District Councillor’s News February 2012
Vale Community Volunteers.
“For people who care enough about the environment to do something about it”
The survival of many of the Vale’s endangered species, such as the famous Black Poplar tree, barn owls and otters, is thanks to a great extent to Vale Countryside Volunteers. Their work, hedge laying, tree and wildflower planting, pond restoration and so on helps both endangered species and the Vale’s wider environment to prosper.
More volunteers are always welcome and you do not have to be super-fit to help. All are welcome and it is an opportunity to learn more about our Vale’s environment as well as meet likeminded people. Volunteers meet most Wednesdays and work is done under experienced leaders. Training is given where required and tea and biscuits are complimentary.
Further information is available from:
VCV
Haydon Mill
Rabans Lane
Aylesbury
HP19 8RU
Tel: 01296 427972 or 07952 045546 or 07837 380802
Web-site: www.vcv.org.uk
Corry Cashman
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
Tel: 01296 668565
District Councillor’s News Jan 2012
The Speaker’s Parliamentary Seat
In the District Councillor’s News of June 2010 I mentioned that a number of people had contacted me during the run up to the General Election voicing their concerns about the “convention” of the major parties not contesting the speaker’s seat in Buckingham constituency. After his re-election to the Buckingham seat, Speaker John Bercow said that he would “report to the House of Commons the views that have been expressed and invite the House to consider what approach should be considered in future”. At that time, rather than take no action on the concerns expressed to me, I wrote to the Speaker, passing on a summary of them. I should add that these concerns were about the effect of the “convention” on democracy and our constitution: they were not party political and came from people of various political persuasions and none. Not long after John Bercow asked the Procedure Committee to consider the issue.
I recently received a letter from our MP informing me that the committee had now considered the matter and had “concluded that they do not support any change to the status quo”. Should anyone wish to see a copy of John Bercow’s letter please let me know.
Corry Cashman
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
Tel: 01296 668565
District Councillor’s News - December 2011
Christmas Parking in Aylesbury
To encourage Christmas shoppers to visit Aylesbury, parking will be free after 4.30 pm every Thursday from 17 November until 22 December in AVDC Town Centre car parks. Not all car parks are free so please check that the scheme applies to the car park you park in. For further car park details visit: www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk /transportstreets or call 01296 585234.
Seasons Greetings.
May I wish you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
District Councillor’s News - October 2011
London Midland Stakeholder’s Conference
I attended this conference as a representative of the Great Brickhill, Wing and Ivinghoe Local Area Forum on 14th October.
London Midland outlined some of its plans for the future. These included: additional train services for the 2012 Olympics; faster trains from Euston to Crewe; and the introduction of a ‘key card’ that could be used for travel on London Midland, and which could incorporate both a senior’s bus pass and a London oyster card. The company has also approached the office of the Rail Regulator requesting that the London-Liverpool service (with a connection at Milton Keynes) be re-instated. Should the Regulator agree, the service would resume in 2013.
One of the aims of the conference was for stakeholders to help London Midland to plan for the future by suggesting what could be done to improve services for users. Such suggestions included: asking the company to review its evening restrictions on off-peak travel from Euston; improving the company’s rather limited financial incentives to users of off-peak car-parking at its stations; and considering whether in future to increase car-parking charges by no more than the consumer price index of inflation. The stakeholders will review London Midland’s progress on these and other matters at their 2012 meeting.
There is at present nothing further to report on the future of Cheddington station ticket office.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
District Councillor’s News September 2011
Marsworth and new Planning Policies.
Two of the coalition government’s stated aims have been to simplify planning laws and to encourage greater community involvement in planning matters.
At national level more than one thousand pages of planning law would be reduced to 58 pages under the Draft National Policy Framework, which is currently out for consultation. However, the draft has already caused considerable controversy with claims that “it would seriously weaken the protection for the countryside” being expressed by organisations such as the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and the National Trust.
At district level the Vale of Aylesbury Plan, which the district council is now preparing, will require Aylesbury Vale District Council to establish how many jobs and homes need to be provided in the Vale up to 2031. At appropriate stages the council is required to consult on the plan with parish and town councils and the public. Early indications are that up to 12,000 new jobs may need to be provided. Also up to 24,400 new homes may need to be provided. This figure included some 3,732 homes already built, as the plan covers the period from 2006. The figure also includes a further 7,178 homes, for which planning permission has already been given since 2006. Up to a further 13,300 homes may need to be provided making a total of 24,400. I emphasise the word “may” as the plan is still in very early stages of development, but is progressing.
At parish level Parish Councils have been encouraged to start preparing a Neighbourhood Plan. Marsworth Parish council has already begun the process. These plans will involve local communities in planning for their future development. When a plan is in place, subject to conforming with national policies, it will become part of the District Plan; then planning decisions relating to that parish will have to be made in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan. However, the legislation for Neighbourhood Plans is not yet in place.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
District Councillor’s News: August 2011
Changes to the Refuse and Recycling Service from Summer 2012
News of these changes has already appeared in the press and the district council’s ‘Aylesbury Vale Times’. On its website the council is providing a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (FAQ) page which should be in operation by early August. This page aims to answer many of the questions residents may have about the new service. To access this go to the Aylesbury Vale District Council website home page and click on ‘Changes to refuse and recycling services’ and follow the links from there.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
C.cashman@zen.co.uk
District Councillor’s News: July 2011
District Council
Councillor John Cartwright has been re-elected as Leader of Aylesbury Vale District Council. The membership of the cabinet, apart from two new appointments, remains the same.
High Speed 2 (HS2), the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and Cheddington Station.
I have already reported in previous months on the alternatives to HS2 which have been suggested by opponents of the scheme. For example one such scheme envisaged the upgrading of four existing main lines (the Chiltern, Midland, East Coast and our own West Coast) to increase passenger capacity.
In the meantime I have examined the 2010 Atkins report, produced for the Department of Transport, which was commissioned to look at possible alternatives to HS2. One of these examined the implications of upgrading the WCML and the Chiltern line between London and the West Midlands so that these lines, between them, could carry more passengers and extra trains. The cost of this (at 2009 prices) would be £3.676 billion for the WCML and £8.780 billion for the Chiltern line, making a total of £12.456 billion. One point of local interest is that improving the ‘bottleneck’ at Ledburn Junction, just to the north of Cheddington Station, would alone cost just under a quarter of a billion pounds.
In my opinion, and I would like to put this on record, any further significant upgrading work on the WCML has to threaten the future of Cheddington station. Fewer stops on a line make it easier to run additional trains and to carry more passengers. The greater the pressure on the WCML to carry more passengers and extra trains, the more the future of Cheddington station would seem to be threatened.
Speed Review
At the time of writing (15th June) it would appear that the speed review has been postponed but is to be ‘implemented in 2012/13’. I am still awaiting a reply to my letter, 2nd June, to the leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, Councillor Martin Tett, which I sent by email. In it I expressed my dissatisfaction with this situation and raised a series of questions on the financial costs of this postponement.
Corry Cashman.
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
Tel: 01296 668565.
District Councillor’s News MAY 2011
Aylesbury Vale District Council Elections 2011
The result for Cheddington ward was as follows (in alphabetical order of surnames):
Corry Cashman: 800 Votes.
Liberal Democrat.
Nicholas Griffin: 108 Votes.
United Kingdom Independence Party.
Lawrence Renshall: 436 Votes.
Conservative.
The turnout, at 56%, in Cheddington ward was the fourth highest of Aylesbury Vale’s thirty-six wards. The highest turnout, at 61.1%% was in Quainton and the lowest, at 32% was in Southcourt ward in Aylesbury. The average turnout across Aylesbury Vale district was 45.5%.
The composition of the District Council is now 37 Conservatives, 17 Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour, 2 UKIP and 1 Independent.
I look forward to working for all the residents of Marsworth as your District Councillor over the next four years.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
District Councillor’s News April 2011
Proposed Closure of Cheddington Station Ticket Office
I recently contacted Passenger Focus (the rail watchdog) for an update on the situation. As well as Cheddington Station, over eighty other London Midland stations are affected by similar proposals (i.e. closing ticket offices or reducing their opening hours etc). However Tring station would, under these proposals, see a small increase in its ticket office opening hours.
The consultation produced over 18,000 objections and one expression of support. Most of the objections take the form of petition signatures (14,583), template letters (identical letters already written which just need to be signed by the objector) and emails (626), pre-paid post cards (3271) or individually written letters (706). Of the individually written letters nearly a quarter, 165, were from Cheddington ward residents. Five MPs including our own MP John Bercow also objected. The District Council has also, at my request, done so. Passenger Focus has now also objected to the proposals,
It is not yet known when a final decision on this matter will be made by the minister responsible at the Department for Transport.
Fencrete Site
This application was considered by the Aylesbury Vale District Council’s Development Control Committee for a third time on 31st March. The matter was again deferred: “To enable Officers to negotiate a reduction in the height of Block B and for British Waterways Board to discuss highways issues with Buckinghamshire County Council”. The application is to be brought back to Committee for determination.
Polling Day – Thursday 5th May 2011
Thursday 5th May is polling day for the district council election and for the referendum on the alternative voting proposal for Parliament. The polling station will be open from 7am to 10pm.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
District Councillor’s News.
Council Tax 2011 – 2012
The 2011 – 2012 council tax, payable from this April, will remain substantially the same as last year’s. Some small increases will occur in parishes where the parish council has increased the parish precept. Buckinghamshire County Council, Aylesbury Vale District Council, Thames Valley Police and the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority are keeping the tax at last year’s rate. The total council tax bands for Marsworth are:
Band A: £980.33
Band B: £1143.72
Band C: £1307.12
Band D: £1470.50
Band E: £1797.28
Band F: £2124.06
Band G: £2450.83
Band H: £2941.00
HS2 Update.
The district council’s position is that it opposes HS2 and does not advocate a West Coast Main Line or any other route. The Council voted, on Wednesday 23rd February, to spend up to £100,000 fighting the Government’s HS2 plans. The vote went 48, or thereabouts, in favour with 2, Councillor Avril Davies and myself, abstaining When I spoke I stated that I did not support the Government’s preferred option to the west of Aylesbury, on the grounds that mitigation arrangements to minimise the effects of both aural and visual pollution were both inadequate and unimaginative; they amounted, in my opinion, to little more than a series of random gestures.
I further stated that in a time of economic crisis, with massive council spending and service cuts being implemented, I could not justify the spending of up to £100,000 of Aylesbury Vale council tax payers’ money in this way.
There is apparently around £1,000,000 available for a fighting fund already.
Proposed Closure of Cheddington Station Ticket Office
The consultation period, during which people could comment on this proposal, ended on 22nd March. The consultation was poorly publicised but local community groups were active in encouraging residents to respond and the indications are that a good number of them have done so.
Convenient Ways to Vote
Thursday 5th May will be polling day for the parish and district council elections and for the referendum on the alternative voting proposal for Parliament. Polling Stations will be open from 7am to 10pm.
Should you wish to vote by post, you must complete and return an application form by 5pm, Thursday 14 April 2011. Alternatively, if you wish to appoint a proxy, whereby someone can vote on your behalf, you must complete and return an application form by 5pm Thursday 21 April 2011. These application forms can be obtained by contacting the electoral registration office Telephone no: 01296 585640 or on the District Council’s website: http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/council-democracy/elections-and-voting/
Remember: You must be included on the Electoral Register to be able to vote. The deadline for registering for this election will be Thursday 14 April 2011.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
September Report
New Recycling and Waste contract for 2011
The District Council hopes to have a new fifteen-year contract for waste and recycling collections agreed by October 2011. It has still to decide whether to work with the other three Buckinghamshire district councils to provide a Buckinghamshire-wide waste and recycling service, or to enter into a contract which would cover the Aylesbury Vale area only. The main factor influencing this decision, to either work with the other district councils or to continue with a district-wide service, will be that of cost.
I was recently assured at a meeting of the Council’s Environment Scrutiny committee that, regardless of which option the Council finally decides on, weekly collections will continue. There will also be a cardboard recycling service provided across the Vale. Garden waste will be collected but there will be an additional charge of £35 per year for any household wishing to avail of this service.
Corry Cashman
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
Tel: 01296 668565
July Report
High Speed 2
At the June meeting of the District Council I asked the Leader of the Council John Cartwright to provide an update on the High Speed 2 (HS2) proposals. He reaffirmed that the Council remained opposed to all of the routes proposed (including the one through Cheddington). He said that the business case for HS2 was not a convincing one. The Council had recently hosted a “summit” conference on the issue and hoped to host a further one in the Autumn. Our M.P. John Bercow had also promised to invite the Secretary of State for Transport to visit Buckingham constituency. Having myself attended the “summit” I can confirm that it was a useful meeting which brought together all of Buckinghamshire’s councils, most of its M.P.s, including John Bercow, local councillors and around forty local organisations and groups. The meeting addressed in some detail the pros and cons of all of the routes proposed, as well as suggesting a variety of alternatives to HS2 for example lengthening trains and improving signalling to allow a greater frequency of trains on existing routes.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk
June Report
London Midland Trains
Last year the Local Area Forum (a quarterly gathering of 14 local parish councils of which Marsworth is a member) invited London Midland trains to its Summer meeting. It was a useful session allowing London Midland to inform people of their future plans and for train travellers to ask questions on various train issues.
Gerard Burgess, Partnerships Manager at London Midland, will once again be attending the Summer meeting of the Local Area Forum which is being held in Wing Village Hall on Thursday 15th July at 7.00pm. It is an opportunity for commuters and all train users to ask him questions about train services, Cheddington and Tring Stations and other train matters. You are most welcome to attend and, if you wish, to ask a question. If you have a question that you feel may require prior notice to be adequately answered, please let me know and I will arrange for it to be forwarded to London Midland.
Cardboard Recycling at Cooks Wharf
In February’s Village Newsletter I wrote that it was unlikely that any changes to Marsworth’s present pattern of waste and recycling collections would occur in the next two years. This still remains the case. However, in the meantime a number of people have asked how they can recycle cardboard without having to travel to the Aston Clinton household waste and recycling centre. There is a cardboard recycling container at Cooks Wharf where cardboard can be deposited. The container is in the car park, which is the last turn on the right before the canal bridge in the direction of Cheddington.
My Allowance and Expenses
My allowance and expenses for the last full financial year (2009–10) were:
Basic allowance: £ 5,304
Mileage allowance: £ 512.40
Parking: £ 4.50
Train fare: £ 24.80
TOTAL: £ 5,845.70
The above figure does not include any costing for the laptop computer on loan to me from the Council. The mileage allowance includes attendance at site meetings all over the Vale for the development control committee.
Corry Cashman
Tel: 01296 668565
c.cashman@zen.co.uk