The transfer of allotments at Walpole Meadows to parish council control nears completion reports Open Spaces Chair Jo Kavanagh
Some good news to start – with Anglia in Bloom
Virtual awards – the Social club was awarded a Gold Award and St Mary’s Churchyard a Silver Award;
Special Awards – Human Roots were nominated and awarded a certificate;
Main categories – Stansted was awarded a silver gilt under the “Towns” category.
Feedback suggests that there was some confusion over what categories had been entered. Everyone enjoyed the day and though disappointed in not all getting gold, they were happy to have maintained last year’s standard.
Everyone attending agreed that AIB was the event people wanted to enter, it may be time to consider enlarging the organising committee to gain a better understanding of the award structure and get new ideas and more enthusiasm from the people involved. Cllr Barnes noted that many of the groups were supported by officials e.g. many Mayors were present.
Gardening Monitoring Report The Clerk and I met with our gardening contractor last week. Amongst the subjects discussed was the area outside the offices. We will be getting a tree surgeon to reduce the tree. We will then need to look into what we can do to improve the look of this focal point. The area is not ideal for planting, as the tree takes a lot of the moisture and nutrients from the soil and plants do not thrive.
The area is also a very popular dog toilet, so we have discussed the installation of a knee rail along the boundary to see if this discourages dogs. Members of the public are kindly reminded to clear up after their dogs and use the bins provided.
Grass cutting at St Mary’s Churchyard and the cemetery has gone well with the extra cuts. All we need now is for UDC and ECC to do their bit to make Stansted neat and tidy over the summer months.
Walpole Meadows Allotments are an agenda item at this evening’s meeting, where we will be deciding whether or not to finally adopt the allotments. Photos showing their recent condition have been shared with councillors. We have been assured this will be tidied before handover.
Walpole Meadows Wider POS – We have been advised by UDC that we could start this transfer bearing in mind the time the allotments have taken. All remedial works to be completed by February 2025 when the one year maintenance period has ended and continue to be maintained until transfer has been completed.
Elms Farm Elms Farm allotments are also an agenda item this evening, following correspondence received from a plot holder. The issues raised cannot be discussed in a public meeting at this stage, but the letter has been acknowledged and discussions are ongoing, with a meeting planned. We will update councillors.
We also discussed with our gardening contractor tidying up works to the car park.
Disappointingly, the area designated to be public open space (also an agenda item) has not been visited or treated for the past 12 months. We are pursuing this with the s106 officer and I have asked for input from our Stansted South district councillors.
Other Matters Litter – Following comments from members of the public and social media posts about the lack of bins at the Aubrey Buxton Reserve, we asked UDC if they would add the reserve to their route.
Dog poo still seems to be a problem in random areas around Stansted, while most dog owners are responsible, I would ask all dog walkers to clear up after their pets. The situation is monitored by our environmental rangers – please use the bins supplied. ANY BIN WILL DO.