Minutes of the ANTAS AGM, held at Fair
Field Junior School, Radlett
On Saturday 11th October 2003
PRESENT: Mrs Jennifer Moss President, Mr Anthony Wethered,
Vice President, Dr Peter Diplock, Chairman, Mr John Davies, Vice Chairman, Mr
Andrew Sangster, Hon. Secretary, Mr Ronald Sims, Treasurer, Mrs Merrin
Molesworth (Newsletter editor), and Dr Chris Woodman (Web Master).
Also present were Mr Brian Horsley,
representing the South East Association of Civic Trust Societies and
representatives of the Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, Buckingham, Chesham, Chiltern,
Harpenden, Hertford, High Wycombe, Hitcham and Taplow, Marlow, Potters Bar,
Radlett, St. Albans and Wendover Societies.
1. WELCOME: Graham
Taylor, chairman of the Radlett Society welcomed members to Radlett, which is
situated in south-west Hertfordshire.
Radlett has a population of 9,942 of which 12% are retired. It is a small town which some residents still
call “the Village”. Property values in
the area are high, making it an expensive place to live. It enjoys a lower than average crime rate,
although car crime is above average.
2. APOLOGIES
FOR ABSENCE: These were received from Mr Peter Trevelyan,
Vice-Chairman and from Amersham, Bishop’s Stortford, Hoddesdon and Stony
Stratford Societies, and Hughenden Valley Resident’s Association.
3. MINUTES OF
THE 8th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: The minutes
were approved and signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.
4. MATTERS
ARISING: There were none.
5. ELECTION OF
OFFICERS: (The President, Jennifer Moss, took the Chair for this
part of the meeting and then handed back to Peter Diplock). The following officers were proposed by
Graham Taylor and seconded by Carolyn Cumming and were elected en bloc: Chairman Peter Diplock, Vice Chairmen John Davis and Peter
Trevelyan, Hon. Secretary Andrew Sangster and Hon. Treasurer Ronald Sims. Chris Woodman and Merrin Molesworth were
co-opted onto the Committee.
6. CHAIRMAN’S
REPORT: The Chairman welcomed three new members of ANTAS, Bishop’s
Stortford, Harpenden and the Hughenden Valley Resident’s Association. He commented that ANTAS members were looking
for information on the work of the Civic Trust Regional Associations, and what
individual Societies could do to help their work. The Civic Trust communications project will not be able to
progress until funding can be obtained and it is possible that the project
proposal may need to be adjusted.
Dr Diplock noted that it was
now his third year as chairman and that the time had passed very rapidly. He did not intend to stand for re-election
next year unless there was difficulty in finding a new candidate for the
position, as he felt that allowing new faces to come to the fore was important.
Anthony Wethered had asked the
Chairman to remind member Societies to help to raise the profile of ANTAS as
much as possible, and thought that member Societies might consider putting the
ANTAS logo onto all of their Society stationery and newsletters. It was proposed to place the ANTAS logo on
the website for use by member societies.
7. THE TREASURER’S REPORT: The
Hon. Treasurer Ronald Sims was pleased to see that ANTAS had gained three new
member Societies, but also noted that Hoddesdon had resigned its membership and
that one other Society had not as yet renewed its membership. ANTAS is fortunate that it receive donations
on top of subscription fees from some of its members and that Societies hosting
ANTAS meetings bear the costs themselves.
The acceptance of the accounts was proposed by Graham Taylor and
seconded by Derek Upcott, and approved by the members. Retention of Jane Clerk as accounts auditor
was proposed by Anthony Wethered and seconded by Bob Savage, and approved by the members.
It was suggested that
subscriptions should be raised in order to reduce dependence on donations, but
Peter Diplock said ANTAS did not want to put up its fees because it is a
networking group, not needing substantial funds, and it recognises that member
societies are having to pay an increasing registration fee to the Civic Trust,
partly to fund regional activity. However, this would
be kept under review by the Executive Committee.
8. REPORT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: Andrew Sangster and Brian Horsley updated
members on the progress of the Civic Trust Regional Associations. Andrew began by describing how the increase
in the Civic Trust registration fee was instituted to enable the Civic Trust to
provide an income of £2000 per annum for the operating costs of each of the
Regional Associations.
On the initiative of ANTAS,
representatives of the East of England and South East England Regional
Associations recently met with representatives from the South East Regional
Assembly (SERA) and the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) to discuss
ways in which the Civic Society movement might make its voice heard. Umbrella organisations COVER (Community and
Voluntary forum Eastern Region) and RAISE (Regional Action and Involvement in
the South East), represent the voluntary sector and EEEF (East of England
Environmental Forum) and SEFS (South East Forum for Sustainability) represent
the environment sector, but the possibility of representing these bodies on the
Regional Assemblies is unlikely and is not being sought. Currently the Civic
Society movement is at a disadvantage compared with the CPRE, FOE and the RSPB
because it does not have paid representatives.
The next step is to move on
from what the Regional Associations would like to do and set in motion ways of
doing it. Members of Societies who have
specific areas of expertise were asked to become active members of the Civic
Trust Regional Associations by representing the associations at meetings and
contributing to the development of responses to consultation documents. The Associations are producing policy
statements so that anyone representing them would be briefed. The use of e-mail
is seen as the only realistic way of communicating within the regional
associations, given the large areas they cover.
Brian Horsley commented that
registration fees to the Civic Trust should increase, to enable work to
continue. It was to be hoped that CABE
(Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) would fund secretarial
work and the costs of submissions to the Government. He reported that the South East Regional Association had been
asked by Mike Gwilliam of the Regional Assembly to join two advisory groups,
Urban Regeneration and Housing. This is
an important development as working groups do have some influence, but it will
also be important to demonstrate to him that the civic society movement wants
to be effective in regional matters.
The Chairman commented that
Regional Assemblies will be making decisions that will affect everyone and that
it was important that member societies made their views known to the regional
associations. Also it was important
that the Civic Trust and the Regional Associations communicated to their members,
as people need to know that their money is being well spent.
9. RECENT PLANNING CONSULTATIONS:
Andrew Sangster reported that there had been an additional consultation
on airports. As a result of a court
hearing on the inclusion of Gatwick in the consultation, the Government had
been obliged to consult further. The
figures relating to the demand forecast were challenged in the ANTAS submission
as they extrapolate recent growth without ant tapering so that by 2030 a new
airport the size of Heathrow would have to be built every year.
Consultation on access to
land: As a result of provisions in the
Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, footpaths and bridleways can be
upgraded to byways if it can be proved that vehicular rights once existed. The Chiltern Society is active on this issue
as they believe motorised vehicles are a misuse of the byways. It was agreed
that ANTAS will write in support of the submission from the Chiltern Society.
The Buckingham Society has
developed a draft response to the Government consultation on the protection of
the historic environment. This will
form the basis of the ANTAS submission.
The Civic Trust South East
Regional Association has produced a survey on affordable housing, which is a
key issue. It was suggested that other
member societies should also respond on this issue when given the opportunity.
10. SHORT SOCIETY REPORTS:
Aylesbury Society.
Two
delegates attended the Annual Civic Trust South East Conference in Windsor on 4th
October. They found it very inspirational with many ideas that could be adopted
by their own Society. The conference was very well organised and the tour of
Windsor afterwards was very enjoyable.
The
Society has spent most of the last month compiling from members their views on
the proposed new development of Aylesbury. This is a ten-acre site covering the
Civic Centre, old Granada cinema in the High Street, redundant swimming pool,
and the canal basin. The developers Crest Nicholson & Sainsbury's propose
demolishing every building on the site and building a new concert hall &
theatre, Sainsbury’s supermarket, shopping mall, hotel, department store
believed to be Debenham's and flats & restaurants around the canal basin.
It is the biggest development ever undertaken in Aylesbury. Called Aylesbury
Waterside most members generally welcome the scheme. The main problems are lack
of green space, the proposed pedestrian friendly crossing on the A41 and minor
detail concerned with design, car parking & frontages. Consultation ends on 3rd
November.
Beaconsfield Society.
The Beaconsfield Society is moving with the times and
now has a website which was officially launched on Wednesday 14th
May in Beaconsfield Library. You can
now find information about TBS and its activities on www.beaconsfieldsociety.org.uk The appearance of our Newsletters has been
upgraded. These are now printed in
colour and personally addressed to members.
Planning
matters: Beaconsfield is a property
developers’ paradise at present with many planning applications to knock down
one or more houses and replace them with much larger £1Million plus properties
or blocks of executive apartments. This
has provoked the formation of single-issue protest groups specifically to
oppose multi-occupancy developments. The
Beaconsfield Society is drawing up criteria to present to its members so that
the Society can support or oppose specific applications with the confidence it
is speaking on behalf of the membership.
However, whether it will be possible to restore a balanced mix of new
homes remains to be seen. The Town is plagued with property developer signs
regularly adorning lampposts. Almost
all of these are erected without the permission of the County Council. With the agreement of the Town and County
Councils, the Society has been removing the unauthorised signs (over 500 to
date).
Drivers face
speeding facts: Electronic smiling or
frowning faces in Beaconsfield greeted drivers on Wednesday 12th March
as a speed indicator device or SID told them if they were travelling over or
under the speed limit. SID is an
educational and information device to make drivers aware of their speed. The Beaconsfield Society volunteers used the
device on loan from Bucks County Council at five different sites in the
Town. Between 30% and 40% of motorists
were exceeding the speed limits, with the highest recorded speed being 49
mph. Although SIDs do not have any
legal implications, police enforcement officers may be operating in the
area. It would be interesting to
discover whether a SID on the road for longer would have a permanent effect on
drivers’ behaviour.
Proposed
Motorway Service Area: Many readers
are no doubt aware of the Public Inquiry into possible locations for motorway
service areas to serve the south-western quadrant of the M25 and associated
motorways, the M4 and M40. The
Beaconsfield Society joined other organisations and individuals campaigning
against the proposal to site a motorway services area at Burtley Wood, just
south of junction two of the M40 on the A355 at a special evening session of
the Inquiry in July 2003. The
Beaconsfield Society opposes the provision of this off-line motorway service
area on the grounds that it will provoke significant increased traffic on the
A355 and will have an adverse effect on the commercial viability of
Beaconsfield and its environs. There
will be loss of green belt and ancient woodland, increased pollution and an
increased risk of road traffic accidents.
There were many objections to the proposal. The outcome of the Inquiry is awaited. .
Membership: The Beaconsfield Society has developed a high quality
promotional leaflet aimed at boosting its membership and more particularly
increasing the number of “active members”. Are you wondering about the term
'active member'? An organisation with few active members is vulnerable and has
limited clout. If many people do small jobs for maybe agreed time periods it
helps to keep the organisation vibrant and bring in new practices and ideas.
From a member’s point of view it is a way of meeting new people and developing
new skills.
Buckingham Society.
The Buckingham Society is
concerned that the Milton Keynes / South Midlands strategy will have
implications for the South East as the arc they form could easily be joined up
and spill into Hertfordshire.
Affordable housing is required, but the infrastructure improvements
should be carried out before the housing is built.
Buckingham took part in the
Pathfinder courses and recommends that other Societies take part. They are now embarking on a new membership
drive and are working to make people aware of the riverside development and
have made contact with other concerned organisations in Buckingham.
Chiltern Society.
Chesham Society.
The Chesham Society is
concerned about the Byways Open to All Traffic proposals under the provision of
the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.
The Trail Riders Fellowship have entered numerous applications, which the
Chesham Society strongly opposes, as they feel that motorised vehicles, which
will include quad bikes and four wheel drive vehicles as well as trail bikes,
have no place on country roads.
Chiltern Society.
The Rev Derek Upcott referred
to a number of matters raised in the current edition of Chiltern News.
Hertford Society
Concern over whole strategic
planning process, but in particular the Harlow Options Study
1. Currently there is approval for 12500 new homes for
Harlow but no investment in town to attract new jobs and skills.
2. Decision taken (by whom?) to double size of Harlow by
building further 38000 dwellings.
3. Report prepared by a consultant (Atkins):
·
Brief required massive
factual analysis of the area to underpin recommendations – none provided.
·
No analysis of what has gone
wrong in 50 years since inception of New Town
·
Assumes development of
Stansted Airport, London/Stansted/Cambridge corridor and adopts pronouncements
of new housing requirements.
·
Study area expanded to
10km ring around Harlow
·
Simple modest growth
around Harlow option rejected without proper justification.
·
Proposed future
development areas – 1km ring around
each major settlement + 2km band along each transport corridor (nearly all in
Green Belt).
·
Cheshunt,
Broxbourne/Hoddesdon, Ware and Hertford coalesce along the A10
·
Proposal ignores
conclusions in RPG9 only three years ago – no case for relaxing protection of
the Green Belt, but RPG9 was for South East, not East of England!
·
Capital investment:
Consultant - £700k Parliamentary Select
Committee - £1-2bn
4. Next Steps
High Wycombe Society
Planning: A great deal of Tony Fooks’ time has been taken up
with the town centre development proposals, “Project Phoenix”. The old Cabinet entered into an exclusivity
agreement with Stannifer, the owners of the adjoining 1960s “Octagon Centre”,
but earlier this year there was a “coup” when some councillors and even other
cabinet members felt that decisions on this and other matters were being taken
without their proper involvement, and the Leader and several of the Cabinet
were replaced. On 27 June after periods of informal consultation with the
public and the society, Stannifer submitted an outline planning application
which our Society opposed, because the buildings were out of scale, the open
spaces were inadequate and the historic River Wye was proposed to be left
underground. On 17 September, despite a
highly adverse report from CABE, Stannifer’s outline planning application was
approved subject to certain Secretary of State approvals, but a number of
parties are now trying to get it called in.
If there is to be a public inquiry, the Society’s aim will be to get
proper attention paid to CABE’s criticisms.
This week Wycombe District Council’s Head of Urban
Design staged an evening seminar on “Making Quality Count”, with three
excellent visiting speakers from CABE, Living Streets and SEEDA. This was a highly informative occasion, but
there was great irony in the fact that the chairman had to exclude any
discussion of specifics, because the drift of much that was said ran counter to
what had been decided on Phoenix.
Transport: The Society has made considerable progress with its
campaign for Demand Responsive Transport, and a service linking the station,
the hospital and the industrial estate is due to commence shortly. We have had less success with our campaign
to restore the old rail link to Bourne End although we feel the new ultra-light
(and “ultra-cheap”) railway technology is on our side and it will be
interesting to see whether it takes off around the country in a big way in the
next few years.
Heritage: The Society has embarked on a programme to log the
current occupants and uses of all the buildings in the town centre. The big question for the future is whether
we have the resources and commitment to move on from this to a character survey
and town design statement.
Hitcham and Taplow Society
The Society continues to play an active role within the local community and has had a very busy year, with several controversial development proposals in the area.
The major current concern is the proposed application by the National Trust for a development of nearly 200 houses in the grounds of the Cliveden Estate. The Society is actively participating in the Cliveden Campaign which also includes the Parish Council and other local bodies. It has no objection to the original application for 135 retirement homes and care facilities but considers the new application inappropriate for the isolated site which would place an intolerable burden on the local infrastructure. The Campaign appeals to National Trust Members to join local people, councils and institutions in deploring this proposal by voting in favour of the Members’ Resolution to be put to The National Trust Annual General meeting in November. For further information see the website www.clivedencampaign.org or contact the Cliveden Campaign Committee at The Village Centre, High Street, Taplow, SL6 0EX
Despite strong local opposition, planning approval was given to the block of flats on the riverside site adjacent to Maidenhead Bridge. The Society is continuing to object to certain aspects including tree surgery and changes in the originally submitted designs. Another development in the river area was also approved in spite of strong local representations. The Society is not objecting to the latest proposals for Dropmore which includes the rebuilding of the main house together with a new wing , to provide 54 apartments. No proposals have yet been put forward for the Skindles site.
The Society has produced two issues of its highly regarded Newsletter since the last ANTAS AGM. It also organised the Annual Village Green Party in June this year which attracted around 500 people from the local community and raised over £1,000 for the Thames Valley Adventure Playground charity.
Hitchin Society.
Two years ago the Council
prepared a town centre strategy. The
Hitchen Society opposed it and it was withdrawn. When the plan was resubmitted it was worse than before and the
Society is fighting the proposals.
The West of Stevenage issue
now has two planning applications and a Public Inquiry is to be held next year.
Hughenden Valley Residents Association
Speculative Land Sales: The land at Cryers Hill has now been served with a
permanent Article 4 which was authorized by Central Government. During a land registry search to assist in
serving the notice, it was discovered that less than half of the 67 plots had
changed hands. Add to this the fact that a 10 acre section to the south of the
field was sold at auction, followed by another 1.6 acre plot it would be
reasonable to conclude that PropertySpy have not been very successful in
selling the smaller ‘building’ plots. The adverse publicity together with a
warning on the HVRA website to prospective purchasers seems to have had the
desired effect.
It
is hoped that we will be just as successful in deterring prospective purchasers
from buying the 89 ‘paddock plots’ at Bryants Bottom. We have advised those
residents whose gardens adjoin the affected fields to put bright posters up outlining
planning policies which safeguard the land. In addition to this an Article 4
has now been served on the land by Wycombe District Council. The Article 4
lasts for 6 months until 30th March 2004 during which time
permanency is sought from Central Government.
Having
lobbied our local MP, Paul Goodman who with Peter Lilley has put pressure on
Central Government we have news of a series of meetings to discuss the
implementation of legislation to outlaw speculative land sales. Yvette Cooper, the Planning Minister is
inviting representatives from those local authorities affected. Wycombe District Council has been notified
and it is expected that a representative will attend.
Marlow Society.
This report will be added when available.
Radlett Society.
The Society has 300 members
and produces an annual newsletter, and has sold a footpath map to local
retailers and which is also stocked by the local library. They are currently concerned about the
proliferation of retrospective planning applications and the fact that there
are no penalties for these applications.
The Society was involved in
the consultations for the University of Hertfordshire development. The application was approved by the Borough
Council, but the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister required the housing
density to be increased.
The Society reported that the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overturned a planning approval for a
mobile phone mast, on the grounds of perceived rather an actual risk to
health. This has widespread implications
if residents only have to show that there is a perception of a risk to health.
Wendover Society
The
Society is dismayed that notwithstanding the enormous cost and effort which it
had put in to being represented at and attending the Public Inquiry in to the
Aylesbury Vale District Local Plan, its provisions are already being
threatened. The Society would like to
make its views heard on a number of the issues appearing in the Deposit Draft
of the revisions to the County Structure Plan.
WS is minded to join with Wendover Parish Council and other local parish
councils that are similarly concerned. However, the Society learns that the
Revised Plan will only have a life of some three years after adoption as County
Structure Plans are to be replaced by Regional Spatial Strategies. If the Governments revisions to the Planning Processes are enacted
Regional Bodies that have only limited and indirect democratic representation
would formulate the new strategies leaving County Councils (for so long as they
exist) with an advisory role only.
We
are concerned that our small and historic town will be increasingly threatened
by the encroachment of the massive development which is to be imposed on our
county at the direction of the office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Even if the will and funds to continually
have to contest these changes can be summoned by voluntary organisations the
democratic mechanisms are to be dismembered!
11. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: There
was none.
The Chairman thanked the
Radlett Society for hosting the meeting.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING: The next
meeting will be held on Saturday 24th April 2004 at Beaconsfield.
Following completion of the
formal business of the meeting a talk was given by Nicholas Schoon of the
Campaign to Protect Rural England on the subject of light pollution and the
recent campaigning activity by CPRE.