

Calling their plan a new Market Town may be nice for their image makers but if you live in a thriving village with an excellent Market Town at Saffron Walden it is too much to take. If they are genuinely interested in market towns perhaps they can turn over the land they have bought, that has been nicely dressed for growing food, to local people who can then sell the produce and strengthen Saffron Walden Market.

Few Fairfield people at the Exhibition had been to Stansted down the road, although it is only 2 miles. One Architect lives in the centre of London and does not even drive yet alone be motivated to go to Stansted by car.

Why is the transport issue so important and why is Stansted Mountfitchet integral to any plans for Henham and Elsenham. Simply the answer lies in the growth of traffic, particularly heavy traffic in the lower part of Uttlesford. If the growth continues in traffic, as it has, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, the roads will cease up, traffic will go nowhere. An ECO Town that created the waste of huge amounts of fuel in traffic jams would in my eyes be a laughing stock.

Stansted Mountfitchet has its own development of 400 houses and while few people have moved in yet, it is causing huge traffic problems. You need to come and see them to appreciate the difficulties being created.

Stansted has a growing Airport and if the traffic surrounding the Airport becomes impossible to sustain, Stansted Airport will become like Heathrow a very poor advert for British organising skills and the country as a whole.

All the plans I have seen so far appear to be aimed at producing properties for young people who wish to use the area as a dormitory. However although property may appear expensive in London, there are jobs there and a lot of empty properties could be excellent homes. Also renovating properties at this time could help many people.

I hope the above comments help to give a picture of the feelings held in Henham and Elsenham

Michael Walker

Two excellent documents from Dr. Graham Mott, viz
 1.Letter to the 'Elsenham Consultation'

 2. Summary of the Road Access to Elsenham & Henham
 

Letter

Focus Group

Dear Bill,
Earlier in the year, I, along with a few others from Henham and Elsenham, was invited to attend a Focus Group held at the Hilton Hotel. The people, who were randomly selected, expressed some very strong and educated views against the proposal. Having had no feed back from the meeting, in spite of a request made by one member of the group,  I therefore enquired at the exhibition about the influence of the groups' conclusions. There was much confusion and a visit was made behind the stage curtains to obtain a response. The answer came that there was some knowledge of the group having taken place but that not a lot was known about it! The glib reply also stated that there would be many such groups in the future. As was cynically suggested to me by a Henham resident, is the intention to carry on with the exercise until one group comes up with the "right" answer and to ignore earlier responses?

Please can you let the village know via the Blackboard that they are now trying to stop the Surgery dispensing prescriptions. The Surgery only knew about this last week and are putting these letters in with you prescriptions. So if you don't go to the Doctors before this date you do not find out in time.  We only have until the 20th of November to lodge our objections.
Please can you help to let the village know
Thank you
Frances & Alan Lambert

Letter

Dear Bill,

The more I read about The Fairfield Partnership the more I think we need to be pro active in our approach, but on a different track. ...........

Bill
I was told by staff at the Fairfield exhibition in Saffron Walden that there would be limited improvements to roads in and out of Elsenham to discourage residents from leaving town by car. The problem of potential congestion in Stansted will apparently be resolved by tweaking the traffic lights in Grove Hill and by installing traffic lights where Lower Street meets Chapel Hill. I forgot to ask whether I will be allowed to drive to Elsenham Eco-Town/Community to sell in the town market any surplus carrots that I grow in my back garden in Stansted!

Service Charges

Bill

Re the posted item on the Elsenham Co-Operative; When I questioned one of the Fairfield Consultant Representatives at the Exhibition in Elsenham regarding funding of the service charges for the estate, he told me that it would be on a voluntary "opt in" basis. It seems inconceivable that sufficient of the new residents would pay escalating service charges on top of their Council Tax by choice. This being the case surely the maintenance of the common areas and services will progressively fail and facilities would fall into rack and ruin?

Chris Bush

From Margaret Shaw of Elsenham regarding Elsenham Co-operative Ltd (ECL) etc

Hi Bill
On Tuesday I was told by Mr Gibbon of David Lock  that they would fund ECL by taking ground rent from the supermarket - (definitely not Tesco ) so we wonder who;  
whereas on Saturday I was told that ECL would be funded by taking a ground rent from everybody in the community.  (like a block of flats management company) - that means they  could raise prices at will. - and what happens when they go into liquidation.

When the senior member of staff (without a name tag) at the Fairfield "consultation" in Elsenham was asked how they would react if the planning authority were to insist that the infrastructure was in  place prior to the start of the major construction phase his reply was that they would "go to appeal".  So even before they apply for planning consent they are threatening Uttlesford District Council with the cost of appeals if they don't get their way.   Margaret Shaw

I concur with your view that there was real anger at the lack of detailed information at the Elsenham presentation

I would also like to point out that the Fairfield rep at the Elsenham "consultation" admitted that Fairfield were only doing the presentations because it was legally required of them

My feeling is also that they are not interested in the views of local people at all