Plan YOUR Place
A programme of evening events to help any individuals, communities and neighbourhoods in Hertfordshire who want to know how to affect the future planning of their area, starts next month. The events are free, but places are limited, so anyone wishing to attend an event close to them must book in advance, email : office@cpreherts.org.uk, call 01438 717587, or visit www.cpreherts.org.uk. Plan Your Place booking form
The programme is run by a partnership between Hertfordshire Association of Parish and Town Councils (HAPTC) and CPRE Hertfordshire as part of the nationwide Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in Planning project, funded by the UK Government. The project aims to help communities contribute to Planning decisions under the changed system introduced by the Localism Act.
‘Plan YOUR Place’, the name given to the Hertfordshire programme, comprises a 2½ hour information and networking event, repeated in five towns around the county.
Each event looks at myths about the Planning of towns and the countryside, clarifies changes to the planning system, identifies ways to influence decisions, highlights how and why to get involved, outlines what the relevant local council is doing, summarises where to get support and encourages individuals and groups to learn more.
Judith Watson, Chairman of the Hertfordshire Association of Parish and Town Councils, and a Parish Councillor herself, says, “We hope that our Plan YOUR Place programme will give communities greater confidence to help shape the places in which they live. The future is very bright for all of Hertfordshire’s Parish and Town Councils and, together with unparished neighbourhoods, they will be able to play an increasingly important role in planning their own sustainable localities throughout Hertfordshire.”
Kevin FitzGerald, Honorary Director at CPRE Herts says, “I am pleased that we have secured funding to support work in Hertfordshire to increase local participation in the decisions which have an impact on the places where we live and work. Imminent changes to the planning system make it more important than ever to get involved in shaping the plans for our towns, villages and countryside”.
The first event takes place on Wednesday 8 February in Welwyn Garden City, followed by Ware (21 Feb), Letchworth (6 Mar), Rickmansworth (12 Mar), and Hemel Hempstead (15 Mar).
Details of the event programme and venues are available at www.cpreherts.org.uk or www.herts-aptc.gov.uk
When and where (All events run from 7pm (registration 6.30pm) to 9.30pm) Wednesday 8th February 2012 Campus West , Welwyn Garden City, AL8 6BX
Tuesday 21st February 2012 Ware Priory, Ware, SG12 9AL
Tuesday 6th March 2012 Council Chamber, North Herts District Council, Letchworth SG6 3JF
Monday 12th March 2012 The Penn Chamber, Three Rivers House, Rickmansworth, WD3 1RL
Thursday 15th March 2012 Council Chamber, Dacorum Borough Council, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1HH |
CPRE Hertfordshire is the county branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. CPRE has over 67,500 supporters, and campaigns nationally and through its local branches for a better future for England’s countryside. CPRE Hertfordshire is a registered charity with 1500 local supporters. It is staffed mainly by volunteers and funded through membership subscriptions, donations, legacies and fundraising activities. Membership is open to all.
What we do:
email: office@cpreherts.org.uk
Tel: 01438 717587
Website: www.cpreherts.org.uk
HAPTC, the Hertfordshire Association of Parish and Town Councils, represents more than eighty local Councils in the County. These local Councils are democratically elected statutory bodies and HAPTC acts for its members by providing them with essential information, appropriate services and a strong and independent voice at county, regional and national levels. It provides a quality service to its member councils, working with Hertfordshire’s County, District and Borough Councils, and with other organisations, providing training, responding to government consultations, giving legal advice and has representation on the National Association of Local Councils, its parent body.
email: info@herts-aptc.gov.uk
Tel: 01442 235317
Website: www.herts-aptc.gov.uk
Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in Local Planning
CPRE is well-ahead of the game on Localism.
Working in partnership with the National Association of Local Councils, and using Government funding, they have produced a new 8-step guide to responding to planning applications. The guide gives practical advice on how to make sure that
your voice is heard so you can make a difference to how development in your locality happens.
Free download
The guide has already been sent to all parish and town councils in England. It is downloadable free on CPRE’s planning help website
www.planninghelp.org.uk. You’ll also find links to free e-learning courses on planning there.
Could you be a Planning Champion?
Planning Champions will be volunteers who enthuse people to get involved and ‘Plan THEIR Places’. Whilst planning experience at local level is needed, formal planning qualifications are not.
To express an interest go to the www.do-it.org.uk website. Select ‘environment’, click ‘find it’, then ‘county’ to find the job ad.
Hertfordshire Mobile Libraries Outreach Services:
Library e-newsletter Hertscc Libraries eMagazine : Welcome
Library members can receive this by email by asking at the Information Desk at their local library.
November 2011
Herts Mobile Libraries Outreach Services are currently working with the BBC Digital Switchover team to provide support and information to residents including using local libraries to promote the scheme and hold surgeries to help particularly those over 75 or with diabilities.
September 2011
"The third and final stage of the transformation of Outreach Services will take place later this month and will affect the following five mobile libraries:
Cheshunt Mobile
Harpenden Mobile
Hertford Mobile
Hitchin Mobile
Kings Langley Mobile
Their current routes will cease on Saturday 10 September. These vehicles will then be off road for two weeks whilst we carry out essential maintenance and stock work as well as comprehensive updates to our website.
This will mean that during the weeks commencing 12 and 19 Sept the only mobile libraries in operation will be Mobiles C and D and the Urban Spare Mobiles 1 and 2.
All new rural routes will then commence on Tuesday 27 September.
As our remaining vehicles will be serving larger geographical areas than they currently do, we will be changing the names of all the remaining vehicles to a letter (A to G) and giving each individual route day a number (Routes 1 to 73). The idea is that customers and staff will be encouraged to remember the route they use by its number, rather than having to remember when a mobile called Harpenden will serve customers in Hatfield. Hopefully this new system will make more sense and will make our website much easier to use.
Our next news bulletin will contain more details about the new routes as well as some handy hints on how to locate your nearest service on the website.
We have done their utmost to contact all of our current valued customers with the dates and times of their new stops, but if you are aware of any who may have missed this publicity or of any new customers who would be interested in using this service, then please do not hesitate to refer them back via the usual contact details:
Telephone: 0300 123 4049 Email: hertsdirect@hertscc.gov.uk
Thank you for your continued support in helping us to reach vulnerable and isolated customers in our communities.”
Neil Baxter, Senior Librarian, Herts Mobile Libraries Outreach Services
July 2011
“please promote our services to your residents via your Parish magazines and websites:”
“We currently supply three main Outreach Services:
1. The mobile library service comprises seven vehicles that serve a variety of urban and rural locations across the county. Our priority is to serve customers who may be vulnerable or isolated. The mobiles offer the same services as your local static library in that we provide a variety of stock, albeit a smaller selection, of novels, non-fiction books, talking books and DVDs to suit all ages. The staff are trained to help you choose new things to read, and can also search for a wide variety of information online. The Summer Reading Challenge is about to start (on July 18) so now is the perfect time to visit your local mobile library to enjoy books and reading as a family.
We also work in partnership with a variety of colleagues from other organisations in order to provide communities with advice and support in certain targeted locations. These include Hertfordshire Constabulary (Police Community Support Officers); Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue (Fire Safety Advice surgeries); and the First Contact Signposting Scheme for residents over 50 (Community Agents and Health Trainer surgeries).
Some of our vehicles visit a variety of residential homes around the county, and we deliver deposit collections of books and audio items to centres where residents are not able to come out to us.
Information about all of our services with timetables and route schedules for our vehicles is available on www.hertsdirect.org/services/libraries. Type in your location and “mobile library” into the Search box and you will be directed to your nearest stop.
2. The Cassettes for Blind People Service is a free service, which lends books and information on audio cassette to people living in Hertfordshire who are visually impaired, or whose condition makes reading an ordinary book impossible. People who are Registered Blind or Partially Sighted can receive tapes via the free postal service provided by the post office. Those with vision of N12 or less are also entitled to this service, but must have their condition confirmed by an optician or doctor. If you are unable to read a conventional book, but do not qualify for the free postal service, then we can send the cassettes to your local static or mobile library for collection.
3. The Home Library Service can deliver books and recordings to your home free of charge if you are unable to reach your local library because you are housebound, have a disability, or care for someone at home.
To find out more about any of the above services, please telephone our Customer Service Centre and ask to speak to either your local library; Cassettes for Blind People Service; or the Mobile Library Service, as appropriate.
If you are aware of anyone in your community who may benefit from any of these services, then please help us to promote all that we have on offer. Or if you would like to help us to deliver essential Home Library Service visits by joining our enthusiastic team of volunteers then please do get in touch. Telephone: 0300 123 4049
Email: hertsdirect@hertscc.gov.uk”
The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge
The program, launched a year ago, is open to Town and Parish Councils across the country to nominate outdoor spaces to be protected as Queen Elizabeth II Fields to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next year and to access potential funding opportunities for improvements. The SITA Trust Queen Elizabeth II Fields Fund is open for applications for grants of up to £5,000 and £25,000. Visit www.qe2fields.com.
or contact Helen Griffiths, Director helen.griffiths@fieldsintrust.org.
A broadband strategy for Hertfordshire - improving the county’s broadband network.
Good broadband access in Hertfordshire is important for residents and businesses but there are still certain places, in rural and urban areas and business parks, where access and speeds need to be improved.
Herts County Council and the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership are reviewing broadband access and speeds to identify the most problematic areas in a Local Broadband Plan highlighting where improvements need to be made and identifying a case for public investment to strengthen the broadband network. This will be submitted to Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), established by the government to assist with stimulating the commercial sector to achieve its goal of having the best Superfast Broadband Network in Europe by 2015
HCC are keen to work with other partners and share intelligence and ideas so that the Local Broadband Plan is as comprehensive as possible. They welcome your input in helping us to build a picture of broadband coverage in the county by answering the questions in a short survey at www.hertsdirect.org/websurveys/surveys/P2797R/
For more information about how HCC is working to improve broadband please visit: www.hertsdirect.org/your-community/broadband/
Local Associations Information Service:
www.herts-aptc.gov.uk/members/LocalAssociationInformationService.shtml
Training & Seminars 2011:
www.herts-aptc.gov.uk/training.shtml
Situations Vacant
www.herts-aptc.gov.uk/SituationsVacant.shtml
HAPTC
1a The Queen's Square
Adeyfield
Hemel Hempstead
Hertfordshire
HP2 4EW
T/F: 01442 235317
E: info@herts-aptc.gov.uk