At the August meeting, many parishioners attended and put their views in the public speaking slot on the management of Lower Hill Green grasscutting for the future. The Council set up a working group to go through all the different requests and find a solution. The Council also decided that the rank vegetation of docks and nettles at the top end should be sprayed off as this was obviously not helpful to public recreational use of the Green or children playing, and noted that the blanket cut of the remainder has been carried out and the cuttings removed.
The Druce Footbridge work has now been completed by the Environment Agency, and they have spent something in the order of £20,000 getting the bridge lifted and the new railings which are certified hardwood timber and hopefully will last for many years. The Council will be taking over ownership and management in August.
There were two large items dumped in the River Stort just past the footbridge, which appeared to be water tanks, and the Council will attempt to get these lifted out and removed – another example of fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.
It was reported that there is ragwort growing again on the allotment land, and the Council thanked Mike Patmore for offering again to try to get this removed, a seriously heavy but essential task. Richard Carter had made a list of the work which needed doing on the lime trees along Hill Green, where crown lifting and base growth needs sorting out.
The Horse Pond on Hill Green is again becoming rather overgrown and it was agreed to put this on the agenda to discuss clearing out once it is dry enough.
On Planning, another application for a new house at The Mills was recommended for refusal on the same grounds as previously, and there were no objections to an application for the sub-division of a house into two smaller houses on the west of the village
You can e-mail the Parish Council at the following
address: ClaveringPC@aol.com
