NEWS FOR BROXTED & CHICKNEY

APRIL 2004

CHICKNEY DEVOTIONAL HOUR

The Devotional Hour on Good Friday 9th April will be in Chickney church at 2pm. After the service tea and hot cross buns will be served at Chickney New Hall by kind invitation of Sandra and Terry Reed. Everyone is welcome.

EASTER

If you would like to have a lily put in the church at Easter in memory of a loved one, please contact Michael Goulding on 01279 850251. Do go along to Broxted church at 11am on Easter Sunday for their special Easter All-Age service. You will be sure of a warm welcome, an enjoyable and inspiring service and some tasty refreshments afterwards.

CLEANER REQUIRED FOR BROXTED CHURCH

Broxted Church Committee is looking for someone to help with church cleaning. Work is done in pairs and, with even a small team, this only has to be done once every four or five months so it is not too arduous! If you feel you could spare a few hours to work with another helper, please contact Linda on 01279 850286.

BROXTED PARISH COUNCIL

At its March meeting the Parish Council tackled a large agenda. The Council had purchased a litter bin to be placed on the green opposite The Old Vicarage and agreed to purchase a salt bin to be placed in the vicinity of The Maltings. The Council discussed a letter from Orange Communications who wanted to site a mobile phone mast at Church End and agreed that it could not support this application. A report was received from Cathy Burton who had attended a course on ‘Communications’, and ways of publicising its activities were discussed.

The Council agreed to take up an offer from Stansted Airport to meet with its management to discuss their plans for a second runway. The Council's revised Emergency Plan was discussed, the final version of which will be published shortly.

Clive Rixson explained changes made to the village web site and further possible improvements were discussed (visit this site at www.broxted.org).

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be the Annual Parish Assembly, when members of the public are invited to hear reports on what the Parish Council has achieved in the past year and its plans for the future. This will be held on Wednesday 12th May at 8pm in the Village Hall, and will be followed by the Annual Meeting of the Council. The Council always welcomes members of the public to its meetings.

The Parish Council has copies of the Consultation document BAA Home Owner Support Scheme, which sets out proposals for compensating homeowners who feel that the value of their homes would be affected by the building of a second runway. For a copy contact the Clerk to the Council, Phyllis Clark, on 01279 850638 or broxted_parish_council@hotmail.com. The consultation period ends on 30th April.

Editor's note: Broxted readers may be interested in the reports below on this subject from the Parish Councils of Great Easton and Little Easton.

See also the response from Broxted Parish Council, issued 16 April, and the response from Takeley Parish Council.

BROXTED & DISTRICT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

The Leap Year Party was a great success. More than 60 people enjoyed the party and dancing to AJ's Disco. As midnight approached there was much speculation that there might be a proposal or two in the offing, but none materialised.

The Community Association Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 29th April at 8pm in Broxted Village Hall. The meeting will be followed by wine and cheese and everyone is welcome.

STOP STANSTED EXPANSION

Public Meeting

There will be a Public Meeting to be addressed by representatives of the Stop Stansted Expansion Campaign in the Village Hall on Wednesday 7th April at 8pm. This will be your opportunity to hear the very latest details of what the Campaign is doing to challenge the plans to build a second runway, and to ask questions of the experts.

Vanishing Villages Featuring Broxted Open Gardens

Broxted Parish Council, in conjunction with SSE, will again be helping to organise Broxted Open Gardens as part of the Vanishing Villages Event. This will be on Sunday 27th June. More details will follow, but make a note of the date now, and if you are prepared to open your garden, or can help in any way, please contact the campaign office on 01279 870558.

CHILDREN'S SOCIETY

Yvonne would like to thank everyone who supported the box opening coffee morning on 9th March and those of you who have boxes in your homes to collect throughout the year for this worthwhile charity. If anyone would like a box, please contact Yvonne on 01279 850355.

BROXTED VILLAGE HALL

The Village Hall Committee will be holding a Table Top sale on Saturday 17th April from 11am to 3pm. Stalls will include craft items, produce, plants etc and this is your chance to sell any unwanted items! To book a table contact Doris on 01279 850201 or Babs on 01279 850399.

MAY ISSUE

Please let Yvonne have articles for publication in the May issue by Wednesday 7th April. Thank you.

BT BROADBAND

A reminder is given to Internet users on the Great Easton (01371 870xxx) exchange who have not yet registered their interest in the BT Broadband. Currently only 97 of the necessary 150 users have indicated an interest in receiving this service. Log on to www.bt.com/broadband.

GREAT EASTON CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

Our Easter celebrations this year will take place on Thursday 1st April in Great Easton church at 10am. Everyone is welcome and palm crosses will be distributed to the children in readiness for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. On the following day, 2nd April, the children are holding their Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale. If previous years are anything to go by, it should be a sell out.

We have been enjoying the opportunities that the lighter evenings bring and the older children have played several football and netball matches. All the children who wish to take part have had the chance to experience playing in a team in a competitive match. Words used by a child when giving a match report were ‘tense’ and ‘fabulous’. It is certainly in the taking part that children gain most.

We are privileged to be one of the few schools in Essex able to field a chess team. The chess expertise in the school is such that we have forty children (over a quarter of the school) currently involved in the National Chess Challenge. The children play each round during the lunchtime having developed their skills during our weekly Enrichment Afternoon with Mr Malcolm Duke. We are very grateful to him for giving his time so freely to this venture.

The Parent Teacher Association are currently planning our Annual Bouncy Castle Fun Day. They are looking for sponsors for the Bouncy Castles. If you know of anyone who could do this for us please contact the school. All funds raised this year are going towards a staged decking and ramped area by the Reception Classroom. This will greatly enhance the play opportunities during breaks, as a large muddy area will disappear. It will also enrich the outdoor curriculum opportunities for our youngest children.

Gill Hopkins

Headteacher

See also www.greateaston.essex.sch.uk.

TESCO Computers For Schools Vouchers

It's time to collect those vouchers once again! Collection boxes for Great Easton Primary School are sited at The Swan in Great Easton as well as at the School.

Editor's note - as the BAA Home Owner Support Scheme is a hot issue at the moment, I have taken the liberty of including the reports from the Five Parishes Magazine of the latest meetings of the Parish Councils of Great Easton and Little Easton.

See also the response from Broxted Parish Council, issued 16 April, and the response from Takeley Parish Council.

REPORT FROM GREAT EASTON PARISH COUNCIL

"The BAA pamphlet had not been received by anyone attending the Great Easton Parish Council meeting of 26th February (a supply of pamphlets and maps arrived with the clerk two days later and copies were placed in local pubs etc). A downloaded version (no map available) had been obtained and Richard Beattie distributed photocopies in the meeting. He pointed out that the 30th April consultation timescale was tight, as only the March meeting would be available to decide on a final response.

"After a discussion on the Council's role in this issue, four actions were agreed:

1. A statement from BAA of their distribution of the pamphlet would be obtained (still outstanding at copy deadline for this magazine). Local information indicates that the BAA pamphlet has been distributed only to selected addresses in the Council's area (for your copy phone BAA’s Consultation Helpline 0800 496 0199).

2. A joint meeting with representatives from Takeley Parish Council would be arranged in order to build the strongest base for future representations to BAA.

3. A draft response to the consultation would be circulated to Council members before the March meeting for full discussion and sign-off before the end-April consultation deadline. The response would re-confirm the Council's opposition to any additional runway and comment on the proposed Home Owners Support Scheme.

4. Action four was for a report to be given to residents in this Magazine to confirm what the Parish Council is trying to do on their behalf.

"It is your community, and the BAA's proposed scheme for compensation only applies to those in a particularly noisy area, defined by a precise contour of 66 decibels. A map showing this contour is given as a centre page pull-out in this Magazine. The draft response to the BAA from the Council states that the noise contour basis for the scheme is wrong. The BAA should recognise that house values in a much wider area would be adversely affected by the operation of any additional runway.

"Please send your views to the Great Easton Parish Council clerk at Springate Cottage, Radleys End, Duton Hill and to BAA Stansted Consultation Hotline on 0800 496 0199."

REPORT FROM LITTLE EASTON PARISH COUNCIL

About 40 people attended the Stop Stansted Expansion meeting arranged by Little Easton Council on the 3rd March in the Memorial Hall. The speaker was Professor Banatvala, the health advisor on the SSE committee, who drew attention to one of the big health issues and that is night flying. There is a call for a ban on night flights at all airports in the European Union between 11pm and 7am.

From his talk it was very obvious that increased flights during the day would be harmful to children's learning and, with the local school so close to the proposed new runway, it is obvious that the children will be disturbed by every plane that takes off. At the meeting it was agreed that this cannot be allowed to happen.

Parish Clerk Shirley Holden asks everyone to do all in their power to support SSE, an organisation that is fighting for the right to continue to live a peaceful life in the place people have chosen as home.

The Parish Council has copies of the Consultation document BAA Home Owner Support Scheme that sets out their proposals for compensating homeowners who feel that the value of their homes would be affected by the proposed second runway. The consultation period ends on 30th April. For a copy contact Shirley Holden on 01371 872361.

BAA CONSULTATION DOCUMENTS

See also:

"PUBLISH YOUR MAIN COMPENSATION PLAN" - BAA TOLD - press release issued 17 March 2004 by Stop Stansted Expansion.

Response from Broxted Parish Council to BAA's consultation, 16 April 2004.

Response from Takeley Parish Council to BAA's consultation, 6 May 2004.