View from the Chair

The View from the Chair – March 2025

Another couple of months into 2025, and whilst spring has sprung, the weather is somewhat variable. I hope you have been able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors when it has been at its best!

Before I update you on our various activities, I want to say a huge thank you to Philip Turnbull who recently stood down as a Parish Councillor after almost six years. Philip has taken on a significant new role in the voluntary sector and sadly for us, his available time is now somewhat reduced, so he has had to make this decision. We wish him well in the new role and know he will continue to help out in the community when he can.

Wolverton Household Waste Recycling Centre

We have continued to express concerns to MKCC regarding the proposed Household Waste Recycling Centre at Old Wolverton and the resultant closure of the sites in New Bradwell and Newport Pagnell.

Whilst we support the desire to improve recycling and reuse in the City, a key worry is the impact on traffic. The eastern approach is via the traffic light-controlled, single lane tunnel under the railway and the site is off the already congested Colts Holm Road –we believe the two issues will result in periodic gridlock. We also query the site location given the City is expanding eastwards; as well as the risk of increased pollution (odour, noise and light).

The Parish Council ‘called-in’ the decision and asked the MKCC Scrutiny Committee to reconsider the proposals. We were joined by other call-ins from 20+ residents of Haversham, 20+ residents of Wolverton and two Ward Councillors. Two further call-ins were made by residents and Ward Councillors in Tattenhoe, where a second site at Snelshall is proposed.

The call-in parties attended an MKCC mediation session, from which no change of direction was agreed although we did receive some extra information about the proposals after that session. We then attended the four-hour MKCC scrutiny committee meeting on 5th March, at which all parties strongly expressed their views. Sadly, the committee voted by a majority of 4 to 1 to ignore our concerns, but we have to thank the one dissenting voice who supported our collective views.

The proposal will now proceed into the planning phase where more information, including detailed traffic modelling, will be provided. In time, all have the opportunity to respond to the planning application, with the Parish Council being one of the Statutory Consultees.

Driven by the call-ins, MKCC has agreed to set-up a Community Liaison Group with Haversham being represented by six residents - we hope this will allow us to have some influence. I know some of you have already offered to join this group – thank you.

As we get further information or updates, we will share these via the usual channels.

Highways and Road Safety

Many issues previously mentioned have been progressed. Work was undertaken on Haversham Hill and in the Old Village at the end of January, but two problems remain outstanding.

Firstly, MKCC attempted to reinforce the bank on the right-hand side as you go up the hill, but a combination of rain and large vehicles / tractors, have pulled much of the new material from the bank. MKCC swept the road daily for a while to avoid that clogging the cleaned drainage system and are now considering what else could be done – budget permitting.

Secondly and perhaps more significantly, whilst all the gullies and drainage pipes on the hill were jet-washed, the drainage pipe under the right-hand bank was found to be completely blocked with tree roots and requires a return with specialist equipment. Thus, water comes out of the gully about half way up due to this blockage, and then runs down the road into the lower gully. To mitigate that clogging the system again, MKCC have committed to cleaning the gullies in this area every six months. I also want to thank the landowners who cleared their drainage ditches at the top of the hill, as this helps to take the water away from the highway.

We have no further update on the flooding situation at Rowan Drive, other than we know work is ongoing, led by the Lead Local Flood Authority within MKCC and the relevant landowners.

The two new Speed Indicator Devices (SIDS) on Wolverton Road have been in place for three months and we will shortly be publishing the analysis of the SIDS data on our website in our expanded quarterly report, but they do seem to be helping to reduce the speeds.

The two ‘informal crossings’ planned outside the school and along Wolverton Road between the roundabouts, have been scheduled for installation between 31st March and 4th April. We hope that these will help those with prams etc., or those with mobility problems, to cross those roads more safely and easily.

The postponed repair works from February on the river bridge on Wolverton Road remain pending and we have not yet been told when they will be rescheduled. We continue to chase this and other maintenance issues, but the list is starting to get a bit shorter!

We are working with MKCC Highways to progress the various road safety items. Following a speed survey, we are hopeful that, subject to Statutory Consultation, the limit on Haversham Hill will be reduced to 30mph. A speed survey has been conducted on the Haversham Road which we hope will support a further reduction from 50mph to 40mph - I know both are things many of you wish to see happen. MKCC are working on the road safety measures in the old village such as the village gateways, better signage and lining, plus we hope that additional signage and lining will soon be added in the new village 20mph zone to reinforce the message that there is a 20mph limit on all the new village roads.

Finally, we are chasing for a number of streetlamps to be fixed. By my last count there are seven on Wolverton Road alone that are not working!

Don’t forget to use the Report It page on the MKCC website, https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/pay-report-and-apply/report-it if you see any local maintenance issues.

Planning Matters

Due to changes in the National Planning Policy Framework at the end of 2024, MKCC has extended the timeline for the development of the MK City Plan 2050, by six months to allow for appropriate changes to be made. Hence, the next stage of public consultation (Regulation 19) is expected to be in September 2025, with submission to the Planning Inspectorate for examination due in March 2026. We will keep you updated via www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/city-plan.

We have no further updates regarding the HcLL Neighbourhood Plan allocated site. As we hear more, we will share it via www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk/npsitenews

Playground Project Update

There is a separate update on this project elsewhere, but we are now at the exciting stage as we work with our chosen supplier to finalise the design and move ever closer to implementation. By the time you read this, we will have held our public exhibition and I hope that many of you came along to see the plans. As the project progresses, we will keep you up to date with the latest at https://www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk/playground-project

Budget and Precept 2025-2026

We recently finalised our budget and thus the precept we require for 2025-2026. This has been a challenging process this year as we have had to deal with various cost pressures that we all face.

The headline increase may seem large in percentage terms, but to bring this into context it is the equivalent of 27p per week for a Council Tax Band D property and, at a total precept of £95.61 per year for a Band D property, we are very similar to our neighbouring rural parishes and remain below the average parish precept for all of the MK parishes.

A number of factors have meant we needed a larger increase this year than recently.

We limited increases during the cost-of-living crisis of the last few years, but that is no longer possible.
Our services are costing more and like all employers we have to absorb the employers National Insurance rise which alone puts 2.5% onto the precept.
We are now required to make our Parish website accessible (for those with visual or hearing issues) and we have budgeted to start that in the coming year – another 2.5% of precept.
As a small Parish, we suffer from the fact that some of our costs are fixed, so cost more per resident that if we were a bigger parish with more households to share the expenses.
We have a number of assets such as benches, play and rec equipment, SIDS (including 2 new ones), as well as Dog Bins and land to manage. Whilst the capital cost of many of these is supported by grants, the Parish Council needs to pay for maintenance and historically we have not been putting enough money aside to cover our maintenance contracts nor to enable us to do the necessary repair work driven by either vandalism or general wear and tear.
On the plus side we have recently run tenders for both our landscaping and our dog bin emptying services, as well as lowering the magazine printing costs – all of which have resulted in some level of savings, that all helps the bottom line. There is not much else we can cut although we have taken a difficult decision to reduce the money that we have available for Parish Council grants in the next year.

Whilst we are yet to get to the end of our financial year, it looks as though in 2024-2025 our running costs may exceed our income and we will need to use money from reserves for day-to-day expenses. Clearly this is neither sustainable nor in fact prudent, as we should be putting money aside into reserves each year to pay for unexpected expense or to support community projects.

We will provide a fuller update on the 2024-2025 accounts and the budget for 2025-2026 at the Annual Parish Meeting.

Neighbourhood Watch

In the last issue I mentioned we are trying to reinvigorate Neighbourhood Watch across the parish to improve community safety and reduce crime. We now have three active schemes covering: Brookfield Road / Beech Tree Close; Keppel Avenue; and Rowan Drive / Chalmers Avenue.

We should have a scheme for Manor Drive / The Crescent soon, but are still looking for scheme coordinators for Wolverton Road; the Old Village; and Little Linford If you are interested in helping to lead a scheme please sign up at www.ourwatch.org.uk/support-our-work/volunteer-us/start-neighbourhood-watch-scheme-and-become-coordinator or contact the Clerk should you need any help or advice.

To join one of these schemes, search using your postcode at www.ourwatch.org.uk/find-your-local-nw or scan this QR code:

The Parish Council has agreed to help fund this by buying a number of street signs and resident window stickers for distribution via coordinators. We will arrange for the faded old street signs to be removed as well – it has been shown that street signage can reduce speculative crime by around 20% to 25%.

Other News

Councillor Vacancies: we now have two vacancies for Parish Councillors. With Philip’s departure, for the first time in many years (definitely over twenty and probably more) we no longer have a Councillor from the Old Village. If you might consider joining the Parish Council team and are interested to find out more, please contact the Clerk.

Allotments: we are in the middle of renewal season and still have a few plots available. Our current plot holders report how much they enjoy the fruit and veg they grow, so if you would like to join them, please get in touch – there is an advert in the magazine with the details.

HSCC: The HSCC AGM is on 28th April at 7:30pm. Each resident over 18 is a member of the charity, and as one of the Trustees, I hope to see many of you there to support the charity. Please put it in your diary! Jackie’s AGM report is elsewhere in this issue.

Parish Magazine Content: We have another packed issue. We want to keep the magazine as interesting and useful as possible, and make it your magazine, so please if you do have an article or other content to contribute, send it to our editor at carol.langham@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk for inclusion in the next or a future issue.

Annual Parish Meeting: Another ‘save the date’ for our Annual Parish Meeting on 7th May at 7:30pm. This is your opportunity to hear updates from, and ask questions of, the Parish Council as well as other local organisations in attendance. We will post the agenda on Facebook, our website and the noticeboards nearer the time.

Contacting Us and Helping Out

As well as this regular article, we use our Facebook page www.facebook.com/HcLLParishCouncil and website www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk to share news and useful information – so please follow us on Facebook and visit the website regularly.

If you have any issues, suggestions or questions for us, or would like to volunteer to help with one of our initiatives (Community Speedwatch, Neighbourhood Watch or Litter Picking), then please either message us via Facebook or email the Parish Clerk at clerk@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk. We do our best to respond promptly.

I hope that you have found this article informative and I will update you again in two months.

Cllr Richard Pryor

Chair

This is the image and QR code for joining Neighbourhood Watch