BPARA NEWSLETTER APRIL 2013
Annual General Meeting
This year’s AGM will be held on Tuesday 16th April at 7.00pm. Please note that this is earlier than usual. Once more, we shall be meeting in the ballroom of the Mansion in Bletchley Park. Much has been happening in the Park this year, so Iain Standen, Chief Executive of the Trust, will be coming to tell us about progress and plans for the future. As usual, refreshments will be available after the business meeting and before the speaker. Agendas are on the separate sheet with this newsletter – please bring them with you. Minutes of last year’s meeting are available on our website. We look forward to seeing you there.
Salden Chase
One thing your officers have learnt over the years is that developers never give up. Although the plan to build 5390 dwellings between A421, Whaddon Road and the former Oxford to Cambridge railway line was withdrawn in 2011, The South West Milton Keynes Consortium is now proposing to submit plans for another development including 1,850 homes, with an employment area, a primary school and a neighbourhood centre. Public consultation will probably take place early this year. West Bletchley Council has resolved to re-establish its Salden Chase Committee, which will work with residents and respond to the proposals. To obtain up to date information about this issue, visit West Bletchley Council’s website at www.westbletchleycouncil.gov.uk. Although the number of dwellings is far fewer, and in the Aylesbury Vale District Council Area, it abuts the south-west corner of Bletchley and will still have a real impact on local roads and some of Milton Keynes’ public services. A worrying thought is that this application might be the start of a series to bring the development up to the size originally intended. Watch for further information and have your say.
The Leys
A large number of trees and shrubs has now been planted on the Whalley Drive side of The Leys, improving the landscaping. A new path has also been constructed on that side of the field, making it possible to circle the complete field more easily with pushchairs or wheelchairs. Modern equipment is replacing the old in the play area at the Sherwood Drive end. The finance for these improvements come from a levy of developers in the area. Damage caused by works’ vehicles on the grass verge in Whalley Drive and in the park is being made good.
West Bletchley Council
The Council is now settled in its new, more spacious offices, formerly the Whaddon Way GP’s surgery. An official opening ceremony took place on Wednesday 13 March. The Council’s plans to try out 20mph speed limits in some West Bletchley roads have had to be withdrawn. Thames Valley Police do not consider the roads selected to be suitable for the speed restriction, and have notified the council that they would object iof formal proposals were made to introduce the limit. You should by now have received the latest issue of the Council’s magazine “Open Door”. It deals in more details with some of the issues mentioned in this newsletter.
Public Art Project
The process to decide on an outdoor artwork for West Bletchley is almost complete, after months of discussion with local groups of all kinds. Although not definate yet, the finished work seems likely to be situated close to the railway station. Again, this is paid for by finance from developers.
Subscriptions
Annual subscriptions of £2.00 per household are due on 1 April. Please pay these to your representative, or to the Hon. Treasurer at the AGM, using the slip on the agenda sheet. In case you are unsure who your representative is, a list will be printed on the back of that sheet.
Planning Matters
We have just heard that MKC Development Control Committee has rejected the application for development of the Pavillion Site, which means that the fate of the historic building is still uncertain. It seems that the Canteen Site in Wilton Avenue has now been sold to a purchaser aiming to restore the buildings for business use. No application has been submitted as yet.
Some Dates for your Diary
Saturday 8th June: West Bletchley Carnival
Sunday 16th June, 2.00-6.00 pm and Tuesday 18th June, 2.00-5.00 pm: Gardens at 100 (MK Garden of the Year 2012) and 126 Church Green Road will be open under the National Garden Scheme. Admission £4.00. Plants and refreshments on sale. Donation to Willen Hospice.
Sunday 14th July: Church on the Green
Sad News
We are sorry to have to report the death in December of Eileen Malins, the devoted wife of Arthur, who served on the BPARA Committee from its start until just before he died in 2008. Their son, Bill, is carrying on the role of his father, and we offer him our deepest sympathy.
Thoughts on Retirement
On Thursday, 26 April 1990, at the suggestion of the late Ken King, 75 people met in the hall of the now defunct Bletchley Grammer School to discuss the formation of a Residents’ Association for the area around Bletchley Park. Its aims were to look after the interests of local residents and to do its utmost to help save as much as the possible of the historic Bletchley Park. Ken persuaded me to take the minutes of the meeting, and then to stand as Hon. Secretary, which I did reluctantly. The Constitution drawn up by Ken, who became Chairman, and Geoffrey Bodill, first Hon Treasurer, stated that officers of the Association should be replaced annually, so that didn’t seem too bad, though rather impractical. Of course, that never happened and the clause was replaced.
After twenty-three years I am retiring from the position in which I started, the only surviving member of the original officers. Ken and Geoff stood down in 2000, and I took over as Chairman until “retiring” in 2009. The then secretary was Angie Ravn-Aagaard, who replaced me. As no-one volunteered to take over as secretary, I have filled the role ever since, largely because I did not want to see the Association I had worked hard for disappear through lack of administrative support.
Over the years we have done the sort of things other similar associations do: tried to prevent speeding and obstructive parking, had some road signs installed, got the council to repair roads and pavements and to drop pavements to allow wheelchair access, asked for fences to be erected to prevent youths driving cars on The Leys and the Sherwood Drive Field, etc. One particular success was finally tracing the owners of Park Gardens, which Milton Keynes Council Officers insisted was a private road with residents responsible for maintaining it. With the help of Phyllis Starkey, then our MP, the owner was found to be a national government department. After a few reminders it accepted responsibility and resurfaced the unmade road.
Perhaps our biggest triumph was persuading Milton Keynes Council that it was not only members of our Association who opposed the construction of a major road bridge from the grid road system at the Granby roundabout to cross the railway line into Sherwood Drive. On that first day in 1990 I never expected to be making speeches to MKC committees and public meetings about that, the density of the development in Bletchley Park, and reasons against an incinerator at the Newton Longville landfill site.
Now, after writing those speeches and hundreds of letters, I am composing my hundred and first, and last, newsletter. I hope that one, or a few members sharing the role, will take up the challenge of working for our neighbourhood – after all, I had no experience when I reluctantly accepted Ken’s suggestion that I should take it on.
Chris Simpson
