Home Farm stakeholder meeting

It was generally a productive, informative meeting:

Site interface: Martin Wright reported on his meeting with a number of Maple Way Residents earlier in the day. There is some possibility of realigning or shifting the plots, which have been the main cause of difficulty.

Footpath 16: The proposal to divert footpath 16 was also discussed. Anne Samme acknowledged the dilemma between current residents’ preferences and issues around community safety if the existing route between the two sets of houses was maintained.

No left turn: Martin said Persimmon were still in discussion with Highways regarding the viability of a No Left Turn sign into Lodge Road.

Footpath and hedge: Martin said he understood there would be a footpath down the left hand side of Lodge Road (from the High St) with a crossing for Villa Park residents. Scrutiny of the map suggests that the hedge on the right hand side is intact. Anne Samme said the hedge was beyond the ditch so she could not see a problem.

Road widening: Persimmon stressed that residents would be given plenty of notice of work on and through Lodge Road starting. Concerns about flooding were raised if the road level was raised any further above the driveway levels. Martin said one solution would be to design the road so that it drained towards the ditch. He said the road widening would be done on phases but noted points about school buses using Lodge Road.

Development Committee: Anne Samme said the application would probably go to development committee on 21 July. She reminded residents that one representative could speak for three minutes in addition to the parish council speaking for three minutes.

Sports area: Gary Surkitt outlined the options for the village sports area - Two football pitches plus either a bowling green or a cricket square. There was also discussion around the spec for the sports field changing rooms. There is a need for sports club input to this.

Parish Council: On behalf of Sue I confirmed that the work on the community building planning was progressing well and the PC was about to consider adopting the open spaces.