General meeting minutes online

Thank you very much to all those that attended the general meeting last Thursday.  It was a well attended meeting – next time we will need a bigger space (and a lot more cookies!)  Minutes are now online (within the Committee>Meeting Minutes section).

I also am grateful to the representatives from the Parish Council and District Council who attended.   I hope that the residents that came along found the meeting informative and I also hope that our local councillors have a better sense of the immediate issues and frustrations.  Whilst there was some discussion about a feeling that the development was not part of the village, I think that the presence of so many of our local councillors at our meeting suggests otherwise.  I also believe that the relocation of the school will help bring Foresthall Park into the broader village fold.

The issue of parking continues to cause much discussion and consternation.  I would echo some of the comments made in the meeting that we as residents can make a difference – whilst it’s difficult to quantify, I suspect a lot of the cars parked around our roads belong to residents and I would appeal to everyone to use their parking spaces even if it is slightly more inconvenient.   Of course, this is probably a little optimistic so additional measures will no doubt be required to tackle some of the issues raised at the meeting and in prior posts.  I think we first need to establish what changes/restrictions are planned with the school move and I have already contacted ECC Highways and Mace Group (project managers) requesting this information.  I will share this as soon as I have it and then a further discussion will be necessary to discuss what else can be done to mitigate the remaining issues.  As a group, I think we already have a lot of good ideas within some of the discussion threads on this website.

Alan Dean discussed his recent survey of residents re. S106 Highways and Community Pot and he has summarised  the results of his survey on his blog for those that could not attend the meeting last Thursday:
http://alandean.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/02/20/listen-to-our-views-uttlesford-demand-by-residents-of-forest-hall-park/

As I said at the meeting, I would like to have an additional two people on the Committee to complete our first year.  It’s clear that most people in the room had something to say so if anyone would be able to give up a little bit of their time to help us then please get in touch.   In terms of commitment, we meet occasionally, there are sporadic flurries of e-mails and perhaps the odd leaflet drop but it is not meant to be an onerous task and I think I speak for whole Committee when I say we’ve even had a bit of fun along the way!

Of course, a number of other concerns and suggestions were raised at the meeting so the Committee will meet soon and we’ll do what we can to address these.

Regards,
Stephen Berry
s.berry@mac.com

General Meeting – Thu Feb 16th 2012 at 7:30pm

Just a reminder that the next general meeting for Foresthall Park residents is on Thursday February 16th at 7:30pm.  We will have this in the same place as the previous meeting – the library of the MMCC.  This is a good opportunity to meet neighbours and some of your local parish/district councillors to discuss issues/concerns/ideas specific to Foresthall Park.

Agenda:

1) Apologies
2) Updates
- Residents’ Association
- Bins and notice boards
- Salt bins/gritting
- Handover
- Church Road lighting
- Post box
- Shop
- St Mary’s School
- Traffic/parking/safety
- Section 106 funding (Highways/Community Pots)
3) Future plans
4) Any other business
5) Admin

Regards,
Stephen Berry

Our website reaches 50 followers….

Dear All,

Recently the Foresthall Park Residents’ website reached 50 signed-up followers. This is a significant milestone for us and we hope the list continues to grow.

The website, which began back in August 2011 is an important part of the residents’ association as it allows us to communicate easily with the wider community updating on recent news and future events. It also allows users to air their views/opinions on current issues affecting the development.

Looking at statistics  January 2012 has been the busiest month with 927 visits so far. Currently the post about “car parking” has been the most popular with 178 visits and, after the home page, the events page is the most visited at 200 visits. We do have some refinements and new features planned so watch this space!

We’d like to thank everybody who has got involved so far and encourage people to tell their friends/neighbours. Only with a “critical mass” can we begin to shape the development and tackle some of our issues and concerns. Let’s keep going!

Many thanks!

John Savopoulos/Stephen Berry

What would you spend £1-2m on?

Everyone on Foresthall Park should now have received a survey from Alan Dean (District Councillor – Stansted South).   The purpose of the survey is find out what the residents of Foresthall Park would like the Section 106 money to be spent on.  It is a significant pot of money amounting to between £1-2m (Highways and Community Pot) and it is to be spent in and around Stansted to mitigate some of the issues brought about by the Foresthall Park, as well as providing additional community facilities.  It is important that we give Alan and his colleagues a steer on how we’d like this money spent so that it is put to use on projects we consider essential and not wasted on projects that are not supported.  If you have not received the survey then please contact myself or Alan Dean (links are on our website).  Local drop off points have also been provided for convenience.  Feedback on survey will be provided in due course.

Regards,
Stephen Berry

Welcome on behalf of “music@stansted”

I was recently contacted by Richard Allaway from “music@stansted”.  He was keen to introduce this music club to the residents of Foresthall Park who may not be familiar with it.  In short, this club was formed in 1995 and usually holds four concerts a year at St John’s Church.  It’s aims are no different now to when it was first set up – “to present a season of concerts given by established musicians and rising stars, aiming to bring music of a broad appeal to audiences of all ages from Stansted Mountfitchet and the surrounding villages”.   

The first concert of 2012 will be given by the Piatti String Quartet on Sunday 29 January at 3pm in St John’s – mulled wine and shortbread biscuits will be available during the interval. 

More information (background, past/upcoming concerts, tickets and prices) can be found on their website:

http://www.musicatstansted.com/

Regards,
Stephen Berry