Verulam Residents Association

The council and the countryside management service have proposed certain changes in Netherway Green - benches , information boards etc. Residents held a meeting in the Scout Hut. The council have revised their proposals as a result of the meeting. Revised proposals are published here.
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Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at 7.30 pm on Friday 18 April 2008 in the hall at Prae Wood School.

Committee: Barrie Mort (Chairman); Les Hull (Treasurer); Fred Wartenberg (Membership Secretary); Mike Palmer (Website Manager); Bob Hooper (Neighbourhood Watch); Pauline Mort (Minute Secretary); Gordon Brown; Barbara Saunders; Fiona Zobole; Manuel Zobole.
County Councillor Bob Clarkson and District Councillors Clare Ellis, Irene Willcocks and Martin Frearson were in attendance. 95 residents were present.

Regret was expressed that for the second year running the Local Police were not represented.

1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Geoff Brown, Peter Stroud, Mrs Nuttall, Mr and Mrs Gardner, Mr and Mrs Woolaston and Mrs Sansom

2. Minutes of the last meeting held on 27 April 2007 - These were approved.

3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising which were not already on the Agenda.

4. Waitrose
Kevin Hailey, Waitrose Manager and Chris Brookman, Assistant Manager were present. Kevin spoke about the recent break-ins at Waitrose and urged the public to look out for suspicious characters and not to hesitate to call the police. There had been 5 break-ins so far this year.

In answer to a question by Derek Sawyer concerning the pruning of dangerous trees, Mr Hailey said he would look into this. The Chairman raised the problems of parking and was told that the Waitrose staff are still allowed to park in the lower car park. In answer to the question about the car space allocation, he said that cars have got bigger and the spaces conformed to standard size. When questioned about the Recycling area, he made it clear that this was nothing to do with Waitrose as the Council owned the land. Apparently 4-5 calls a month are made to the Council to try to get them to collect rubbish blowing around. Waitrose staff even clear up glass to avoid damage to car tyres.
In reply to a question from Barbara Saunders, Kevin said that 4-5 pm on Sundays was very busy (possibly because Sainsbury’s closed at 4 pm.)
He said it had been a good decision to expand - they had tried to avoid greatly changing the layout. Business was thriving and people were buying pre-packed instead of deli.
Kevin agreed to follow up the question of who was responsible for lamp standards on the new roundabout. Herts County Highways had not adopted it.

5. Tree Warden Scheme
Mrs Sue Frearson spoke of her role as voluntary Tree Warden for the Verulam Estate area. She pointed out that the National body is the Tree Council and St Albans district now has its own page on the Tree Council website (www.treecouncil.org.uk) Sue needs help from the residents who are asked to report any trees damaged or
needing to be planted on bare land. Sue.frearson@which.net.

David Curry is the local Coordinator and regular training courses are being held. The Committee had agreed to finance the planting of daffodils around the base of deciduous trees.

In reply to a question from Ann Sawyer Sue pointed out that guards could be put around trees to protect them, if Sue is alerted to this situation. Jon Green is the Council officer responsible. Regarding a query from Tony Dix, Sue said that danger to trees posed by new building development was of considerable concern and she would be grateful of any information of this nature.

6. Election of Officers for 2008-9
The whole Committee resigned and as there had been no nominations before the AGM and all existing members were willing to continue, the AGM re-elected the whole Committee nem con.

7. Treasurer’s Report
This was circulated at the meeting and approved by all those present. It was agreed nem con that from March 2009 the annual subscription for members should be increased from £1 to £2.

The total cost of the legal representation for the Association at the Planning Inspector’s Enquiry regarding King Harry Lane Playing Fields in February 2008 was £5,248.18 and the total donations towards this cost was £5,247. The net cost therefore to the Association of the appeal was £1.18. The Chairman said that he had been overwhelmed by the response by residents to his appeal for funds and he wished to thank publicly all those who had given their support.

8. Membership Secretary’s Report
F Wartenberg reported that approximately 1,050 homes were covered by his team of collectors. Of these, over 860 were subscribing members of the Association. He urged members to let him know of any newcomers to the Estate and also of any volunteers to join his team of collectors. He explained that he may be retiring as Secretary in view of the local elections in May.
He also took the opportunity to announce that he intended to organize local litter picks in the near future.

9. Neighbourhood Watch/Police Matters
Bob Hooper explained that our ward constable, Phil Snook could not be with us. PCSO Jill Brown had retired in order to join the Constabulary. Dennis Cooper had stood down as the local Chairman. Doug Meakins and Reg Law would take over the leadership of the local group. Crime on the estate continued to decrease and we are now classified as in 9th position out of 20.

The first NHW Conference had been held in February 2008; there were 5 hours of presentations and workshops, which 3 members of the VRA Committee had attended together with the police and PCSOs. The organisation sent its best wishes to Ken Lane, the retiring Area Coordinator. Residents were urged not to confront burglars but to dial 999 or 08453300222. Concern was expressed about ‘fly tipping’ off Ragged Hall Lane and Bedmond Lane.

10. Chairman’s Report - King Harry Lane Playing Fields
The Chairman reiterated his heartfelt thanks to local residents who had together provided the huge sum of over £5,200 to cover the full legal expenses of opposing Hallam Land’s proposals with only £1.18 cost to the Association’s funds. It was now almost 6 years since the developer’s bulldozers had first appeared on the pristine playing fields on 16 July 2002.

Clearly Hallam would eventually apply for permission to build on the remainder of the Fields, but the economic climate was no longer in their favour. They had already tried and failed to sell off the part of the Fields adjoining King Harry Lane for which they had finally obtained building permission. Continued vigilance was essential.

One resident from the floor expressed the view that it was time to throw in the towel and capitulate to the developer.

11. Verulamium Park - Heritage Lottery Bid
A bid had been sent to the Heritage Lottery Fund for œ2 million to cover structural alterations in the Park. The proposals included:-
Creating a new gate and entrance to the Park at the site of the Silchester Gate; extensions to the Museum; removal of the concrete edging around the lake and extended planting around the lake; repositioning of public toilets by the lake.

It had been expected that the bid would be considered locally but the HLF had decided that all bids in future will be considered together at a national level. The HLF response to the bid is expected by the end of 2008.
There was criticism from residents about lack of information on these proposed changes. Councillor Frearson said that exhibitions had been held to explain the proposals and over 1,000 responses had been received in the public consultations. HLF had insisted that any bid should entail plans for the park as a whole not simply the lake.

12. Refuse and recycling collection
Tony Dix said that there was considerable confusion about the Council’s proposals and the meeting as a whole agreed with this. The general plan is to have a green bin collection and a black bin collection in alternate weeks. Glass, plastic, cans and newspapers would be collected at the same time as the green bin collection. The recycling points outside Waitrose would remain for the foreseeable future. Further information leaflets would be delivered from the Council shortly.

13. Any other business
There was none.

14. Farewell to Councillor Clare Ellis
On behalf of the Association the Chairman expressed sincere gratitude to Councillor Ellis for her many years of service both to the Association and to the wider community. Over a long career Councillor Ellis had undertaken a wide variety of different roles in the local community and in all had shown her characteristic conscientiousness and unselfish commitment to the welfare of St Albans residents.
The Chairman presented her with a bouquet as a token of everyone’s respect and appreciation.

15. Date and time of next meeting
Friday 3 April 2009, 7.00 for 7.30 pm, Prae Wood School.

The findings of the appeals hearing are published by the council here, but to save you time we have an extract of the relevant pages here. These “Appeals Digests” were released on Monday 7th April 2008.

King Harry Lane Playing Fields
On 21 February 2008, the Planning Inspector announced his decision on the Appeal lodged by the developers Hallam Land against the St Albans Council’s refusal to allow building on King Harry Lane Playing Fields. The Inspector said that, following the Hearing held in St Albans on 16-18 January 2008, he had decided to allow Hallam to build their proposed so-called ‘Retirement Community’ on the part of the site adjacent to King Harry Lane (approximately one-third of the total area of the site.) This overturned the two unanimous decisions by the Council’s Planning Committee in February 2006 and March 2007.
The ‘Retirement Community’ will consist of:
• a 40 bed Care Home
• 45 extra care/assisted living units, being 1 and 2 bed flats
• 65 houses, restricted to purchasers aged 55 and over (all leasehold) and consisting of seven 4 bed units, twenty six 3 bed units and thirty two 2 bed units
• 16 key worker units, being 1 bed flats
• Community facilities including swimming pool, gymnasium, day centre and therapy rooms.
Residents contributed most generously to legal costs.
All the Reasons for Refusal submitted by the Council Officers to the Inspector could be satisfied by financial contributions from the developer, except one which involved a modification to a building. None of the Reasons produced by the Residents Association were included by the Officers in the Appeal Document.

Bus services on Verulam Estate
Changes were made to the estate’s bus services from 3 September 2007. The revised route is a clockwise circuit around Abbey Avenue and Mayne Avenue. The Committee contacted Keith White, the County Council Manager responsible for bus services and feedback from bus users is requested.

The Tree Warden for the Verulam Estate is Sue Frearson who has volunteered to take on this monitoring role. Any further volunteers should contact Sue on 01727 761878.

Neighbourhood Watch Scheme (NHW)
Residents should be aware that the local Ward Constable has changed from PC Jodie Dalzell to PC Phil Snook. At the present time our PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) remains as
Jill Brown but she is due to join the Hertfordshire Constabulary in the near future. Who will be allocated to our area is unknown at present.
Crime on the estate continues to decrease (from 2006 to 2007 it went down by some 18%) and we are now classified in 8th position out of 20. This is good but with a figure of 77 crimes recorded in this area we can do better. The OWL (Online Watch Link) has developed very nicely on the estate with many households signed up to the system. However there are still 5 roads which do not have an NHW co-ordinator and several roads need more households on the scheme:- Abbey, Corder, Crossfields, Glevum, Icknield, Jerome, Netherway, St Stephens and Lower Westfields. The messages and guidance of Ken Lane, Area Co-ordinator have been well received. He has been supported by Bob Adams, Trading Standards, who has designated part of Rowlatt Drive as a ‘No Cold Calling Area’ and mounted suitable explanatory Notices. The first local NHW Conference was held in February 2008; there were 5 hours of presentations and workshops which 3 members of the VRA Committee attended, together with the Police and PCSOs.

Recycling Plans
The Council in leaflets notified residents of substantial changes in domestic waste and recycling collections. The garden waste collections will be resumed on 14 March 2008.

‘Core Planning Strategy for St Albans’
The above St Albans Council consultation paper caused considerable concern locally in September 2007. In this document “Area of Search
No. 1: South West St Albans” contained a proposal for a major expansion of the Verulam Estate into the area bounded by the A4147 and the M10. This included up to 900 new homes and a new road linking Blue House Hill roundabout to the M10 along Bedmond Lane to form a St Albans western by-pass.
Special meetings of the VRA Committee were held on his proposal and members of the Committee personally delivered to residents a copy of the leaflet on this issue prepared by Sam Othen of Samian Gate. As a result the number of objections to the proposal sent to the council’s website drastically increased. We must be vigilant in the future as to what happens to this proposal.

Subscriptions
Subscriptions for the year 2008/9 are now due. The Membership Secretary has a group of collectors who will be collecting subscriptions throughout the year or they can be paid direct to the Treasurer, Les Hull, at 7 Claudian Place.

The Association’s Annual General Meeting for this year will be held on Friday 18 April 2008 in the hall at Prae Wood School. The meeting will commence at 7.30 pm and the Committee invite members to join them for refreshments from 7.00 pm.

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence.
2. Policing / Neighbourhood Watch – Community Police .
3. Waitrose news.
4. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 27 April 2007. Minutes available here.
Copies will be available at the meeting.
5. Matters arising from the minutes.
6. Election of Officers.
7. Chairman’s Report including Verulamium Park Lottery Bid.
8. Treasurer’s Report.
9. Membership Secretary’s Report.
10. King Harry Lane Playing Fields.
11. Subscription Increase.
12. Bus service.
13. Recycling plan.
14. Any other business.
15. Date of next meeting.

On 21 February 2008, the Planning Inspector announced his decision on the appeal lodged by the developers Hallam Land against the St Albans Council’s refusal to allow building on King Harry Lane Playing Fields. The Inspector said that, following the hearing held in St Albans on 16-18 January 2008, he had decided to allow Hallam to build their proposed so-called ‘Retirement Community’ on the part of the site adjacent to King Harry Lane (approximately one-third of the total area of the site.) This overturned the two unanimous decisions by the Council’s Planning Committee in February 2006 and March 2007.
The ‘Retirement Community’ will consist of:
- a 40 bed Care Home
- 45 extra care/assisted living units, being 1 and 2 bed flats
- 65 houses, restricted to purchasers aged 55 and over (all leasehold) and consisting of seven 4 bed units, twenty six 3 bed units and thirty two 2 bed units
- 16 key worker units, being 1 bed flats
- Community facilities including swimming pool, gymnasium, day centre and therapy rooms.

At the Meeting of the Council’s Plans Central Committee on 26 March, Hallam Land’s proposals to develop KHL Playing Fields were unanimously rejected.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Association’s Annual General Meeting for this year will be held on Friday 27 April 2007 in the hall at Prae Wood School. The meeting will commence at 7.30 pm and the Committee invite members to join them for refreshments from 7.00 pm.

A G E N D A

1. Apologies for absence
2. Policing / Neighbourhood Watch – Community Police
3. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 21 April 2006 Minutes available below. Copies available at the meeting.
4. Matters arising from the minutes
5. Election of Officers
6. Chairman’s Report
7. Treasurer’s Report
8. Membership Secretary’s Report
9. King Harry Lane Playing Fields
10. Bus service
11. Recycling plan
12. Any other business

The minutes of the 2006 Verulam Residents Association Annual General Meeting are provided in PDF format and may be downloaded from here. Adobe Reader is required to read documents in PDF. It is commonly used and is freely available. 2006 Minutes

Changes were made to the estate’s bus services at the beginning of September without warning causing inconvenience to a number of residents including school children. The services are paid for from Council Tax and it was the decision of the County Council. They have explained that the reduction in expenditure was the cause but have not justified the lack of consultation. They say the lack of notice was due to the changes being ‘minor’.

At a meeting held with a number of residents in late February, including bus users, the County Council manager responsible for services on the estate stated that residents could also use the 861 service despite it appearing to be a scholars’ service. The 320 also is routed through the estate on a few journeys.

Due to the poor timekeeping the County Council is proposing a new timetable which would see services operating one way entering the Estate via Abbey Avenue. This approach was tried previously and abandoned after protests.

A new application to build on the King Harry Playing fields was made on 11 December 2006. The reference number is 5/2006/2729 and can be found on the Council’s website.

Only a third to half the field is planned in Phase 1 - this is the part nearest to King Harry Lane. A care home and residential homes for over 55s plus 16 key worker units are planned. This should put less traffic onto King Harry Lane at rush hours than in the previous applications.

However it is phase 2 and particularly the lack of information about it which gives cause for concern. Phase 1 leaves two roads in place for Phase 2 to be added.

The three week period for objections expires on Friday 16th February. Objections are only taken into consideration on certain grounds.