|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drains and Trees
The latest copy of Independence carries an article by Peter Crispin headed "Drains and Trees" in which he commented that the flooding problem by the William Hill shop should cured by the end of April. You are probably fully aware that it is May and that no cure has been achieved.
Hertfordshire Highways are searching for uncharted manholes that could allow access to their surface water drains, a search made more difficult by the fact that they have no maps of the drainage network at the west end of the High Street. They have found a couple of hitherto unknown manholes but they have not led to the blockage and they are currently investigating a third. If the problem remains unresolved then The Association will continue to press for a solution before the end of the summer as, if the problem is not solved, the remains the risk of serious flooding in the High Street.
Annual General Meeting, 2008.
Please note change of date and venue this year
Tuesday 3rd June at Our Lady's Catholic Church.
Would you like to write for this website? We are looking for new Committee members at the AGM. In particular, we need an editor and writer for the website. There is only one member left of the Website Committee (me, the techie one), so you will have noticed that the site has not been kept up-to-date. You do not need any website or Internet skills, but you need to be able to write articles about current issues. The editor and writer do not need to be the same person - depends on how much time you have to spare. The Committee also needs a new Secretary. Whatever skills you have, please come along and raise your hand at the appropriate moment of the meeting!
We still have a number of roads without a representative. This job is not onerous, but is very important. It involves delivering INDEPENDENCE to members in the road twice a year, and collecting subscriptions. Most people pay in the Spring, so the Autumn delivery is usually quicker because it is only necessary to call on those whose subscriptions are still outstanding.
Rickmansworth Town Centre Neighbourhood Watch
CONGRATULATIONS !
At a meeting on Wednesday 29th August, interested residents from Rickmansworth
attended a meeting at the Police station to show their support for a rejuvenated
or new Neighbourhood Watch scheme in the Town Centre. Six road co-ordinators
volunteered to assist with the setting up of the scheme and to act as points
of contact for other residents in a number of the roads throughout the town.
The meeting was chaired by Sue Thompson, Community Co-ordinator for NHW in Three
Rivers, and she introduced members of the Rickmansworth Neighbourhood Police
Team, Jan Nicholls (the Watch Liaison Officer) Roger Matthews (Deputy NHW Community
Co-ordinator) and Gary Sibson (Crime Prevention Officer).
Sue outlined the reasons for and values of having NHW in Rickmansworth. She
explained that NHW worked in close co-operation with the Police and Emergency
Services, local councillors and other agencies in order to help the area become
a safer and more secure place in which to live.
There was a lively debate on Anti-Social and Nuisance behaviour which has affected
some areas of the town centre in the past, and all agencies present agreed to
work together to try and eliminate these problems.
Where do we go from here?
In order to develop the NHW scheme in the town centre, we need to recruit more
volunteers who will assist to ensure every road is covered by the scheme. Check
with the list below to see if your road is covered.
Bury Lane
Bury Meadows
The Cloisters
Ebury Road
High Street
Parsonage Road
Swan Close
Webster Court, Wharf Lane
Millenium Court, Wharf Lane
These co-ordinators will become the point of contact for residents in their
section, and, through the Watch Liaison Officer, they can receive details of
any current crimes and crime trends. From time to time there may be Newsletters,
fliers or booklets to distribute, which are aimed at keeping residents up-to-date
with information about the scheme, personal safety and home security. As you
will see, the workload is not onerous – at most an hour per month.
If your road is not mentioned above, could you help out ?
Neighbourhood Watch Signs
I will be arranging for the erection of new NHW street signs in prominent positions
throughout the town centre.
Rickmansworth Neighbourhood Police Team
Sgt Ryan Hemmings leads a team of Police Constables and Police Community Support
Officers (PCSOs) who are specifically designated to deal with issues and the
policing of the Town centre. All are based at Rickmansworth Police Station and
can be contacted through Jan Nicholls or the Non-Emergency telephone number.
Reporting Incidents to the Police
Your prompt action is required if you witness a crime or have seen something
suspicious. There are two routes to take when contacting the police.
999 This is the emergency number to dial when
a crime is still in progress
there is a threat of immediate
violence
there has been a serious accident
or injury to a person
there has been serious damage
to a property
DO NOT HESITATE to make that type of call, as time may save a life or an arrest
may be made following swift action by the police.
0845 33 00 222
This is the non-emergency number when you are reporting suspicious behaviour,
anti-social matters or requesting advice.
All calls are received at Police Headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, where they
are assessed and graded according to priority before police units are assigned
to deal with each case.
If you wish to report an incident but do not want to disclose your details,
you can contact CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111 Please let them know that you are
a NHW member.
Other Useful Contact Details
Watch Liaison Officer – Jan Nicholls 01923 472033
Crime Prevention Officer – Gary Sibson 01923 472020
NHW Community Co-ordinator – Sue Thompson 0208 428 3384
NHW Deputy Comm. Co-ordinator – Roger Matthews 01923 775671
THREE RIVERS NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH CONFERENCE – Thursday 8th November 2007
Book your place early to avoid disappointment! Please contact Sue Thompson if
you are interested.
Out of Sight is Out of Mind – Why Does
Rickmansworth Flood.
Over the past few months we have become used to water lapping on to the pavements,
and occasionally into shops and businesses, in High Street and Church Street.
Although most of us can remember the effect of very heavy rain a few years ago,
with serious flooding along much of the High Street and out towards Ebury roundabout,
the constant low level flooding in the main streets of the town is new. So what
is contributing to it, apart from autumn rainfall about 20% higher than the
average?
Firstly, and probably most importantly, the public drainage system along and
from High Street and Church Street is many years old and its capacity is unknown
as, in some places, are its actual routes. Add to that the fact that the County
Council is responsible for the gullies (the vertical bits down from the road
drains) and the road drains whilst Thames Water is responsible for the public
rainwater sewers. The road drains flow into the rainwater sewers and then, whilst
some of the rainwater sewers flow into the Town Ditch, others flow downstream
along the valley of the Colne. The Town Ditch is, after a change a couple of
years ago, the responsibility of the Environment Agency. So a drop of rainwater
falling in part of High Street could pass from the County Council’s domain
to Thames Waters’ to that of the Environment Agency in the course of a
couple of hundred yards travel. Not the easiest system to manage.
Secondly, the flow in the drains and sewers can be quite slow because, from
the High Street to the river, the town is on flood plain and almost flat. That
slow flow will accelerate the build up of deposits within the drains and sewers,
particularly where there are awkward corners and changes of gradient, further
slowing the flow in a vicious circle of reducing capacity.
Thirdly, there has been a massive increase in the number of buildings and amount
of hard landscaping within the town centre since the drains and sewers were
built over 80 years ago. What has been built over those 80 or 90 years? How
about Northway and Penn Place, Three Rivers House and the car parks, Watersmeet,
The Cloisters, most of Joan of Arc School as we know it now and much, much more.
On higher ground some of the rainwater flowing off new buildings and hard landscaping
would go into soakaways but it is difficult to have operating soakaways when
the water table is about 2 feet below the surface. It will be interesting to
see the impact of the massive developments of the past few years, and still
underway, when a major rainstorm occurs and the run-off pours into the rainwater
sewers and reduces their ability to take the water from the highway drains.
So, little by little, the town has generated more and more rainfall run-off
yet the core network of drains and sewers has remained largely unchanged and,
in all probability, with its capacity reduced.
In towns undergoing major expansion a typical requirement is for road drains
to be able to cope with a steady rainfall of 25 mm (1 inch) per hour whereas
it is almost certain that 2 or 3 hours of rain like that in Rickmansworth would
leave half the shops on the south side of the high street flooded, with ruined
floors and any stock on lower shelves destroyed. But what is extraordinary is
that, under current legislation, in towns like ours planning permission cannot
be made subject to a substantial contribution to work to alleviate the increased
risk of flooding. In other words, even a major developer cannot be forced to
pay for work to prevent the increased risk of flooding that could be created
by his development.
So what should be done? Perhaps we should start by refusing all planning permission
for development in the town centre, or immediately beyond it, which could increase
the flow of rainwater into the highway drains and rainwater sewers. Next, complete
a survey of the drains and sewers so that we know both where they are and their
condition. Then clean out the whole length of the critical drains, sewers and
the Town Ditch. Finally, if the survey demonstrates that, even with the system
at its cleanest, it cannot cope with heavy rainfall, maintain the moratorium
on development until the town’s drainage system is upgraded to meet the
modern day demand. Remember that the climate experts are forecasting wetter
autumns and winters, so the flooding problem can only get worse if nothing is
done. In the meantime, please keep the Association’s committee informed
about changes to the pattern of flooding.
Peter Crispin 21st March 2007
Is Rickmansworth Scoring Well on Waste Disposal?
You may not know it but one street in Rickmansworth, Cedars Avenue, was chosen
for a survey of waste disposal carried out by DEFRA (the Department for the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) in conjunction with local authorities.
The survey was carried out by a company called WastesWork and was designed to
check what is being thrown away and whether the residents are putting the waste
in the correct receptacles. Four roads in the district were sampled, each of
a different socio-economic category, with about 40 houses being surveyed in
each case and a couple of households’ waste from each road being analysed
in great detail. The sample assessed the rubbish under 13 primary categories
and no fewer than 48 sub-categories, with, as an example, paper and card being
broken down into such sub-categories as newspapers & magazines, junk mail
and corrugated cardboard.
The good news is that the sample showed that the recycling boxes and bins were,
to a very large extent, filled with the correct items. The survey also showed
that there was scope for more conscientious recycling but it also showed that
a higher percentage of the glass was recycled, where identification is easy,
than plastic where there is uncertainty about which types can be recycled and
which not. This seems to reinforce the old adage of “keep it simple”
Three Rivers will be able to use the results to fine-tune the existing scheme
and we will doubtless hear more of that in the months to come. However, knowing
the government’s desire to keep an eye on everything that we are doing
we may confidently expect further surveys, but don’t expect to be told
in advance as this would probably make us change our habits and therefore alter
the results. Sad, really. Oh, and if you want to keep your secrets secret, make
sure that your paperwork is shredded. You never know when a government survey
may have all your rubbish being checked item by item!
Peter Crispin 21st March 2007
Opting out of unaddressed mail
Thanks to the Post Office for publicising this option: they had kept very quiet about it, but recently (very foolishly) suspended an employee for passing on this information, thus providing national media coverage for this hitherto secret means to avoid yet more junk falling through our letterboxes!
You can contact them by e-mail, by telephone
(0845 7950950),
or by writing to:
Door to Door Opt Outs
Royal Mail Door to Door
Kingsmead
House
Oxpens Road
Oxford OX1 1RX
This is to remove mail that is delivered by the Post Office and does not have an individual name and address on the envelope. To remove unwanted mail that does have your name on, you should contact the Mailing Preference Service.
Shirley Jacobs
Driving Test Centre at Springwell Lane :
Planning Application No:06/0310/C1884
Three Rivers District Council has received the above planning application from
the Driving Standards Agency to provide a driving test centre in Springwell
Lane, Mill End. The centre, if approved, will be built in the green belt adjacent
to the animal and wildlife sanctuaries along Springwell Lane. This is not only
an encroachment into the green belt, the noise likely to be generated
from the centre will be detrimental to the wildlife in the area as well
as residents.
Two councils are involved in the application, because the centre will be built
in Middlesex, but the access to the centre lies in Hertfordshire. It is feared
that the DSA may be able to use its statutory authority to over ride planning
permission, thereby preventing both Councils rejecting the application. This
amounts to an abuse of authority if true, and is another example of the Government
getting its way against the popular will of local residents. (See the article
on the Parsonage Road [PRAG] development
for London Underground).
During a meeting held at TRDC on 18th May, those objectors present were
most adamant about their objections to the planning application. Ann Shaw,
the Leader of Three Rivers District Council, supported the objectors to the
application. She expressed her intention to propose to Hillingdon's District
Council that their two Councils should work together to reject the application.
The Association has objected to the application in the letter given below:16th
May 2006
"The Association feels that this development is an inappropriate use of the Green Belt and would be contrary to Policy GB1 of the Local Plan. We are particularly concerned that the traffic generated by the centre would be dangerous onto the already very busy Uxbridge Road and also that the learner drivers practising on the local roads would substantially increase traffic in the residential area. Finally we are also very concerned about the generation of noise by this centre, particularly by learner motorcyclists revving up as they learn to control their machines. This would affect both the residential area and the nearby wildlife areas."
Cliff Le Quelenec : 15th April 2006
In June 2005, an action group formed by residents of Parsonage
Road, (PRAG), gave a presentation to the committee
and asked for the Association’s support to contest London Underground’s
(LU) intention to build an Operations Centre in Parsonage Road. LU wish to build
the three-storey Centre on the carpark opposite the BT Telephone Exchange. 
The
building will be taller than the Exchange, and will dwarf the houses in what
is a conservation area. LU is a statutory authority and can over ride planning
law. Therefore, the Council has had no option but to issue a Certificate of
Lawful Development for the project, while admitting that had a planning application
been received from a developer to erect a similar building on the carpark, the
application would have been rejected. Three committee members have campaigned
very vigorously on this issue, on behalf of the Association and in supporting
PRAG. However, in spite of the fact that there are alternative sites on which
the Centre could be built on the station site, and having registered local opposition
to the proposal in a petition signed by over 600 Rickmansworth residents, LU
insists on proceeding with the project. Our MP, David Gauke, has also supported
PRAG, and the Group itself has taken professional advice on a number of issues.
But, all was in vain! LU is now resisting PRAG’s request to modify the
design of the building to appease the Parsonage Road residents. Many residents
believe that the outcome is a triumph for dictatorship over democracy.
Cliff Le Quelenec
Site last updated 18th September 2007