Chorleywood Residents' Association
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e-CRA

An e-newsletter from the Executive Committee
Chorleywood Residents' Association
April 2020

The Chorleywood Residents' Association e-newsletter is published approximately monthly. Please feel free to forward this email to someone you know who may not be on our mailing list, and gently suggest they subscribe via our website to receive updates themselves.

Mike Stansfield, CRA

This newsletter includes links which look like this to websites and email. These can be used to quickly move to the relevant content.

Contents

Chorleywood Residents' Association 2020 AGM
Chorleywood Corona Support Group
COVID-19
Scam Awareness
Three Rivers waste collections update
Proposed housing development off Green Street
Green Street West
Proposed 20mph speed limit zone
Bonfires
A message from Gagan Mohindra, MP for SW Herts
Keep up to date through Facebook and Twitter
Feedback on this newsletter

Chorleywood Residents' Association 2020 AGM

Due to COVID-19 the CRA Executive Committee will be holding the Annual General Meeting on 20th May using video link to conduct the formal business. The Community Meeting including our guest speaker is postponed and a new date will be announced when this can be safely arranged.

We are pleased to report that the spring issue of The Chorleywood Resident magazine (TCR) has gone to print. This issue includes the annual reports and how to vote and we are expecting delivery to all Chorleywood residents to take place between 28th April and 8th May, so watch out for your copy.

An electronic copy for download will be placed on the Magazine page of the website in May, where you can also find previous issues.

There will also be a special AGM edition e-Newsletter on 14th May.

Chorleywood Corona Support Group

In only a few weeks the CCSG have expanded to over 250 volunteers and have provided essential support services to many hundreds of vulnerable and isolated residents within the Chorleywood Parish.

Key services include supporting with shopping, prescription pick ups and social outreach telephone calls.

Donations from local businesses, CRA and others have helped CCSG to also deliver:

Supermarket Voucher Scheme to fund essential food, toiletries and cleaning items
Fresh fruit and vegetable food parcels
Essential baby supplies
Creative arts & craft boxes for vulnerable children during lockdown
Senior Hampers with fruit and reading material

If you would like to make a donation to support CCSG in order that they can continue to support families in the local area then a donation paypal link is now live and can be accessed on the CCSG website page or through this link:

DONATE TO CHORLEYWOOD CORONAVIRUS SUPPORT GROUP

St Andrew’s Church, a registered charity (ref.1130419), is administering this fund on behalf of CCSG and for expediency a previously dormant St Andrew’s account is being used. All funds donated into this account are for the sole purpose of CCSG community group. Please note that Gift Aid is not eligible for this collection. Thank you for your donation!

CCSG is in partnership with Churches in Chorleywood and Chorleywood Residents Association.

COVID-19

See the COVID-19 page on our website for local and national information about Coronavirus.

This includes opening times for many Chorleywood businesses who have stayed open and continue to provide services to Residents. Please support your local businesses!

Links to Local Information and service updates:

Scam Awareness

Sadly we are continuing to hear reports of scammers taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and we urge residents to continue to take extra care. There are many resources available to help.

If you have not already signed up to the Neighbourhood Watch OWL service then it is worth taking a look at the website https://www.owl.co.uk/. The OWL service sends alerts with up to date and useful information. A recent OWL alert included the Little Book of Phone Scams a very practical guide and worth reading.

Other guides are available from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) which is part of the UK Regional Organised Crime Unit. These include:

Little leaflet of cyber advice (four pages with 7 important tips for cyber security)
Little book of big scams (a longer read)

Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The website www.actionfraud.police.uk also contains helpful information as well as news and alerts.

Another online resource is https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk which aims to offer straight-forward practical advice that helps prevent fraud with a key message of STOP - CHALLENGE - PROTECT. There are examples, videos and even a quiz that you can take to see if you can spot a scam.

Three Rivers waste collections update

Three Rivers District Council has announced that recycling and refuse collections will be getting back to normal over the next couple of weeks, after issues with staff sickness and the need to change working practices led to a temporary reduction of services.

The resumption of the usual pattern of collections will be as follows:

Week beginning 27 April – refuse, food waste pods and recycling
Week beginning 4 May – recycling, food waste pods and garden waste.

From the following week, collections will follow the council’s collection calendar. The situation will be kept under review and any necessary changes advertised on the Council’s website and via social media.

You might also want to lend your support to a petition asking to reopen Household Waste Recycling Centres. The petition is online at on the HCC website via this link and runs to 15th June 2020.

Proposed housing development off Green Street

In November last year the owners of this site held an exhibition of their plans to develop this land. The site had been put forward to the Council as a possible housing site . The Council's Local Plan process should have identified sites to meet the numbers needed - which might or might not have included this site. But in September 2019 they had to delay - and have since delayed again - that process.

Following that exhibition CRA held a public meeting to help residents assess the impact.

The owners now intend to submit two applications by the beginning of May this year. One will be for the full site and a possible 800 dwellings; one for part only of the site and a possible 300 dwellings.

When the Council receive the applications they will notify adjoining owners under the usual procedure. This may be limited.

All residents will be able to make representations. We will report in our e-Newsletter and Planning Updates as soon as we become aware of these applications.

The owners have set out their position and their case for the proposals in a letter which you can view by this link or on the dedicated Green Street East Proposal page on our website

Green Street West

A planning application has been made for a driving range and floodlit football pitches west of Green Street. You can view the application reference PL/20/0429/FA on the Chiltern & South Bucks Areas planning site under reference PL/20/0429/FA or directly via this link.

You may already be aware of this as it was included in our 13th April Planning Update as an extra item as it will be considered by Buckinghamshire Council (Chiltern Area). See also posts on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Comments can be provided either through the comments section in the online application or by e-mailing planning.csb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk quoting reference PL/20/0429/FA. The key date for comments is Monday 27th April.

Proposed 20mph speed limit zone

The response rate to the recent survey was 20% which equates to 459 households; 58% (266) of which were in favour. The criteria for the proposal to move to the consultation stage were 10% response and 55% in favour, so the consultation phase will proceed.

400 individual comments have yet to be analysed by HCC.

The following questions raised by CRA remain unanswered:

Cost of the survey, consultation and implementation
Speeds measured in each of the roads
Distribution and type of signage required

When the consultation process starts we will provide background information to residents, including the answers to these questions, so that you can make an informed judgement.

As a reminder, the letter and map with the list of affected roads can be found on our website here http://www.chorleywoodresidents.co.uk/news-1/proposalfor20mphzoneinchorleywood

Bonfires

A number of residents have contacted CRA asking for guidance on what can be done as they have been affected by their neighbour's bonfires during this period of lockdown and suspension of the garden waste collection service.

If you are considering having a bonfire please think about your neighbours who may wish to enjoy their gardens, have their windows open or be suffering from asthma or other conditions that could be aggravated by smoke inhalation. Whilst bonfires are not illegal they are anti-social in this warm weather.

The official Government Bonfire Guidelines can be found at https://www.gov.uk/garden-bonfires-rules. These are the national rules which apply in Three Rivers. There may also be local bylaws to further limit the use of bonfires, e.g. in clean air zones.

If a bonfire is causing you a nuisance, TRDC recommend in first instance approach the person causing it and politely make them aware. Often people are not aware that they are causing a nuisance.

There is a more information on the TRDC website at https://www.threerivers.gov.uk/egcl-page/bonfires including a complaints procedure.

A message from Gagan Mohindra, MP for SW Herts

So much has happened over the last few months that I can’t believe it was little over four months ago I was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for South West Hertfordshire. The first few weeks were full on - getting to know my new colleagues, the strange conventions and rules of the Palace of Westminster and of course, getting Brexit done. Then came the Coronavirus pandemic - a hugely difficult time for everyone in this constituency, this country and across the world. But I have been delighted by the response of our local communities including from organisations like the Chorleywood Corona Support Group, based out of St Andrews. Volunteering for #TeamHerts and the NHS myself has been a small way of trying to do my bit too.

My parliamentary work goes on, albeit remotely. I’ve been elected to the Public Accounts Committee and the 1922 Committee. My constituency casework mailbox hums with the concerns and issues of local residents. My team are working diligently alongside me to do the best we can for the people of South West Hertfordshire. If you’re a constituent the best way to contact me is by email: Gagan.Mohindra.MP@parliament.uk. You can always find up to date information on my website www.gaganmohindra.org.uk or my Facebook page @GaganMohindraMP.

More specifically with regards to Chorleywood I've been made aware of the delay in the release of the council's Local Plan from May to December and that there is currently a Green Belt review. I will keep abreast of the council's progress and be a critical friend when appropriate. I'm also communicating with David Gold, Director of Public Affairs at the Royal Mail about the the closure of the Post Office. Residents email my office about national issues but I'm committed to local issues - so please get in touch with anything further.

Stay healthy, stay well, I look forward to meeting many of you when we have overcome this virus and we return to our “normal” way of life.

Best wishes

Gagan

Keep up to date through Facebook and Twitter

This email newsletter is just one of the ways that CRA share news and information about what's happening and important to Chorleywood. We don't want to bombard you with emails so usually send these only monthly.

Why not also join us on Facebook and Twitter where we post additional news items, including those that cannot wait until the next e-Newsletter.

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Feedback on this newsletter

We hope that you find these e-Newsletters useful. To help us with providing the best content for you, please take a moment to tell us which one of the articles in this edition you found most useful, by clicking on one of the links below. Only your first choice will count towards this survey.

Chorleywood Residents' Association 2020 AGM
Chorleywood Corona Support Group
COVID-19
Scam Awareness
Three Rivers waste collections update
Proposed housing development off Green Street
Green Street West
Proposed 20mph speed limit zone
Bonfires
A message from Gagan Mohindra, MP for SW Herts
Keep up to date through Facebook and Twitter
Sorry, none of the articles were useful

Quick Links

In the March newsletter we asked Residents whether they wanted to see a No Footpath sign on Long Lane. We received 154 responses, with 145 (94%) against and just 9 (6%) in favour.
Visit www.chorleywoodhouse.org.uk for the latest information on Chorleywood House Estate which remains open to visitors provided social distancing is maintained.
Chiltern Open Air Museum are providing a range of home learning resources to help while schools are closed. Each one is based around the buildings at the Museum. There are currently 17 resources that you can download and do at home.
Chorleywood man climbs height of Everest for NHS
UN Secretary General calls for for global ceasefire! ... over two million people have signed the call already, you can join them
Most local events have been cancelled or postponed. Please check directly with the organisers for up to date information

You can access recent CRA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, and other files of interest, by visiting our website Documentation page.

Keep in touch with Chorleywood news on Twitter or Facebook

Visit our website or click here to find out the many ways that you can support CRA

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This newsletter is for information purposes and may carry unedited items from other organisations within Chorleywood at editor's discretion and for that purpose only. No direct or indirect support of any items, organisations or views expressed is implied by the Association unless specifically stated.