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Ingatestone & Fryerning Parish Council Newsletter April 2017 Parish Council seeks to preserve the Village’s green and recreational space In January the Parish Council approved a budget for 2017-18 incorporating a rise in the precept by £8 per annum per household based on a Band D property. This constitutes a weekly rise of 15p per household. Over the past few months we have been talking to Brentwood Borough Council about acquiring Seymour Field & Pavilion. We initially asked for an ‘asset transfer’, but all that Brentwood Council is prepared to offer is a 25-year lease. We are still discussing terms and conditions. Why is the Parish Council so keen to acquire this asset? Seymour Field is our only publicly owned recreation field. Fairfield is leased by the Parish Council from Lord Petre. Seymour Field is not only the home to all the village’s football teams; it is also widely used for casual recreation. It is used by dog walkers, youth groups and of course, it’s home to the annual Ingatestone and Fryerning Horticultural Society summer show. The village is growing and there was a genuine concern that the field could fall victim to property devel- opers. The Parish Council is determined to ensure that it should remain a publicly owned recreation area not only for current residents but also for future generations. The Pavilion, which was built in the 1980s, is in drastic need of refurbishment. We have obtained estimates of the cost required to bring it up to Football Association standards as well as providing a good quality fa- cility for use by other local community groups. We will need to obtain around £70,000. The Parish Council are hopeful of obtaining significant grants towards the cost of the work. Nevertheless, we cannot guaran- tee these funds and therefore have to budget on the assumption that we will need to self-fund the pavilion refurbishment as well as the upkeep of the field. In addition, following several incursions onto the field in recent years we also need to budget to improve security measures to ensure that the field can be enjoyed by local residents throughout the year. The Parish Council did not take the decision to increase the precept lightly, indeed to facilitate the neces- sary work the Council will reduce its reserves for the year 2017-18. However, the recent survey that we un- dertook revealed that there is overwhelming support among respondents to preserve green space in and around the villages. We believe acquiring a lease on Seymour Field & Pavilion guarantees that it remains a recreational facility and provides a wonderful opportunity to develop a quality asset that can be enjoyed by the people of Ingatestone & Fryerning for years to come. Paul Jeater, Chair – Ingatestone & Fryerning Parish Council Ingatestone & Fryerning Parish Council Fixing Our Broken Housing Market Ingatestone & Fryerning welcomes new Parish Councillor The Housing White Paper was published by the Gov- ernment in February 2017. This sets out plans to re- In January, this year, I was thrilled form the housing market and boost the supply of to be voted as the new Parish new homes in England. As well as a range of poli- Councillor for IFPC. I have lived cies aimed at helping to diversify the housing market in Ingatestone for the last 12 and helping people afford a home, the paper also years and think that both villages focusses heavily on changes that can be made to have it all – a great community, planning law and policy. Proposed changes to the good transport connections and planning system are relatively modest and the most glorious Essex countryside. significant proposals comprise: ¨ Making sure every part of the country has an In my view, the Council has a big role in helping to up-to-date, sufficiently ambitious Local Plan so maintain this good quality of life and environment that local communities decide where devel- for all its parishioners, from all age groups and all opment should go; walks of life. With more issues affecting our commu- ¨ Requiring local plans to be reviewed every nities than ever before – social care at saturation five years; point, economic uncertainty and a housing crisis on ¨ Placing greater emphasis on developing our hands – it is more important to support each brownfield land within settlements and at other on a local scale. higher densities; ¨ Giving communities a stronger voice in the In my ‘day job’, I work full-time as a journalist and design of new housing to drive up the quality editor on print, digital and social media publications and character of new development, building for some interesting national and international or- on the success of Neighbourhood Planning; ganisations. ¨ Ensuring that Neighbourhood Plans are recog- nised and considered at all levels of the plan- In my earlier career, I set up the social affairs unit for ning process, to avoid speculative developer BBC Southern Counties Radio, dealing with commu- applications being accepted; nity news on the airwaves. This industry experience ¨ Giving further support to Neighbourhood Plan- may come in useful to the Parish Council. I have the ning by making more funding available to privilege of working from my office at home much of neighbourhood planning groups from 2018- the time, so I spend a lot of time in the village. 2020 and amending planning policy so that groups can obtain a housing requirement fig- Just over two years ago, I started the Ingatestone ure from their LPA to help avoid delays in get- Book Group with some wonderful women, who are ting a plan in place; now good friends who like a good read, a glass of ¨ Green Belt policy appears to be strengthened wine and chatting. slightly, by proposing that authorities should only amend Green Belt boundaries where I have a keen interest in environmental issues, so am they can demonstrate they have fully exam- pleased to join the Churchyards and Environment ined all other reasonable options for meeting Committee. their development requirements; Cllr Dawn Jelley ¨ The definition of affordable housing is to be amended to include affordable private rent- ed housing (at least 20% below local market Churchyards & Environments Com- rent) and discounted market sales housing (at mittee least 20% below local market value); ¨ A minimum of 10% of all homes on sites of 10 or As always the Churchyards and Environment Com- more dwellings (or 0.5 ha or more) should be mittee has been hard at work ensuring the contin- affordable homes to buy; ued prosperity of our public spaces. ¨ Planning application fees likely to rise by ap- proximately 20% in July 2017; Since my last report the works to the Lychgate are ¨ Possible introduction of a fee for planning ap- complete, with only minor flint replacement to be peals (capped at £2,000); undertaken. Please do visit the Lychgate to experi- ¨ The possibility of reducing timescales to imple- ence the benefits of its refurbishment. ment a planning permission, from 3 years to 2 years. Following on from the works to Fairfield pond, the Of course, these are just proposals at the moment Committee is in the process of installing a series of and some of the above may fall away during the benches, bins and an information board. The infor- subsequent consultation process which runs until mation board details the history of Fairfield and the 2nd May 2017. wildlife to be found at the pond. The board itself Cllr Kate Sutton, Vice-Chair of Planning was composed from information gathered by Coun- cillor Abrey and I thank him for his efforts. Special tween the Church and my chosen charities Remus thanks should also be given to the Essex Heritage Memorial Horse Sanctuary, Georgia’s Teenage Can- Fund who generously donated funds towards the cer Appeal and Christy Hall Charitable Trust, so benches, bins and information board. thank you to all who attended and gave so gener- ously. On Sunday 13th November, I was honoured to lead the Remembrance Day parade in Brentwood, which saw thousands of people lining the route and shows what very great esteem our Armed Forces are held in. I was also honoured to ride in a horse-drawn car- riage down Ingatestone High Street to start the Vic- torian Evening celebrations on my birthday – 2nd December! New Year’s Eve in Ingatestone was as exciting as ever with the free Firework Spectacular organised by Starburst of Ingatestone. Now in its 18th year, the display seems to get bigger and better, and this year Recently the local area, both the village and the was no exception. wider Borough, have suffered from repeated in- stances of fly tipping. In the period from October In January, I held a fund-raising event at the Army 2015 to October 2016 fly tipping cost the Borough Reserve Barracks in Warley to celebrate Burns Night. c.£54,000 and I believe we can all agree that this It was a very enjoyable evening with everyone get- money would be best spent elsewhere. Should any- ting into the spirit of the occasion. My next fund- one have information on fly tipping I encourage you raising event will be a fashion show at Ingatestone to report this to the borough council. Their tele- Hall on Tuesday 28th March, featuring fashion, craft phone number is 01277 312500 or you can fill out an and gift items from local Ingatestone businesses. online form on Brentwood Borough Council’s website (www.brentwood.gov.) On Monday 13th March, I will be raising the Com- monwealth Flag at the Town Hall and on Friday 21st I hope to continue to work towards Ingatestone’s April I will be raising the Flag to celebrate St.

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