Apologies for the more direct update, but we have to address a number of concerns that have been raised with us in the past few weeks which need clarification.
The first and most important matter is the state of Wychwood Village. We need to make it very clear that we as a Committee, acting on the behalf of the residents/locals/members, have in no way arranged for the unsightly ‘security measures’ now in place on the entrance road to the village. The simple fact of the matter is that we are extremely disappointed that between Haddon/Hunt and Bovis they feel it is satisfactory to place industrial concrete slabs and old tree roots in strategic positions around access points to the golf course. Yes, we accept that anything is better than the view of caravans parked on the land, but these measures must be in keeping with the location itself and not create an eyesore; this is unacceptable to us!
Not only that, but the general state of the site, the course itself and the country park are not at a standard which complies with the covenants in place to “maintain”. Peter Hunt (owner of Haddon Property Developments Ltd) may own the land, but that doesn’t give him/them the right to let it deteriorate at the cost of the residents who wish to enjoy the surrounding countryside.
With that in mind, we will be writing to Peter Hunt, Haddonand their representatives regarding the concrete slabs, plus a full list of maintenance work to carry out anda risk assessment to comply with. This information will also be supplied to the Parish Council and Cheshire East for enforcement. We as residents and locals have rights and the situation as it stands is totally unacceptable.
Our second topic is regarding security. We have at great length considered the options available to us to help firm up site security to prevent further ‘traveller’ invasions! Quite a few residents made the point that we should have something similar to Wychwood Park, i.e. security gates and visible presence.We have reviewed this and put together some costings, which in brief run at about £100k for barriers, personnel (as the barriers have to be manned), security hut, design, planning application. You then have to consider the cost of maintenance, and bearing in mind that most households already pay a service charge (depending on which phase on the development you are on), and some houses won’t or can’t afford to pay, the whole option becomes unviable, unless we have a benefactor?
We will of course address in other ways, such as securing access points as discussed above, plus we are looking at a neighbourhood watch scheme, in conjunction with Cheshire Police. If you have any other ideas of what we can do to help protect the village, please let us know.
On a lighter note, the BBC Radio Stoke open broadcast took place this morning and was a great success; we had quite a gathering of residents, locals, other groups and developers all sharing their views. We hope you managed to listen in, but if not, you can listen again here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01d3vw8 (only available for 7 days).
Can we just say a thank you to the committee, residents and locals for taking time off work to attend and contribute to the show; to Alison for organising and to Carol and Gem for keeping everyone fuelled with butties and brews!
Not only did we fill the airwaves this morning, but the television this evening with appearances by Paul Burt (committee) and Janet Clowes (councillor) on BBC North West Tonight at 6.30pm. If you missed it, you can watch on iPlayer here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0387d92/North_West_Tonight_14_08_2013/.
We will have another update for you soon, but in the meantime, please make sure you have voted in our “What would you like to see happen with the Gorstyhill Golf Club land?” survey. It only takes one second and the data collected will really help us with a project we are pursuing.
Thanks for all your support.
Wychwood Community Group 