The requests for more white road lines have had some success. At the last writing there were new line markings at the top of New Road and the foot of Barrack Hill. Then some appeared at the entrance to Chase Close, by the War Memorial and by Pooles’ Patch, the eponymous Pooles recounting the work happening around eleven at night. Frustratingly BCC/TfB do not pre-advise these events but did announce that when the works orders were issued the anticipated time to complete the (undefined) job would be sixteen weeks. So more may appear.
We have had advice that after many requests the road gullies will be worked on towards year end. Works in Tower Road, Village Road, Windmill Hill and Magpie Lane are due to start on 21st October. Then on December 3rd those in Barrack Hill, Chase Close and Hill Meadow are due to receive attention. One area in particular has been the subject of much nudging of TfB and that is the damaged verge opposite Finlay Lodge which is subject also to flooding. The clerk received the following advice: “An order has been raised to repair this area by installing approx. 25m of kerbing, re-setting the kerb weir gully and then top soiling the verge and reinstating the adjacent carriageway edge. This has been added to our minor works gang list and is currently programmed to be completed during w/c 26/10/15, however please note that this programme date is not a fixed date and programmes are highly likely to change for a number of reasons at short notice. We will attempt to keep you updated about any delays where we are made aware of them.”
Our clerk, Lynda Jackson, is receiving results from her considerable efforts in these areas.
We applied to the Amersham Local Area Forum for a grant to go towards the second stage of the Barrack Hill triangle, which has become a recurrent theme in our meetings for more than two years, and to contribute to some traffic monitoring equipment. We received a grant of £8400 but have still to learn how much it will cost to finish the triangle. But hopefully there will be some money left that will allow us to observe and measure traffic speed in the village.
We have also applied for a grant for some new children’s wooden play equipment. Repairs to the current equipment have become a notable feature of our budget over the past two years so it seems sensible to plan for some new features. If the application is successful and a budget can be met we would then have to think about whether the current Area or a new site would be the appropriate venue.
The water level of the pond has dropped and has caused comments and about the health of the fish. Rather than risk repetition of what is in another piece on this subject elsewhere it might be worth mentioning that the Parish Council discussed this at its last meeting. Concern was expressed that topping up the pond would introduce phosphates, the nutrients from which cause algae to develop in suitable conditions and create the blooms which are unsightly and use up the available oxygen in the water. Phosphates persist in the silt so it is hard to get rid of them. The Council was minded to let Nature take her course and accept that natural drawdown was preferable to introducing mains water.
The next Council meeting is on September 21st.
Terence Prideaux