Village News
NEW FACES: Two village schools welcomed new headteachers at the start of the autumn term. Mrs Fran Barnes (left) is now in charge at St
Andrew’s First School in Barnt Green, having served as a deputy head in Smethwick. “I’m familiar with Barnt Green as both my sons sailed at the Sailing Club,” she says. “I’m excited about being part of a school in the centre of its community, and its core values resonate with my own beliefs.” Mrs Sally Athey is head of Crown Meadow
First School in Alvechurch, and was previously assistant head at Hagley Primary School. “I feel privileged to have been chosen to build upon the school’s success and to help the children develop a thirst for learning,” she says.
Parish plan holds firm T
he grassroots initiative giving villagers a say in planning strat- egy is pressing ahead despite
efforts by a number of housing devel- opers to delay its progress. The Alvechurch Parish Neighbour-
hood Plan is the first in this area to take advantage of powers under the move towards “localism” created by Parliament seven years ago. Once adopted, it becomes part of the planning process, which is why the developers circling the village are keen to influence its contents. They have submitted representa- tions during the six week “Regulation 16” response window before the plan
goes to an inspector for the next stage of approval. The developers between them
control enough land surrounding the village to almost double the number of homes in the parish. Some of them are urging the parish
to delay the Neighbourhood Plan until Bromsgrove District Council has carried out its proposed review of the Green Belt, or to amend it to include preferred future building sites cur- rently within the Green Belt. As feared, and despite it having no standing in planning policy, the GL Hearn “Barntchurch” report is referenced at length by the would-be
Short-sighted road advice
VISUALLY impaired residents in Barnt Green have been advised that an overgrown hedge ob- structing the pavement is not “an imminent safety issue” – because they can just cross over to the other side of the road. A villager informed Barnt Green
Parish Council that a hedge on Kendal End Road, between Cofton Church Lane and the railway bridge, was so overgrown that it was almost impossible to walk on the pavement. Parish clerk Gill Lungley report-
ed this to Worcestershire County Council’s online “hub” and got the following response: “Although the path width is significantly reduced by vegetation, this will be ad- dressed on our next cut. As there is a good clear path on the opposite side of the road I don’t regard this as an imminent safety issue.” Ms Lungley said: “It’s good news
that the hedge will be cut, but WCC seemed to miss the point that visually impaired people are particularly at risk when crossing the road.”
developer of at least two of the sites. Neighbourhood Plan steering
group member Coun Adrian Smith told Alvechurch Parish Council: “There have been quite a few big developers looking at sites around Alvechurch for the future. They are being opportu- nistic at the moment.” Coun John Cypher, another steer-
ing group member, added: “Some of the developers were wanting to use the revised national policy to make us hold back, so that some of the sites they were keen to promote could be included in the Neighbourhood Plan. “But Matt Stanczyszyn’s advice was
to press ahead and get it done.” Mr Stanczyszyn is the Neighbour-
hood Plan group’s contact at Broms- grove District Council, which oversees its creation and adoption. If approved by the inspector, the
district will hold a referendum across Alvechurch parish to seal the ap- proval of villagers. Coun Cypher said: “With a fair wind,
Bromsgrove is suggesting that the referendum could take place by the end of the year.” The parish council agreed to ex-
tend the role of the Neighbourhood Plan steering group to look at the “issues and options” under consider- ation for Bromsgrove’s plan. The Housebuilders’ Neighbourhood Plan: See pages 16-17
The Village October 2018 5
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