Update the Northaw & Cuffley Parish Council Magazine
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UPDATE THE NORTHAW & CUFFLEY PARISH COUNCIL MAGAZINE APRIL 2019 ISSUE 67 Celebrating 125 Years 1894 - 2019 Northaw & Cuffley Parish Council UPDATE APRIL 2019 Travis Perkins Supplies more than 100,000 product lines including general building Materials, timber, plumbing & heating, kitchens, bathrooms, Landscaping materials & tool hire. Next day delivery service Branch Manager Assistant Manager Neil Mace Craig Knight Why not take advantage of the Northaw & Cuffley Parish Council Cash Card which offers discount on all our product lines. Simply bring in a copy of this advert. Cuffley Branch Sopers Road, Cuffley, Herts EN6 4SE Tel: 01707 873536 E-mail: [email protected] www.travisperkins.co.uk Opening Times Monday to Friday 7.30am – 5.00pm Saturday 8.00am – 12 noon UPDATE ISSUE 67 CONTENTS Editor: Carol Branigan Page Chairman’s Update . 3-4 History of Northaw and Cuffley . 5-6 Telephone Box Restoration in Northaw . 7 The Great British Spring Clean . 8 Northaw Community Orchard . 9 The Changing Face of the Historic Turnpike Oak . 10 Northaw and Cuffley Tennis Club Open Day . 11 What’s On At Cuffley Hall . 13 Listed Buildings in Northaw . 14-18 An Invitation to Explore Our Footpaths . 19 Village Day 2019 . 20 Cuffley Day Care Centre Family Fun Day & Fete . 22 Cuffley Horticultural Society . 25 Nyn Park, Northaw . 26-27 Gallery . 28-29 Northaw & Cuffley Parish Local Organisations & Socieites . 31 2 ISSUE 67 Chair’s Update I am writing this at the end of the four-year term of office for the Parish Councillors.This had been one of the first times that there had been an election for these roles for many years as more than the eight people required were proposed. We hope that again this year there will be an election and a high turnout of voters. This will help show that local residents are interested in making the parish the best it can be even though there are many pressures to become part of the urban sprawl of Greater London, Potters Bar and Broxbourne. Increase in housing, grid-locked traffic, pollution and antisocial behaviour such as fly tipping, have all become issues over the last few years. orkingW as a Councillor you are in a position to influence, not always solve, these issues on behalf of the residents. The Parish Council working with local groups and resident representatives has an even better chance of influencing what Northaw and Cuffley will look like over the next 15 years and into the future. Local Plan, Neighbourhood Plan and Green Belt Review Welwyn Hatfield’s Local Plan continues to be delayed so we are still unclear how much housing is likely to be proposed for Northaw and Cuffley. A call for new sites is expected to report in May with hearings on their suitability running at the end of the year. We expect that there will be some extra sites that will come forward in our Parish. We have already presented our concerns to the hearings about the methodology used to decide whether green belt sites are suitable and will continue to work with the consultants we are using, to protect as much of the green belt and character of Northaw and Cuffley as we can. We know there will be some building as new houses are needed but we want to ensure these are in the most appropriate locations and as much of the traffic and transport problems that will be exacerbated will be ameliorated as far as possible. In re-starting work on our Neighbourhood Plan we hope to strengthen our case for keeping the Parish open and green with designated areas staying low-density housing to prevent overdevelopment of these areas. Increasing numbers of Plans are being put forward for several houses or dwellings on the site where one house has stood. Although we support the need for smaller flats and houses this can be accommodated without the loss of our green spaces such as gardens. The new Neighbourhood Plan working group is made up of Councillors, Residents Association, Representatives from Sports Clubs at KGV Field, Churches, Young Businessmen running a business from home, parents from the Playground Working Group, residents from Northaw and the Scouts organisation. We had asked the schools and the Doctor’s surgery to get involved but unfortunately had no response although aspects of these were covered by the Vicar on behalf of Northaw School. Our first workshop was facilitated by the consultants working with us on the Local Plan. Slides will be on show at the Annual Parish Meeting. If you would like to get involved do contact us. There will be opportunities to view the work and input into it later in the year through workshops, open meetings and focus groups. Part of your precept monies are being spent on this work plus we are applying for government grants to support the Neighbourhood Plan work. 3 UPDATE APRIL 2019 What is your precept money spent on? The Parish Council receives a precept which is part of your tax bill from Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. This enables the Council to pay for the staff in the office and for all the work that is needed to maintain both the statutory work of a Parish Council and the maintenance of our parish parks and open spaces. This year the precept for the Parish has gone up from £199,000 to £206,000. You will also see a special payment line. This goes to Welwyn Hatfield Borough and pays for maintenance of the Great Wood. This year the Councillors and Staff at the office have been ensuring our green spaces are maintained for all the leisure activities that people want to enjoy. To ensure KGV field is available for use as a place to play football, walk dogs, and use the playground, annually costs over £40,000. This financial year, 2018/19, cost much more as we put in a new playground. Some of these costs are offset by football pitch rental and are kept lower due to work that a few members of the football club do on the pitches on a voluntary basis. Next year the costs for KGV will again be high with a potential car park resurface and play equipment for older children. Costs for Homewood, and all our open spaces in Northaw and Cuffley with trees, have been high this year after a survey showed we needed a rolling programme of tree work to maintain the health of the trees and the safety of people using the areas. I would like to thank our Homewood Volunteers who also help maintain the wood. Northaw parks and open spaces costs have also been higher this year with us spending £22,000 on the much needed restoration of the War memorial. 2019/20 we will be looking at the play space including the dilapidated tennis court. Business rates for our car parks and office continue to rise well above inflation so will continue to monitor car park charges to ensure we can maintain these adequately. We continue to pay for some extra policing for Northaw and Cuffley which enables us to have a PCSO visible on our streets to address both crime and antisocial behaviour by both acting as a deterrent and by educating both young people and older people in keeping safe, not being caught by scams and parking and driving considerately. Parish Council meetings are open to the public so please do attend if you want to hear more about present and future plans for spends on the precept. This year has been a year of pulling together all our Policies, Procedures and Governance to ensure we are working using the best practises. Now these are nearly finished and our monitoring and auditing processes robust so 2019/20 can be a year for growth in what we achieve for the community. I would finally like to thank the Deputy Clerk, the Staff and all the Councillors for all the extra work they have taken on this year during a period of staff shortage. Councillor Sally Pollitt Chair 4 ISSUE 67 History of Northaw and Cuffley Northaw is believed to be one of the original Manors granted to the monks of St. Albans in 793. Northaw Woods, part of the forest of Enfield Chase, was leased to the Valoignes family about 1086. About 100 years later the Abbot of St. Albans wished to cancel the lease and a lawsuit ended in his favour. Because of the remoteness from the Abbey the area was favoured by hermit monks, notably Sigar, whose tomb can be found in St. Albans Abbey. A chapelry was founded at Northaw in 948. In 1215 a church is mentioned. 1348 is the date of the earliest Court Roll in existence, which means that full administration for a Manor was in operation. Land in the north east of the Parish was probably enclosed in the fifteenth century for the use of the Almoner of the Abbey. This developed into Hanyards Farm at a later date. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Northaw was granted to Sir William Cavendish(1539), who is known to have lived here. By 1560 the Manor is in the hands of the Crown and Queen Elizabeth is known to have stayed here on a number of occasions during 1563 and 1564. Eventually in 1576 she granted Northaw to the Earl of Warwick and he built Nyn Palace. By 1632 it came into the hands of the Leman family, whose various descendants held it until 1811. They built Northaw Place in 1690, Northaw House in 1698 and Nyn Palace was demolished in 1774.