Great Hucklow, Grindlow, Windmill, Little Hucklow and Coplowdale Parish Council Newsletter – February 2019 PARISH COUNCIL MEET
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Great Hucklow, Grindlow, Windmill, Little Hucklow and Coplowdale Parish Council Newsletter – February 2019 PARISH COUNCIL MEETING DATES The next Parish Council meeting be held on Monday the 25th of March 2019 at 8.00pm in the Old Methodist Chapel. All parishoners are welcome to attend. Copies of the minutes of all previous meetings are now available to view on our website at http://www.hucklow-pc.gov.uk/. PUBLIC MEETING – SURFACE COLLAPSES SILENCE HERITAGE SITE AND ROAD SUBSIDENCE ON BRETTON EDGE Unfortunately recent attempts to organise a public meeting about the above have failed due to the difficulty in finding dates when all relevant authorities could be present. Our January Parish Council meeting was attended by a number of parishoners who expressed concerns and following discussions it has been suggested that a different approach might prove more successful. We would like to hear from you if you would be interested and willing to participate in a group which can provide a broader perspective on solving the problems caused by current and historic mining. Once that group is formulated then we can decide how best to liaise with the authorities and BFL. Please contact Nick Williams [email protected] by 28th February if you would like to participate. NB: there is no need to become involved in this group of you simply want to be kept informed about parish activities on this topic. Regular updates will be circulated via the Parish Council newsletter. CONTINUING SUBSIDENCE AT SILENCE HERITAGE SITE SHS remains closed to visitors. The large collapse which took place in August continues to grow and has now reached the edge of the footpath through the site. SHS trustees continue to monitor the site and surrounding area. BRETTON EDGE ROAD TO REMAIN CLOSED Bretton Edge Road remains closed. Derbyshire County Council say they are still monitoring it. CLOSURE OF ROAD BETWEEN FOOLOW AND HUCKLOW The road east from the bottom of Dirty Lane towards Foolow has been closed because the road into Foolow is currently blocked by a large hole right in the middle of the carriage way. Thankfully this is not mining related - the hole has been caused by a leaking water main which was repaired on Saturday 16th Feb. but the leaking water has created a large void under the tarmac which will need to be filled before the road can be re-opened. Severn Trent are currently estimating that the work will be completed on Friday 22nd Feb. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN Work on the Neighbourhood Plan is proceeding steadily with basic data collection etc. Census data has been collected from official sources and fortunately the area covered is exactly the same as the neighbourhood plan area for the population statistics. I have done some comparisons with the district data and other similarly sized parishes in the area. This indicates that the total population has remained constant at 450-460 since 2001. The noticeable feature of the age distribution is that there is a noticeable dip in the number of 18-29 year olds which is typical of the small local villages. The mean age is 46 and the medium is 49. The population is almost evenly split between men and women. I am currently trying to establish a realistic picture of the distribution of accommodation type and family make up but it looks as if almost everyone lives in a single family group of some form and either owns their own home (the majority) or rents privately. There appears to be no provision of local authority or community based housing provision. More work is needed here and on occupations and businesses based in the villages as the data I have has been anonymised and this process means that the small numbers involved are unreliable. We are unusual in that we have at least two Conservation Areas (Great Hucklow, Little Hucklow and possibly Foolow - I am checking), none of which appear to have assessments. We shall need to do these as part of the planning process. In addition, we shall need to undertake a housing needs survey and to assess the stability of the ground around the Edge to determine the stability of existing and any potential buildings which owners might wish to undertake which are consistent with the designated SSIs and SSSIs. I am investigating to what extent the Neighbourhood Plan can consider any future mining activity (it cannot legally consider existing permissions and mineral extraction is dealt with at a much higher level). It is now necessary for the villages to consider some high level strategic issues so that detailed planning policies can be developed. These include: We need to prepare and distribute a paper newsletter to all households (it has to be paper as it is the only way to ensure that it is distributed to all households); Prepare and submit a funding application for 2019-20 as soon as the new call opens; Do we wish to see the villages grow, remain the same or contract between now and 2030? Should this be by encouraging or discouraging changes in population or commercial activity or both over this period and where might development be sited? Is there a need for affordable housing, and if so, of what type and size, and where should it be sited? Are there additional services and facilities that will be needed and how will they be provided What about tourist facilities? Transport facilities? Effects of Climate Change and the effects of changes in the way that future generations live; Farming; and many more. I have a spreadsheet from another village which allows us to collect ideas and evaluate whether they are in scope before prioritising them. If you would like to help with developing the plan or with collecting evidence on these or any other topics please email me and I can add you to the planning group list. The next stage is to collect villagers’ ideas of how they want the villages to develop. I am arranging to use one of the Sunday evenings at the Nightingale Centre to introduce the Neighbourhood Plan process and gather your ideas for the villages between now and 2030. I hope this will be the last Sunday in March. Please put this date in your diaries and come along to share your views. In the meantime please email me at [email protected] with your ideas so that I can record them to start to develop appropriate policies. Many thanks Martin Beer Hucklow Parish Council [email protected] BT FIBRE TO THE HOME British Telecom’s surveyors and their contractors have started work on the detailed planning for installing optical fibre to homes and businesses in Gt Hucklow, Grindlow and outlying areas. The work is being funded by Digital Derbyshire and apparently will see fibre capable of delivering speeds of up 300 Mb/s made available to nearly all homes in the Parish which are currently connected to the Tideswell exchange (01298 area code numbers). The service is already available in Little Hucklow and is expected to available in Gt Hucklow and Grindlow in the third quarter of 2019. Windmill is not included in the current round but is planned for the future. Currently there are no plans for the service to reach properties in the 01433 code area (i.e. Abney, Abney Grange and Foolow). Obviously this has the potential to have a commercial impact on HucklowNet but a recent meeting of shareholders confirmed that HucklowNet will continue to provide its service while it remains financially viable to do so. Work will continue to deliver the HucklowNet service to Abney Grange and Abney. TIDESWELL – THE VILLAGE VOICE Did you know that Tideswell and district community magazine The Village Voice is almost 25 years old and recently underwent a large-scale upgrade? Items about our Parish are included whenever we have something to say. In the February edition you can read about the Parish Council on page 12 in the “Parishes at Work” article. It is delivered to the parish, although not yet to all homes. Would you like to receive a digital copy into your email box each month? Contact editor Alan Page via [email protected]. PEAK PARK NEWS The following are press releases circulated by the PDNPA. Rather than fill the Parish Newsletter with Park Authority news, we have provided links to the information on the PDNPA web site. Please follow the link if a title piques your interest. NEW RECYCLED SURFACE FOR TISSINGTON TRAIL DURING WINTER CLOSURE https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/new-recycled-surface-for- tissington-trail-during-winter-closure HAPPY TRAILS – HALF A MILLION VISITS TO PEAK DISTRICT ROUTES https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/happy-trails-half-a-million-visits- to-peak-district-routes RECOGNITION FOR VOLUNTEER RANGER’S 40 YEARS OF SERVICE https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/recognition-for-volunteer-rangers- 40-years-of-service HORSE POWER BOOSTS PATH REPAIR PROJECT IN THE PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/horse-power-boosts-path-repair- project-in-the-peak-district-national-park UK AWARD HIGHLIGHTS PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK YOUNG VOLUNTEER’S CAMPAIGN TO CURB COUNTRYSIDE LITTER https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/uk-award-highlights-peak-district- national-park-young-volunteers-campaign-to-curb-countryside-litter ‘FANTASTIC AMBITION AND CONSERVATION’ HAILED IN THE NEW NATIONAL PARK PLANNING AWARDS https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/fantastic-ambition-and- conservation-hailed-in-the-new-national-park-planning-awards CALLING JUNIOR RANGERS https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/current-news/calling-junior-rangers! .