The developer, Countryside has now submitted a revised Transport plan to Chelmsford City Council (CCC) Planning department and this is now available to all residents and interested parties for consultation before the application is determined. Originally a three-week consultation period was proposed by CCC, this has now been extended thanks to our City Councillor Ian Roberts who requested an extension to the end of November. The extension has been agreed and will now run until 10th December.

The applicant will need to demonstrate to the satisfaction of both CCC and ECC, the Highway Authority, that the impact of their proposed development can be appropriately mitigated. Revisions and solutions will need to be provided for individual junctions that might otherwise become overcapacity with the additional development traffic.

Your Local Councillors will be looking at the revisions over the coming weeks and making appropriate comments to CCC. However, residents are urged to take some time and make their own comments to CCC to make sure all aspects are covered.

Residents may like to look at the non-technical summary of the Transport Assessment for this planning application. Go to: CCC Planning and enter the ref: 21/01961/OUT in the search box. Choose the Plans & Documents tab and then 'click to view...' If you filter the files using 'transport' you will find it more easily as there are lots of documents.

RESIDENTS MAY BE INTERESTED TO HEAR THAT the new parking restrictions which the Town Council applied for some time ago for Clements Green Lane and Hither Blakers have been approved at the most recent South Essex Parking Partnership meeting on November 1st. This will mean that drivers of vehicles who park on the road or pavement close to Warwick Parade could now be liable to a fine.

The Planning application for the development to the North of our town is still awaiting more information from the developers in respect of main areas of local Councillors' and residents’ concerns, in fact Essex County Council (ECC) have declined to comment until these concerns are addressed.

The Developer is now working on a revised Transport Assessment which will be submitted to Chelmsford City Council (CCC) Planning and available to the public before the application is determined. Once this is received there will be a public consultation period of up to three weeks. It is now likely that this will take place in the late summer/autumn this year. If the revisions are extensive, we will ask CCC for a longer consultation period to be allowed.

The applicant will need to demonstrate to the satisfaction of both CCC and ECC, the Highway Authority, that the impact of their proposed development can be appropriately mitigated. Amendments or acceptable solutions will need to be provided for individual junctions that might otherwise become overcapacity with the additional development traffic. Essex County Council will not issue a recommendation of approval to CCC for the application until such time that they are satisfied the development proposals will successfully mitigate the development’s impact. The revised application will be available on the CCC planning portal.

Some residents will have received a letter from Stephen Robinson, the Liberal Democrat Leader of Chelmsford City Council, implying that SWF Councillors did not lodge any concerns about the Masterplan with him. The implication that we were inactive is a blatant slur on all of us. In fact, your SWF City and County Councillors raised concerns with the appropriate Cabinet member (not Stephen Robinson), and at every opportunity throughout the whole Masterplan process, as did the Town Council. Anybody following events knows this to be the case.

Thank you - Chelmsford City Council.

We were approached a few weeks ago by a resident who had fallen in the revamped play area near Compass Gardens and sustained two cracked ribs. The accident happened in the area where “bumps” had been installed but had not been highlighted to make them clearly visible.

We contacted the City Council Parks Department, and we are delighted to say that they have responded to our concerns and the “bumps” have been ringed in bright yellow to make them easy to see.

There is still the question as to the future of the small play area adjoining the car park near the Rugby Club. We understand that this is to be demolished to enlarge the car park. We recognise the need for more parking provision at Saltcoats Park to accommodate users of the sports fields and reduce the incidence of parking along Ferrers Road. However, residents have approached us to say they are upset about losing this play area. It is in an ideal location as it is near the toilets and has a sand pit and small hillocks which little children love. The City Council say that the equipment is old and sand pits are unhygienic, as they can be contaminated (but so can playing fields).

There have been two play areas in the parks for many years, and although they have revamped the larger one in Compass Gardens, it would still amount to the loss of a very popular play area.

The new play area attracts older children up to 11/12 years old, and while they are enjoying themselves it can be intimidating for the very young ones. We would like to see play areas suitable for children of all ages so that all our children can play safely and enjoy themselves.

We suggest that City Council remakes (or moves) the enclosed toddler friendly play area to a site adjacent to the new Compass Gardens play area before extending the car park, so no loss of amenity is suffered by our smallest residents. We believe that some of Chelmsford City Council's Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) could and should be used to achieve this.

We urge residents concerned about this loss of amentity to contact your City Councillors or the Parks Service at Chelmsford City Council

Cllr. Roberts will be attending. This meeting is to consider recommendations following the consultation on taxi fare increases.

The agenda for this meeting can be found at: Regulatory Committee Agenda.

Cllrs. Bentley and Roberts will be attending this meeting.

The agenda for this meeting can be found at: Council Agenda.

Cllr Roberts attended.

Due to restrictions we can only tell you that a licence was revoked in accordance with Section 132A(3)(b) of the 2003 Licensing Act.

Minutes are available on: Licensing Minutes 23rd November.

Agenda available at: Cabinet 15th November 2022. Cllr. Roberts attended the meeting.

Rural England Prosperity Fund

Deputy Leader Cllr. Marie Goldman confirmed that the Council was trying to get South Woodham Ferrers recognised as qualified for part of the £400,000 fund, which covers Chelmsford and North East Essex (including Maldon District Council). When asked by Cllr. Roberts how we qualified given our size, the reply was that we served as a hub for nearby villages.

Cllr. Roberts made enquiries about working with Maldon to assist in the setting up of a local museum for SWF and its neighbouring rural area.

Minutes to follow.

Cllrs. Bentley and Roberts attended. Cllr. Roberts gave a tribute to Cllr. Galley alongside Cllrs. Whitehead, Robinson and Deakin. Cllr. Sue Dobson was elected the new Mayor of Chelmsford for the rest of the Council year and Cllr. Bob Massey Deputy Mayor. The agenda for this meeting can be found at: Council 9th November 2022 minutes to follow.