2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,200 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Show Home

For those of you who may not have been along Lodge Road lately, here is the first house to be built on the new estate.  This show home is due to open in early February.

The first build on Home Farm

Persimmon Sales Office

A lot of people have been asking how to contact the sales office for Home Farm so I thought I would post a number for them;

 

Main Office 01604 884600

 

This number can be used for sales enquiry’s only.  When the sales office opens on site, I will let you all know

Stakeholders Meeting update

Last nights meeting went ahead as scheduled and a number of issues were discussed;

Highways have carried out the phase 3 assessment of the entrance to the site and will be adjusting the kerb-line again to make it more difficult for vehicles to turn left into Lodge Road.

The show home is shooting up and it is expected to open in February of next year with the first units available shortly afterwards for occupation.

The mud on Lodge Road was the most contentious issue of the evening.  Persimmon advised that the back to black machine had been used and the road had improved.  The ongoing plan was to sweep the road at least once per day and if there was additional excessive buildup, the road would be swept again as required.  In addition, a wheel washing facility has been delivered to the site and set up on a hard stand near the entrance so all vehicles leaving the site will undergo cleaning.  (This does not stop vehicles arriving with mud already on them!).  It was pointed out to Persimmon that it was a condition of commencement and  their own Code of Construction, that wheel washing was in place prior to works been carried out but Persimmon stated that the equipment had to be ordered in specially and this has caused delays, for which they do apologise.  Councillor Matthews informed the meeting that Central Beds WILL enforce the conditions by all necessary means.  The pavements also require cleaning and Persimmon said they would look at this as well.

We may not like it but we do have to remember that this is a construction site and until an alternative access can be established, there will be some level of mud and inconvenience to the village as a whole and Lodge Road residents in particular.  However, Councillors Matthews, Clark, Bastable & the Stakeholders Group will monitor it closely and work to keep the issues to a minimum.

The date for the next meeting has not yet been set but will be in mid January.

School Buses and Lodge Road

A question was raised a few weeks ago about school buses no longer been allowed to use Lodge Road.  I spoke to Councillor Clark last night and she has confirmed that a Highways safety inspection was carried out in Lodge Road and they have decided that the road is unsafe for double-decker buses, especially during inclement weather.  An alternative pick up/drop off point has been established for the pupils that use this service.

I feel I must point out that the Home Farm development has no bearing on this inspection or decision and the same action would have been taken even if the development did not exist.

Stakeholders Meeting

This evenings Stakeholders Meeting has been postponed to 28th November, due to other commitments by some members.  In the mean time, Martin Wright from Persimmon has provided an update concerning the mud in Lodge Road;

 

I was advised at a meeting this-morning that we recently applied a ‘back to black’ machine that cleans roads literally back to their original position.  We have also increased the frequency of Persimmon road sweeps.  We have a meeting with the utilities company this-afternoon to try to get the water on as quickly as possible so that we can carry out wheel cleaning on site. Kind regards,

 

Martin Wright

Senior Land Manager

 

Further updates will be posted after the next meeting.

Highways work in Lodge Road

Last month, I wrote to Central Beds highways requesting clarification about some aspects of the works in Lodge Road and I have now received their response;

 

Dear Mr O’Mara

My apologies for the delay in responding.  I had drafted a response but for some reason it did not go off.

 

The developer and his designer are responsible for all surveying and design work required to deliver the highway works needed under the planning permission.  Bedfordshire Highways check the designs but not to the same level of detail as the original designer.  A stage 2 safety audit was carried out by Bedfordshire Highways before construction started and some aspects of the design were modified as a result.  There will be a stage 3 audit undertaken after completion to identify any problems that become apparent only after construction.  This is due next week.

 

The developer nominated the contractor that carried out the work and Bedfordshire Highways supervised that contract.  A number if issues came to light during construction, notably the visibility at the roundabout and problems with levels along Lodge Road.  Any additional costs incurred to complete the scheme are the responsibility of the developer.

 

These works are not connected to the £100,000 identified in the S106 but are funded separately under Section 278 agreements and all costs have to be met by the developer.

 

Regards

 

Chris Mollart-Griffin

Team Leader

Highway Development Control

 

So at least we know that we are not paying for all the delays!

Councillor Ken Matthews has also confirmed that the exit from the Home Farm site will be re-designed to make it more difficult to turn left into Lodge Road and thus help preserve the ‘quiet lane’ by minimising traffic.

And so it begins…..again

Persimmon have notified us this morning that they have now received approval of all Reserved Matters and pre-commencment conditions and work is beginning today.  Work will be carried out on the Persimmon show home and the surrounding houses first and they hope to have them available for viewing early next year.

Although site access is currently via Lodge Road, Persimmon have also reiterated their promise that site access will be via the High Street as soon as they are in a position to do so.

Stakeholders Meeting

In addition to the Reserved Matters Applications, a number of other issues were discussed at last week’s Stakeholders meeting.

Persimmon notified us that they had not entered into an agreement yet with the Goodman Charity regarding the land on the High Street. No time scale was
indicated but, considering Persimmon hopes to re-commence works within the next few weeks, it seems unlikely that the promised site access route via this land will be in use.  Once again the poor residents of Lodge Road will have to put up with all the site traffic passing their homes.   Persimmon does not have any legal obligations to access their site via the High Street (in fact they are required to access via Lodge Road)  but it was agreed by them last year  as a
gesture of goodwill. We can only hope that they do enter into some sort of agreement with the Goodman Charity quickly, even if it is only for access to Home Farm at this stage.

A representative of Dennison, Stephen Smith, was also present at this meeting.  As a rather large player in the overall development of the scheme (they not only own some of the land, they are building houses too) it was good to have him present.  Both Persimmon and Dennison confirmed that there was STILL no dialogue between them and again, there was no indication from Persimmon when any dialogue or agreement would be reached.  Whilst we understand that neither party wishes to openly discuss commercial negotiations, their agreement has a major bearing on what Cranfield residents will gain from the development, other than 371 new houses.

One of the main sticking points for the whole site is the proposed path from Home Farm to the centre of the village. The 106 agreement is very clear on this:

“Not to permit the occupation of any Residential
Unit without first entering into the Section 38 Agreement with the County
Council.”

 

Although we thought that because the path runs across Dennison’s land and without any agreement in place they cannot build the path, it seems that as long as they submit a S38 and the Council approves it, they can start occupying houses.  Not quite what we were all led to believe.

Persimmon has again reiterated that Cranfield will get everything agreed within the 106 and of course, the above example is only one of many 106
triggers, but I tend to think that once houses start going up, like a train at high-speed, it takes a lot of force to stop it again.  Maybe Persimmon could restore a little faith in the village by using the High Street as their main access point, as they once agreed?  Let’s wait and see.

The Highways works in Lodge Road were also discussed at length.  A number of surveys have been carried out since the roundabout was completed and although it was built to original plans; it seems that Highways agree it is incorrect and remedial action is required.  At the moment, it has been suggested that the easiest and cheapest action would be to move the give way lines in Lodge Road forward to allow a clear line of sight and move the white spot over also.  This would mean that further major work relocating the kerb lines would not be required.

The matter was raised regarding the re-design of the entrance into Home Farm from Lodge Road.  Although Highways were not present, the Council Planning Officer did advise us that the S278 Officer had the flexibility to apply minor  changes to the plans as he saw fit to ensure the works can be carried out in a practical fashion.  Apparently, the reason the kerbs were moved and a chicane placed in the road was to allow farm traffic access.  I have asked the Planning Officer to raise the issue with Highways as a matter of urgency as this has completely changed the access and they have in effect, created a T Junction allowing traffic to enter and leave the site from either end of Lodge Road, contrary to all the agreements and safe guards put in place, including the quiet lane status.

Breaking News

At this evenings Stakeholders meeting, notification was given that ALL outstanding Reserved Matter applications have now been approved.  There are a number of pre-commencment conditions still outstanding but these are expected to be approved within 2-3 weeks also.  Once these have been approved, works are expected to commence on the site again straight away.

I will be posting a full update regarding the meeting as soon as possible.