Stebbing Scene Your Village — Your Magazine

Stebbing Scene Your Village — Your Magazine www.stebbingscene.uk Edition No: 149 Spring 2019 1 THE BRIDGE Most Stebbing residents will be aware of the plan to replace the road bridge over the stream at Church End Stebbing, owing to deterioration of the brick work on one side. It does not appear to be dangerous, otherwise a weight limit would have been issued. Essex County Council hoped to do these works over this summer and autumn, but it appears both they and Uttlesford District Council failed to carry out their legal obligations to inform the landowners and local community in a Conservation Area. This project will now probably not take place until the summer of 2020. In order to facilitate this new bridge it has been proposed that six major trees, some with Tree Preservation Orders, (a major wildlife habitat, representing some 300 years of growth) will be felled, totally changing the landscape at Church End. The reason this is apparently necessary is that the current roadway is to be removed to a depth of 3.5m to enable a base of 11x9m to be laid to provide a new 1msq culvert under the road. Removing the trees will facilitate the access of machinery into the area. All this will mean that the current stream and drainage will need diverting somehow. The services (gas, electricity, water, sewage, telephone) will have to be redirected. In order to accomplish this, the road will need to be closed for four months to both motor and pedestrian access. It has yet to be decided how to maintain pedestrian access from one end of the village to the other. An Ecological Survey has been carried out but no information regarding its remit is known. A request for this Survey has been made and is awaited. No Environmental Audit has been seen either. A request has been made for detailed paper plans of the intended works and a schedule. Advice is being sought from a planning consultant and also a civil engineer with major road construction experience. It is hoped that updates on the progress or otherwise of this project will be available through Stebbing Scene and the Next-Door Neighbour Website. StephenBazlinton The front cover is an illustration by Tory Roberts, who pays homage to the trees on page 5 - Ed 2 Editorial I decided to write an editorial this time, partly to remove my usual little introduction from the front page so Tory Roberts’ illustration could have the space it deserved - but mainly because these are important times for our village and there are important choices to be made. Stephen Bazlinton’s piece (opposite) shows us that, yet again, Uttlesford’s planners have proved themselves unequal to the task by their cavalier agreement to the large scale removal of trees in a conservation area, in apparent ignorance of their responsibilities. Just a few years ago they were similarly in error when agreeing to planning permission for five dwellings in Bran End, despite these being outside permitted development limits. The local residents have lost forever their view across the valley, carved out by Stebbing Brook, and we just have to hope that we can avoid the similar loss of character that would arise from the wholesale destruction of mature trees in Church End. The affection Stebbing’s people have for our village is plain for all to see in this magazine. Tory’s front page and her piece on page 5 describes the reasons for her family’s decision to settle here. It is mirrored by the affection for our surroundings shown by Zoe Panting on pages 35/7, and in the delightful photographs she has allowed me to include in this and in past issues. Similarly we have Stephen’s willingness to go into battle to try to ensure that, whatever decisions are made about the work on the bridge and culvert at Church End, they will be informed in relation to the need to minimise the ecological and aesthetic damage done. And then of course there are the growing number of people who are willing to pick up litter (page 25) and repair infrastructure such as the footbridges on our local footpaths (page 27). It is sad these efforts will count for little if we continue to vote for an administration in Uttlesford which is eager to build new towns on much of the arable land that stretches between Braintree and Stansted Airport. Their proposed Local Plan is a disaster for Stebbing and the two councillors we have voted in to represent us have been contemptuous of our concerns. We need Uttlesford to change, to show more care for its environment and to listen to the wishes of its population. We need to make sure that in May’s local election we vote for people who value our village and the local environment as much as we do. It is not for the Editor of Stebbing Scene to tell you how you should vote, and we do not yet know all who are standing for election in May, but if you value the things that most of us say we value about life in Stebbing, please ensure you are as informed as possible about the views and promises of the candidates and let’s see if we can do better next time! Richard Foot 3 4 The Trees Garden cities, mass rapid transport systems, airport expansion, Brexit, our next humiliation at the Eurovision Song Contest. There is a lot on the horizon to disturb the equilibrium of even the most zen of tight-rope walkers. It’s almost irresistible to want to ignore it all, hunker down until Spring. And yet, like the great crested newts behind Garden Fields before them, the trees at Church End culvert now are under threat and we shouldn’t just stand by and shrug. Some may, and indeed have, suggested that we have complained about this curiously damaged section of road for years - and now we moan about its imminent repair too. There’s no pleasing some people! I would argue however, in the words of the inimitable Lorax, that we must ‘speak for the trees, as the trees have no tongue’. We all have a duty of care to the natural world, but even more so when we have chosen to make the countryside our home. Who else should better defend it? Stebbing is not just a cluster of crooked (and newer, slightly less crooked) houses strung out along sinewy lanes. It is, and is of, the topography it sits within. Those that have been involved in the preparation of the Local plan and commissioned the landscape assessments know that better than I. Every swell or dip of the valley, the pockets of woodland and the streams, the vistas from within and without, define the village. Strip all that away and Stebbing would be someplace else, and undoubtedly something less special, entirely. So back to the trees. Not one or two, but possibly all, are earmarked to be felled to allow reconstruction and widening of the road over the culvert. These trees, their cathedral-like architecture, buttresses and branches weaving together towards the sky and wrapping the cottages below in an arboreal embrace, they frame the scene, welcoming you as you make your approach on to the high street from the monument. Indeed it was this view that impressed itself upon me when visiting Stebbing for the very first time with a view to living here, before falling in love with what became our home. If we allow the trees to go, without question, without a ‘fight’, decades of growth that cannot be replaced in our lifetimes, conservation protections proven to count for nothing, what else of value will we allow to be lost? I retain some hope that common sense and creativity can still prevail over the forces of box ticking and regulation in reaching a solution. I am sure we would all be happy to wave goodbye to the orange, plastic eyesores and the changeable traffic priority signage. But less so, to the trees. Tory Roberts 5 INVITATION TO ALL LADIES Stebbing Ladies group meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month in the village Hall. We open at 7.30pm and start at 8.00pm. Our aim is to provide a varied and entertaining programme throughout the year. It’s a good opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Everyone is welcome. Jan 23rd We have an entertaining talk on the history of Saucy Seaside Postcards. Feb 27th Chris Beaven, whom most of you will know, is to give a talk on his vast collection of cork screws, which knowing Chris, will be very amusing. An evening not to be missed. March 27th Naturals, from Dunmow, are returning to give us an insight into their various beauty and nail treatments. A very popular evening when they last came to our meeting. April 24th Mike Perry is giving a talk on the history of photography. - should be very interesting. For more information on any of the above please contact: Val Stokes on 01371 856882 [email protected] or Gina Going on 01371 855943 [email protected] Salings Plant Sale Bank Holiday Monday 6th May • Come and join us for a pleasant morning and early afternoon at our annual Plant Sale • Plants, shrubs and trees from North End Nurseries, plus some real bargains on tomato plants and bedding plants grown locally • Stalls inside with local produce and arts and crafts 10am to 2pm • Breakfast buns with bacon and a cuppa on offer….

Load more