So, a lot has been happening since our update in October but, having taken a deep breath let's start with the fruition of a long term project:
The Bowl Barrow Sign
Finally, after months of hard work behind the scenes and with lots of help from our illustrator (James Robinson), a fabulous write up by Dr Anne Rowe (East Herts Archaeological Society), permission from East Herts District Council to erect the sign and, last but not least, thanks to a large grant from Hertfordshire County Councillor Ben Crystall we have managed to put up the information sign on the Bronze Age bowl barrow.
We had an official 'opening' of the sign on the 18th November, shortly after it had been installed, with Ben cutting the ribbon and local newshound Steve Beeston in attendance (thank you for the photos). For KRA this day marked the end of a long haul to have this nationally significant (according to Heritage England) bowl barrow marked to show the history and layout in relation to other pre historic remnants found of settlement in Kingsmead (more details in Dr Anne Rowe's brilliant explanation of Kingsmead history at https://www.krahertford.org/post/history-of-kingsmead-a-mutiny-the-gallows-and-a-new-river)
Write up in local news:
There are other sites within Kingsmead that are significant and KRA will be exploring opportunities to mark these also. Early in 2021 the site of the 'Cockbush Field Mutiny' during the English Civil War was included on Hertfordshire County Council records as a result of research by Dr Anne Rowe and work by Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan (and a planning commentary by KRA) and we are hoping that this may be our next project once we have had a bit of a breather from this one.
Pavement Gritting
With the snow and cold spell in December we received a number of complaints from both members and non members about lack of gritting bins for pavements and the failure to grit non A roads. KRA collated a listing of areas that require additional bins submitted it to our local County Councillor; only to find out that each County Councillor is allocated 2 new grit bins a year and so our list would take over a decade to be fulfilled.
We have therefore started a petition on the Hertfordshire County Council website (they will only take full notice of petitions from their website) for more grit bins to be installed to serve non A roads and particularly for use on footpaths. If you haven't signed as yet please consider signing to make our streets safer and hopefully reduce slips, trips and falls with the impact on the NHS during the winter months.
https://democracy.hertfordshire.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=1149&fbclid=IwAR3tz9NxiTTEUGj7zB47xUi7J2nnFl8f1kaaYVqFq3OdJcdwda0O-MyMD2g
Drivesafe Scheme for Ware Road
We started gathering names for the petition for initiating a Drivesafe scheme on Ware Road between the A10 viaduct and Cromwell Road.
We have volunteers for the Lead volunteer role and are looking for both support volunteers plus people to sign the petition. If you live on Ware Road and would like to help out with the project please email us.
The traffic density and speed on Ware Road will also form a central part of our commentary on the Ware proposal for 1,800 new homes to the North East of Ware since all traffic will be routed along Ware Road until the relief road designed as part of the scheme, commences being built when the 1,000th home is completed. KRA Committee Member Karen Johns is leading on this scheme and is doing a remarkable job of bringing this to fruition.
Secretary Loss
Our secretary, Maura Connolly, moved a short distance out of Kingsmead early in 2022 so decided that she needed to resign due to no longer living in our area. A massive and big thank you to Maura for all the hard work over the last year and a half as secretary to KRA following on from her work on the KNP
Cromwell Road Flooding
Cromwell Road has had a flooding issue from the road drains for over 10 years and this has been a constant and long term issue.
The water floods from the road drains and then floods through neighbouring housing as can be seen from this picture from January 2023.
KRA has been campaigning along with those living in the affected properties since KRA was formed and last year Hertfordshire County Council did undertake a full cleaning of the vertical drops from the road into the storm drains. However this revealed what may be the source of the issue: when the drain changes direction from a vertical run to a horizontal run it does it through a type of bend called a 'swan neck'. These bends cannot be flushed with a pressure hose because the hose cannot bend to travel through it so the cleaning of the horizontal run of HCC drain until it attaches to the Thames Water main storm drain could not be completed.
The only way to resolve the swan neck issue is to break through the 'swan neck' section which will then allow the horizontal run of HCC pipes to be flushed clean. This is now in the schedule of works for the next financial year thanks to Ben and should take place some time between April and the end of the summer. Fingers crossed this will resolve the issue however if there is also a blockage in the Thames Water line that the HCC pipes run into this may not be the end of it (unfortunately) but let's take the logical steps until we reach the end.
This is one of the frustrations of working as part of the KRA committee: the length of time it takes to get anything done. The key is persistence and tracking of the issues, being tenacious and just not taking no for an answer. But it does make celebrating every achievement so important and so much sweeter! We hope to have an update on the Fairfax/Tamworth Rd drain issue in the next few months.
Monthly Litter Picking
The monthly litter picking is going from strength to strength with our local police safer neighbourhoods getting in on the act on our, rather chilly, litter pick in December around Birdie Way, the barrow and the Pine Hurst. It's only an hour a month on the first Sunday of the month so please email to let us know if you're interested in joining us. We do have some spare litter pickers and high vis vests but please bring your own gloves.
KNP goes to Examination Stage
The Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan went for official examination in January; this is where an independent neighbourhood planning expert checks that we don't have anything ambiguous or against the regulations included. Once the examination has completed (and any edits made to the plan) it will then move onto the referendum stage where, providing that a majority of people living within the area of the Neighbourhood Plan vote for it to be adopted, it will then become part of the planning regulation for that area.
That isn't the end of the KNP as the next stage then begins: implementing the Neighbourhood Plan!
........ Talking of actions being implemented from the KNP - Hertfordshire County Council Right of Way team got in touch to confirm that they had updated the sign at the start of the footpath to the meads from Ware Road to show meaningful directions after a request was put in by KRA around a year ago.
That's pretty good in terms of timescale for getting things done in our experience!
This supplements the wooden sign installed by HCC but joint funded by a grant to KRA (from Ben) and a donation from a local business.
And finally - we are working on all of the long term issues like Rush Green roundabout and the traffic issues caused by McDonalds (there is a long write up on our Facebook page of a recent accident caused by lack of visibility due to the queue) but there's not much news to tell as yet. So onto the positives: we will be launching the first Hertford Hedgehog Highway in March for Woodlands Road and Foxholes Avenue. This is an initiative led by KRA Committee Member Lisa . If you live on either of those roads expect a leaflet shortly. We will also be delivering a leaflet on improving biodiversity in your garden to all of Kingsmead as a result of a lot of work by KRA Treasurer Liz. We are liaising with Hertford Swift Group as to plans for more swift boxes in Kingsmead. As always watch this space
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