The Blackout article in the latest Lib. Dems. leaflet caught many of us by surprise. All of the comments we have received abouts the new lights are complementary, and all have prefferred the victorian look which fits in with a victorian conservation area well!

When the councillors were approached at their last surgery (in the church hall) we did receive an apology for the inclusion of this article. Following our survey of the residents of Chester Green Road, none had complained to the Liberal Democrats about the lamps. Apparently only one person had complained about the lights that did not live on Chester Green Road! Clearly our councillors hadn’t achevied anything this quarter for the residents of Chester Green and so jumped on the first complaint they got!

We are now pressing ahead to try and get these lamp tops installed at the other end of Chester Green Road and St. Paul’s Road following, of course, a survey in the very near future to make sure these are what the residents do definitely want.

We are sorry to report that after letters by members of the Committee and several residents also the speech given by our Chairman at the Planning Control Committee Meeting on the 8th March, 2007, development on the Bristol Street Motors site was given the go-ahead.

There is a serious concern in Chester Green regarding the lack of family housing in the area and the consequence that couples and young families are reluctantly being forced to look outside of the area to find suitably sized family accommodation. The majority of the Victorian housing stock in Chester Green is two bedroom terraced, with only a small proportion of larger three bedroom houses.

The recent developments in Chester Green in Drage Street, in Caesar Street, the development in progress at the junction of City Road and Mansfield Road and the proposed development on the Coach and Horses car park are all one and two bedroom apartments. None of these developments have addressed the serious lack of family housing in Chester Green i.e. three bedroom houses.

In fact these recent developments being popular with investors in the buy to rent market are significantly changing the balance of the community towards short term renting and away from long term family ownership. This is resulting in an adverse effect on the “village community” in Chester Green, an area which is particularly suited to young families with its open spaces and access to parks and recreational areas.

Paragraph 10 of PPG3 Planning Guidance requires Local Authorities to
encourage development of mixed and balanced communities by avoiding the creation of large areas of housing of similar characteristics, thereby offering a choice of housing and lifestyle. The density of this proposed development at 145 dwellings per hectare is four times the minimum level of 35 dwellings per hectare that the Local Plan requires as an efficient use of land.

It is regrettable that our Councillor Finbar Richards did not raise any objections to this development and voted in favour, only one Councillor on the Planning Control Committee voted against this development, Lucy Care, unfortunately she was not from our Ward. Chester Green will, therefore, be inundated with another 116 apartments and only 9 houses on this site.

The Residents Association Committee is still following up the security problem with the Council concerning the Pavilion on Parker’s Piece. Youths have been caught climbing on the roof which is in danger of being vandalised again. After all the money and hard work which was carried out last year, it would be such a shame to see this all ruined. If residents see anyone damaging the Pavilion, we would ask you to ring the Police at St. Mary’s Wharf immediately.
Tel: 0845 1233333.

A bring and buy sale will be held on Saturday, 7th October at 2pm at Mansfield St Methodist Church. There will also be a raffle, refreshments, a baby clothes and toy stall as well as lots of other bargains to be had! For more info, or if you’re interested in having a stall, contact Sara on Derby 366788…….

Mini Music Makers, a music and movement workshop for 0-4 year olds and their parents/carers, has now started on Wednesdays, 9:30 – 10:30 am in Mansfield St Methodist Church Hall, off City Road, Chester Green and 2 – 3pm, St Matthew’s Fellowship Room, Darley Abbey Drive, Darley Abbey. For more details, click on the picture below for a full size look at their poster!

Zero, the graffiti ‘Tagger’ that was responsible for much of the graffiti in the area, has been found guiltly and has, apparantly, been ordered to pay around £1400 in compensation! Turns out he was actually from Chester Green (St. Pauls Road to be exact!) You can read more about it here.

After some consultation with the council, they have finally decided to repaint the bollards around the green. Hooray! They will be using chemical paint stripper first (when the weather is dry and a bit warmer than it has been) soon to start the ball rolling!

As some of you may already be aware (if you attended the open air consultation a couple of months or so ago), the path in front of the houses on Chester Green Road (on the edge of the green) is a designated cycle path. The council are converting it to dual path, either side of the lamp posts – cyclists one side, and pedestrians the other to increase safety (this was the majority view of local residents). However, the good news is that we have convinced the council to replace the lamp posts with more victorian looking ones (and painted black) and they are making a cast of the bollards and placing some between the posts to section off the two paths. This should then make it easier to get other new bollards made (to the old design) as a cast will already be available!

As reported in the evening telegraph here, regulars from the Coach and Horses dressed up and lost hair for charity. So far they have collected £1500….well done!

They are also planning a sponsored bike ride to Skegness (or thereabouts) soon, so if you want to get involved, pop in and talk to Jeff or Kate.

The Graffiti has now gone from the front, just the sides in the car park to go….hooray!