Hartington Town Quarter Parish Council– The Mere/Pond During the period of heavy rain in January, due to the pond base and sides being properly sealed during the summer renovation, the water level understandably rose. It was then expected to drain via the ‘overflow outlet’ to the Stanner, but the culvert was blocked, and levels rose above the outlet. Members of the council rodded the outlet and reached almost 30 metres towards the Stanner where the culvert was blocked and had collapsed. The rodding did release water through the tarmac road surface, and it flowed down to the storm drain below the Cheese Shop. This allowed the water level to return to normal. This is not ideal and we have contacted both Highways (as the flooding will eventually break up tarmac) and the Flood Authority, to see how they can resolve the problem.
On a positive note, we would like to thank the Wildflower Group for thinning out the lilies at the Hartdale Motor’s end of the pond. Digging by hand was a strenuous task as testified by the 3 large machine buckets of plants we removed. There are plenty of plants left to re-grow and flower and for the first time in some years there is water around all edges of the pond.
Other Flooding Thankfully to date, although substantial amounts of water ran down Hand Dale in January, we have not had the culverts overflowing. We have prepared a full report on all potential flood points for the DCC Flood Authority and walked the system of manholes with one of their team. However, because the county council claim to have no funds for a camera survey, when the waters recede in summer, we will ourselves fund a survey of all points of concern. There are undoubtedly some collapsed culverts which we can hopefully identify. In addition, we remain convinced the destruction of the stone culvert along Stonewell Lane and its replacement with a much smaller plastic pipe, during groundworks for the new development, is a major cause of flood water backing up to the centre of the village. After the surveys, the key task then is to get authorities to affect some repair and remediation.
We also await the construction of the promised flood alleviation measures (the swale) to the south of Stonewell Lane. This provision was a condition of granting the development, but to date no scheme has been implemented. This lack of progress was a key discussion point in our planned meeting with the chief executive of the Peak Park, which was cancelled at very short notice.
War Memorial We explained in the last edition our plans to replace the 11 remaining trees with 12 new specimens to correspond with the number of local servicemen who sadly lost their lives in the two wars. We are planning to remove the old trees in late February/early March and there will then be a period with no trees, while the wall is taken down and replaced a half metre further into the field, to allow the trees more room to grow and hopefully prevent the current overcrowding.
The stone walling contractor has scheduled rebuilding in March. Prior to this the Oddfellows have volunteered to take the existing wall down and we will erect a temporary fence for the ponies in the field. As soon as the wall rebuilt is completed, the new trees will be planted and the renovation complete to last for the decades ahead.
Neighbourhood Plan The Steering Group met in early February confirming the final draft which the planning consultant will base the Statutory documentation. At the same time a bespoke website is being developed. Hopefully by April all associated documentation and Site will be available which will allow us to move to Section 16 public consultation by submitting the Plan to the local planning authority, the Peak District National Park.
At this stage the Authority will fully publicise the Plan and all documentation will be in the public domain for scrutiny and consultation over a six-week period. Once completed it will go before an independent Planning Inspector to decide if more changes are needed and if it is fit for a village referendum on its acceptance.
King’s Coronation Members of the parish council attended the community group AGM and subsequent meeting to discuss initial ideas for the event. We await more details of how we can collaborate in order to make this a really memorable event.
Parish Council Website I am delighted that a new website, designed and hosted by the same individual who manages the other village and community websites, has now been completed. It replaces the rather limited site I built over 5 years ago and have managed ever since (with retrospective apologies for any lateness in uploading documents!). This new site will give us greater flexibility and allow over time, more comprehensive content and information. It will also link directly to the forthcoming Neighbourhood Plan website. David Annat
