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Residents of Wivenhoe are revolting. And behind every revolting resident there is a rallying call:

POTHOLES.

After left feeling that the town has had something of a rough ride when it comes to fixing potholes, Cllr Robert Needham of Wivenhoe Town Council has called for a protest march to take place in the town on Sunday.

The guided walk around some of the cavernous structures that have been left unrepaired will start up at Woodland Way at 11am on Sunday, concluding down at Anchor Hill – which is coming close to becoming the POTHOLE that ate itself.

Concerned residents have added rubble and bricks to the Anchor Hill opening. This gives you an indication of the depth of the POTHOLE that has been left unattended by Essex County Council.

Speaking about the need for the high profile POTHOLE action, Cllr Needham said:

“Longstanding defects in the surface structure of Wivenhoe roads have reached the end of their shelf life. Road defect reports have been filed with Essex County Council and Job Numbers have been assigned to the reports. However, this is where the action seems to stop.

The situation is so bad that residents in the town have resorted to filling in the most notorious holes with builder’s rubble. As contributors to public services we expect a minimal service. We are not getting even the absolute minimum.

Transport, Utilities, Banking and most of the other familiar services have to perform to standards. I fail to see why Essex County Council isn’t held to account in a similar way. In fact, we are the regulators of failing County services. We have to let them know how they are performing. In Wivenhoe, we plan to do this publicly!”

The responsibility for fixing POTHOLES in the town lies with Essex County Council. The frustration faced by many is an indication as to where Wivenhoe sits in the political food chain.

Residents report the problem to their Colchester Borough councillor, who in turn then has to contact County Hall over in Chelmsford to formally put the POTHOLE plan of action into place.

Speaking at the most recent Wivenhoe Town Council meeting, Cllr Mark Cory, the LibDem representative for the Cross ward at Colchester Borough Council commented:

“The pothole outside The Flag has now been filled in with bricks and rubble – this tells you how deep it has become. I have sent an email today about it. The pothole was marked up for action four months ago. There has been no action.”

To be fair, Essex County Council does have a handy online functionality for reporting POTHOLES. But the front end doesn’t always have any resemblance to the back end, as the pantomime horse once said. You can report your POTHOLE online, but this is no guarantee of action elsewhere.

The money does appear to be there for Essex County Council to fix the POTHOLE problem, but somewhere down the political food chain and the will power appears to be lacking.

Cllr Julie Young, the Wivenhoe and St Andrew representative at county level told the recent Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Action Panel that £11m has just been put aside by ECC to help eradicate all potholes within the county.

This is a significant amount, especially so when you consider that only £1m could be found for the whole of Colchester to deal with ALL Highway improvements.

The POTHOLE rallying call for Sunday may seem drastic, but as Cllr Needham notes, an unexplainable delay is occurring in the repair of potholes in Wivenhoe. The local press / bloggers will lap it up, but POTHOLES are no laughing matter for residents.

Fill yer boots.

Update from Cllr Julie Young, 29th June:

“Despite continuous reporting of potholes some of which have been reported by me, Cllr Steve Ford and the Town Council, they take an absolute age to get done. The one by the entrance to the Co-op car park is a case in point. Another bad one in Park Road as well – both now done but took forever.

I queried whether the standards have changed at the last ECC full council meeting and they confirmed that they haven’t. The fact is that due to huge local Government cuts we are simply not getting the service people expect and I do not blame WTC for taking this action. People pay their Council tax and are simply not getting anything like the service they should get.”

To the Quay! …on a lazy Sunday afternoon for the annual Jazz on the… Quay. Hosting the laid back Blackwater Band in the gravel pit at the back of Rectory Road probably wouldn’t attract the same ambience, dahhhling.

And ambience was in abundance for Sunday afternoon. Sometimes you just need the healing power of jazz to float over you, invite you to have a cheeky half shandy and say: YEAH – it’s rather special this estuary wilds lifestyle, isn’t it?

It gets a whole lot more special after TWO halves of shandy.

Chin chin.

Alcohol aside, this was a rather celebratory occasion for the Blackwater Band. The boys from that other estuary opening were blowing away for the twentieth time down by the muddy banks of the Colne.

Two decades of a mid-summer celebration of swing and jazz, all delivered under a backdrop of sunshine and smiles. The sun rays left it a little too close to call on Sunday afternoon, but we just about got there, Comrades.

And relax.

Which is the natural default position that jazz provides you with. ANGRY OF WIVENHOE ‘aint gonna go round in a rage, SHOUTING and pointing fingers at folk when jazz takes control Quayside and loosens you up.

Even the ambitious attempt for a car to make a Quayside passage, right in the middle of the makeshift football pitch / jazz appreciation listening post raised a few smiles, rather than eyebrows.

“There’s nowhere else quite like Wivenhoe”

…as one dignified chap of this parish whispered in my ear, just as I was attempting to record the climax of the set. There certainly isn’t, Sir. A double bass out of the back of van, a drum kit hanging on for dear life just up from the town hard and smiles, conversations and friendships.

They say that you can calculate your Jazz Age by multiplying the number of half shandies that are sipped during a single jazz rendition by the number of smiles you can clock in a five metre radius.

My Jazz Age is 99, not out.

Twenty more Jazz on the Quay celebrations would be nice.

Chin chin.

The 20th anniversary celebrations for the Wivenhoe Ferry Trust set sail from the Quay on Saturday lunchtime with many of the original founders reflecting and looking forward.

As high water reached Wivenhoe around 1:15pm, the first sailing carried Madam Mayor and some of the original ferry folk over for a celebration lunch at The Anchor in Rowhedge.

With the Wivenhoe, Fingringhoe and Rowhedge Ferry now so firmly established, it seems strange to think that the revival of the service back in 1992 was viewed with some uncertainty at the time.

Cllr Brian Sinclair, one of the original crew, commented:

“It started off with an idea from Rod Smart. He turned up at the Sailing Club on the Regatta Day and said: I want to talk with somebody about starting the ferry.

I said: Not today…”

Curiosity concerning the original Rowhedge ferry service, and a perceived possible need for a renewed crossing led Rod Smart to pursue his idea. Twenty years almost to the day since the first ferry crossing, Rod recalls:

“It was a Eureka moment. We had lived in Wivenhoe for around six years. We were just sitting on the riverbank opposite Rowhedge at The Anchor. We saw these concrete steps going down, which transpired to be the old steps for the Rowhedge ferry. We wondered if it was still running – and it wasn’t. We thought wouldn’t it be a wonderful idea if it was still running, and it went from there.”

Read your Butler – still THE Bible for all things Wivenhoe based – and you find that the history of a ferry service in Wivenhoe is connected with industry, rather than leisure. The Fingringhoe Ferry stopped sailing in 1953, leading to a High Court case involving Colchester Borough Council.

The Rowhedge service landed at Ferry Marsh until 1961, carrying shipbuilders back and forth between both towns across the Colne.

After his initial doubts in 1992, Brian Sinclair remembers how the current incarnation of the ferry found the momentum to move forward with the service that we now have in the town today:

“Loads of people got together. We did a trial run with a couple of rowing dinghies from the old original hard at the bottom of Bethany Street. We had a queue which was an hour long; we had the WI over in the Fingringhoe landing with a tea urn. We rowed people over the river, gave them a cup of tea and we knew it was going to work.

Quite a few residents use it because they like a trip up the river and a drink. A lot of tourists come down. The Wivenhoe Ferry featured in Time Out magazine. People came in from London on the train and used the ferry as part of the walk.

People said twenty years ago it would never work. And here we are twenty years later, and it still is.”

After the first few celebratory sailings on Saturday lunchtime, queues started to form down at the Quay. It wasn’t the type of weather to provide the smoothest of crossings, but it shows that there is still the demand to carry passengers back and forth across either side of the Colne.

The continued sailings each summer are down to the volunteer Ferry Trust folk, who somehow manage to get the boat ship worthy at the start of each season, and then find the volunteers to skipper the craft each weekend.

Rod Smart reflects:

“We managed to get people involved. Lucky for us, we had the right people involved, which is why twenty years on it is still running.”

Much has changed in that twenty year period; recent planning applications over on the Rowhedge river suggest that this will continue over the next two decades. The industry may have been replaced by residents, but there is still a need to cross the muddy banks of the Colne.

Anchors up.

Hyperlocal parish notices coming our way, via The Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle. Disclaimer: other ‘nearby villages’ are also served; Brightlingsea ‘ain’t on my radar, Comrades.

So let’s fast forward to p.2 and:

It’s a New Mayoral Year.

Never the twain, ying and yang, etc. Not quite separated at birth, but the double scoop from Scoop Scarpenter comes in with two birds being killed with one stone, so to speak:

“The new mayoral year has just commenced, and town councillors Penny Kraft and Karen Yallop are respectively the new Mayor’s of Wivenhoe and Brightlingsea. Cllr Kraft has firm views to how money raised by the Mayor’s Charity should be used.”

Do tell, Madam Mayor…

“New charities will be assisted, but I believe money collected here should be distributed for the use and enjoyment of our residents. I would like to see the new health centre come to fruition.”

Which is a half decent start. If any of the impetus on display in the Jubilee welly wanging is an indicator, all the more power to the collective elbow of Wivenhoe.

OUCH.

Taking out the Mayor’s Escort with a stray size 9 piece of rubber footwear in no laughing matter. Not so with Faulty Towers:

“Several local artists will be performing in the production Fawlty Towers – Live, which features the bigoted antics of the incompetent hotel proprietor Basil Fawlty. Performed by Shane Diggens Productions, it will run at the Lakeside Theatre from 4th July to the 7th July.”

I hear that the University’s new Edge Hotel is almost ready for completion on campus as well.

Comic timing, blah blah blah.

Meanwhile, you know what you’re getting from any news piece that contains the first para:

“On my way to the May Fair at Wivenhoe, I paused briefly at that well known hostelry, the Horse and Groom, and discussed the event with Grace, a popular member of the bar staff.”

Chin chin.

Make sure you don’t miss the headliners…

“Several thousand people thoroughly enjoyed a great atmosphere, a diversity of stalls, and some fine entertainment, particularly in the acoustic tent.”

Long May it continue, etc etc…

The Funny Farm gets the customary Chronicle plug, with the gathering at the Cricket Club on 26th June something of a… scoop with Edinburgh preview shows heading to Wivenhoe.

The Tenis Club Open Tournament on 24th June at Broad Lane gets the p.12 treatment. Players and spectators most welcome. Mixed doubles promised (players, not spectators.)

Keeping the cricket theme (sort of) and Wivenhoe Town CC is staging the now annual live music afternoon on 22nd July:

“Tickets are now available for the 10th Anniversary Afternoon of live music and fun for all the family organised by the Wivenhoe Town Cricket Club.”

Weekend Soundtrack and Soul’d Out Live will be performing somewhere just backwards of Square. Keep an eye on line and length during the face painting sessions.

A picture special SPLASH of the Jubilee celebrations completes the hyperlocal parish notices coming our way via the Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle for this month.

Every picture tells a story, as yer man Rod once sang. Pre-school picnics, sports races and bell ringing. You could write a blog post of out of that.

Until next month…

To the Town Council Office! …on Monday evening for the monthly Wivenhoe Town Council meeting. Scheduled for a 7:30pm start, but as we know, the new Madam Mayor runs a tight ship.

It turns out that kick off took place slightly earlier. Time and tide wait for no man. Or even bored blogger or The Almighty (not interchangeable…)

The very good Rev Erwin Lammens was already updating WTC with *possible* plans to open up St Mary’s to the community, and to offer a much needed open space for local groups.

A specialist architect has been commissioned to carry out a feasibility study into the possibility of providing a meeting space for community use. Historical and emotive sensibilities are being considered.

Let thy words be few.

Which hopefully was also the case for the remainder of the WTC monthly. Those Euro 2012 referees run a similar time keeping schedule to that of Madam Mayor.

Let’s kick off with the news that WTC has a new councillor.

Hurrah!

A big hellooooo! to a well known name around the town in David Henley. That will be Cllr David Henley, Sir. Good luck with planning, penny pinching [steady] and POTHOLES.

POTHOLES.

You could write an entire hyperlocal blog about the subject. Which actually isn’t a bad idea. A daily post of a hyperlocal POTHOLE, handily geotagged [YEAH] and with the functionality to report it online to our friends from Highways at Essex County Council.

Alternatively just join the rallying call from Cllr Bob Needham, who is keen to start a POTHOLE Revolution [of sorts] right here in Wivenhoe:

“Wivenhoe is the poor relation when it comes to potholes in the county. Anchor Hill and outside The Flag are particularly suffering. I was expecting an answer from Cllr Julie Young tonight [the Labour County councillor wasn't at the meeting.]

This has gone on for far too long. It is time for action. We have had to put up with this for three months. It’s not good enough.”

Madam Mayor chipped in:

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Cllr Needham continued:

“We have been abandoned. We now need to kick up a fuss and start a campaign to correct this situation.”

It wasn’t quite the politicisation of POTHOLES, but Cllr Mark Cory, the LibDem borough councillor for the Cross ward, also answered the rallying call:

“I whole-heartedly agree. The pothole outside The Flag has now been filled in with bricks and rubble – this tells you how deep it has become. I have sent an email today about it. The pothole was marked up for action four months ago. There has been no action.”

Putting POTHOLES to one side, so to speak, and Cllr Cory also updated over the great Wivenhoe Turn Off:

“We are now entering a consultation about the turning off of street lights between midnight and 5am. This will take place in the autumn of 2012. There is scope in the consultation for certain areas to be excluded, such as where nightclubs are located.”

Lively though some of the boozers around the town have become, it’s hardly a Leicester Square Hippodrome hyperlocal moment.

But wait! What’s this?

“The University could be categorised as being a nightclub, so there is scope for Colchester Road to remain lit up with street lights.”

The University could be categorsied as being many things, often depicted with the tabloid style light bulb being turned off.

Tune in, turn on, drop out, etc.

Cllr Cory concluded by confirming:

“I have put forward the recommendation to the Local Planning Committee that the St John Ambulance Building is now put back on the Wivenhoe Townscape Forum list.

Uh-huh.

Cllr Andrea Vaughan of WTC saw Cllr Cory’s St John [oooh] and raised the stakes with her Millfields:

“I would also like the land opposite Millfields to be reconsidered for the Townscape Forum. We don’t understand why it can’t now be considered.”

And whaddya know – up pops the charming Village Green Guru in Cllr Cyril Liddy, the Quay ward representative at Colchester Borough Council:

“What is most significant is that the developer has now withdrawn interest. I will bring the matter forward with Essex County Council and see if we can press ahead with the village green status.”

The Millfields land is a little sensitive. Technically owned by Elmstead Parish Council, gifted to the people of Wivenhoe, and just about within the boundary. WTC resolved on Monday evening to diplomatically meet with that other lot over in Elmstead to try and conclude the matter.

Moving on…

Planning – Cllr Vaughan raised the issue of a gate that has appeared in the plans for Ten Acres:

“This has been sneaked in. Can Cllr Liddy please call this application in to the Planning Committee? If allowed, it will cause obvious traffic issues.”

The Village Green Guru agreed to take on the added Gate Keeper status.

Nice one Cyril, etc.

Taylor Wimpey – this gets slightly tricky…

A change to residential use for the retail units down at Cook’s has been suggested by the developer.

Cllr Vaughan stated:

“I don’t think that this is what the public wants. We supported the initial application, but the borough thought that the parking provision was not adequate for a retail development. Therefore the developer now wants to sell the space as residential, and not retail.”

The Taylor Wimpey parking argument appears about as watertight as some of the rotting hulls that line the muddy banks of the Colne, when you consider that WTC is about to… open up a car park right by the flood barrier.

Ah, beep beep – a timely reminder:

Cllr Kevin Read confirmed:

“Work on the car park has now started. We are looking at parking meters and putting together a business plan. The dingy park is also under construction. This will provide fourteen spaces. For the first three years, priority will be for Cook’s residents. The four fisherman in the dry dock have been sent letters to sign about their new legal use.”

So progress down by the waterfront.

As for the new Health Centre?

“No update”

…added Cllr Neil Lodge.

Which wasn’t the case for the randy stag beetles of Wivenhoe. The Wivenhoe Working Wood Party – or www as the hyperlocal digerati have declared it – has successfully built a stag beetle hotel [blimey] on the edges of the wood down at the KGV.

Cllr Asa Aldis is a man who knows all about the birds and the bees. Or even the stag beetles:

“The stag beetles have arrived and are copulating. We have found a male abdomen that has been chewed off by a randy female.”

Which is a bit like the life of a bored blogger back at base.

Slightly more serious was the update from the Community Opportunities Group. The issue here is with the police houses along the High Street, and the possibility of the Right to Buy for any tenants. Which would be a little unfortunate, seeing as though WTC has tied its mast to the High Street having bought the houses with the long-term view of redeveloping the site.

The good Town Clerk confirmed that there is a get out clause:

“Any residents have the Right to Buy after five years of living in the houses. Demolition notices can be served though.”

Which sorts defeats the object – talk about biting / bulldozing the hand that feeds.

Just behind the police houses and the Jubilee events at the KGV have been considered a huge success by many within the town. Over a year in planning, Cllr Needham updated with the post-party progress:

“It was an incredibly busy day, but very enjoyable. The range of activities drew in the crowds that we wanted. We had a superb amount of help from many volunteers. I would like to congratulate everyone who got involved and rolled their sleeves up. The £2,000 borrowed from Finance looks safe.”

The Jubilee feel good factor was also touched upon by Cllr Kraft whilst updating with her Mayoral activities for the month:

“Many people have approached me and said how much they enjoyed the activities. We should now consider if we could make the sports day, the dog show, the teddy bear trail and all the other activities take place each year.”

Which was more or less the spirit that could be seen at the KGV on the day – not so much Jubilee flag waving, but a genuine community day. The Queen should declare a Wivenhoe Bank Holiday for the first week in June from now on.

Plus don’t forget the May Fair celebrations the week before. The Neighbourhood Watch group certainly didn’t, with the Wivenhoe May Fair being one of the three main items discussed at the recent meeting.

Cllr Ian Endean updated:

“It was noted that the May Fair this year had much better organisation, as well as a very positive policy towards alcohol control. Elsewhere and potholes dominate. We also talked about Speed Watch. Thirty speeding motorists have recently been logged along Rectory Hill. One of these was traveling at 53mph. Speed Watch will continue in Wivenhoe, although we still need more volunteers.”

But back to May Fair, and it emerged that the licence for the KGV *may* soon become available once again. Clarification was called for. The question went out around the top table asking that *if* the KGV licence were up for grabs, would WTC like to explore the possibilities of taking control once again?

A unanimous YES.

And that was the first half played out, a quick break and back for more of the same.

Or maybe not.

The second half of the football was calling, but the remaining items at WTC were to be debated behind closed doors.

A red card, and back to base.

No cold shower either.

A couple of months on from our last Moving Image catch up and much has happened behind the scenes for the independent community cinema for Wivenhoe and the Sunny Colch surrounds. Moving Image took a short break over the May Fair and Jubilee weekends, but a new schedule has now been announced taking the cinema group through until the end of the summer months.

But first – what of the activity taking place behind the fancy film projector itself?

Ahh – funny you should ask. Thanks to a *shhh* successful Big Society funding application, Moving Image now has a state of the art HD BluRay projector firmly installed down at the Philip Road Centre in Wivenhoe. Cinema Rooms overs in Chelmsford were able to offer a generous discount.

As Moira from Moving Image explains in the podcast below the JVC X-30 HDMI projector [phew] is now physically in place at Philip Road, making Moving Image appear to be part of the furniture in the Essex County Council owned building.

Elsewhere and we touch upon the challenges of staging community cinema in an old school building, and how the brilliant black out curtain is holding up as the Sunny Colch sunrays [sort of] compete with the BluRay action.

The hyperlocal collaboration with Film Colchester is also explored. Moving Image is supporting the Colchester Film Festival taking place in October, acting as one of the venues in which local filmmakers will be able to showcase their talents.

But it’s not all about BluRay, black out curtains and making connections around the town. What of the cinematic action itself?

Once again, it is worth stating that these are the Golden Days of Moving Image. We look back on the recent run of films, which saw The Artist attracting a capacity crowd for the local screening, with sadly a few people having to be turned away.

Zelig [hurrah!] The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo [uewww] and Wuthering Heights [Gawd help us] are also discussed.

But of course the main point of any podcast action with the ACE Moving Image is to look ahead to the future schedule.

HONK! Exclusive [yeah, yeah...] coming up…

Moving Image will be screening the following films over the coming weeks as part of its commitment to developing independent community cinema:

16th June, The Descendants

23rd June, The Woman in Fifth

30th June, A Dangerous Method

7th July, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

14th July Cinema Paradiso

All films are shown at the Philip Road Centre in Wivenhoe, with an 8pm start time. Entrance is £4.50 for members, with non-members made welcome with a £6 admission fee. Annual membership for Moving Image is a bargain price of £10.

As for the future of moving Image? There will be another short break for the summer holidays (not that kind) and the tireless volunteers will start to build upon the findings of the recent Moving Image survey.

Some reassuring – and sometimes surprising - results were uncovered.

When asked:

What would improve your cinema experience at Moving Image?

…there were no leading man eyebrows being raised when 58% of respondents stated improved comfort. As Moira mentions in the recording, this is also something that is being explored, in the unlikely setting of… Alresford.

What are your favourite kind of films?

…came up with:

Classic (68%) European Cinema (65%) World Cinema (65%) Comedy (62%) Art films (59%) …all the way down to Horror with 4%. An encouraging 34% of respondents stated that they attend Moving Image monthly. The core audience is there, and as The Artist demonstrated, it continues to build.

Ahh, but what future films would you like to see screened? The Iron Lady, Chariots of Fire and A Dangerous Mind are all name checked. Some poor deluded un-cinematic type stated Purple Rain.

Yeah, but Baby I’m a Star.

Or something.

And finally, further suggestion, comments?

Weekday showings, double bill on Sundays and more comfort once again came. Our survey said UH-UH when it came to the question of themed nights and dressing up. And thank the chuffers for that.

And so with the Moving Image second birthday approaching after the summer months, the independent community cinema for Wivenhoe and the surrounds of Sunny Colch continues to grow and develop. It’s a tireless task for the volunteer team, but as The Artist proved superbly, the rewards are there for the taking when it works.

Action!

To the Town Council Office! …on Tuesday evening for the Euro 2012 sandwich filler of a Neighbourhood Action Panel meeting. And you don’t get much more of a tasty appetiser to fill either side of a Czech victory and a Poland Vs Russia score draw than the Wivenhoe NAP.

They’re a continental lot, these NAP types. Not a single eyebrow was raised when I wandered into the chamber wearing my finest pair of loafers, sans socks, natch.

And so shortly after 7pm, it was heads down and a race through the agenda that would have put the pace of the England attack to shame. Which can’t be that difficult.

NAP remains ACE. It is the quarterly opportunity where residents get to question the local policing team about their priorities, suggest solutions and generally come up with new ways for the community to work together.

It’s no talking shop either – Mr Chair is rather fond of actioning, delegating and then asking for updates each quarter. If you’re given a responsibility to carry out, then you know what is expected.

Traffic dominated on Tuesday.

‘Aint it always the case, Comrades?

Cllr Julie Young of Essex County Council explained how the new Highways Panel is currently being put in place in Chelmsford. It’s an operation that sounds as delicate as navigating the Greenstead roundabout in a double decker.

The outcome (the Highways Panel, not the holiday on the busses, Hythe style) is that four County councillors will sit on the panel along with four Borough councillors from Colchester. At a hyperlocal level and Cllr Young has blagged herself a seat on Highways.

Which all means that any NAP related traffic issues (‘aint it always the case…) can now be channeled through Cllr Young, and hopefully get some action.

A budget of £1m has been allocated by Highways for Colchester over the coming year. Sounds impressive, but when you consider that £250,000 is the cost for the cycling path between Wivenhoe and the University – which isn’t part of the Highways budget – you can soon see how £1m is a bit of a road to nowhere.

As for the remit of the new panel?

“We’re a bit unclear”

…came the reply from the good Cllr.

Apparently it may *or may not* include POTHOLES.

Safety schemes at a hyperlocal level however are going to be pressed by Cllr Young. She told the NAP how she is keen to fight the cause for the funding of the footpath along Elmstead Road, as well as traffic management issues such as double yellow lines.

The whopping £250,000 for the campus cycling path is of course coming from our friends at the University itself. They have a wonderful Accountancy Department at Wivenhoe Park – the cool quarter of a million will be “front loaded” from the Knowledge Gateway [URGH] Section 106 wonga, and then presumably paid back once Peter has finished robbing Paul.

Or something.

Either way, the back scratching (as a rather helpful hyperlocal blogger pointed out at the NAP) will lead to the construction of the multi-tier car park along Boundary Road.

Traffic issues?

‘Aint it always the case, Comrades…?

Proposals have apparently already been drawn up at a county level for the cycle path. It will start in the Wivenhoe end by the Fire Station, with hopefully a toucan crossing by The Flag. It will emerge at the other end of the Town ‘n Gown great love in towards the top of Boundary, where it can pick up the existing cycle path by the playing fields.

But sometimes everything just comes back to POTHOLES.

HONK! Exclusive [yeah, yeah...] – £11m [WOH] has been found at a County level to go around eradicating all potholes within Essex. It is unclear how this will be prioritised. Our potholes are bigger than yours, etc.

Cllr Young also updated on the Alresford Road crossing opposite Millfields School. Local residents have been very co-operative in pruning back the bushes that obstructed the sightlines. Some form of infrastructure is still being pushed for to make the crossing safer.

And with the clock counting down towards the 7:45 kick off, we’ve just got time to race ahead with… Speed Watch.

Oh Lordy.

The very good PCSO Louise Neville updated NAP with the progress that has been made with the volunteer service:

“Speed Watch has been going very well in Wivenhoe. We now have a number of recruits, but we are having a few difficulties in getting them trained. I can now confirm that we are able to use the Fire Station premises for this. Three new volunteers will shortly be trained up.

We have caught a number of speeding motorists in Wivenhoe. These are now being dealt with. We have had a very positive reaction from residents. Some folk even stop and say thank you to the volunteers. We are also in contact with the University. We are hopeful of some student volunteers helping us out after the holidays.”

Data for the number of motorists stopped along Alresford Road are being obtained – these will hopefully help with lobbying for money for the Millfields crossing.

See – NAP really does work…

And finally – the lights are on – or not – but no one is at home.

Possibly.

The NAP heard how the plans from Essex County Council to turn off street lighting from midnight until 5am will be rolled out in the Colchester borough from Autumn 2012. Which is only a few months away, assuming we ever have a Wivenhoe summer.

The Maldon pilot apparently went well. Cost saving and reducing emissions is behind the light bulb radiating idea.

Next NAP meeting: 4th September, with a 7pm kick off.

Bring yer own torches, Comrades.