MINUTES OF THE STORT VALLEY PROJECT 5TH DECEMBER 2001 HELD AT SAYESBURY MANOR SAWBRIDGEWORTH PRESENT

MINUTES OF THE STORT VALLEY PROJECT

5TH DECEMBER 2001 HELD AT SAYESBURY MANOR SAWBRIDGEWORTH

PRESENT: Ted Barrows (Chairman)
Warren Richards (Secretary)
Michael Vincent (Treasurer)
Diana Richards (Mayor of Sbw)
Joyce Vincent (Sbw Town Council)
Tony Vidler (Sbw A/S) Bob Wright
Monya Billings
Burt Puncher (Sbw A/S) Dorothy Chancellor
Eric Colman John Collier
Diana Collier John Rider
David Mead

APOLOGIES: Hazel Mead Maureen Wright
Michael Brown Stan Barker
Tom Potts Joan Willett
Jacqueline Dore

WELCOME. The Chairman welcomed everybody to the meeting and said how pleased he was to see a number of new faces.

MINUTES: There was a comment about the minutes of the meeting on 3rd October. In AOB Monya B wish to have recorded that Mouchel's analysis of their public consultation of their plans for traffic management accused voters of tactical voting- this was agreed. With this addition minutes for 3rd October were agreed.

MATTERS ARISING.
Bob W wished to record he did not receive a copy of the minutes.
Review of Open Evening. We had over 50 people attend and space allocated for various displays was completely filled. Members must be congratulated on their picture boards of Sawbridgeworth past and present. It can be summed up by a sentence from a letter from EHDC Vice-Chairman Nigel Copping "You have obviously been working very hard and it is good to see such a large number of enthusiastic supporters at an open evening." John R hoped the open evening would spur us on to new things to support and apply for grants:
a) A photographic competition to draw in the sixteen plus age group.
b) Archiving the type of pictures brought to the open evening.
c) Make more material available for the web site.
d) Develop a public amenity of the land between the fishing lake and the Stort navigation.The first three items could be brought together to build an archive on CD and display selected subjects on the web site. Stan's Lawrence pictures were in the forefront of people's minds. In d) members wanted to see a public amenity for dingy sailing and rowing held under trust for the town.Land. Members said we should be considering buying land in sensitive areas such as Esbies. Others felt we should know what land and property has been given to the Town in the past. There is a planning application for 5 houses at The Alston Oak, on the land going down to the Stort.
Letters Written. Monya B sent a thank you to Mr Dayes for framing the picture for the raffle.
Letters Received. Two letters in response to Ted B, one from EHDC Planning re Stansted and the other from The Freight Transport Association giving their support to a bypass. Member wanted a copy passed to MP Mark Prisk.
We also had a letter from the Rhodes Centre asking for donations and support for functions in the future.

Agenda items.
The 2002 Project.
Shell Better Britain wants to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Rio Conference, (where the idea of Agenda 21 was born) by sponsoring a days meeting promoting local projects. An application has been sent off to have a venue in Sawbridgeworth.
Sawbridgeworth TPOs. Carol B asked if someone else could carry on the work in Sawbridgeworth as she felt there was a conflict of interests within the group and tabled the work she had completed and left the meeting. Members asked if an item could go in Church and Town to find someone in Sbw to continue TPOs.Sayesbury Manor. While members appreciated that the sale of the Manor is well advanced they wanted the sale not to deprive the Town of the green and any loss of parking. Many members supported Michael B petition to EHDC and it was agreed the Sec should write to Cllr D Peek to list our concerns.
Joyce V said she had raised the issue of Sayesbury Manor at the last Town Council meeting and it was said the property belonged to the Sawbridgeworth DC and all their assets passed to EHDC. Diana R said matters that people wished to raise with EHDC should be raised at the Area Forum, the first meeting of the Eastern Area will be held on the 22 November at 7.30pm in the Charis Centre Bishop's Stortford. Members asked that David T circulate to all members the details of Area Forums.
Post Meeting Note: A further meeting of the forum will be held on 17th January, possible in Sawbridgeworth. EHDC will be looking at offers made for the manor on December 4th and the Sec was asked to write to the Chairman of the meeting, Cllr D Peek.Land at Station. Major disturbance has taken place on the wetlands West of Sawbridgeworth Station members wanted to know the reason for removing this wildlife cover and disturbing the drainage. It was suggested it could be raised at the area forum. EHDC is currently building a list of contaminated land; any known sites should be highlighted to EHDC Environmental Department.Any concerns about open spaces should be addressed to Shirley Clark, Head of Operations, EHDC

DNM. Note. There will be no meeting in January and the February meeting will be in the room upstairs in Church House at 8.00pm on the 13th, which is the second Wednesday in the month.

AOB. Bob W asked for litterbins at Sheering Mill Lock, this is the responsibility of British Waterways. Members asked if Tony V could arrange a walk around the fishing lake in the Spring.
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* Items held in SVP file in Reference section of Sbw Library.

SVP071101