So, it's been a busy couple of months since our September update and we have a fuller description of some of our activities following but our synopsis includes:
Dealt with sewage pollution of the local surface water system by Liberty Rise
Progressed actions from the Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan (KNP) including:
New Right of Way signpost
New morning bus for Pinehurst/Foxholes at 0822
Working on the bowl barrow sign
Working on new fencing for Pinehurst Recreation Ground
Campaigned on the traffic issues caused at Rush Green roundabout by McDonalds
Campaigned on enforcement of Planning Conditions for the new development for Tamworth Road
Helping Kingsmead Neighbourhood Plan issue the Regulation 14 consultation
New Signpost - Little Mead
Last week a new signpost was installed on Little Mead to show the way to Ware and Rowleys Roads.
This was a jointly funded project; half of the money was donated, after some work by KRA, by a local business and the other half came from from Cllr Ben Crystall's Localities budget.
Hertfordshire County Council officer, Nicholas Maddex organised the carving of the sign by Chris Brunton of Seabee Outdoors. This morning Chris showed us the oak sign with wooden peg joints and explained that the wood was recycled from an oak that had been removed due to it having become dangerous because it was about to fall on a building.
This is one of the action items from the KNP Action Plan that KRA is pursuing to improve local walking route amongst other things. So one action down and about another 65 to go!
New Bus for Pinehurst and Foxholes
This morning (29th Nov 2021), Cllr Ben Crystal and KRA Chair Vicky Glover-Ward were happy to catch the additional morning bus service (No 384) from Pinehurst (0822) and Foxholes (0824) to Hertford.
How did this come about?
During the KNP consultations (in May) KNP were notified that the bus that used to leave at around 0830 had been cancelled leaving no service from 'up the hill' into Hertford between 0755 and the 0930. This meant there was no bus for school children to catch to get to Abel Smith and other schools.
KNP spoke to our Hertfordshire County Councillor, Ben, who arranged for an additional bus service to be laid on to Pinehurst and Foxholes in the morning.
As with any bus service nowadays it has to at least cover the costs so we would encourage members and residents in Kingsmead to use this service as we don't want to lose it again.
The Sewage Incident
On the 11th November 2021 various residents reported a suspicious and quite overwhelming pong from the ditch that runs alongside Rowleys Road.
A bit of investigation later and we found that raw sewage was running through the ditch, from the surface water drains under Stanstead Road, and then via the ditch onto the meads.* KRA (along with a number of local residents) contacted the Environment Agency, Thames Water and Hertfordshire County Council.
Thames Water arrived on site within two hours of our call and, after several hours of investigation confirmed that the ditch was an Environmental Agency responsibility, appeared to have been contaminated by a sewage tanker pumping into the surface water drain and 'as a gesture of good will' Thames Water would come out to clean up the non biodegradable items.
A bit of investigation and with several emails and an incredibly useful photograph we managed to identify that the sewage tanker had been parked at Liberty Rise, had pumped a tanker full of raw sewage into the surface water drain and the company responsible.
KRA contacted the company, who have investigated, cleaned up (along with Thames Water) and have offered a donation to the Herts and Middx Wildlife Trust. They have also undertaken to erect notices to stop this happening again and have, we understand, stopped doing business with the waste company that were involved in the incident.
Kingsmead is a rich and bio diverse area with a number of protected species in residence; this contamination could have had serious effects on the local populations including great crested newts and water voles so our main concern was to:
Get the area cleaned up
Stop it happening again
Hopefully, with the help of a lot of residents who emailed us with eye witness accounts (big thanks to everyone), this has been achieved but, should there be further incidents we now know the likely source of the contamination and can act appropriately. Big thanks to Thames Water, Hertfordshire County Council staff and all of our local councillors for all acting to get this resolved as soon as possible and to stop it happening again.
* The ditch runs under Rowleys Rd play area, then under the railway track to Stockade Mead and then parallel to the New River, under the New River** near the closed level crossing to finally discharge into the River Lea just past Ware Lock (signposted 'Manifold Ditch' where it joins opposite the Lido)
** Currently the ditch is blocked where it goes under the New River and we have been working to get it unblocked. More news on that (hopefully) in our next newsletter
Actions in Progress:
Fencing on Pinehurst Recreation Ground - We have been liaising with Hertford Town Councillors regarding the fencing in of the play area on Pinehurst Recreation Ground. Cllr Sue Barber (Hertford Town Council) has progressed this with the Community Services Committee and we understand that an application for funding to improve facilities on Pinehurst Recreation Ground, which will include a consultation with local residents as to what is wanted, is on the agenda for discussion this evening.
https://www.hertford.gov.uk/council-meetings/
McDonalds Rush Green Roundabout chaos: We have reviewed the plans submitted for the extra lane at McDs and commented. KRA is of the opinion that it will not resolve the issues but it will make it slightly better. We will continue to work on this issue until it is fully resolved
Tamworth Road Development - KRA has sent in an objection email to East Herts Planning Department to object to the Construction Management Plan and also the Archaeological Plan; our main concerns were:
There are proposals to ignore the planning condition that car parking should be on site and park cars for 40-60 workers on the roads in Kingsmead
Construction HGVs are routed down Stanstead Road despite the 7.5t weight limit
There is no protection for the culvert (the Gulches) along side the site to stop construction waste being dumped/contaminating it then polluting the meads
The archaeological plan has no review of the ground/below ground despite local Roman finds in Cromwell Road plus this area being the site of the 'Cockbush Field Mutiny' during the English Civil War
We have met with Durkan who have said they will be reviewing and resubmitting both plans in light of our (and other residents) comments and we will keep KRA members updated on progress.
Bowl Barrow Sign Update - We're working on the bowl barrow sign and have met with Dr Jess Tipper of Historic England to discuss our plans. Dr Tipper asked for some work to be done on the trees and Cllr Rosemary Bolton leapt into action, arranging for East Herts District Council to undertake the work as well as putting us in touch with the asset department so we can apply for permission to erect the sign.
We're having a few problems finding an illustrator so we can finish off pricing up the sign and apply for the budget to Hertfordshire County Council to actually install the sign but we are working on it so watch this space.
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