Bourne End Herts News

Carol Singing You will be pleased to know that the Carol Singing raised £125-41 on the first night and £146-03 on the second night. A total of £271-45! Well done and thanks to all those who came out and added their voices (good or bad) to our marling Christmas. I am sure we will consider the charities that will get the benefit at our next meeting. Happy Xmas and New Year to you all.   Mike Pritchard  Bourne Ender Residents of Bourne End will have received copy of the winter edition of the Bourne Ender a few weeks ago. To the rest who receive the electronic version via the blog, our apologies for the late arrival. Here it is, hopefully better late than never!  

At yesterday’s meeting of the Development Control Committee, the application to redevelop Bourne End Mills was rejected.  To be more precise, the rejection was of the application to enable 24 hour working and remove the height restriction on the buildings.  Consideration of the plans themselves was therefore deferred. Despite the recommendation for approval by the planning officer, not one member of the committee was prepared to propose the application.  They had clearly taken on board the view that this specific application would have resulted in a building and activities which would have dominated our village and the surrounding area. It looked rather bleak when the planning officer recommended approval.  What made the difference?  Probably not one thing but a combination of          the well-reasoned objections from so many of you;           Mike Pritchard’s clarity in presenting the case; ...

A reminder ..... AGM tomorrow, Friday 24th October 7.45 for 8.00 at the Village Hall .........followed by cheese and wine.

The application for the redevelopment of Little Hay involving the dumping of 247,000 cubic metres of construction waste has been withdrawn. It has been a long haul from the initial publicity in May 2013 when the proposals were announced as a redevelopment at no cost to the taxpayer and involving ecological improvements. In the ensuing sixteen months, as the plans were scrutinised more closely the reality became clear.  The combined opposition of Dacorum Borough Council planners, The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, the Environment Agency and many others started to ring alarm bells.  All the time your letters of objection were mounting up.  Many of these, along with those from Box Lane and Bovingdon expressed deep concern for our rural environment. In the end, Hertfordshire County Council's own planning department recommended refusal.  At this point it became clear to the applicant that what was proposed would cause considerable damage. A big thank yo...

The planning application for Little Hay Golf Course Remodelling will be heard at the County Council’s Development Control Committee Meeting at 10.00 a.m on 21 st October at County Hall. Although they will be unable to speak, members of the village are welcome to attend, and their presence would underline our objection.   Details are on the Little Hay Saga Blog here.  

Little Hay The report prepared for Hertfordshire Development Control Committee has now been published.  It recommends that planning permission should be refused.  The full report and an interpretation of what this means is on the Little Hay Saga blog .  Bourne End Mills Following a meeting between the developers and members of the village association, the developers have taken away a number of concerns and are looking at the plans in the light of them. We understand that a new proposal will be submitted and sent out for comments. Watch this space!  (You might like to look at the existing plans.  There are a number, but  4/01988/14 seems to give the best overview.) AGM You will receive a flyer about the AGM on 24 th October.  Please try to find the time to attend, even if it is to hear what we have been doing over the past year and to put in any suggestions for the coming one, as well as your vote for the committee.

As you can see below, the latest Bourne Ender is now on line, and you will soon be receiving your paper copy.  You are obviously using the blog, but if you have not already done so, we would encourage you to subscribe to it. The news on the blog is more frequently updated; an important issue now that planning applications require a considerably shorter notification period. We hope you will be able to come to the 50 th Anniversary part on September 12 th .  All the details are in the Bourne Ender, and a flyer you may have already received. The August post (see alongside) gave you a link to the plans for the Bourne End Mills regeneration proposals.  Please make sure you look at them and submit your comments.  Alternatively, select one of the links below. Bourne End Mills plans on Dacorum Website The Design and Access Statement The saga of Little Hay continues.  One recent piece of news is that the Environment Agency has reiterated its view that t...

Yes there's a lot going on or planned to go on around the village. Bourne End Mills There are plans afoot to revamp Bourne End Mills industrial estate.  We clearly welcome this in principle, but as with all planning issues, we need to look carefully at the details.  Aspects we are likely to welcome are the increased separation of the industry from the residential area of the village, the opening up of the Bourne Gutter through the industrial estate, provision of a new public space and provision for access for the few units that currently use Bourne End Lane.  Yet this comes at a price.  The proposals are for one large warehouse, considerably higher than the existing buildings,and despite the beautiful artists impressions, some of the existing building will remain. The plans are on Dacorum's website ref.   4/01988/14/RES .  There is also a more detailed description in the Hemel Gazette of August 13th.   This has been copied here. It's early days,...

Little Hay The saga rumbles on. Hertfordshire Highways are currently considering new proposals to widen Upper Bourne End Lane.  Of course, they will only be considering safety issues.  As one of our councillors has said, they would have to reinstate the lane!  How they could reinstate the chalk bank and its flora and fauna defeats me.   We have now produced a blog especially devoted to the sad saga.  It can be found here  here .  To access it directly go to LittleHaySaga.blogspot.co.uk  Do pass this information on to anyone who shows the slightest interest in the landfil proposals and encourage them to voice their opinion. The Village Show Sunday 13th July is the Village Show.  There is still time to get organised, feeding your produce, brushing up your culinary skills or whatever takes your fancy!  We'll be round with a new copy of the schedule early next week in case you have mislaid it.  Shame on you if you have! Ou...

Soon you will be receiving your hard copy of the Bourne Ender.  Your rep will, at the same time, be collecting your £5.00 annual subscription.  Please make sure you have it ready.  Amongst other things, it keeps the Bourne Ender going and the the various flyers to keep you up to date with events and news.