Road works, planning and local government shake-up to be hot topics at Stansted’s annual parish meeting

The chief executive of Uttlesford District Council will be guest speaker at the annual parish meeting in Stansted this evening (Wednesday).

Peter Holt will be speaking on the issue of devolution – the biggest planned shake-up of local government for 50 years – and what this could mean for district and town or parish councils.

He will also field questions from members of the public.

The event is being held at the parish council’s Mountfitchet Exchange headquarters in Crafton Green.

Chapel Hill will not be closed for road works as was initially feared, meaning members of the public will still be able to access the car park at Crafton Green.

A parish council spokesperson said: “The latest we have from Essex Highways is there are no plans to close Chapel Hill on the night of March 12 for resurfacing work.

“So, not only will you still be able to drive up (and down) Chapel Hill to get to the meeting, you should have no parking problems either. Without the road works, the car park at Crafton Green will now be available to use.”

The wave of road works affecting the village is likely to be a hot topic of conversation.

Residents and business owners are welcome from 7pm. Refreshments will be served before getting down to business at 7.30pm.

The annual parish meeting is a chance for villagers to hear what the parish council has been up to and to raise any issues.

Council clerk Ruth Clifford said: “This event essentially serves as a forum for residents to engage directly with the parish council face-to-face without many of the rules that govern regular council meetings.

“Because of this, the annual parish meeting offers the chance to discuss any parish affairs you wish to raise. That is, if there is an area of village life that you feel is not being discussed at our meetings the rest of the year — this is your opportunity to bring it to the floor.”

Council chair Maureen Caton and finance committee chair John O’Brien will present their reports on the past year and plans.

Mrs Caton said they were keen to hear more from Mr Holt on the proposed reorganisation of local government.

“By the time of our meeting, hopefully with more clarity on the role of parish councils and following our own internal discussions, we can decide if there are any particular areas we would like to significantly influence going forward,” she said.

“We look forward to Mr Holt’s talk on local government reorganisation. We hope he will be able to give us some further information on this development and the expected impacts and costs of these changes — how to ensure our issues and needs are addressed and not lost to the interests of bigger players.”

The Local Plan, Uttlesford’s planning blueprint for residential and business developments within the district over the coming years, will also be up for discussion. UDC has submitted its draft plan to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate for approval.

The meeting will also update the community on the Government’s decision to save Essex’s 99 PCSOs from redundancy. They were facing the axe until the Home Office agreed to fund the roles.