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BELCHAMP ST PAUL & BELCHAMP OTTEN PARISH COUNCIL
     

Welcome to the Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Otten Parish Council website

 

Contact Clerk: John Douglass 

Tel: 07551 005757 

E-mail: belchamps.pc@gmail.com

 

Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Otten are situated in the beautiful Stour Valley on the Essex/Suffolk border.

A distintive landscape with many ancient villages that has inspired such famous artists as John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. The Belchamps are mentioned in the Domesday Book. 

These two beautiful villages, deep in the heart of East Anglia, each have a public house and Belchamp St Paul also has a very well respected Primary School and The Community House. 

 

PARISH NOTICE BOARD 

 

BELCHAMP ST PAUL DEFIBRILLATOR NOW WORKING

(Posted 15 July)

The Belchamp St Paul defibrillator has now been repaired by East of England Ambulance Service and is back in place at the Community House.  Many thanks to Councillor Robin Lock and others.

LOCAL DESIGN CODE PRIZE DRAW

(Posted 13 June)

The winners for the Local Design Code Questionnaire prize draw were picked using a random generator on the 6 June 2024. A big congratulations to Alice Middleditch and Patrick Bell who won the £40 and £20 vouchers respectively.

ROAD SWEEPING
Road Sweeping Schedule
LOCAL DESIGN CODE QUESTIONNAIRE

(Posted 23 April)

This week we will be distributing copies of our Local Design Code Questionnaire to all houses across the Parish. Each household will receive one copy, with further available on request. The questionnaire will also be available to download via our website and is available to complete online - please see the Local Design Code page for all links.

Please complete and/or return all questionnaires by 31 May 2024

We would greatly appreciate it if as many people as possible can complete and return the questionnaire so that, when we create the Local Design Code document, we will be able to fully express the views and opinions of our Parish as a whole. 

APPOINTMENT OF A NEW PC CLERK

(Posted 12 April)

Diane Smith, our PC Clerk for the last 9 years is retiring and a new Clerk has now been appointed. John Douglass will take over the Clerk's duties from 15 April and his contact details can be found at the top of this page. The Council's e-mail address will remain unchanged but the contact telephone number and address will change. We welcome John to the Council and wish Diane a long and happy retirement.

CASUAL VACANCY FOR COUNCILLOR TO REPRESENT BELCHAMP ST PAUL

(Posted 28 June)

Following the resignation of Cllr Harvey Bamford, the PC have now been authorised to fill the vacant seat by co-option. If you are interested in becoming a Councillor please contact the Clerk.

BDC RE-CONSULTATION ON SOLAR FARM PLANNING APPLICATION OFF BAKERS ROAD, BSP    (Posted 15 February. Amended 15 March)  

BDC have opened a re-consultation on the above planning application (23/01413/FUL) following the receipt of over 40 new documents providing significant new and revised evidence on the proposal. All the documents can be found on the BDC planning portal by searching the planning application number above.
The PC have received enquiries from residents looking to make a further comment to BDC and in particular have been asked to provide some guidance as to the topics most deserving of further consideration so here are some suggestions.
The issue of greatest concern to residents by far has been the possible loss of high quality arable land to the solar farm. Given that the land on which a solar farm is situated has no effect on the quantity of electricity it produces, why use good quality food growing land when we as a nation already rely so much on food produced in other countries when we could produce much of this at home?
The LPA has advised the applicant that they must demonstrate that they have looked for suitable land of lower agricultural quality within a reasonable area of search and has pointed out that such land exists in plentiful quantities around Halstead and Braintree. There are even larger tracts of such land east of Sudbury and to the east of the A131 between Sudbury and Halstead which are also within a reasonable area of search.
The applicant has recently filed an addendum to their earlier Sequential Site Selection Report in which, despite the LPA’s advice, they have considered only the high quality land that lies within 2Km of the grid connection point at Hickford Hill. This is contrary to both local and national planning policy and guidance and makes the convincing case that the application does not meet the required standard and should therefore be refused.
The PC have submitted 3 further submissions to BDC which can all be found on the BDC Planning Portal. Each submission addresses a different element of the application, namely the applicants addendum to their earlier Sequential Site Selection Report, the impact on heritage assets and the significant archaeological finds on the site. The applicant has also published a catchall rebuttal to earlier comments made by residents and to which you could make a comment. All these can be found on the planning portal dated 22 January 2024 onwards.
Please note that the public consultation period was extended to 6 March 2024 but you can continue to submit comments after this date and the LPA will do its best to include them for consideration, but without any guarantee. 
 
ECC BUS CONSULTATION RESULT - DaRT3 SERVICE TO CONTINUE UNTIL 2026  
ECC have completed their Bus Service Consultation and because of the number of objections received they have decided NOT to withdraw the DaRT3 minibus service that operates throughout our two parishes. The service will continue to operate for a further 2 years (2026) with an option to extend it for an additional year. Thank you to everyone who responded to the consultation and achieved this very welcome result.
 

PC MEETING DATES FOR 2024  (Posted 10 December)

The PC have agreed the following meeting dates for 2024: 16 January, 27 February, 9 April (starting at 8pm as it follows the BSP Annual Assembly), 28 May (Annual Council meeting), 2 July, 3 September, 15 October, 26 November 2024.

The Belchamp Otten Annual Assembly will be held on Monday 8 April (at The Red Lion PH, Belchamp Otten) and the BSP Annual Assembly will take place on 9 April (at The Community House). All meetings are held in The Community House at Belchamp St Paul and commence at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated. Members of the public are welcome to attend all meetings.

VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT CODE WORKING GROUP 

You will all be aware that the PC have set up a Working Group to produce our own Village Development Code (formally known as a Village Design Code) for the combined villages of Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Otten. To keep up to date with progress by the Working Group please visit the new dedicated tab on the left hand side of this page.
 

NEW COUNCILLOR FOR BELCHAMP ST PAUL     

At the May 2024 PC meeting Alexander Bills was co-opted onto the PC to fill the Belchamp St Paul vacancy.  We hope that he will enjoy his new Parish Councillor role.

SOLAR FARM PLANNING APPLICATION 23/01413/FUL - PC SUBMISSION TO BDC

The PC submitted their objection to the above planning application to BDC on 23 August. Full copies of the 'main submission' and '2 supplementary comments' can be found on the BDC Planning Portal website by searching for the application number (as above) and then pressing the 'Documents' tab.

SOLAR FARM PLANNING APPLICATION _ RESULT OF VOTE

The Clerk and the Chairman have checked the voting slips relating to the planning application for a solar farm in Bakers Road, BSP and the result is as follows:

Total number of valid voting slips     130

Number of votes supporting the solar farm application    31

Number of votes opposing the solar farm application      99

The PC will therefore be submitting a letter of objection to the solar farm application to BDC.

The Parish Council would like to thank everyone who participated in the consultation process by either attending the public meeting and/or submitting a voting slip.

All residents are strongly encouraged to submit their individual comments on the application, be they in support or in opposition to the proposal, direct to BDC via the Planning Portal. The application reference number is 23/01413/FUL and the deadline for comments to be submitted to BDC is 25 August 2023.

SOLAR FARM PLANNING APPLICATION - PUBLIC MEETING ON 3 AUGUST 

A planning application has been submitted to BDC, by BSR Energy, to construct a Solar Panel Array on 52.88 hectares of land off Bakers Road, Belchamp St Paul. The application number is 23/01413/FUL and copies of all the documents submitted can be accessed via the Braintree District Council website Planning Portal. It will be BDC who make a decision on the application but the PC are able to submit their comments on the proposal for consideration by the BDC Planning Committee.

The Parish Council invite all residents of Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Otten, to attend a Public Meeting on Thursday 3 August to discuss the application and obtain resident's views on the proposal, prior to submitting their comments to BDC. The meeting will be held in St Andrew's Church, Church Street, Belchamp St Paul  CO10 7DJ at 7.30pm and the PC hope that as many residents as possible will take the opportunity to attend and provide their views.

During the meeting a Voting Slip will be provided to all attendees and the PC will adopt the position expressed by the majority of those who have voted in their response to BDC. For anyone who is unable to attend the meeting in person but wishes to record a vote, you can ask a friend or neighbour to pick up a Voting Slip for you at the meeting or alternatively a Voting Slip can be downloaded/printed from the PC website after 3 August. These paper forms must then be returned to the Clerk (The Bays, Gages Road, Belchamp St Paul CO10 7BX) by 5pm on Thursday 10 August. The result of the vote will be published on the PC website on 12 August.

Residents are also strongly encouraged to submit their individual comments on the application direct to BDC via the Planning Portal. At the request of the PC, BDC has agreed to extend the deadline for comments from residents to 25 August 2023 (although at the present time the deadline showing on the BDC has not yet been updated).

Please come along and HAVE YOUR SAY !

 

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DISTRICT AND COUNTY COUNCILLOR REPORTS TO BE PUBLISHED ON THE PC WEBSITE (Posted 31 October 2022)

Following a suggestion from a resident at the last PC meeting, the PC will in future be publishing the reports from our District Councillor Iona Parker and County Councillor Peter Schwier which are provided for each PC meeting. These can be found on the website under the 'Minutes' tab.

PROPOSAL TO SITE A SOLAR FARM OFF BAKERS ROAD, BELCHAMP ST PAUL  (Posted September 2022)

You will all have recently received a hand delivered leaflet from the developers (BSR Energy) providing details about their proposed solar farm off Bakers Road, Belchamp St Paul.  

BSR Energy are holding their own consultation, to obtain the views of residents of Belchamp St Paul and neighbouring villages, which runs until 16 October 2022.  

The Parish Council urge all residents to take the time to study the proposal. It is important that as many local people as possible take part in this consultation and provide feedback, as this could influence the details in the final planning application when it is submitted to BDC.  

Details of the scheme can be found online at www.BSRknowlgreen.co.uk .

 

DEFIBRILLATOR AT BELCHAMP OTTEN

Following a successful application for funding to the National Lottery, a defibrillator has been installed in the former Telephone Box, The Street, Belchamp Otten CO10 7BG for use by residents in an emergency (to restart someone's heart). The defibrillator is in a locked cabinet and in an emergency you need to dial '999'  (from your mobile phone) to obtain the code to release it. The machine then 'talks you through' exactly what you need to do, step by step, to operate it successfully. Anyone can therefore use it at any time.  

Please note that there is also a further defibrillator on the outside wall of The Community House in Belchamp St Paul which was installed a couple of years ago.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TRAINING IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO USE THE DEFIBRILLATOR AS DETAILED VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS ARE PROVIDED DURING OPERATION. 

EMERGENCY SUPPLY OF BDC RECYCLING RUBBISH BAGS    (Posted 2016)

All households receive a regular supply of Recycling Bags direct from BDC. If however you run out before the next scheduled delivery you can obtain an emergency supply from the Clerk.  

ANGLIAN WATER LAUNCH "POLLUTION WATCH"  (Posted 2016)

AW have launched a new campaign to ensure that all incidents of sewage pollution are dealt with as quickly as possible to minimise the impact on the environment. They are investing £5.5m in network maintenance but if you spot any potential sewage pollution issues you can ring their dedicated Pollution Hotline 03457 145145 to report them and so enable them to respond sooner and look after our rivers and waterways. 

UK POWER NETWORKS - PRIORITY SERVICES REGISTER FOR VULNERABLE RESIDENTS   (Posted 2016)

UK Power Networks are the people who are responsible for keeping the electricity on in our area, regardless of your chosen energy supplier. They own and maintain all the electricity lines and cables. They keep a list of ‘vulnerable residents’ on their Priority Services Register so that if there is a power cut they can ensure that those who need it will receive extra support. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they can get the power back on more quickly but they can provide a priority 24 hour telephone number/ regular text or phone updates/ extra support from the British Red Cross to visit your home during an emergency (they’ll check with you first).

If you are elderly or disabled, have young children or rely on specialised medical equipment then you can apply to go onto the Priority Services Register at www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/priority.  

DEFIBRILLATOR  AT THE COMMUNITY HOUSE, BELCHAMP ST PAUL   (Posted 2015)

A defibrillator has been installed on the front wall of The Community House for use by residents in an emergency (to restart someone's heart). The defibrillator is in a locked cabinet and in an emergency you need to dial '999'  (from your mobile phone) to obtain the code to release it. The machine then 'talks you through' exactly what you need to do, step by step, to operate it successfully. Anyone can therefore use it at any time.  

The Parish Council organised a defibrillator training session, run by Essex Ambulance Service, on 25 February 2016 to allow local residents to familiarise themselves with the defibrillator and receive some basic First Aid advise. Everyone who attended found this very useful. If you missed this training session but would be interested in future sessions please contact the Parish Clerk Diane Smith. If there is sufficient interest more training sessions may be arranged.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TRAINING IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO USE THE DEFIBRILLATOR AS DETAILED VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS ARE PROVIDED DURING OPERATION.