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To the Nottage on Wednesday evening for the monthly meeting of the Wivenhoe Society committee. Our usual reading room setting had been shifted to the front of the building, providing a panoramic view of the Quay and the rainfall coming up the estuary.

Pretty and being p***ed on from up above – it’s not quite the perfect metaphor for the problems that a local society supportive of a town encounters, but with issues such as planning, the Environment Agency vandalism and the Colchester City status bid, the view from the Nottage fitted the themes of the evening.

We had the pleasure of the company of the good Councillor Needham, the newly installed Mayor of Wivenhoe. De-chained and looking lean and mean (just give the fella three months into the hectic civic schedule…) Mr Mayor updated the committee on the main points from the Wivenhoe Town Council meeting held on Monday.

The WTC adoption of the Wet Dock in the Cook’s Development is an area that concerns Cllr Needham:

“This will be a millstone for all of Wivenhoe if we proceed with it. The upkeep of the dry dock from incoming silt will be costly; there are also insurance worries. The developer wanted us to have unlimited insurance. WTC has taken legal advice and we have been advised not to proceed.”

The possible purchase of the now empty police station and police houses is also still on the agenda:

“We need to get a move on – WTC was in purdah when the correspondence went out. We were restricted in what we could do because of the protocol of electing a new Council.”

A private planning matter down at Alma Street was also raised, with Mr Mayor simply alerting WivSoc to an area that the committee takes an active interest in.

Don’t forget my personal policy of not commenting in public on private planning applications. Still holding out for that nightclub at the bottom of the garden…

Worthy of a sneering comment however is the Planning Application in Retrospect that has been put in for a property up at Cracknell Close. This is a building that has a very valid use in housing disabled residents, yet still the planning laws need to be observed – or not, as the case appears to be here.

Having been turned down in February with an original application for the extension of the living accommodation, the exact same application has now been re-submitted “in retrospect.” Which is formal talk for saying: whoops – we’ve done the building work anyway and we want to try and formalise it now that the horse has bolted.

It makes a, um, ass of the law, Comrades…

Sticking with Planning and HONK!!!! MAJOR RUMOUR ALERT!!!!

The Engine Shed is gonna become student accommodation. You heard it here first (or probably in The Greyhound / Station / Black Buoy etc.)

No documentation has been presented to justify this rumour, but apparently it is doing the rounds, no doubt crossing over with that *cough* well reasoned rumour about Bowie headlining May Fair.

In what was something of a shorter than usual WivSoc meeting, the social calendar was next up for consideration. Forget al those student parties in the Engine Shed to celebrate the purchase of the police station, the schedule looks something like this:

21st and 22nd May – Open Gardens

17th July – Crabbing Competition

23rd July – Wivenhoe Town Regatta (and the intrigue of the Pram Race on the Friday evening…)

10th September – WivSoc Fun Day

2nd October – Riverbank clean-up

12th November – Craft Fair

18th November – Wine Tasting

We had the esteemed company of Queen Crab at the Nottage to update the committee with the well-organised plans for the Quayside competition this summer. In a shift back to the more traditional July date, the plan is to catch the kids (catch the crabs) before the little darlings disappear on their summer holidays.

Sunday 17th July has been identified as the most appropriate high tide, with the crabs of Wivenhoe (steady) up for inspection from 12:30 – 2:30.

And that was more or less yer lot for this month. I departed the Nottage with the drizzle disappearing and the light early summer evenings still fighting off the descending darkness.

A bit like WivSoc, really.

Wivsoc – Disclaimer: I am a member of the Wivenhoe Society, although not a committee member. All views expressed within this blog post are mine alone, and not that of the committee, or the Society in general.