East and Botolph Claydon Parish Council

BIN DAYS OVER THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD 🎅🎅

November's Minutes and the Agenda for next week's meeting on Tuesday 19th December @7.30pm in the Village Hall are now added to the website. Everyone is welcome to come along.

theclaydons.org

CHANGE OF DATE - Please note that the Parish Council meeting scheduled for tomorrow night (21st November) has been postponed and will be held at: 7.30pm on Tuesday 28th November. The revised Agenda is attached.

theclaydons.org

NOTICE OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
TUESDAY 17th OCTOBER - 7.30pm
EAST & BOTOLPH CLAYDON VILLAGE HALL
Everyone welcome!

Agenda attached.

theclaydons.org

FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN - PETER WRIGHT
I am sure that you are all aware a proposal has been received from a company called Rosefield Solar Farm Ltd. They are a subsidiary of EDF Renewables, a wholly owned French nationalized group. But as a “shell” Company they have no assets of their own. They want to build a 2,000-acre solar farm with battery storage and sub-station linked by cabling to the National Grid at East Claydon electrical substation. The entire site is on the Verney Claydon Estate, and it is believed that all the tenant farmers on the Estate will be severely impacted. We are asking questions about this but are getting no answers from the estate or from the company. They are shifting responsibility backwards and forwards to each other, to avoid any clarity of answers.
Because of the size, this will be one of the largest in the UK. This Planning application is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and will have to go through the process of obtaining a Development Consent Order. This is an extraordinarily long winded and time-consuming option with the final decision being made by the Secretary of State. It does mean that the local authority Buckinghamshire Council will have no major input into the final decision but it has the opportunity to comment in the earlier stages. The company is undergoing what they call a “consultation process” with the community, but this is seriously flawed. At the sessions, which included one in Botolph Village Hall, they have not taken one single note of what anyone has said but expect the residents to write their questions and comments on a form or on-line. They will not be publishing these or making them transparent. We find that unacceptable. This phase of the consultation has no part other than a tick boxing exercise in the process. However as many as possible should send in their views before 11.59 on 10 November.
Later in the process those who have registered as an “interested party” will participate in the formal consultation process.
The area they propose to use involves all the tenant farmers who currently manage the landscape. In response to this, an Action Group has been set up to fight this proposal and guide the residents through the planning procedure. They will seek full scale support from all residents. Whilst we all understand the need for clean generation of electricity, the destruction of our local landscape is unacceptable. The sheer scale and destruction of our local landscape will impact everyone in both villages and all our neighbours. The anticipated construction period may not happen for two or three years, but will be as bad, if not worse than East West rail and HS2. As we know with Developers working on this scale, they pay little attention to local needs or requirements.

The Action Group and Parish councils will therefore highlight the issues to residents and we hope that everyone will take the required action when requested. Watch for information on Facebook and the website https://claydonssolaractiongroup.co.uk. or leaflets through your door. Numbers in opposition will be important, do not leave it until it is too late!!!

www.theclaydons.org/proposed-new-solar-farm-with-battery-storage/

Peter Wright, Chair, East Claydon Parish Council

Proposed new solar farm with battery storage surrounding our villages | East & Botolph Claydon Villages Just this past week we have learned that a large mail drop from a company called Rosefield Solar Farm, will be put through letterboxes to all Claydon, Calvert and Quainton homes. This leaflet will announce that a proposal for a 600-acre solar farm is being developed on land owned by…

In the continuing fight against a 2,100 acre solar farm in the Claydons, this afternoon I chaired a meeting in Botolph Claydon between the company behind Rosefield Solar Farm and representatives of local parishes.

Everyone overwhelmingly against this intrusion and loss of farm land.

I challenged the representatives of Rosefield to think again about this development - not least the moral case of not punishing communities already under siege from construction projects like HS2, East West Rail and potentially if the planning inspector goes against us a mega prison.

See Claydons Solar Action Group for more information on how to fight this unacceptable proposal.

From Bucks County Council:
'Zero tolerance' approach to roadworks breaches

This year we’ve seen a record number of permit requests from utility firms - such as gas, water, electricity or communication companies - who want to access their infrastructure for repairs or improvement works. We know too that these works cause major disruption to road users across the county.

Utility firms have a right to install and repair their networks which are usually under our roads and pavements. The council’s role is to grant permits to allow them to carry out the necessary works and to coordinate these as far as is reasonably practical to try to minimise the impact on the public. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of fines the council has had to issue where they’ve failed to keep to the terms of their permits. Breaches the council has taken action on include:

Failing to display correct details on site, including emergency contacts.

Not taking away temporary traffic lights when they’re no longer needed.

Failing to implement correct traffic management.
Not publicising proposed works well enough.
Failing to remove surplus materials and equipment.

It’s residents and road-users who bear the impact of these failures, and with the rise in the number of works across Buckinghamshire, we’re stepping up how we manage these works:

We’re introducing seven day working for our ‘streetworks’ team, who monitor works across the county, so they can respond more quickly to problems.

We’re reviewing our whole network to best understand where the busiest places and times are, as some road use patterns have changed since the pandemic.

When we’ve pinpointed these areas, we will look at insisting on extended working hours and more nighttime and weekend working to lessen the impact on drivers.

We’ve written to utilities companies to inform them of our new ‘zero tolerance’ approach when they fail to keep to the permitted arrangements. Companies will now receive a fine on first breach and will have their permit revoked if a further breach occurs.
We will lobby Government to increase substantially the amount we can fine companies who breach their permits; this is set nationally and, with the early payment rate of £80, is totally insufficient to act as an effective deterrent.

Overall, we want a constructive relationship with the utility firms who provide vital services to us all, but there must be a balance and we are striving to lessen the impact of these increased roadworks on our residents as I know this has been a real problem for people in many parts of the county.



Road repairs

As for our own programme of repairs, I’m so pleased we’ve been able to make the most of the decent weather this year over the spring and summer. Driving around I can see that we’ve made a big difference to the county’s roads having completed nearly 21,000 pothole repairs. However, I am not complacent; whilst we have now reached an agreement with the East West Rail project on 20 roads that they will repair, we still struggle to have HS2 contribute adequately to repair the roads that they are damaging,

I also know we haven’t got to everywhere yet and our resurfacing programme will continue for the coming weeks before we start to move into our winter road management programme. This is where we start to move to a ‘make safe’ approach to new potholes, carrying out short term repairs while the weather is worse. The combination of wet weather and icy roads can break up surfaces more easily and frankly, it would be a waste of both tax-payers money and effort to invest in ‘bigger’ repairs that simply won’t last during the winter – it’s during the warmer, drier seasons where we do that kind of work and in winter focus on making sure the roads are safe.

Our other priorities will be on activities such as streetlighting repairs, gritting, responding to storms and non-weather dependent activities, as well as planning for the next spring and summer road repairs season.

ROSEFIELD SOLAR FARM CONSULTATIONS - new date added
WE URGE EVERYONE TO TRY AND ATTEND:
Wednesday 4 October 2023 (2:30pm – 6:30pm) Calvert Green Village Hall and Brickworx Bar, Cotswolds Way, Calvert, Buckingham MK18 2FJ

Friday 6 October 2023 (2pm – 6pm), Quainton Memorial Hall, Station Road, Quainton, Aylesbury HP22 4BW

Saturday 7 October 2023 (10am – 2pm), East and Botolph Claydon Village Hall, Botyl Road, Botolph Claydon, Buckingham MK18 2LR

Monday 9 October 2023 (10am – 2pm), Steeple Claydon Village Hall, Queen Catherine Road, Steeple Claydon, Buckingham MK18 2PY

NEW DATED ADDED Wednesday 1st November 2023 (5pm – 8pm) Calvert Green Village Hall and Brickworx Bar, Cotswolds Way, Calvert, Buckingham MK18 2FJ

Please refer www.rosefieldsolarfarm.co.uk as the initial consultation has started this morning. I urge you to look at the documentation in detail. This is an outrage.

It is dressed up as green energy but the carbon footprint before you start is huge. Solar Panels made and shipped in from China, lorries bringing the equipment in, etc.

It will not impact on electricity prices in the area or nationally as these are subject to a global market and only c. 40% is the commodity price.

It will however bolster the Claydon Estate income substantially. I would ask that the Verney family stand in front of the community and explain the rationale behind this other than purely financial.

I am not opposed to renewable energy, in fact, I am like all of us interested in saving our planet. It is the scale and location choice that upsets me. There must be areas of the estate which are not overlooked by communities. Chris Utley

We need to make use of the built environment. .

Rosefield Solar Farm – Rosefield Solar Farm is a proposed new solar farm with battery storage in Buckinghamshire This website introduces our proposals for Rosefield Solar Farm, a proposed new solar farm with battery storage in Buckinghamshire.

👏👏👏

You may already have seen the plans from EDF Renewables proposing to build a huge 600 acre Solar Farm on Claydon Estate land. Because of the size this becomes a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. This is managed and received by the Planning Inspectorate (or formerly by the Infrastructure Planning Commission). The process is significantly different from normal Planning applications (even Grendon Prison) and Bucks CC has a restricted input. To have any input the only time individuals or Parish Councils can have a say is at the initial consultation whether it’s for or against or feel it may need some adaptation. For more details please read the link.

Set procedure for reviewing the Claydons Solar Panel project | East & Botolph Claydon Villages You may already have seen the plans from EDF Renewables proposing to build a huge 600 acre Solar Farm on Claydon Estate land. Because of the size this becomes a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. This is managed and received by the Planning Inspectorate (or formerly by the Infrastructure...

Next Parish Council meeting Tuesday 19th September at 7.30pm, East & Botolph Claydon Village Hall. Please see the Agenda attached. The Solar Panel Proposal is top of the agenda! Please do come along and express your views or email [email protected]. Everyone is welcome.

theclaydons.org

VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ

CONSULTATIONS:
Wednesday, 4 October 2023 (2:30pm - 6:30pm), Calvert Green Village Hall

Friday, 6 October 2023 (2pm - 6pm) Quainton Memorial Hall, Station Road, Quainton

Saturday, 7 October 2023 (10am - 2pm) East and Botolph Claydon Village Hall, Botyl Road

Monday, 9 October 2023 (10am - 2pm)
Steeple Claydon Village Hall, Queen Catherine Road

Proposed new solar farm with battery storage surrounding our villages | East & Botolph Claydon Villages Just this past week we have learned that a large mail drop from a company called Rosefield Solar Limited, will be put through letterboxes to all Claydon, Calvert and Quainton homes. This leaflet will announce that a proposal for a 600-acre solar farm is being developed on behalf of Nicolas…

East Claydon Parish Council has compiled a list of suggested candidates for inclusion on the Heritage List. These can be viewed in the below link. Please take a few moments to look through them and send any comments, criticisms, or further information to [email protected] by 24th September.

East & Botolph Claydon entries on the Local Heritage List | East & Botolph Claydon Villages Buckinghamshire Council is generating a ‘Local Heritage List’.  This aims to “identify locally significant, so-called non-designated heritage assets and to celebrate their contribution to local identity and character.” NB This is different to the Conservation Area or statutory listings and ...

The July and August minutes are now uploaded onto our website.

East Claydon Parish Council Minutes and Agendas The Council usually has six meetings a year plus an Annual Parish Meeting (AGM) which are open for all to attend; a list of dates for the regular meetings are posted on the Village Hall notice board or on here. Occasionally additional meetings are required to deal with anything which might need atte...

More road closures:

MEETING IS TONIGHT: See agenda on this linkhttps://theclaydons.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8_Agenda-15-August-2023.pdf

Sandhill Road will be closed from Thursday 10th August to Wednesday 6th September. Residents are advised that the best route to Padbury / Buckingham will be either via Winslow and the A413 or via Verney Junction to Addington and A413. This route will continue to be advisable during the closure of the Padbury to Herds Hill (Kingsbridge Junction) 22nd September to 13th October. More details are on the EWR map on page 17 of the EWR2 Summer newsletter within the below link, but it is difficult to read! There will also be other local road closures, see page 16, up until December 2023.

See link for further information and also about the removal of the passing bays.

Sandhill Road closure & other local roads | East & Botolph Claydon Villages Sandhill Road will be closed from Thursday 10th August to Wednesday 6th September. Residents are advised that the best route to Padbury / Buckingham will be either via Winslow and the A413 or via Verney Junction to Addington and A413. This route will continue to be advisable during the closure…

HALTON HOUSE

OFFICERS’ MESS

OPEN DAY

RAF HALTON
SUNDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2023

10AM – 4PM

FREE ADMISSION

RAF Halton is pleased to announce that once again Halton House Officers’ Mess will be open to the Public for one day only on 10th September 2023.

We would be grateful if you could include in your publications and/or website the information that Halton House, The Officers’ Mess at RAF Halton, will be holding a Heritage Day, open to the public and free of charge on 10th September 2023.

This is a rare opportunity to see the interior of Halton House, built by Alfred de Rothschild in 1883, a lasting reminder of Victorian decorative taste.

Halton House has been used extensively as a location for filming. Examples include: The King’s Speech, The Queen, The World is not Enough, The Crown, Downton Abbey, and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

In addition to Halton House, the Trenchard Museum, (where more can be learnt about the history of the RAF Station and RAF’s Apprentice Scheme) and the James McCudden Flight Heritage Centre, (which illustrates the History of Flight) will also be open.

Extensive parking is available at Halton House and free transport is provided to allow attendees access to the other aforementioned sites.

NB. Halton House has very limited disabled access and has no disabled toilets.

For any other information required please contact:

Trixie Brabner, Publicity member of the Halton House Heritage Committee

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: 07974 352811.

Earlier I attended a public exhibition in Botolph Claydon with Cllr Frank Mahon, Cllr Angela Macpherson and Parish Chairman Peter Wright, regarding Statera’s proposals for a battery storage scheme next to East Claydon substation. I’m concerned about this from the loss of agricultural land, visual blight and yet more construction disruption and will oppose it.

Find out more and have your say here: https://eastclaydonstorage.co.uk

TONIGHT: Our MP Greg Smith will be attending the Public View of the East Claydon Storage Scheme this coming Thursday in the Village Hall from 3pm to 7pm. Come and share your views and find out how this will affect you, and East & Botolph Claydon and the surrounding area.

Hopefully, more information will be given about 'talk' of fields of solar panels being installed alongside this project as well as in other huge areas of our surrounding countryside which could have an impact on our rural landscape.

Next Parish Council Meeting will be on Tuesday 18th July, 7.30pm in the Village Hall. Everyone is welcome to come along and see what's going on locally - especially with the Statera EC Storage Scheme. 👀

theclaydons.org

Tuesday 11th July, 4 to 7pm, East & Botolph Claydon Village Hall. The Mushroom will also be open.

https://theclaydons.org/paris-councils-chairmans-report-2022-23/

Parish Council Chairman's Report 2022/23 | East & Botolph Claydon Villages There have been many things happening during the course of the year, which I have outlined below: Celebrations were held for the Queen's Funeral and subsequently for the coronation of King Charles III. These were held in the Village Hall and Mushroom Village Bar and were very well attended and…

EKFB/HS2 coming to our Village Hall on 11th July, 4-7pm
Please attend if you can.

GIVE YOUR VIEW!
Coming to our Village Hall:
Stratera Battery Project, 3-7pm, 20th July

Answer the Survey Today! Give My View is a digital community consultation platform, turning thousands of voices into actionable ideas. The gamified platform is designed to make it easier for both communities and decision-makers to maximise the value of engagement.

Agenda's attached for: Annual Parish Meeting at 7.30pm
Annual Meeting of the Parish Council at 8pm
Village Hall - Tuesday 20th June.
https://theclaydons.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Annual-Parish-Meeting-2023.pdfhttps://theclaydons.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/6_Agenda-20-June-2023.pdf

https://theclaydons.org/parish-council/ Everyone is welcome to come along and meet their Parish Councillors and find out what they do for our community.

About East Claydon Parish Council The Parish Council covers East & Botolph Claydon. It raises money through the precept, which is set every year. They decide on the amount required for the next year to cover regular spending on maintenance, insurance, clerk’s salary, etc plus any special projects such as major work on the Village ...

Agenda's attached for: Annual Parish Meeting at 7.30pm
Annual Meeting of the Parish Council at 8pm
Village Hall - Tuesday 20th June.

Everyone is welcome to come along and meet their Parish Councillors and find out what they do for our community.
https://theclaydons.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Annual-Parish-Meeting-2023.pdf
https://theclaydons.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/6_Agenda-20-June-2023.pdf

theclaydons.org

Please make a point of visiting the event at Granborough Village Hall and make your views heard. Wednesday 21st June - 4pm to 7.30pm. It is possible that it might be visible from our villages.

Attached is the Agenda for the next Parish Council next meeting on Thursday 18th May at 8pm, Village Hall. Everyone is welcome to come along.

theclaydons.org

The first Emergency Alert system will be tested nationally this week, on Sunday April 23rd at 3pm. The system will warn people when their lives are in danger. An Emergency Alert is a loud, siren-like sound with a message on your mobile phone screen. To find out more, visit https://crowd.in/H8BzOR or watch this short video: https://crowd.in/imeOwu

Agenda for the Parish Council meeting attached for this coming Thursday 20th April at 8pm in the Village Hall. All are very welcome to join us.

theclaydons.org

Although we do not have any planned elections in Buckinghamshire in 2023, from 4 May 2023, voters in England will need to show photo ID to vote at polling stations in local elections, Police & Crime Commissioner elections, and UK parliamentary by-elections and recall petitions. From October 2023, it will also apply to UK General elections.

If you don't have any of the accepted forms of photo ID, you can apply for a free voter ID document, which is known as a Voter Authority Certificate.

Find out more: https://crowd.in/GFLPdx

Traffic Lights being installed for EWR works - Monday 3rd April to Friday 14th April 2023

EWR works - Great Horwood Road and Buckingham Road, Winslow | East & Botolph Claydon Villages Buckingham-Road-Gt-Horwood-Rd-Closure-Letter-April-2023Download

Minutes of the March Parish Council meeting held last Thursday. Next meeting Thursday 20th April 2023 @ 8pm in the Village Hall.

theclaydons.org

Attached is the Agenda for the next PC meeting to be held on Thursday 16th March in the Village Hall at 8pm. Everyone welcome.

theclaydons.org

https://theclaydons.org/buckinghamshire-council-announces-new-highways-contractors/

Buckinghamshire Council announces new highways contractors | East & Botolph Claydon Villages Press Release from Buckinghamshire Council Buckinghamshire Council has today announced the 12 approved contractors who will be working on highways, maintenance and infrastructure projects within the county from 1 April 2023. The announcement completes all elements of the transition of the council's....