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Press Release from St Stephen Parish Council

The letter in the Herts Advertiser dated 01-06-23 from Richard Curthoys expresses his personal views and not those of St Stephen Parish Council. The council has not formally discussed the issue of the management of trees by SADC but does recognise the importance of a good tree management regime.

It is not the practice of St Stephen Parish Council to criticise elected members or officers of other authorities and the council can confirm that Richard Curthoys is in breach of its Media Protocol.

St Stephen Parish Council recognises, however, that Richard Curthoys was newly elected to the council in last month’s elections. He will be issued with the Media Protocol again so that he is familiar with its content and able to work in a collegiate way with other elected members to support the needs of our community.

Armed Forces Day 25th June 2023

We are looking forward to welcoming you all to our free Armed Forces Day event.

There will be an array of military vehicles, personnel and memorabilia to view throughout the event.

At 3pm, there will be a Battle of Britain flypast over the Parish Centre (weather permitting), including the Lancaster Bomber.

We are excited to have Bricket Wood Women’s Institute serving refreshments with delicious cakes and sandwiches.  If you fancy something stronger to drink, Bricket Wood social club will be serving a range of alcoholic drinks also.

We will be having a parade at 3:30pm to showcase our fantastic armed forces participants.

Please come and enjoy the day!

Further details can be found on this page.

GP Services for Autistic People – Survey

We have been asked to share the following information with the community.

Healthwatch Hertfordshire is an independent charity committed to understanding your experiences of, and concerns with, NHS services in Hertfordshire. We make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers hear your voice and use your feedback to improve care.

We want to make sure that autistic people are supported and accommodated in their access and experience of GP services. To find out from autistic people about what their GP practice is doing well and where it could improve, we’ve created this survey.

This research is being conducted in partnership with the NHS, so the information shared with us will be directly used to help GP surgeries be more autism friendly.

The survey is open until 17th July 2023.

Woodbury Field Phase 2 Consultation

St Stephen Parish Council is updating Woodbury Field Play Area.  Phase 1 to upgrade the play equipment for toddlers and younger children is already underway.

We would like your views about Phase 2 to ensure that the improvements reflect the needs of the community and that we make the best use of our resources.
Our aim is to make Woodbury Field an inclusive green space resource for members of the community of all ages to use, enjoy and to improve their health and wellbeing.

Please scan the QR code below or click to complete the survey.
We will be having a consultation workshop open to all at Woodbury Field on Tuesday 30th May from 1pm to 4pm, please join us, to view draft plans and speak to staff.

St Stephen Parish Council is recruiting!

St Stephen Parish Council is looking for a new team member to join our small friendly
Grounds Team to maintain Parish Council grounds and to ensure we provide a high
standard of grounds care and maintenance across all Parish Council open spaces,
properties and facilities. This is a part-time permanent role. Further details can be found on the Vacancies page.

Woodbury Field Play Area Phase 1

We are really looking forward to the installation of the new play equipment for Woodbury Field Play Area. Work will be starting at the beginning of April and will be completed in early May.

St Stephen Parish Council Coronation Festival – final details

We can’t wait to welcome residents to our fantastic celebration of the Coronation of King Charles III from 3pm on Saturday 6 May. Bands will be playing throughout, with a fantastic firework finale at 9:50pm.

Music:

A fantastic line up of live music acts for all the family to enjoy with our very own special compère – Elvis Shmelvis – bringing the event to the next level!  🎵🎹🎙🎸

The Big Choir start our line up

Grace George – a real young musical talent whose latest song featured on the Love Island final!

Kick Pistol – popular local teen rock and punk band

The Papersnakes – acoustic duo

The Brickets – back by popular demand, singing their toe tapping songs from the 60s and 70s

And headlining are Soul Enforcement Crew – an exciting and hugely popular 8-piece soul band!

Refreshments:

Taste buds get ready to be tingled with a fantastic variety of food and drink stalls!

Gracey’s Pizza 🍕

Raj’s Indian delights 🍛

Jack’s Smokehouse  🥩

Churro Boyz 🍩

Queen of the Island (Caribbean) 🍗

The Weeping Chef (vegan) 🥕 🍅

Lazy Llama☕ 🍰

Girl Guides (burgers and hot dogs) 🍔 🌭

The Lankan Kitchen (Sri Lankan food) 🍛

The Orange Van (drinks).🍸

Tipsy Bubbles (drinks).🍾

The Overdraught Pub 🍺

Entertainment:

On a large screen we will be showing highlights of the coronation – keeping us in the celebration vibe!

There will also be a face painter and craft activities.

In addition, we are super excited to welcome Crossfit Verulamium who will be setting up exciting and fun fitness challenges for kids and adults! Be ready!

Herts Inclusive Theatre will be on site putting on workshops for free, for all to get involved with.

Please walk, cycle, lift share, etc. as there will be very limited parking at the venue and beyond Midway Surgery car park.  No cars to be left overnight or they will be clamped.

Bring your own blanket, foldaway chairs or just dance the night away! There will be no seating provided.

Please bring cash for some refreshment stalls.

 Please take litter home or use the bins provided.

News from the Parish Council

Events

– We are thrilled to be running ‘A Coronation Festival’ in Greenwood Park Saturday 6 May 3-10pm.

Following on from last year’s festival we will be having live music throughout, a screen showing coronation highlights, our very wonderful Elvis Shmelvis hosting, many more food and drink stalls, children’s activities and of course our firework finale!!  All welcome and this event is free ⭐️

Armed Forces Day event is on Sunday 25 June. A wonderful event for the whole family with plenty of exciting displays and parade, held 2:30-5pm at the Parish Centre in Bricket Wood.

Green spaces

Woodbury Field play area 

The start date for phase 1 works is planned for 28 March and we are looking at a 4-week build.  We would welcome feedback on this once complete and will consult on phase 2.

Woodbury Field drainage 

We have had significant issues with drainage of the site before works can start. A contractor came in and blasted the area with compressed air to a depth of 1m, which has allowed the surface water to work its way down to that depth.  

When they were doing the work they hit an old fashioned clay drainage system that was still working but blocked.  The grounds staff dug down and put a pipe coming off this old system and directed the water into the ditch on Lye Lane.  The water came out of the pipe constantly for nearly two weeks and the site has dried up significantly. We also undertook the clearing of the ditches in the area, allowing all the water to now drain away from the site. We liaised with the different companies (Cadent, MLS Traffic, district and county council and the landowners) and did the work on the same traffic measure as the Cadent works, which saved significant costs for the council and other disruption to the general public having more road works in the area.

Well done to our grounds staff for their tenacity in solving this tricky issue!

Tree work 

All safety and general planned maintenance tree work will be completed by the end of March.

Park Street Recreation Ground play area

We are soon going out to tender on phase 2 of the play area and hope to install after the school holidays to avoid any inconvenience.

Fixed Asset consultation

–  We have appointed our independent consultancy company to review the options available to the parish council in relation to our Fixed Asset Strategic Review. Once we have held initial meetings, we hope to provide further details.  Things are moving forward!

Greenwood Park

– A baby change room is now up and running in the Public Toilet opposite Lazy Llama Café. Open 8am – 5pm, 7 days a week.

We have created this with limited funds and space options but were keen to provide this much needed facility for our park visitors. We hope to include an improved family changing room option as part of future developments at Greenwood Park. New signage will be installed outside the Community Centre so it can be seen from the car park and pathway up from the playground to direct visitors.

New Community Garden

– Last week councillors voted for Grow Chiswell Green to be given a site in Greenwood Park to make a Community Garden. Our Senior Grounds Person met with Christy Mitchell last week to mark out the site. They are very excited to start their project.  

We welcome residents to get involved and contact info@growchiswellgreen.org 

Waste

– We are getting a lot of household waste and black bags full of dog waste put into the bins around our parks. This should all go in the brown general waste bins that SADC provide. Please can residents be more considerate with their waste!

Other news

Nominations are now open for the BBC Make a Difference Awards. Honour someone who always goes above and beyond. Entries close at 11pm on 05/03/2023. See a full list of categories here bbc.in/makeadifference

Local Elections – Thursday 4 May 2023

The information in this article has been provided by St Albans City and District Council.

From 4 May 2023, voters will need to show photo ID to vote at polling stations in the district. A wide range of photo ID will be accepted, including passports, driving licences and cards with a PASS Mark.

For more information on which forms of photo ID will be accepted, visit www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voterID or call the Electoral Commission helpline on 0800 328 0280.

If you don’t already have an accepted form of photo ID, or you’re not sure whether your photo ID still looks like you, you can apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate. You can apply at www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate. The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate in time for the 4 May elections is 5pm Tuesday 25 April 2023.

The following elections are taking place on Thursday 4 May:

  • Around a third of District Council seats will be contested, with elections taking place in all wards except Colney Heath and Marshalswick West.
  • All seats are up for election at the following Parish and Town Councils: Colney Heath, Harpenden Rural, Harpenden Town, London Colney, Redbourn, Sandridge, St Michael, St. Stephen, and Wheathampstead. A Community Governance Review has resulted in changes to some parish ward names, areas, and councillor numbers.
  • Neighbourhood Plan Referendums are taking place in Wheathampstead and Redbourn.

To have your say in May, make sure that you are registered to vote, especially if you have recently changed address. A registration form is available at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote or request a paper form by calling Electoral Services on 01727 819294. The deadline to register to vote is Monday 17 April 2023.

Information about Voter ID requirements, the elections, and how to apply for a postal or proxy vote can be found at: www.stalbans.gov.uk/voting-and-elections.

Strategic Rail Freight Interchange

Following the decision of Herts County Council to sell 300 acres of land, partly in St Stephen Parish, to SEGRO for the development of a rail freight interchange, the campaign group Save St Albans: Fight the Freight has launched a petition against the sale. Details of the campaign are on this poster. The petition can be found via this link.