| IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PC COREGAN,
Neighbourhood Team, Watling Ward, Hertfordshire Police
There has been ongoing issues of sheds and
outbuildings being broken into within the Watling ward. PC 1353 Maurice Coregan Tel: 01707 354192 PCSO 6596 Marie Taylor Tel: 01707 354192 |
| DACORUM MOBILE POLICE STATION IN
MARKYATE Is being held at the fire station on: 18 February 2010 10:00am to 11:00am. (This time and location can be subject to change) |
|
A SITE TOO FAR We are all very protective of our Green Belt surroundings, feeling that too much has encroached on it already in the last 60 years. Well, consider this: a new private development has been proposed to “fill in” the land between Chaul End, Caddington, Slip End and the M1. The developers of the 800 acres (327 Ha.) site (plans available at www.bushwood.info ) promise to protect the local villages’ privacy and independence by hedges and trees. The promise of having a village 4.5 times bigger than Markyate at the end of the garden is producing fury in the villages of Caddington, Woodside, Aley Green and Slip End. Find out more at www.case4.org.uk. CaSE4 stands for ‘Caddington and Slip End fighting for our communities’. On the CaSE4 website you can find out how to make your voices heard and download a pre-printed card to send in to register your opinion. The proposed small town of Bushwood has housing for 13,000 people. It is not linked directly to any major road and there is little employment available locally (in the villages, Dunstable or Luton). Therefore it is likely that every working day 6,000 men, women and children will be on the move to work, drop off at schools, attend hospitals, shop at supermarkets and deliver by lorry to shopping centres. At weekends the relocated Luton Rugby Football Ground, the new Sports Village, the Olympic swimming pool and the Leisure Centre will attract hundreds of cars. On what roads will at least half that traffic be travelling? The vehicles will travel via the M1, the A5 and the A505. And then they will come and go via our Church End on Luton Road (B4540); the other roads are too small. The gridlock for all of us in Markyate will be indescribable. Your Parish Council therefore is sending our support to the CaSE4 campaign. We encourage you to read the material and make your own minds up. This is a speculative development that is not welcome; we must protest most strongly. |
| REGISTERING OF PEGGY'S FIELD AS A
VILLAGE GREN We have received the Notice of application to Voluntarily Register land as a Town or Village Green from Hertfordshire County Council. This Notice will appear in the local press and notice boards in the village until the end of the advertising period, 10 March 2010. |
| VACANCY FOR COUNCILLOR We have a vacancy on Markyate Parish Council caused by the resignation of James Gower. A bye-election to fill the vacancy will be held if within 14 days (not counting Saturdays and Sundays) from 1 December 2009, ten electors for the ward/parish give notice in writing claiming such an election to the Returning Officer. The address of the Returning Officer is: Dacorum Borough Council, Civic Centre, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP1 1HH. If no such notice is given by the Parish Council will fill the vacancy by co-option. |
| NOTICE OF CONCLUSION OF AUDIT Audit Commission Act 1998 Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2006) for Markyate Parish Council Notice is herby given that the audit for the years ended 31 March 2008 and 31 March 2009 were completed on 16 November 2009 and the accounts are now available for inspection by local electors in accordance with Section 14 of the Audit Commission Act 1998. To arrange a viewing please contact the Clerk at the Parish Office, Cavendish Road, Markyate, tel: 01582 840110, alternatively copies are available from the Parish Office between 9:30am and 2:00pm Mondays to Friday inclusive |
| RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT TO PROVIDE FORTY
DWELLINGS WITH ASSOCIATED PARKING, MAJOR RETAINING STRUCTURES ON A5
BOUNDARY AND LANDSCAPING. EXTENSION TO EXISTING CEMETERY WITH
ASSOCIATED PARKING. The development of 40 houses has now been allowed, with the Inspector overriding Dacorum’s objections. This has been a long-running struggle to balance the demand for new homes with concerns on traffic, noise and a further strain on local resources. The Inspector wrote a 24-page report and found that Dacorum had not provided enough evidence to justify halting the development. The architects for the developers had provided counter-arguments: they had proved that some Dacorum estimates were exaggerated and had modified their plans sufficiently to satisfy the Inspector. Details are available on the Dacorum Borough Council website: www.dacorum.gov.uk |
|
LEARNING MORE ABOUT MARKYATE We live in a remarkably diverse village: and we sometimes overlook traditions that started 60 years ago. As part of the Parish Survey, all businesses have been surveyed and asked for their opinions. Some companies in Hicks Road were established in the fifties and are specialised precision engineering firms. Their equipment is stabilised for maximum accuracy and quality performance by being anchored into massive concrete slabs. This maybe changes the feasibility of the idea of moving the machines South of Dammersey Close. It also limits what housing or buildings can be built nearby, but it doesn’t stop plans to rethink the way that the Industrial estate is used. All these findings and more are being fed back to Dacorum Borough Council. |
|
BEDFORDSHIRE POLICE CHOIR The concert is being held in the Village Hall at 7.30pm on Saturday, 23 January 2010. It is highly recommended to anyone who appreciates beautiful tenor voices singing a wide range of musical pieces. Make it a night out and bring your friends. Tickets are available from the Parish Office. |
|
SPECIAL SKIP The skip will be in Hicks Road on Saturday, 20 March 2010, from 9am to 1pm. Please see our notice boards and Markyate Monthly for a list of items which can not be placed in the skip |
|
THE GATHERING OF THE MARKYATE RESIDENTS     The Annual Parish Gathering was held on 21 April in the Village Hall. The Parish Council is 10 members strong, with just one leaver and one joiner in the Year: Mrs Joy Patel retired and Mr Carey Bennett was co-opted. Our Police team has changed with PCSO Deborah Dawson joining the Met Police service. Her replacement was warmly welcomed: PCSO Marie Taylor. She and PC Mo Corrigan gave an update on our low levels of crime and how they have planned Police Open Door Clinics at the Fire Station every other month. The winners of the Parish Plan lucky draw were announced. The Chairman's Report for 2008/09 is available here please click on link below |
|
CARE OF THE VILLAGE This is always a busy agenda item at every alternative Parish Council meeting. The councillors live, work and play in the village, so their eyes are always open for ways to improve or set right aspects of village life. They are also glad to receive your comments. Trees dominated the discussion at this meeting: lopping and crowning them can produce unwanted results. Each situation demands careful consideration: the trees that provide such a pleasant shaded walk around Peggy’s Field need to be crowned upwards so that the path is kept light and in rainy weather the branches don’t droop down into one’s face. Ash trees shed many seeds and grow so quickly that sometimes the best recourse is to replace them with a smaller tree altogether. Ownership of the trees is sometimes a difficult issue. The Parish Council cannot order lopping and felling unless it has the power to do so.Other topics included making the many road signs visible: if you didn’t live here would you know that there was free parking near the surgery? The sign is obscured by an old hedge and nowhere else is the facility advertised! Parking is a major headache for all of us. Please be considerate and try not to block yard entrances, garages and gates, sometimes it is very difficult for residents to get out of their own front entrances. We need to be good neighbours as we live in a village with very little spare living room! Fly-tipping is a disgrace: phone Dacorum’s helpline when you see one: 01442 867858. Lines are open from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday. You can leave a message on the answering service outside of office hours. Dacorum are dedicated to keeping the environment clean: phone them for special collections and disposal of bulkier items |
|
HOW CLEAN, SAFE AND GREEN IS OUR VALLEY? Posters are appearing around Dacorum encouraging us to celebrate community groups and individuals that are working beyond their normal paid work to make their community a cleaner, safer and a greener place to live and work. Look out for posters and nomination forms: do you know someone who is extra-diligent? Do you think the Village could be Cleaner, Safer and Greener? Walking along the A5 or the High Street, we can be in no doubt that substantial improvements could be made. We are subject to a lot of passing trade and our shop-keepers rely on many people from outside of the Village for their livelihood. Do they cause the litter? What could you or I do to make a difference? The Parish Survey has asked us questions on these matters and our returns are now being analysed. The Parish Council is looking forward to publishing the findings in the next few months. We have drawn on as wide a group of people as possible, with no limits imposed on who can respond, whether on paper or on-line. |
|
MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES A hundred years ago this invocation was important to many small businesses in the Village and was part of the freight carried by the Nicky Line. Today, the focus is being prepared for a mini-Buncefield, a pile-up on the A5 or a mishap over our heads. In the next three months, we are compiling a registry of people who have the skills and the resources to help out in such and emergency. The Register would be held securely by the Parish Council and would be called upon by Hertfordshire Resilience partnership whose responsibility it is to facilitate the combined response to emergencies and major incidents in Hertfordshire. Just think of who could help. In the event of an emergency, local expertise would be called upon: are you qualified medically, a police officer, a Head teacher, a member of the clergy, a qualified engineer, a recovery vehicle driver, a printer, an electrician, a plumber, a cook or refreshment maker or even a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator? While we live in a peaceful Valley (and may the sun shine this spring and summer), we should prepare for that once in a lifetime event; just-in-case! Perhaps the actors, make-up artists and scriptwriters amongst us could help us stage a mock disaster, with emergency services in attendance: just a thought. |
|
BUS SERVICES Bus services are
important to many of us, although they do not seem to go directly to the
places we most want to visit (L+D Hospital and the rail stations at
Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Luton and St. Albans). |
|
AGE CONCERN We are pleased to announce Mrs Sue Tobin, who is well known in Markyate, has agreed to become Age Concerns’ Liaison registered Befriender in Markyate. We are particularly pleased with this news as in the past it has been difficult to find a volunteer to help the over 55 year age group in the village. Sue Tobin has also been trained by CRUSE Bereavement Care in Hertfordshire to provide support for the bereaved. Please contact the Parish Office in the first instance if you would like to make contact with her. |
|
PARISH COUNCIL RESPONSIBILITIES There is so much to do at a Parish level that the Parish Councillors take on extra responsibilities to address important issues. These areas of interest are monitored by the Councillors and key points are discussed as agenda items at our monthly meetings. The Councillors have volunteered to provide oversight on the following committees and topics for the coming year (in alphabetical order): Airport Developments: C. Bennett and J. Gower
Elderly Welfare: S Pilkinton
Environment: C Dullea Newsletter Articles: C Bennett and J Gower Newsletter Editorial: R Peterson
Planning: I
Crawford |
|
NO THANK YOU - NO COLD CALLING The Parish Council is investigating the introduction of making Markyate a No Cold Calling area. Caddington and Studham are both now cold calling-free. We should follow suit and deter itinerant callers who may make use of their bogus badges to carry out theft by distracting the villagers. The Police and Trading Standards Officers support these zones as they are known to have a positive effect. Poppy Day collections and friendly calling on villagers for charitable work is still encouraged. In a village with so many listed buildings, it is difficult to understand why some salesmen continue to try and sell us double-glazing. |
|
INTERNAL AUDIT We are very pleased to report our Internal Audit has just been completed by Dacorum Borough Council. A copy of this audit certificate is as follows:- REPORT ON INTERNAL AUDITOR FOR 2008/09 A Appropriate books of account have been properly kept through the year. Agreed: Yes. B The Council’s financial regulations have been met, payments were supported by invoices, expenditure was approved and VAT was appropriately accounted for. Agreed: Yes C The council assessed the significant risks to achieving its objectives and had adequate arrangements to manage these. Agreed: Yes. D The annual precept requirement resulted from an adequate budgetary process; progress against the budget was regularly monitored; and reserves where appropriate. Agreed: Yes. E Expected income was fully received; based on correct prices, properly recorded and promptly banked; and VAT was appropriately accounted for. Agreed: Yes F Petty cash payments were properly supported by receipts; expenditure was approved and VAT appropriately accounted for. Agreed: Yes G Salaries to employees and allowances to members were paid in accordance with council approvals, and PAYE and NI requirements were properly applied. Agreed: Yes. H Asset and investments registers were complete and accurate and properly maintained. Agreed: Yes I Periodic and year-end bank account reconciliations were properly carried out. Agreed: Yes. J Year-end accounts were prepared on the correct accounting basis (receipts and payments/income and expenditure), agreed with cash book, were supported by an adequate audit trail from underlying records, and, where appropriate debtors and creditors were properly recorded. Agreed: Yes. 1) K The council has met its responsibilities as a trustee. Agreed: For any other risk areas identified by the council (list any other risk areas below or on separate sheets if needed) adequate controls existed: IT system controls to cover data security and integrity: Yes Our external audit for 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2006/07 still remains unclosed due to concerns expressed by a parishioner. We have just submitted our external audit for 2008/09 to BDO Stoy Hayward. |
|
FAULTY ROAD SURFACE? To help up keep Hertfordshire's roads up to scratch we need YOU to let Hertfordshire Highways know when things are not right. So whether it's a pothole, pavement problem, faulty streetlight, icy road or any other highway fault, call: 01438 737320 or 01923 471320 or go to www.hertsdirect.org/highwayfaults, thank you. |
|
Disclaimer Please be aware that copies of correspondence received by this Council including letters, emails and memos, will be held as part of an Agenda Pack as information for the following meeting, which may be discussed at Parish Council Meetings and as such will be placed with in the public domain. This information will be held for viewing for a period of four weeks and correspondence received by this Council will be held for minimum 6 years. If you have any further queries about how we hold and process your correspondence, in the first instance please contact Jenny Bissmire at the Parish Office on 01582 840110. |
|