Category: Uncategorised

Thank you all for your support to the committee in our efforts to stop PP9’s inclusion in the local plan.

As a result of our objections at the regulation 18 stage, and the representations from our expert consultants, the Council have made some changes to the plan but they have not made the changes that even their own consultants recommended. The process is now at the regulation 19 phase, after which the plan will be scrutinised by the government’s inspector before approval.

This is our last chance to object again, and point out the many faults with the plan for our area, PP9. A crib sheet of the important factors you may wish to include is available by email on request to the Residents Association.

This is our plea to you to go to the Council’s website and make your own objection. The crip sheet can help you to make informed reasons why this plan should be rejected by the inspector and you may have other reasons to add. Please make sure you use your own words. It will have more effect on the reader.

There are three ways to object,

1. The Planning Portal (preferred) using the website  
2. Email 
3. Post. 

Instructions for all options are here. 

If you have any difficulties or want more information, please email us for help.

There is a deadline 4PM 13 OCTOBER 2026 so let’s make sure the Council know what we feel!

Welshwood Park Residents Association committee

The refuse lorry will be available for leaf and garden waste collection on Saturday, 28th November 2026. The refuse lorry will be located between 08:30-10:00 in the D in Woodlands and at the far end of Welshwood Park Road between 10:00-11:30.

Please note the open back lorry is unable to empty wheelie bins, only bags / sacks of leaves can be tipped into the lorry. PLEASE NO WHEELIE BINS.

If you would like Ardleigh Scout group to collect the bags of leaves / garden waste form your home and take them to the refuse lorry on Saturday 28th, please reply via email to advise the Association Secretary.

Kind regards

Welshwood Park Residents Association

Minutes of Welshwood Park Residents Association Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 2 September 2026 at The Oak Tree Centre, St Anne’s Community Hall, 252 Harwich Road, Colchester.

Apologies were received from ten residents.

Minutes of the AGM held on 10 September 2025

The Secretary suggested one amendment to the item on page two of the minutes relating to the application to Essex County Council to have the footpath at the rear of No’s 17 – 27 Woodlands formally recognised as a public footpath. Whilst the application has been registered with the council the decision on the footpath could take up to five years. Other than this the minutes were approved as correct.

Matters Arising

There were no matters arising other than those covered by the agenda.

Chairmans Report

The Chairperson opened the meeting by welcoming everyone present. Thanks were given to members of the committee for their support with administrative functions and fundraising activities over the past year. Particular thanks were given to a local resident for their time and expertise in guiding the committee and residents in opposing the Council’s proposed local plan. Thanks were also given to all residents for their generosity and support in our continuing fight to oppose the plans.

Two garden waste collections were carried out in December 25 and January 26 the cost of which was generously supported by contributions of £*** each from two local councillors. This item will be covered more fully in item 8 of the agenda. Issues raised by residents over the year included a report of diseased oaks around Welsh Wood due to acute oak decline. A specialist company from Colchester City Council dealt with this. There was a report of a rough sleeper in the field behind Woodlands in December however the individual concerned moved on after one night.

Ongoing issues were raised regarding a house in Welshwood Park Road which included dangerous dogs, fencing exceeding approved heights, and parking on the grass verges. These issues have all been reported to the Council. A report of loud music on the roundabout near the nursing home was received and resolved. There have been concerns raised about the aesthetics of the tarmac replacing paving stones on the pavements in Welshwood Park Road.

At the end of August, large branches were cut off from several oak trees and left on the footpaths in the fields bordering Salary Brook. Five of the trees are protected by tree preservation orders thanks to a local resident. Photographs were taken and sent to the tree warden, who was very concerned that no permission had been sought or granted for this. The tree warden indicated that the council will be writing to the landowner, issuing a reprimand about this, and warning that any further damage to the trees would lead to punitive action. However, since then the tree warden has contacted the Chair to inform her that without evidence it is difficult for the council to proceed. Several residents witnessed the destruction of the trees and will contact the Secretary to provide witness statements.

Finance Report

The Treasurer presented the report for September 2025 – August 2026 which is attached to these minutes.

The report shows a bank balance of £******.

The accounts were approved.

Residents voted unanimously for the committee to spend in excess of £**** on their behalf over the coming year in order to oppose the council’s plans for development in the area.

Update on Colchester City Council Local Plan

A local councillor reported that the council’s planning committee voted by 11 votes to 1 for the draft local plan to proceed to consultation on Regulation 19. The councillor was the only member of the committee to object to this. It was added that the plan has been modified in some areas in response to the objections raised by our consultants and residents in response to the Regulation 18 consultation. Two serious weaknesses in the current plan were pointed out. First that there has been no reduction in the number of houses being proposed (2000) despite the council’s own consultants advising that 40% of the site needs to be open space. Second, of all the sites proposed in the plan there remain important issues of viability in relation to PP9 (the fields surrounding Welshwood Park and St John’s).

A local resident then presented a comprehensive report on the timetable for the local plan which is attached to these minutes. It was commented that it was interesting that the council had appointed their own consultants to respond to the objections raised by our own consultants and by residents and that we had clearly “touched a nerve”.

We have commissioned our planning consultant to work with us on the next stage for continuity and he has strongly advised that we also enlist the services of the landscape consultant and if funds allow the ecologist to strengthen our case. Outline costs for these services are between £**** and £**** for the next stage. We will, however, need our planning consultant to be involved further down the line.

Both the local resident and local councillor agreed that we are now in a good position and need our consultants and individual residents to strongly object to the plans for development within the Regulation 19 consultation. There followed a lively discussion by residents during which it was pointed out that developers look at the bottom line. The less viable the site and the more the land is “squeezed” the less attractive it is to develop. Therefore, we need to focus on the constraints of the site in our objections.

The consultation on Regulation 19 of the plan runs from 28 August to 13 October.

A briefing note (crib sheet) highlighting the main issues to focus on will be circulated to residents in the first week of October. In the meantime, residents were urged to read the Regulation 19 documentation using the link provided in page 5 of the report, to make use of AI in any responses but to hold off on submitting objections until the crib sheet is available.

It is important to continue to record any wildlife sightings and to submit them to the Essex Wildlife Trust recording system called Nature Counts, residents can submit sightings using the following link:

https://www.essexwt.org.uk/nature-counts

Neighbourhood Watch

There was very little to report this year. Neighbourhood Watch emails are no longer being received. If anything causes concerns to residents please let the Residents Association know.

Garden Waste Collection

Following on from the finance report, the Chair confirmed that the cost of two garden waste collections was high (£**** for two vehicles in 26/27) and that the second collection in particular was under used by residents.

Two options were presented to residents namely:

1. Leave things as they are with two collections and raise the annual subscription.
2. Reduce the collections to one per year.

The majority of residents voted to have one collection in the future with two people voting to have two. It was therefore decided to have one collection this year which will take place on Saturday 28 November 2026 between 8.30 – 11.30am. Further details will be circulated nearer the time.

Election of Officers

The Chair thanked the outgoing Treasurer and a committee member who is leaving the committee for their service. The outgoing Treasurer will remain a member.

The election of a new Treasurer, a co-signatory and a new member were approved. The meeting confirmed existing members of the committee as re-elected.

The list of committee members is as follows:

10 members.

Any Other Business

A local resident thanked the Chair for all her hard work on behalf of residents over the past year which included attending and speaking at all the meetings of the council’s planning committee.

It was suggested that the posters and signage around the estate needed to be updated for the Regulation 19 consultation. The committee will organise this shortly.

The Chair of the St John’s Residents Association said that the two associations were increasingly working together in objecting to the council’s plans and emphasised the importance of this collaboration continuing.

A resident proposed a vote of thanks to the councillors for their continuing support and for attending meetings.

The meeting closed at 8.50pm.

Colchester City Council has now begun the consultation phase for the proposed local plan to build on the fields around the estate, and they are inviting comments on their website.  Colchester City Council – Colchester City Council Preferred Options Local Plan Regulation 18 Consultation 2025

There are three ways to object,

1. The Planning Portal (preferred) using the website  
2. Email 
3. Post. 

Instructions for all options are here. 

We strongly encourage everybody to register their objections and their personal reasons why the land should not be developed. Remember, these are to be material reasons as to why the land should not be included in the next version of the local plan. A crib sheet of the important factors you may wish to include is available by email on request to the Residents Association.

This is a crucial time, and the best opportunity we have to have the fields removed from the final local plan. The more voices, the better.

The planning Policy to object to is ‘PP9: North-East Colchester‘. The site IDs we are particularly interested in are 10616, 10616a and 10616b. Please specify these in your comments. 

If you have any difficulties or want more information, please email us for help.

There is a deadline of 14 January 2026 so let’s make sure the Council know what we feel!

Welshwood Park Residents Association committee

The refuse lorry will be available for leaf and garden waste collection on Saturday 6th December 2025. The refuse lorry will be located between 08:30-10:00 in the D in Woodlands and at the far end of Welshwood Park Road between 10:00-11:30.

Please note the open back lorry is unable to empty wheelie bins, only bags / sacks of leaves can be tipped into the lorry. PLEASE NO WHEELIE BINS.

If you would like Ardleigh Scout group to collect the bags of leaves / garden waste form your home and take them to the refuse lorry on Saturday 6th, please reply to this email to advise the Association Secretary.

Kind regards

Welshwood Park Residents Association

Minutes of Welshwood Park Residents Association Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 10th September 2025 at The Oak Tree Centre, St Anne’s Community Hall, 252 Harwich Road, Colchester.

Apologies were received from ten residents.

Minutes of the AGM held on Wednesday 18th September 2024 were approved.

Matters Arising Nothing was raised.

Chairmans Report Given by the Secretary.

In the autumn the committee approved the purchase of trees to help replace the loss of existing oak trees, the new trees are a field Mapel and a crab apple having been planted on the grass verge on either side of the entrance to The Glade.

The committee discussed the need for a WhatsApp group for the estate but came to the conclusion the administration and the probable need for GDPR was excessive and the email system was adequate.

The association had to remove a dead muntjak deer from the verge that had been knocked over in Woodlands, the council later took deer away.

A local councillor brought to our attention the City Councils proposed local plan to build 2000 home on the field around us, which spurred us into action to oppose it.

In the winter the chairman stood down due to work commitments, fortunately another resident was prepared to step in as acting chairperson until their appointment was confirmed at the AGM.

The leaf collection in December 24 was 7.74tonnes in January 25 it was 3.6tonnes total weight 11.34 tonnes with a total Cost £*****.

Complaints were received from residents in Welshwood Park Road about people not clearing up after their dogs resulting in the council putting up signs reminding people to clear up after their dogs.

The acting chairperson was selected to speak at the council planning meeting on 17th February and 7th May in opposition to the building on the field around Welshwood Park. The local plan was rejected on both occasions.
The association asked residents for donations to pay for a consultant with 40% contributing. However, the association may require additional contributions.

Residents undertook to get the path behind 17 to 37 Woodlands made into a Public Footpath, Essex County Council accepted the forms residents and walkers completed and the path will become an official footpath once the bureaucracy has been completed.

The association asked for a survey of the trees on council land as several are looking poorly or dead. This is now the responsibility of Essex County Council and issues have to be reported individually on Essex County Council “Tell Us” web site Tell us – Essex County Council scroll down the page to the box Trees, Hedges and Weeds. Or advise the Residents Association for us to report the problem.

The association has appointed a consultant and has appointed an ecologist who will start working for us in September.

Election of Officers

The election of a Chairperson and a Secretary, as well committee members were approved. The current secretary is stepped down but remains on the committee with the existing committee members.

The committee consisting of: –

Eight residents.

Planning Matters

A detailed update document of the Residents Association opposition to Colchester City Council Local Plan was issued with the agenda for this meeting. A local resident went through sections 4 and 5 of the document taking questions and providing clarification as necessary.
Volunteers were requested for the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Inventory to measure and record ancient trees in the field hedgerows and wood onto the inventory. The details of how to do this are in section 5 of the above document issued with the agenda with the web page information. Please contact the association if you are able to help.
The meeting approved the committee to spend more than £**** on consultants, ecologist and other assistance related to the opposition of the City Councils proposed local plan for the year to the next AGM.
It was noted a Welshwood Park Road resident (on the north side of the road) had purchased the section of field behind his garden stretching across the field. It was not clear if this would help prevent building on this field in the future.
The Governments cancellation of the upgrade to the A12 has caused Colchester City Council to say that the proposed West Tey development will not go ahead, it may also help our opposition to the Local Plan as Colchester Council does not envisage creating jobs in Colchester meaning people living in any new development will have to commute to other towns / cities.
Our local councillors also represent St Johns so are able to liaise and share information between the St Johns Fields Association trying to protect the field behind St Johns Road to Bullock Wood with ourselves.
Looking ahead to the creation of a Unitary Authority, one of the options is to combine Colchester, Tendring and Braintree councils with approximately 75 councillors. However, the new format has still to be resolved.



Neighbourhood Watch No problems in our area.
Residents who would like a weekly email of information of all Neighbourhood Watch issues in the Colchester area, please reply the Residents Association email so their request can be passed to the Neighbourhood Watch Team.

Environment & Trees

There was discussion as to whether there should be one or two leaf collections or an increase in subscriptions as the association made a loss last winter, it was agreed the association should increase the subscription to £** to cover the cost for two refuse vehicles. Two local councillors said they would cover some of the vehicle hire costs deficit.
The leaf collection dates were agreed as Saturday 6th December 2025 and Saturday 10h January 2026. Sharing the location between Woodlands and Welshwood Park Road. Our original request for the 29th November was not available.
We will be contacting local scouts to see if they can help with the bag collection to the refuse lorry.

Finance

As agreed above the annual subscription is to increase to £** to cover the cost of the leaf collection refuse lorry hire.
The treasurer prepared the accounts showing a bank balance of £******
Please see Treasurers Report below for more detail. The accounts were approved.

Any Other Business

The Welcome to Colchester sign on the A137 entering Colchester from Ardleigh is overgrown, our councillors have taken this issue on.

When turning right out of Welshwood Park Road the hedge towards the railway bridge has become overgrown blocking the view of oncoming traffic, our councillors are to look into the ownership of the hedge.

Chairperson thanked all residents who attended and closed the meeting at 9:30 pm.

Your association committee has been working hard to assess the impact on the community that the new proposed Colchester City Council Local Plan will have.

The current proposal is to build two thousand houses on the fields between Welshwood and Shaw’s Farm and the fields next to Bullock Wood behind St John’s.

We accept that there are government targets for the building of houses, but we feel that this land is completely unsuitable for this, for a number of significant and sound reasons. These include:

1. There is no infrastructure plan accompanying these proposals:

• 2,000 houses will generate a very large amount of traffic, causing an unacceptable degree of harm in terms of worsening congestion. The Bromley Road is a country lane, already impacted by the Bellway development and will be further impacted by the new Garden Community of 7,500 houses. The Harwich Road is already at capacity, often with huge tailbacks.
• There is no plan whatsoever for new GP surgeries or schools, and the General hospital is already at 95% capacity.

2. This land provides a valuable amenity for many people, particularly Welshwood residents, and this would be lost. This is our nearest green space and is highly valued by many for exercise and well-being.

3. It is a red risk for being a green field site, which means the environmental impact of building will be very significant. It will have a great detrimental impact on wildlife, and Welshwood itself will be isolated and become sterile. We have sky larks nesting in the fields and buzzards, with swans, geese and ducks using Salary Brook as a route from Ardleigh Reservoir to the River Colne.

4. It is a red risk for coalescence with the new large Garden Community, resulting in urban sprawl, through from Elmstead Market and Wivenhoe to Highwoods with no green buffer between communities.

5. The current land is used as farmland, producing food, and contributing to our food security. We are already losing a large amount of agricultural land with the building of the new Garden Community.

6. It is a red risk for mineral safeguarding and we need expert advice on this.

These are very significant objections and once lost, the land is lost forever.

In the shorter term, it will have a huge detrimental effect on all of our lives.

• Noise, dust, pollution and disruption for years.
• Severe traffic congestion, making any journey difficult. There is a pinch point at the Harwich Road roundabout, that cannot be improved.
• There will be a fall in house values for the area.
• There will be a loss of amenity with the nearest large green space being Highwoods Country Park.

We feel that there is an argument to increase the density of housing at the new Garden Community so that there are more, smaller, affordable houses there. The infrastructure is already planned for that, with a new link road, schools and GP surgeries.

We have the strong support of our three local councillors to oppose these plans.

As a community, we need to fight these proposals. We need to have strong arguments that defend the land, and we need professional help with this. We know this is an uphill struggle and consultations may seem like a bureaucratic exercise but we cannot let this huge development go unopposed. At the very least, we would hope to influence the outcome.

There was an open planning meeting in February to discuss the plan, and the planning committee councillors voted against the local plan, 6-5. The reasons it was voted down were the lack of infrastructure planning, and the plan was not due to be reconsidered until November. However, the same plan was presented to the committee on 7 May with no new revisions and so it was rejected again, by 7-4. This does give us a bit of breathing space but the plan will be re-presented and we need to be ready.

The Committee has agreed that an expert planning survey and report is essential to give us the best chance of stopping this development. We have identified a planning consultant who is well qualified in this area and would provide the detailed report on the plan, taking it through the various stages.

The Committee needs to raise funds to pay for this. We are hoping to appoint a firm based in Great Notley and their quote for the work is less than the consultants we had planned to approach, which is good news.

As many of you will know, we have asked for contributions from households in the Welshwood Park, and we suggested £200 per household, but all contributions are very welcome.

Thank you all, very much. This should enable us to start the consultation process but this is only the beginning of the help from experts that we are likely to need going forward.

If you haven’t already and you are able to support this venture, here are the bank details for Welshwood Park Residents Association:  Sort code: 20-22-67  Account number: 10944866

As reference for your payment, please enter your house number and road (eg 17 Glade, 25 Woodlands etc). Cheques should be made out to Welshwood Park Residents Association.

If anybody has any relevant knowledge or expertise in terms of planning, protection of trees, wildlife, bird life, we would love to hear from you and have your help.

Lastly, some positive news that shows we can make a difference. Due to the efforts of two residents, enough evidence has been gathered to register an application for the land behind Woodlands to be officially recognized as a public footpath. The powers that be take a long time to consider such an application, but we are over the first hurdle. Thank you to the local people that filled in the forms.  

We sincerely hope you can support us in our efforts to protect our lovely area.

There are two items of interest in this November News Letter

 LEAF COLLECTION  

The leaf collection has been arranged for two dates, Saturday 7th December 2024 and Saturday 11th January 2025.

The refuse lorry will be in two locations each Saturday: –

On 7^th December the D in Woodlands, between 09:00-10:30 and then far end of Welshwood Park Road between 10:30-12:00.

On 11^th January Welshwood Park Road between 09:00-10:30 and then the D in Woodlands 10:30-12:00.

All residents who have paid their annual subscription (£10) to the Association or who pay on the day are able to dispose of leaves and other garden waste.  The refuse lorry will have an open back so will be unable to empty the brown wheely bins. Only bags and sacks can be emptied into the vehicle.

Ardleigh Scout Group are willing to collect bags of leaves from residents homes and take them to the refuse lorry and return the empty bags for a donation to the scout group. If you would like the scouts help, please reply to this email with your name and address or contact the Association Secretary so we are able to identify the demand for this service.

Please note the annual subscription to the Association will still need to have been paid or paid on the day.

Welshwood Park Residents Association bank details: – Sort Code **-**-**  Account Number ********

Please enter your address as reference e.g., Wel 21, Wood 21 or Glade 21 if there are limited character allowed otherwise put the full road name and house number.

 The Tendring Colchester Garden Village Consultation

You will have received the flyer delivered through your letter box advising of the third public exhibition of the Garden Village plans. The locations and dates of the exhibition roadshow are on the flyer with the closest to us on 20^th November 16:00-19:00 at the Oak Tree Centre, 252, Harwich Road.

With all planning and development consultations the more public involvement indicates residents take an interest in their area meaning poor decisions won’t get pushed through. A good turnout is helpful.

Brian Todd

Chairman

Wednesday 18th September 2024 at The Oak Tree Centre, St Anne’s Community Hall, 252 Harwich Road, Colchester.

Apologies   were received from fourteen residents.

Minutes of the AGM held on Wednesday 20th September 2023 were approved.

Matters Arising   Nothing was raised.

Chairmans Report

Another quiet year with only a couple of matters that required our attention, those being the requested change of use for number 7 Welshwood Park Road and our appeal for a reduction in the cost of vehicle hire for the leaf collection.

With regard to the change of use, I would like to thank one of our residents for the expert advice she provided which I am sure helped us get this application rejected. Had this been approved it would have allowed the property to be used for activities that would have been detrimental to what is primarily a family oriented private residential area.

The lorry hire seems to get more difficult every year and we have a constant battle with the Council regarding the cost of this service. They now want to charge us for the hire without giving us the credit they receive of £30.70 per tonne from Essex County Council. Having persuaded them to deduct this, as they have in the past, we then had to challenge their final figure for a three-hour service when we had requested only two hours on the second collection. Apparently, we should have known that there would be no reduction if we requested a shorter time, but nobody advised us of this when we put in our request. Our local Councillors advised us to challenge this and the outcome was a reduction in the final bill.

This all seems very petty, but it causes a lot of unnecessary extra work for our secretary.

The Garden Village project that we are relying on to help protect us from further development on the surrounding fields seems to be a matter of one step forward and one step back. We understand that the link road between the A120 and the A133 will only need to be built after the first 1500 houses have been erected. Sounds good, but we then learn that the Planning inspector has recommended modifications which are now open for our thoughts and feedback until 21 October, after which they will be reviewed by said inspector before he finalises any modifications. If this was not bad enough, we have now been told that our City Council is required to up its annual new homes building programme from 900 to 1200. If its any consolation, I have lived here for 44 years and for most of that time there have been concerns regarding the fields. There have even been times when we have been offered the opportunity to purchase some of the land.

Finally, I would like to thank your committee for their continued support and also our local Councillors who never fail to attend our meetings and give us helpful feedback.     

Planning Matters

The Tendring Colchester Border Garden Community Development Plan modification for consultation from the Inspector, section MM64 part 1 “Before any planning approval is granted for development forming part of the Garden Community the full delivery of the A120-A133 link road must have secured planning consent and a commitment to full funding must be demonstrated”. Without the commitment to funding and the road plans approved no planning approval to commence building the garden community can be approved, which could hold up the garden community project and leave the field around the north east of Colchester vulnerable to developers.

The councillor responsible for Colchester City Council planning is keen to get the link road approved and completed, the main impact for us would be to keep construction traffic off the Bromley Road.

The delays on Clingoe Hill are caused by the development of a Rapid Transit system to the east of Colchester. 

Neighbourhood Watch   No problems in our area.

Unfortunately, unregistered electric motor bikes are becoming a problem on the public footpaths around the estate due to their silent approach these can be very dangerous for walkers. Please report these incidents to the Police on 101 or online. If enough reports are received from our area, it could encourage more Police presence.

A councillor reported that a recent initiative in the City Centre has reduced anti-social behaviour and shoplifting.

Environment & Trees   

The leaf collection dates were agreed as Saturday 30^th November 2024 and Saturday 4^h January 2025. Sharing the location between Woodlands and Welshwood Park Road.

We will be contacting Ardleigh scouts to see if they can help with the bag collection to the refuse lorry.

The garden waste has remained at the same volume since the introduction of the brown wheely bins.

There was discussion on the 9 saplings the Council was proposing to plant in the estate however our bid has not been successful yet. As a result, it was suggested the Residents Association could fund saplings for planting on verges, in the location the council had suggested, no conclusion was reached.

Finance   

It was agreed to maintain the annual donation of £10 to cover the cost of the leaf collection refuse lorry hire.

The treasurer prepared the accounts showing a bank balance of £*,***.**.

Please see Treasurers Report was provided. The accounts were approved.

Election of Officers   

The Chairman stood down at this AGM after 16 years as Chairman covered two 8-year periods. Those attending the meeting thanked him.

The election to the committee of a Chairman and Committee member was approved with the existing committee members unchanged. The secretary said he would be standing down at the next AGM.

The committee consisting of: –

(Chairman)    

(Secretary)     

(Treasurer)     

(Neighbourhood Watch)

Two Committee members.

Any Other Business 

The secretary wants to Thank a local resident for picking up litter as he walks around the estate.

A councillor stated there are Litter Warriors who organise litter collecting throughout the city.

Chairman thanked all residents who attended and closed the meeting at 9:08 pm

Minutes of Welshwood Park Residents Association Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 20th September 2023 at The Oak Tree Centre, St Anne’s Community Hall, 252 Harwich Road, Colchester.

Apologies   were received from ten residents.

Minutes of the AGM held on Wednesday 21st September 2022 were approved.

Matters Arising   Nothing was raised.

Chairmans Report

This has been another fairly quiet year with the biggest headache caused by our Council who decided that they were going to charge us what we considered to be an extortionate amount for our two leaf collections. At first, we had great difficulty in persuading them that it was necessary and, once we had pointed out that this had been an annual event for several years, they started with a figure of £920.00. We then asked for a breakdown of this figure and after much discussion between us and our local Councillors who intervened on our behalf, we agreed to this figure but less the £30.70 per tonne green credit that they would get from Essex County Council and which we had always had in the past.

Because this had taken so long to process it meant that the collections were delayed and we finished up with dates in December and January and with a smaller lorry on the first date. In total we paid £310.16 for the experience. Dealing with the Councils new hiring system was a challenge but the delay worked in our favour as there were very few leaves down in November.

As there was no interest in arranging an event for our late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee it was decided that the Association would leave residents to plan their own celebrations for His Majesty the King’s coronation.

Our Secretary managed to catch our grass cutter on both his Spring and Autumn visits and he was quite amenable to our request to cut down the grass and nettles through our footpaths.

I am sure you will have noticed that the wooden fence at 3 Welshwood Park Road has been removed and we are grateful to the residents for complying with the court order.

Our Secretary held a site meeting with our county councillor to discuss the poor state of the pavements in Welshwood Park Road but because ours are not considered to be as bad as many others it may be some time before remedial work is undertaken. We have also been informed that to even consider putting up No Through Road signs at the entrance to Welshwood Park we would need to provide photographs of large vehicles entering in error.

As our Secretary says, apart from these issues it has been a quiet year, and at this point I really must thank my committee members for their continued support.

Planning Matters

Local Councillor explained the Colchester Local Plan Review which has to take place 5 years after the plan commenced, the council are seeking the views of local groups and organisations. The Local Plan sets out a vision and framework for the future for housing community facilities as well as a basis for conserving and enhancing the natural environment mitigating and adapting to climate change. To protect the bio diversity of north east Colchester by protecting the fields and open space around Welshwood Park it would be helpful for residents to write to the council explaining the benefits to health and wellbeing, the environment and green networks (hedgerows and wooded areas) by keeping the green environment around us. You can email comments to the Planning Policy Team at planning.policy@colchester.gov.uk 

The more comments indicate a community cares, no comments the council assumes the community don’t care what happens.

You will have received a leaflet through your door for the Tendring Colchester Boarders Garden Community consultation, it is your chance to find out about the project and provide feedback to help develop the plans. Please attend one of the exhibitions, again, the more engagement from our area indicates the community cares, few people turning up may allow a development plan which is not beneficial to our area.

The recent government policy changes require the City council to have greater bio diversity (trees, hedgerows and open space). The council owned former Gas Board recreation ground bordering Welsh wood is to be placed on a register of potential sites as an area of Bio-Diversity by the council for developers to acquire (buy credit for an area to offset the space they need for their development) if the site they are developing does not have the space for Bio-Diversity

Neighbourhood Watch   No problems in our area. However please report any issues as they will be logged and appear on statistics which could result in more Police funding for our area.

Environment & Trees   

The leaf collection dates were agreed as Saturday 9^th December 2023 and Saturday 6^th January 2024. Sharing the location between Woodlands and Welshwood Park Road.

We will be contacting Ardleigh scouts to see if they can help with the bag collection to the refuse lorry.

From January 2024 Colchester City Council are to start charging for garden waste collection, an enrolment fee of £35 for the wheely bin and £55 per year charge for the collection. Residents can have more than one wheely bin but will have to pay the £35 enrolment fee for each additional wheely bin and the £55 per year collection charge. Each wheely bin will have a bar coded sticker attached to confirm eligibility for collection.

The general black bag waste collection will continue unchanged by black plastic sacks.

Finance   

It was agreed to raise the annual donation to £10 to cover the cost of the leaf collection refuse lorry hire.

The cost has increased significantly over the last three years 2021 £0,    2022 £310, 2023 between £500 to £600.

The treasurer prepared the accounts showing a bank balance of £****.**).

The accounts were approved.

Election of Officers   

The Chairman advised he will be standing down at the AGM next year and stated the committee needed more members for the association to remain viable.  Being on the committee does not require a lot of time and it would be good to have new people and ideas coming onto the committee.

The election of the committee was approved.

The committee consisting of: –

(Chairman)

(Secretary)

(Treasurer)

(Neighbourhood Watch)

One committee member

Any Other Business 

A resident with oak trees enquired what the liquid weeping down the trunk was, the meeting thought this was not good but could not provide more information.

The association put in a bit with the council for trees to be planted on council verges on the estate, we are awaiting the outcome of our bid.

Residents in Woodlands and The Glade have recently had a week with no Royal Mail letter deliveries; however, Welshwood Park Road appear to have received deliveries as normal.

Chairman thanked all residents who attending the meeting on a wet and miserable evening and closed the meeting at 9:15 pm