Report on Planning Meeting, 16th January, 2008

Residents in the area of Granville Avenue may like to know of one decision and one further consideration which arose from the meeting.

1) Fencing the school playing fields. The internal application, considerably changed to meet requests and objections of residents, was granted. The scheme now excludes the fencing along the western boundary, including houses in Pen-y-Bryn Way, and the fencing behind houses on Granville Avenue.

Thus what the scheme now entails is high fencing along two sides of the cricket ground, plus a fence running from the cricket ground westwards along the side of the tarmac area.

2) Developments at woodyard and Handyman House. The decision on this application has been deferred until February 6th, when there will be a site meeting 3.30. (Residents may smile at the timing - a traffic peak when planning officers will see how busy the road is and what extra traffic and parking could produce!)

It should be said that while Councillor Meredith has been very busy in listening to electors and consulting officers, by virtue of the fact that he is a member of the Planning Board and according to the (ridiculous) rules laid down, he could not speak on the issues. We are grateful that Councillor Stanton spoke very persuasively and effectively on behalf of local residents.

As the result of tireless work, including frequent contacts with officers, the two councillors with colleagues have met electors' concerns on the school fencing, and there is the prospect that the building application may yet come to reflect local wishes more completely.

Erection of Speed Activated Signs in Newport

Telford and Wrekin have announced that they will be installing road signs which illuminate to warn motorists when they are exceeding the speed limit. The present plans are to install 30 m.p.h. signs as follows:

Immediately
Station Road
Salters Lane
(In part these will be to evaluate installation and use)

Within one month
Boughey Road
Stafford Road

Hopefully afterwards
Chetwynd Road
Longford Road

In each case there will be one sign for each direction. If you are anxious to know the precise locations, a telephone call to the relevant department will give you the up to date details. we shall endeavour to give the details as soon as we receive them.

THE SOCIAL EVENT OF THE YEAR?

Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but we are holding a

Quiz Evening, at the Adams House Hotel, Newport, on Wednesday 20th February, at 7.30 p.m.

It will be a team event - four persons to a team, - come as a team if you wish (- you will be asked to provide a name for the team). If you and any companions are fewer than four, there will others to join when you arrive. Entrance price - £2 per person.

Come and have some fun, meet some new people perhaps, and test your knowledge.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM of the Newport Rural Branch will be held on Tuesday, February 19th , at The Three Horseshoes, Sambrook, at 7.30 p.m.

If you are a member, please make every effort to be there. After our election success in 2007, we have to consolidate and build for the future. We must increase our influence.

If you are not a member, why don't you come along and join? You will be very welcome.

Councillor Meredith answers the critics

Mrs Flower’s letter about the Newport swimming pool, published in the Newport Advertiser on Friday on the 28th of Dec last, has absolutely no foundation. Clearly this former Borough Councillor knows full well that the present swimming pool has for years been in need of urgent refurbishment. It is old fashioned, out of date and beyond economic repair.

It would seem that Mrs Flowers is so out of touch and set in her ways that she is no longer able to recognise the fact that times are changing, that the town is growing and that a new and modern swimming pool is urgently needed by the majority of the town’s residents. The new pool will form part of a fabulous new and exciting sports complex to be built at a cost of millions of pounds on the Burton Borough site over the next five years. I well remember Mrs Flowers and her Lib Dem counterparts going into raptures when the new sports hall was built on the school site a couple of years ago. They said it was the obvious site which was easily accessible with plenty of car parking, so why then is it any different for the swimming pool?

Mrs Flowers knows better than most that two pools in a town the size of Newport could never be recognised as a viable proposition. It seems that she and her Lib-Dem colleagues are quite prepared to turn her back on the youngsters of Newport in order to keep an old out of date facility running just because decades ago it was funded in part by public donation. The Borough Council would not be justified in funding the hundreds of thousands of pounds it will cost to bring up to scratch what can only be described as a very third rate and out of date facility.

One has to ask the following questions:1)Do the Lib –Dems think they know better than all the experts employed by the Borough Council?, 2) Are the Lib-Dems prepared to fund the modernisation of the old pool and fund the upkeep from there on? The Borough Council KNOW that a new pool with modern facilities offers best value for public funds. My third question is what do the Lib Dems know about the swim times which will be made available to the general public ? The answer can only be as usual NOTHING AT ALL, the pool isn’t even on the drawing board yet. I would suggest that the Lib-Dems stand behind Newport’s four Conservative Borough Councillors in their attempt to bring to Newport the first major public facility since Labour took control some 35 years ago. The present swimming currently caters for all age groups including schools. Why would the new swimming pool be any different?

Cllr Adrian Meredith/

A statement by the four Borough Councillors

An anonymous correspondent to the Newport Advertiser claims that Newport’s borough councillors cannot be trusted (Can We Trust Them - Letters Dec 28).

As we each represent thousands of people and a very broad range of opinions, it is inevitable that some people will disagree with our decisions. This, like not ducking the difficult decisions, is part of what being a councillor is about.

However, being branded untrustworthy is a claim that cannot go unchallenged, particularly given the correspondent’s very political tone and disregard for the facts.

As councillors, after listening very carefully to the wider interests of Newport, we backed the Local Development Framework because we believe that it is right to do so.

We speak with one voice on this, because it’s an issue on which we agree. This does not mean we have said nothing – in fact, it makes it abundantly clear what, together, we stand for.

Our backing for the revised LDF came only after we had assurances this would limit development in Newport to around 40 new homes for each of the next nine years – a limit which, after considering the town’s broad interests, we feel is acceptable while supporting Newport’s future.

This new level is significantly lower than the housing figures originally proposed – which we set out to reduce and have succeeded in doing so.

As borough councillors, we have to consider many broader interests such as the future of Newport’s economy, regenerating our town, sustaining our population and providing housing that helps ensure our young people can afford stay in their town. These are not our own interests, but those of the whole town for the future.

Trust is something that is earned and in the six months we have held power, we have made some considerable changes to help Newport. These include setting up the town’s first ever Task Force to spearhead regeneration; reviewing the High St traffic scheme; outlining plans to create improved sports and swimming facilities.

We look forward to continuing to repay the trust that the people of Newport put in us and to continue representing the very broad interests and delivering for the town.

*Cllrs Dan Ashley, Eric Carter, Adrian Meredith and Adam Stanton*