Essex on Tour in Great Baddow
Opera Dudes
What a great show we had on the evening of Saturday 20th February from the Opera Dudes, two highly talented musicians and singers - and comedians! People who have seen plenty of Essex on Tour shows thought it was one of the best ever and the audience gave them a huge ovation.
We are very fortunate in having the Essex on Tour scheme, supported by Essex County Council and borough and district councils, which provides a subsidy to bring professional theatre and music to villages and enables us to put on these shows. We hope to bring you another show in the 2010/11 season.
Essex Book Festival 2010
We were delighted to host an event again this year, following last year's extremely successful evening with crime writer Sophie Hannah.
This year's event featured well-known author Penelope Lively, in conversation with her editor, Juliet Annan, about her life's work from Moon Tiger, winner of the Booker Prize, to her latest novel, Family Album. A capacity audience in the Parish Hall enjoyed the event on 4th March, and we hope to have another Book Festival event in Great Baddow next year.
Police Beat Surgeries
These give you a chance to speak to your local neighbourhood policing team about any queries or problems you may be facing in your area.
Our local Neighbourhood Police will be holding beat surgeries in Great Baddow on the following dates:
Saturday January 30th, 11am to 12 noon, Great Baddow Library
Wednesday February 10th, 3 - 3.30 pm, Larkrise Primary School
Thursday February 25th, 12 noon - 1 pm, Meadgate Co-op
Saturday 13th March, 10.30 am - 12 noon, Coffee Pot, The Bell Centre
Thursday April 29th, 4 - 5 pm, Great Baddow Library
Centenary Award 2009
The joint winners of the 2009 Centenary Award were Sheila Everitt and Sylvia Field, who were presented with their awards by the Mayor of Chelmsford, Cllr Tony Sach, at the Council's Community Celebration in January 2010. The awards were made in recognition of their long service for the local Guides and Brownies.
Nominations for the 2010 award can be made at any time up to October 31st, and nomination forms are available from the Parish Council office.
Honorary Burgesses
Mr Sidney Bass was made the fifth Honorary Burgess of Great Baddow at the Parish Council community celebration in January 2010. This was particularly in recognition of his long service to the Scouting movement, including a period as Assistant District Commissioner for the Venture Scouts. All the names of
Honorary Burgesses are shown on a specially designed board in the Parish Hall.
Nominations can be made at any time for this award, which is intended to be in recognition of valuable contributions to a wider area than Great Baddow. Nominees must be residents of Great Baddow. Please contact the Parish Council office for more details.
Public Meeting Thursday 26th November
Hosted by Great Baddow Parish Council
at Sandon School
This meeting was held to discuss Chelmsford Borough Council's Site Allocations Development Plan Document Potential Options (SADPD). This document has been published in the form of a public consultation from 27th October to 21st December and forms part of the Local Development Framework (LDF).
We were particularly concerned with the proposed sites for affordable housing in Great Baddow and the call for suggestions for possible sites for Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation within the Chelmsford District. As promised, there are now no specific potential sites for gypsies and travellers identified within the consultation document.
Thank you to all the residents who attended the meeting to contribute to this process and help formulate the Council's response.
Members of the public can view and comment on the SADPD online via Chelmsford Borough Council's website: www.chelmsford.gov.uk. There is a path through to viewing the document from the home page by clicking on the Local Development Framnework, but as people have reported difficulty finding the correct version of the document, you should be able to reach it directly from this link: SADPD.
Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation - Good News!
Chelmsford Borough Council's Development Policy Group met on 15th September to agree the Potential Options Consultation Document for their Site Allocations Development Plan Document. Our council met the previous evening, where an item on the agenda was to prepare a submission to be made at that meeting, as only a week earlier we were informed that one potential site recommended for inclusion in the consultation document was in Great Baddow.
Our meeting was attended by nearly 200 residents, who made many points during public question time that we were able to include in our presentation to the Borough Council. Click here to see the document which was the basis for the presentation by Parish Council chairman, Chris Shaw.
At the start of the Development Policy meeting we were informed by Borough Council planners that the only other site which had been recommended to be included as an option (in East Hanningfield) had been withdrawn, leaving the one in Great Baddow as the only recommended option for consultation. The decision to withdraw the East Hanningfield option related to ownership issues and led to much criticism on the grounds that this type of issue should have been resolved much earlier.
Following our presentation and many points made by residents during public question time, the committee discussed the consultation document. We are delighted to say that the whole committee eventually agreed that it would be completely unfair and inappropriate to present an options document with only a single option, especially as so many objections had been made about its suitability.
As noted in the article above, the document has now been issued without any recommended sites, and calls for proposals to be made for suitable sites anywhere in the borough.
The consultation period began on 27th October and runs until 21st December, and details have now been published in Borough Life. When all suggested sites have been considered, along with previously considered sites, a new potential options document with named sites will be issued for consultation. At this stage we will know whether or not any proposal will affect Great Baddow again.
Village Conference 2009
The 2009 Village Conference was held in the Bell Centre on Thursday April 23rd. In addition to the reports from the Parish Council and other local bodies on which the Council has representatives, there were presentations from our local neighbourhood police and from the fire service. (You can see the presentation from the fire service here - not quite the same without the accompanying commentary you would have heard if you'd been there, but some interesting statistics.)
Click here to see the minutes of last year's conference.
Click here to see the annual report presented at the conference.
Parish Sports Programme
Chelmsford Borough Council's Sports Development Unit ran holiday sports coaching sessions at the Recreation Ground again in 2009. These were FREE to all young people aged between 6 and 14, as the Parish Council subsidised the cost.
All sessions were multi-sports, and as always were varied and fun. They will be held again in 2010, and details will be given here and on our noticeboards when we have details.
Trading Standards Doorstep Calendar
You can pick up a 2010 calendar from the Parish Council office. It shows Essex scenes, combined with hints on how to deal with doorstep callers and advice on security, plus many useful phone numbers. It is particularly aimed at elderly and vulnerable people, so if you know anyone who might find it useful, why not collect one for them.
Trees in Great Baddow
As part of the National Tree Warden Scheme, Chelmsford Borough Council introduced a Parish Tree Warden scheme in 2004. Tree wardens are volunteers who are interested in working with the Borough Council to encourage more tree planting, improve the management of trees, raise public awareness of the importance of trees, and celebrate trees.
We were fortunate to have a tree warden in Great Baddow, who started to describe some of the trees which are easily visible in the village.
To read his first article about one of our trees, click here!
For the second article, click here.
Unfortunately he is no longer able to undertake this role. If anyone is interested and would like to find out more about what it involves, please contact the Parish Council office.
Don't forget our Tree Trail leaflet, which is available to help you enjoy a walk through the Recreation Ground. Copies are available free of charge from the Parish Council Office, the Community Association or Great Baddow Library.
Click here to download a copy
Parish Council Election Results May 2007
There was an election between 6 candidates for the 5 seats in the Village Ward of the Parish Council. Results were as follows:
Stephen Martin (Lib Dem) 1071 - Elected
Jesse Pryke (UKIP) 535
Diana Ronaldson (Lib Dem) 1055 - Elected
Keith Ronaldson (Lib Dem) 969 - Elected
Chris Shaw (Lib Dem) 1122 - Elected
Andrew Sosin (Lib Dem) 1022 - Elected.
In the other two wards of the parish the number of candidates for election equalled the number of seats, so the following councillors were elected unopposed without a ballot:
Sid Bass, Angela Martin, Maureen Miller, Trevor Miller, Will Richardson, Stephen Russell, Veronica Sadowsky, Jannetta Sosin (all Lib Dem).