Chairperson - Sue Fotheringham
Your Residents Association Newsletter

Community Matters - April 2022

Our AGM was held on the 30th March in the Hall on the Hill

1. To make the first priority to cut crime and anti-social behaviour.

    This will be the number one priority for the police to provide a robust focus to cut violent crime, rural crime and the constant grind of ASB - so people across Dorset see a clear difference and feel safer.

2. To make policing more visible to prevent crime.

   To increase the number and visibility of police officers in our neighbourhood teams so police again fulfil a prevention role and the people and businesses across Dorset experience less crime. Contact will be improved so people know their police, see them around and can contact them easily when needed.

3. To fight organised and violent crime.

   To tackle organised gangs, be tough on drugs and the violence around drugs and to tackle “hidden harms” such as child abuse, domestic violence, hate crime, modern slavery and cyber crime.

4. To fight rural crime.

   To significantly increase the rural crime team and their capabilities and to have specific strategies to address burglary, anti-social behaviour and farm theft in the rural community. 

5. To put victims and communities first.

   Support all victims - particularly the elderly and vulnerable - and build community strength by working together with councils and agencies - supporting volunteers such as Neighbourhood Watch, Community Speedwatch, and increasing opportunities for the young with initiatives like Police Cadets.

6. To make every penny count for the needs of the people of Dorset.

   To resource and transform the front-line and reduce administration so patrol and response teams can spend more time out on the beat - Engaging with our communities, gathering intelligence and making residents feel safer on our streets.  

Your £1 subscription is due for payment once a year from April. 

To pay by inter-bank transfer send your contribution to account:
Jumpers & St Catherine's Hill Residents Association,
account number 92732106,
sort code 40-13-07

Don't forget to use your address as a reference and select the Business Account option

To pay by post or hand deliver send your contribution together with a note of your address to Jumpers and St Catherine's Hill Residents Association at 83 Hillside Drive, Christchurch, BH23 2SZ

A Coffee Morning has been organised by JSCHRA to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee will be held in the Hall on the Hill, Marlow Drive on Saturday 4th June between 10am and 12pm. More details to follow.  

    

Planning and Development
  

Application for Flats and Houses on Corner of the Grove 

An application has been submitted for a block of 35 flats and 4 dwellinghouses - Application number 8/21/1214/OUT - after the application for 55 flats and 4 dwellinghouses was refused in December 2021

Hurn Way care home

164-166 Barrack Road Christchurch BH23 2BD

Blyth Close fence, St Catherine's Hill

Enclose land by erection of fence to be used as private residential garden. 

Application 8/21/0319/FUL which was refused in September 2021 has been appealed reference APP/V1260/W/21/3289365.

There were a large number of objections to the original retrospective planning application including a petition with a large number of signatures. The decision to refuse the application included the following.
 
"The fence would form a discordant feature on the street scene of Hillside Drive, which would be out of keeping with the local verdant character of the area and results in material harm to the appearance of the local area. It would substantially alter the character of E61/49 footpath from a bright and open spacious path to an enclosed and dark path, result in loss of a significant parcel of a beautiful and well-designed place.
 The fence would encroach and enclose public highway verge and change the use from public right of way to residential land. The development would result in inconvenience to pedestrians and would prevent their inclusive and safe enjoyment of the public highway land and would interfere with a Public Right of Way."

NEWS from your BCP Ward Cllrs. Margaret Phipps and Vanessa Ricketts

Click here to read as a PDF

In the last newsletter, we told you that BCP Council had set up a Company, which it owns, called FUTURE PLACES. Margaret is also Chairman of Hurn Parish Council, and has invited James Croker, the Future Places Corporate Engagement Director to the Hurn Parish Assembly to give a short talk about the company and answer questions. We thought it might be of interest to you:
 

           Presentation from “Future Places”

           Your Opportunity to ask Questions

           Monday 11^th April 2022, 7.30pm

           Hurn Bridge Sports Club, Avon Causeway, Hurn, BH23 6DY

A bit of background:

The formation of BCP Council in 2019 brought together all the land and property assets of the three previous councils.

In 2021 BCP Council set up Future Places to accelerate development and regeneration across the new BCP Council area. Future Places is funded directly from the BCP budget, which is of course paid for by residents’ council tax. They have already been given £8 million of BCP funds as a working capital loan. Therefore, we believe it is in everyone’s interests to understand what the company is about, and what it is being paid to do in our area. Controversially, two of the Company Directors are the Leader and Deputy Leader of BCP Council.

We know that residents across our Ward value where they live and want to protect the natural environment from over development. This new company will be responsible for bringing forward development across BCP, and initially they have 15 sites earmarked, mostly for residential. However, their remit in the long term, could cover anything at all, including employment sites or promoting leisure proposals if they felt it appropriate. This is an opportunity to ask questions about what is planned for Christchurch and BCP as a whole.

The Planning System

In March we commented on how the BCP planning system is just not working properly for Christchurch. Last time we gave you two examples where Bournemouth and Poole Cllrs. with little local knowledge, had dominated controversial decisions in our Ward. Only 3 of the 15 planning committee members are from Christchurch. We would remind you that a Highcliffe resident has set up a petition seeking a debate at Council for a separate planning committee for Christchurch. You can sign it here:

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/  EPetition

There are often still long delays in dealing with planning applications and we both receive complaints from applicants and their agents on a regular basis. We always do our best to try to speed up the process.


Knapp Mill Water Treatment Works

There is a current application for the substantial redevelopment of the Knapp Mill waterworks. We understand that the Treatment Works which date back to the 1930s requires major investment to upgrade the infrastructure to modern standards. Full details can be found here:

https://www.bournemouthwater.co.uk/siteassets/docs/a2-knapp-mill-boards.pdf

Stop placed on issuing decision for Hurn Incinerator

Last time we told you that despite over 700 objections from residents and environmentalists, a waste incinerator was granted in Hurn by the BCP planning committee. Following a request from an environmental group for the Secretary of State (SoS) to “Call In” the application for scrutiny, we have heard that the SoS has issued an order preventing the Council from granting permission without special authorisation from him, while he considers the matter further. Also, as Ward Cllrs, we have jointly requested that the matter be brought back to the planning committee and reconsidered in the light of a new material consideration which has arisen. That consideration, which was not discussed at all at the committee on 8^th March, is that the Government have announced a target to halve landfill and incineration by 2042, which is within the lifetime of the proposed Incinerator. Reducing and halving incineration would mean a reduction of feedstock for incineration, increasing the risk of incineration overcapacity and reducing the justification for the proposal. We await outcomes, and will keep you informed.

Tree Planting has happened!

Finally – success. After requesting the replacement of missing roadside trees in many locations, we are told that planting has been carried out. There were only a few trees which could not be planted as cars were parked across the tree pits, so they were put in at other locations instead. If you have a new tree near you, please water it to help it survive through the summer.

Grass Cutting

Last year the mowing regime, which trialled some areas being left unmown, meant that many parts of the Ward looked very untidy. We spoke with BCP officers well in advance, and have been assured that a normal mowing sequence will be in operation this year. Therefore, we very much hope that we will not have the same problem as last year.

If you wish to contact us about any issues:

Cllr. Margaret Phipps – margaret.phipps@bcpcouncil.gov.uk
– Tel: 01202 478266

Cllr. Vanessa Ricketts – vanessa.ricketts@bcpcouncil.gov.uk
– Tel: 07760 391467