Good question; and it's a plethora of different activities: some big, some small and some in between. Good, bad and ugly!
Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan (KNP)
So, the Draft KNP was submitted to Hertford Town Council (HTC) on Monday after much hard work from the KNP team. It will go to the HTC Leisure and Development Committee in early October, and, assuming they give it the thumbs up, will be delivered to everyone in Kingsmead for consultation under the 'Regulation 14' consultation. There are a few more steps to go (Reg 16 Consultation, examination and finally a referendum) before it becomes part of the Planning Regulations for Kingsmead.
KRA are already working on implementing some of the changes on the the Action Plan; remember to let KRA or KNP know if there are other improvements that you would like to see included on the Action Plan.
McDonalds/BP Entrance
We understand that McDs has had a survey done which is the first step to the new entrance being built. KRA has fed back to Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) that we think that this will only provide a little relief to the issue and not resolve it.
We are also pushing for enforcement cameras to be installed once the law allows this as without any enforcement there is no incentive to improve the entrance to fully resolve the problem. It's not fast but there is a dim light at the end of the tunnel.
Improving Footpaths
There are a lot of improvements to footpaths scheduled in our Action Plan but we have made the first step.
the small path from Little Mead to Ware Road has already had a board walk installed by HCC which makes the access clearer.
A new signpost is being carved and has been paid for 50/50 between a donation from a local business and our HCC councillor and should be installed by the end of this year.
Further improvements to this footpath are in discussion and we'll let you know once these have been completed.
Road Improvements
Four roads are due to be resurfaced in October and budget has been approved for various pavement and road improvements for the financial year 2022/23. KRA is liaising with our HCC councillor on these improvements and a list of the works is circulated to all KRA members but let us know if you have any suggestions. Particularly for improvements to pavements and dropped kerbs around Pinehurst.
Flooding
There has been persistent flooding on Cromwell Road for around ten years and, recently (see our previous article) Rowleys and Tamworth
Roads flooded due to issues with the ditch.
KRA has been liaising with HCC and their contractor, Ringway, regarding works to shore up the side of the ditch. There is an added complication, believe it or not this ditch is classified as a 'main river' by the Environment Agency which means that permission is required before the works can go ahead. However, the vegetation has now been cleared, as have the branches that were impeding flow, so we are looking forward to the repair of the side of the ditch.
On a somewhat rainy day recently a (slightly soggy) KRA Chair accompanied our HCC councillor on an inspection of reported flooding on Cromwell Road. After quite a bit of paddling, conversations with local residents and general looking down the roadway drains we concluded that there was definitely a blockage and possibly not sufficient inlets to the street drain.
Unfortunately such blockages are not a priority for HCC but full investigation of these drains is now scheduled for the next financial year. Priority for works to rectify floods does depend on the number and severity of those incidents; so, remember to report any and all floods on Cromwell Road (and anywhere else in Kingsmead) to HCC ideally via fixmystreet (available as an app or webpage https://www.fixmystreet.com/) as we can monitor the number of reports or you can report directly to HCC. Please take photos and include them in your reports (the fixmystreet phone app makes this really easy)
Blue Plaques
So, this didn't go quite as well as we'd hoped; we attempted to get a few blue plaques for notable buildings in Kingsmead but unfortunately we missed the boat. We received a listing of all buildings/items of interest in Kingsmead from HCC but this was several weeks after the HTC blue plaque nominations had closed. One of our local Hertford Town Councillors confirmed that we had missed the boat and there was nothing she could do to get any of our nominations into the running........ but, we have the listing so that if HTC do open the nominations in the future then KRA is ready to apply......
But it's not all bad news on the historical front:
KRA are working with a local historian and taking advice from English Heritage and the HCC County Archaeologist to put together a bid for funds to install a sign at the Bronze Age bowl barrow in Kingsmead.
Once we have things a little further along we will let you know our specific plans but this is one of the items from the KNP Action Plan and we are very excited to be starting on (potentially) having a Kingsmead history trail.
Dr Anne Rowe providing KNP a 'potted history' of Kingsmead which can be found below
https://www.knphertford.org/forum/buildings-developments/history-of-kingsmead-a-mutiny-the-gallows-and-a-new-river
So, that's most of what we have been doing over the past few months but if you have any issues within Kingsmead that you would like KRA to address or ideas for improvements please let us know on KRAHertford@gmail.com
コメント