One theme throughout the past seven years of this Uttlesford administration has been to save – to horde money – for a rainy day. Well, the rains are here but the council doesn’t have a single sandbag to its name. All it has is over £7 million spare cash in the bank; a sum that […]

Yeoman’s cafe was back in business today, but some other businesses remained closed following Friday’s flood. Over the weekend I did a bit of research on flood warning alarms. A resident has agreed to play host to an alarm near to where Ugley Brook enters the culvert at the northern end of Lower Street. The […]

Flooding in Stansted today has been the worst in about 10 years. More rain is expected tonight. Premises in Lower Street were devastated when the road became a river before dawn this morning. Kings Butchers has probably lost most of his stock and expects to be shut for more than a week. The Queen’s Head public house was mopping […]

Save Stansted Village put up a splendid defense of Stansted’s Bentfield End conservation area and rural setting a planning inquiry last week. I can’t heap enough praise on Simon Thompson for his forensic scrutiny of Taylor Wimpey’s 140 home proposal on the edge of what I described in my statement to the inquiry as “the […]

This afternoon’s planning committee has the ability to ruin the rural approach to Stansted from the north. It is being urged to give planning permission for 160 homes at Walpole Farm west of the B1383 (old A11). It would breach the northern development limit for ever. I shall be urging the committee to refuse the application. Here is […]

There was a bit of a row at last night’s cabinet meeting. The former and present leaders of the Liberal Democrat group tried to open up debate on what appears may be a case of anti-competitive trading by the council. Councillors David Morson and Lizzy Parr were prevented from discussing item 20 on the agenda […]

I have submitted the following objection to this planning application. Have you sent in your comments, which may close today? UTT_13_1618_OP BLOOR HOMES AT WALPOLE FARM BLOOR HOMES’ PLANNING APPLICATION UTT/13/1618/OP AT WALPOLE PARM This application should be refused for reasons very similar to the refusal of application UTT/13/1203/OP at the adjacent Bentfield Green site […]

July 4th was a red letter day for Stansted. The planning application by Taylor Wimpey for 140 (or more) homes adjacent to Bentfield Green was REFUSED by Uttlesford’s planning committee by seven votes to one. The following is an expanded version of the article I have penned for August’s The Link magazine. Never has there […]

I have prepared a statement urging refusal of Taylor Wimpey’s planning application for 140 homes at Bentfield Green, Stansted. I will present it at tomorrow afternoon’s (2 p.m.) planning committee meeting at Uttlesford District Council in Saffron Walden. It can be read here: REPRESENTATION PLANNING APPLICATION UTT131203OP_issue 2 STOP PRESS THURSDAY: THE APPLICATION WAS REFUSED […]

Public access to Stansted Park is on a knife-edge. The voting on the housing planning application that would bring public access to a renewed Stansted Park was SIX FOR refusal and SIX AGAINST refusal. The chairman, Cllr Jackie Cheetham, placed her casting vote for REFUSAL so the application fell yesterday. I expect there will be a fresh application […]