So, organising the KRA Annual General Meeting has taken a fair amount of time over the past month or so but we have managed to fit in a few other things:
Litter Picking
Inspired by very successful litter pick organised by the Kingsmead Preschool KRA has now organised our first litter pick for the 3rd July (for details see the events tab on our website) with Karen taking the lead on this.
We are hoping to organise this as a monthly event (first Sunday of the month) dependent on interest and are looking for any areas that you think could do with a concerted litter picking.
For any avid litter pickers remember there is a group called the 'Wombles of Hertfords About' on Facebook who can help with ideas/questions and potentially equipment.
Tamworth Road Development
After a bit of a shaky start to the development process KRA had a very productive meeting with Durkan in May to talk about some positives coming out of the development process. As well as the additional swift boxes and hedgehog holes on the development itself KRA were offered various bits of help against our Action Plan including, but not limited to:
Provision of some litter picking gear and litter pickers for our first litter pick
Free cinema tickets for Kingsmead residents to the Hertford Open Air Cinema on the 19th August (remember to apply if you'd like some tickets before the end of June!)
Assistance in putting on a community hedge laying day (more on this also below)
Potential allocation of some of the S106 money not specifically allocated to go projects in Kingsmead
We have been happy to accept as we want to work with Durkan to get some additional benefits to Kingsmead as well as the potential Residents Parking Zone (RPZ) on Tamworth Rd and adjacent roads......
........Talking of the Tamworth Road RPZ
After we had been notified by a resident on Tamworth Road (and then did a quick assessment ourselves) we realised that the current levels of nuisance parking would not pass the 'rules' set by East Herts District Council which would result in instant refusal of the RPZ. As such we, regretfully, asked Cllr Rosemary Bolton to put a hold on the assessment for an RPZ until all of the nuisance parking (*see below for more on this) returned and/or materialised.
When Cllr Bolton achieved the delay to the RPZ assessment she also confirmed that Tamworth Road and surrounds would be turned down for an RPZ if assessed now. As it took a fair amount of campaigning to achieve a second assessment (after it failed the first assessment in June 2021) we were relieved that we had taken this this course of action since we doubt we would get a third chance to be assessed. The assessment probably will not take place now until the development is at least partially occupied but at least that should mean that we qualify. And yes we don't think that there should be the ability for EHDC to set arbitrary limits to whether a street should have an RPZ but we have to work with what we have gotten
Hedge laying - Cromwell Road Allotments
Following on from what could only be termed a rather over zealous hedge trimming in February KRA was approached by a Kingsmead resident to offer the opportunity of a community hedge laying day as he is an experienced hedge layer.
What's hedge laying?
(We also had to ask this!) A traditional way of managing a hedge with more details at: https://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/
What's a community hedge laying day?
Well, initially it started out as skill share with a couple of volunteer hedge layers teaching and supervising a few volunteers from the local community with a target of maybe doing some of the hedge along side Rowleys Road and then, if we were motoring maybe attempting a few along side Little Mead.
However, after a chat with Durkan it turned into a bigger production with Durkan offering a couple of extra hedge laying teachers and the potential of a lunch/afternoon tea for all volunteers to celebrate our achievement afterwards plus maybe some volunteers to actually hedge lay.
The hedge does belong to Hertford Town Council so, KRA wrote to Kingsmead councillors in February offering the community hedge laying day and then reiterated our, by now, much larger proposal by email to the entire Hertford Town Council Community Services Committee before the June meeting.
What's the GOOD news?
Hertford Town Council is going to undertake a hedge laying day
What's the bad news?
This will be undertaken by council staff and will not involve any members of the community or Durkan. But, the important point is that the hedge will be properly managed, hedge laid in the traditional manner and shouldn't need to be treated so drastically in future which will preserve the hedge as the valuable wildlife corridor and habitat that currently exists.
KRA in Political Scandal!
KRA tries to work with all councillors and other stakeholders to achieve the actions on our action plan or improve things for our members and local residents. As a result of a number of joint projects with a councillor KRA featured heavily in a recent political newsletter which resulted in a query from a local councillor, asking whether KRA could be referenced in leaflets for any political party. We have clarified that KRA is non political but we are happy for any councillor to mention KRA in relation to any joint initiatives or activities that we have undertaken or any grants that have been provided irrespective of which political party is publishing the newsletter or similar providing that any such story is accurate. This is partly because we do not believe that KRA would have any recourse to stop such publications unless the information in the leaflet were libellous.
In the last County Council elections Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan was mentioned in a candidate's election leaflet. We have invited all local councillors to 'photo ops' when we have organised events such as the two days of swift box installations
Our preference is that KRA be asked whether we are happy with the text/photos that are to go into any political leaflets before publication, particularly if committee members' are named in the text but other that that we think that publicity around what is happening in Kingsmead is good for everyone
Public Rights of Way
We have assembled a number of volunteers who will be able to confirm that they have walked PR2, PR6 and PR4 but only have sufficient for an application for PR2 at the moment (we are aiming for at least 15 people per route). We are in the process of preparing the paperwork for an application but it is proving a little more tricky than anticipated but we would expect to have it ready to go in the next 3-4 weeks. We'd rather get it right than have to try and redo the paperwork!
Errata
Air ambulance route - Cromwell Road allotments: we have raised concerns that the blocking of the path across the allotments, adjacent to Mudlarks, will mean that the paramedics from the air ambulance will have a much longer journey and also a more difficult one with (potentially) someone on a stretcher via the new access route with Mayor Sue Barber. Watch this space for an update
Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan - we understand this has now gone for final approval from Hertford Town Council and should be submitted to East Herts District Council for the 'Regulation 16' consultation within the next fortnight. It's a long process but hopefully will get the right result
Police liaison - following several reports of anti social behaviour we have renewed our contact with Hertford Constabulary with Liz taking the lead. We have also been told that some of the carvings on the Pines may have been removed by East Herts District Council and have written to the relevant councillors to try and get to the bottom of whether this is rumour or fact
Surfacing issue - Cotton Drive - we are looking into resolving a rather large pothole which appears to have been ducked by both HCC and Network Homes for repair
*Sources of Nuisance Parking on Tamworth Road and surrounds:
Nuisance parking at the Rowleys Road end of Tamworth Rd from offices in Mead Lane as workers seek to avoid the 20 to 30 minute queue to leave Mead Lane that materialises between around 1630 and 1730 on week days
Nuisance parking from the existing RPZ streets where people displace parking from the RPZ into Currie St/Raynham St etc and then park in Tamworth Rd
Nuisance parking, particularly of commercial vehicles, from developments such as Liberty Rise which have reduced number of spaces and also do not allow the parking of commercial vehicles which may be during the day but is most likely weekends and evenings
Potential nuisance parking from the new development which will be on private roads so people from Tamworth Road and surrounding streets cannot park on the new development. Note: there is also the potential for nuisance parking from the Durkan site during construction but so far this does not appear to have materialised**
Nuisance parking from the allotments which is mostly early evenings and weekends
** The above was identified in May, nuisance parking from the development site did materialise in late June and, following contact from KRA, Durkan have taken steps to resolve
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