Play Area to Remain Closed

On Monday evening (6th July), at a meeting of the Parish Council, which was attended by the leader of the District, Cllr. Karen May, it was decided not to re-open the Recreation Ground play area in line with Bromsgrove District Council’s stance at the time on similar facilities that are in their control.

It was felt that the recently released ”guidelines” set out by National Government cannot be met with sufficient confidence, due to logistics of cleaning, availability of onsite sanitisers etc. and the close monitoring of the site.

The Council will keep the Community Association informed of the situation, which one hopes will in time will lead to the Play Area re-opening.

The Community Association has received the following update from Rachel Benson, Highways & Transport Control Centre Manager at Worcestershire County Council regarding the ongoing work to clear gullies along Swan Lane:

“With regard to Swan Lane, this is a typical rural road in Worcestershire.  There is a drainage issue in the ‘dip’ and it appears that the problem lies with the ditch (where the system discharges into) .  We needed permission from Cadent Gas to do work as there is a pipeline nearby and this resulted in a delay.  We are now focussing on drainage schemes and this location is, and always has been, included on the programme as an interim project.  As with all drainage/flooding work, our priority is always flooded property (houses) or where principal roads are affected.  In the case of Swan Lane, the A491 runs parallel with it and so there is an alternative, suitable route.  It is therefore not a high priority but, of course, we continue to monitor for any changes.
 
It is sometimes the case that gulley lids cannot be lifted because of salt, but that does not necessarily mean that there is or will be a problem.  Gullies that appear blocked (for example along the Stourbridge Road) can still be working effectively despite evidence of weeds/debris.  We are not aware of flooding or ponding water on this carriageway.  There was some initial confusion where our contractor advised us that the work on Stourbridge Road had been completed and this was not the case; I can only apologise for this.  Where this happens, we always examine lessons learned to minimise such events reoccurring.”

The Great British September Clean
11-27 September 2020
Fairfield Village Community Association is thrilled to support  Keep Britain Tidy’s launch of the Great British September Clean.

We’re calling on you – our #LitterHeroes – to be part of the pick and do your bit to care for the environment on your doorstep, as we join forces to collect and safely dispose of litter from our community’s roads and open spaces.

So join us, as we stand together and declare that litter – which degrades the beauty of our environment and threatens to harm wildlife – is not acceptable.

There’s two ways you can get involved and show support for the Great British September Clean:

1. Organise a private group clean-up with up to five family & friends.

2. Pledge to do your own individual clean-up, you can give as little as 15 minutes to the campaign.

To join us in tidying up Fairfield, Wildmoor and Stoneybridge, pledge your support visit https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean/

If you need to borrow litter picking equipment email admin@fvca.org.uk

At 5pm yesterday evening (5th July), residents from across Fairfield, Wildmoor & Stoneybridge came out on their doorsteps to wish the NHS a Happy 72nd Birthday and applauded all Key Workers for their service.

Due to the current situation, the annual Retro Run is gonna try something a little different this year.  With your help, Retro Run 2020 will span the Midlands and beyond!!

Over the coming weeks post a picture of you and yours on a ride, try to make it interesting with fancy dress, funky bikes and for a bonus point why not fish out a vintage Retro Run t-shirt!

Post your pics on the Retro Run Facebook page & hashtag #retrorun2020 Get them posted by the 4th July..

Best entry picture wins a prize!!!  The winner will be revealed on the 4th July via a live stream.

To help raise funds for this year’s chosen charity, please make a donation to the JustGiving page for Dodford Children’s Holiday Farm https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/retrorun2020 .

So come on, join in and let’s have some fun!

*Please remember social distancing

Fairfield Villa have announced, with regret, that that they have decided to withdraw their reserve team from the MFL reserve league for the season 20/21.

Dave Smith, the Reserve’s Tea Manager, has decided to step down, to be spend more time with his family, and the Club has made the difficult decision to discontinue the Reserve team.  Dave will still stay on as a committee member.

Dave said “I have enjoyed my time at a wonderful club however family commitment are such I needed to step away and concentrate on home life.”  “I’ll look to recharge the batteries and who knows what will happen.”

Fairfield Villa Football Club would like to place on record their thanks to Dave Smith, his staff and the players for their hard work and effort over the last 2 seasons.

The Club Chairman said “It has been a pleasure to have Dave at the club he has been a model reserve team manager who understands his role and does it very well. Let’s hope it’s not the last we see of him at our club”

Keith Draper, Manager of the First Team, has extended a welcome to the reserve team players to continue at the Club pre-season as they prepare for the new season.

Following a column strength testing, a Stourbridge Road street light column near the north planter is deemed to be a ‘category 5 status’  and thus in a potentially dangerous condition and as such Worcestershire County Council will be arranging for its removal.    It’s not a given that a new column will go in the same day but that should occur shortly afterwards.

The Community Association reported to the County Council that there is a blocked drain at the Stourbridge Road – Fairfield Court service road junction.

A response has been received by the Council saying that the gully “is under investigation, but may involve other utilities so wont be a quick fix.”

Due to Coronavirus and that many household have not been able to prepare for Floral Fairfield there will be no judging of front gardens, tubs and baskets.

Instead, why not take up our Blooming Wildlife Challenge? 

Many residents took part in No Mow May, so why not take up our new challenge and give your grass a Mohican hair-cut (or should that be MOW-hican?) and see what wildflowers grow and wildlife it attracts, then take photos and send to admin@fvca.org.uk, so that we can share with the rest of our community.  

If you feel really wild, add a bug box and some other wildlife friendly features to your garden.

Here’s some mowing tips:

• Long-grass. Leave some areas of your lawn completely unmown to allow a wide diversity of short and tall plants – such as knapweed, scabious, Lady’s-bedstraw, wild carrot and orchids – to flower. These areas should be cut with a strimmer or scythe in late summer or early autumn (ideally August, September or early October) and the grass removed. Cut again with a lawn mower on its highest setting once or twice before February, again removing the cuttings, and then leave the grass to grow from March onwards.
• Short-grass. For other areas of lawn, and for paths in and around the long-grass, cut to a height of 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) once a month to allow small plants like white clover, daisies and selfheal to flower. You’ll cut off some flowers when you do mow, but they’ll come back quickly. You can even rotate cut areas around your lawn so you always have some in flower.

The proportion of long and short grass doesn’t really matter – it’s up to you and what works best into your garden. What’s important is to have two different heights of grass, as this creates very different flower-rich habitats that will be used by a whole range of wildlife – it’s particularly beneficial for insects and also provides both cover and open spaces for birds and small mammals.

Due to there being no dropped kerb, the elderly and people with mobility aids have found it difficult to cross Yew Tree Lane at the junction with Stourbridge Road, requiring these pedestrians to cross Stourbridge Road, twice if they wish to get back onto the original side of the road.  The Community Association and the Parish Council, over several years, have asked for a dropped kerb to be installed.

In the County Councillor report of May 2020, Cllr. Webb writes:  “There is very limited visibility when crossing Yew Tree Lane from the direction of number 25 Stourbridge Road. The whole idea of a dropped kerb would be to accommodate the likes of a mobility buggy, bearing in mind that the occupant would be seated up to 800mm from the front of the buggy they would have to drive onto the road before they could see around the corner, which could result in them being hit by an oncoming vehicle. For this reason the specialist team have drawn up a scheme that crosses the Stourbridge Road. The cost of such a scheme will be in the region of £10,000.”

The Community Association in a response dated 15th May wrote “Considering that traffic surveys in 2016, 2017 & 2018, taken adjacent to 24 Stourbridge Road, record vehicles driving in excess of 40mph, between the hours of 7am and 7pm, with some vehicles driving at speeds in excess of 50 & 60mph, such a proposal does raise eyebrows. We would not want to put someone at unnecessary risk crossing such a fast road.”.  The Community Association asked for sight of the proposal and requested “sight of the proposals and that a consultation takes place with the community and local equality access groups.”.  The Community Association are “very concerned that any proposal to make individuals cross the Stourbridge Road will means that they will have to cross Stourbridge Road twice to get back to the side of the road for the Post Office etc instead of just crossing Yew Tree Lane once. We are quite certain that it would be very much safer for a mobility scooter to cross Yew Tree Lane once than cross Stourbridge Road twice. We are happy to discuss local proposals, which would need local consultation.”

The Community Association have now received a copy of the proposal plans, below, that will require pedestrians – the elderly and those with mobility aids – to cross the busy and at times fast Stourbridge Road twice.  The pavement at the points of crossing will be tactile.

The Community Association welcomes your feedback on the proposals, email admin@fvca.org.uk.  You can also contact our Divisional County Councillor, Cllr. Shirley Webb, by emailing SWebb2@worcestershire.gov.uk

Please do not release rubber or foil balloons, they can land in fields & get eaten by livestock or bale wrapped with silage or hay. Livestock don’t know that eating the balloon is bad, but if ingested they choke to death.

Fairfield Village Community Association would like to make available to residents recent communication between the Association and our County Councillor regarding local traffic issues.

At the beginning of May 2020, Cllr. Webb circulated her Fairfield Report:

The Community Association, having considered the message received from residents at the Association’s AGM on 7th March, responded to the report raising ongoing issues, challenging some of the report’s content and seeking answers:

On the 22nd May 2020, The Community Association received a response from Cllr. Webb, which will be considered by the FVCA Committee.

As always, the Association seeks the views of residents to help formulate any further responses and actions. Please email admin@fvca.org.uk or message via Facebook.

The hardstanding that been laid south of the mini-island.is for the Safer Road Partnership enforcement van. They will be making periodic visits to the village to carry out speed enforcement.

Vehicles have been recorded driving at the point of 24 Stourbridge Road in excess of 70mph. Enforcement is one way of slowing down vehicles.

The Community Association has made great progress over the past few years (until 2016 you could drive through the village at 60mph and not get fined, FVCA fought for the 30mph to be legally enforceable) and is fighting for Road Tables at strategic points.

When Crossings were discussed in 2016, former County Councillor Sheila Blagg informed the Community Association that to install a Crossing would cost in excess of £100,000.
 
An installed Crossing would only slow vehicles down should someone be crossing or about to cross at that point.  The Crossing would only serve as a safe crossing point at that point along Stourbridge Road.
 
Should funding be found for a Crossing (a minimum 10 year waiting list and not guaranteed) and agreed by the Community, the Crossing would be sited near School Drive and there would be some potential negative consequences, e.g. either side of the crossing would be no parking zig zags that would stop vehicles parking alongside the church wall, the only place in the village where parking in the village is the most convenient.  Further lack of convenient parking may have an impact on village retail outlets and will push more School Parents parking onto narrow side roads, something that is going to get worse with up to an additional 35 vehicles coming in to the village each day with the school expansion. 
 
Parking and Speeding are big issues and requires a mixture of measures to help make Stourbridge Road safer for the whole length through the village and not for just one point.  The Community Association is pushing for Road Traffic Tables at strategic locations, e.g. at the village entrance.
 
Like you, the Community Association is frustrated at the lack of speed to get issues addressed.  Getting the County Council to spend the required money in Fairfield is a painful process.

Please check your sheds and outbuildings, one inquisitive cat has gone walkabouts, please help reunite with owners.

Last seen on Wednesday evening, the cat is a large ginger Tom called buster – He has no white markings.

With warming weather, many people are out tending to their gardens, hanging washing on the line and leaving windows open around the house for ventilation.

Smoke from garden bonfires can prevent your neighbours from enjoying their garden, opening windows or hanging washing out and can be an irritant for those people that have health conditions, such as asthma.

With the Romsley Recycling Centre closed and the District Council not currently emptying brown bins, more residents are lighting bonfire to get rid of their garden waste, this is causing many complaints.

Is that bonfire necessary?

Householders are therefore urged to consider an alternative method of disposing of garden waste e.g. composting, which can provide a useful soil enricher for your own garden.  Compost heaps/bins also provide a home for many insects, voles and even slow worms.

How to prevent smoke nuisance

If it is essential to burn material in the open air, please follow the advice below:

• Light your fire when your neighbours are not likely to be in their gardens, having windows open for ventilations or washing on their line.  Speak to your neighbours and liaise with them.
• All material to be burnt should be as clean and dry as possible
• Bonfires should be sited as far as possible away from any houses
• Check the wind direction to prevent smoke from being blown into your neighbours’ property or onto roads
• Never burn plastics, oil, rubber, electrical components or other chemicals as these materials produce toxic and offensive fumes
• All bonfires should be closely supervised, since they are potentially dangerous. Do not leave a fire smouldering – put it out using soil or water

What do I do if my neighbour is regularly having bonfires and I think it is a nuisance?

If you wish to make a complaint about a neighbour’s bonfire, please contact Bromsgrove District Council.

A fertiliser lorry is blocking Wood Lane at Wood Lane Farm, the cabin has driven into the ditch and so far all attempts to get the lorry moved has failed.

Whilst work is going on today to get the lorry moved please avoid the area.

If you have grass cuttings and other garden waste, please use the Brown Council Bin or a your own compost bin/heap.

Please do not throw in hedge or fields, as what you arr getting rid of may be harmful to livestock and can kill hedgerow wildflowers, which are great pollinators.

Our resident litter dropper continues to leave sweet wrappers along Wood Lane and in Pepperwood Close.

Every day three or four clear wrappers are being picked up.  It is suspected that it is a local person.

It is bad enough that volunteers have to clear the grot from non-villagers, but a resident…

If you know who is littering our village please ask them to stop or tell FVCA and they will approach.

Plants that you can give to people that care and love you can be picked up from St. Mark’s on Sunday.

The church will be open between 10.30 am and 1.30 pm. You are welcome to stop for private prayer.

It’s that time of the year, the weather improves and people start venturing into their gardens, perhaps doing a bit of clearing and having a bonfire.

If you are having a bonfire, please consider your neighbours – some may have washing on the line and others, who may have respiratory conditions and following isolation orders, are having some exercise in the garden.

Your consideration will be appreciated.

Cty Cllr. Webb has shared the following update from Worcestershire Highways:

“As I know you are aware, Swan Lane, as a small unclassified rural lane, and in light of the total saturation of the ground surrounding it (with the wettest February on record), has for some considerable time had a large amount of water arriving on it from the surrounding land.

Regarding the temporary repairs, these were only ever meant to be very short term. We had intended to go out and do some full blown structural patches to repair the key sections of the Lane, however, this was not practicable in light of the amount of water still on the lane at the time, thus we completed these temporary repairs to at least fill in the worst potholes, whilst recognising in such saturated wet conditions that they would not last very long.

We have now been in and completed the aforementioned structural patching works which should hold reasonably well. We did visit the lane with a gulley emptier last week, however, some of the gullies in question we believe drain into the surrounding ditches and some of those ditches are overgrown and blocked. Most ditches are the responsibility of the neighbouring landowner ref clearance, so we will endeavour to sort this with them as soon as practicable. There is one section of lane, where a gulley is still surcharging onto the lane. We have attempted to clear this, but there appears to be a break/blockage further on in the pipe, which will require works. In addition during this week will also look at what other issues ref drainage matters exist on this lane & then programme works as necessary. This will hopefully improve the drainage on the lane (alongside the issues with the ditches as aforementioned). However, if the total ground saturation conditions did return due to more poor weather (let’s hope not), then it would be likely that water may well run off the fields onto and down the lane.”

At the Community Association’s  AGM, Residents gave an emphatic message that Worcestershire County Council MUST address local traffic issues and, contrary to instructions from the County Council, FVCA will continue to lobby County Hall directly as well through the Divisional County Councillor.
 

With vehicles travelling in excess of 70mph, traffic calming engineering works is urgently needed to slow down vehicles just before the village entrance.  This work is urgently needed before someone is killed.

Other work that is needed includes repairing Swan Lane and Wood Lane, drop kerbs to be sited at all junctions and footpaths cleared & secured enabling safe passage by all pedestrians, inc. the elderly, disabled and young children.

Residents gathered at the Village Hall on Saturday 7^th March for the Community Association’s AGM, celebrating the many achievements over the past 12 months.   These include monthly litter picks, social drop-ins, Dining Group, rambles, Floral Fairfield, Festive Fairfield and a new addition Fairfield Flicks. 
 
The Chairman thanked everyone for their support over the past year and asked that residents keep on supporting, as Fairfield, Wildmoor & Stoneybridges is YOUR Community. Without YOUR involvement we would not have a beating village heart, we would be akin to a private estate, called a village, with no spirit.
 
The full Chair’s report, along with a copy of the Independently Examined accounts can be downloaded from http://fvca.org.uk/documents/agm-2020/
 
During the AGM the following persons were elected to serve on the Community Association committee:

Chairperson: Conrad Palmer
Secretary: Vacant
Treasurer: Robert Garvin
Officers: Carol Brogan, Mary Gibbs, Carole Morris & Carol Edwards

Dear Fellow Residents,

As many of you are aware, the Community Association has been fighting for a safe and accessible village, requesting Worcestershire County Council to adopt suitable measures that address speeding along our roads, to alleviate congestion, open up our footpaths, cut back hedges and to unblock our gullies.

We wish to share with you our most recent emails with County Hall and their reply.  Copies of these emails can be picked up on Saturday 6^th March, at the Association’s AGM.

Before the Community Association’s committee replies to the email received, we would like to hear from YOU.

Following Saturday’s brief AGM, which starts at 10am (Village Hall), we would like to discuss the response received and seek your thoughts.  The meeting to discuss Highways issues will end at 11am

Any response that the Community Association gives needs the mandate of the community, we do hope that you can join us on Saturday.

Conrad Palmer

Chairman

T:  01527 833583

E:  chair@fvca.org.uk

On Sunday 12^th January at 18:06  fire crews from Bromsgrove extinguished a fire in chimney stack in house in Fairfield, with a further reinspection being carried out using a thermal image camera.

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service is urging homeowners to get their chimneys swept by a registered sweep to prevent chimney damage, and, in worse cases, household fires.

Having your chimney swept regularly can prevent chimney fires, and all it takes is one phone call (to a registered sweep), one modest payment and one hour of your time.

To keep you and your family safe from fire:

• always use a fire guard to protect against flying sparks from hot embers
• make sure embers are properly put outbefore you go to bed
• keep chimneys and flues clean and well maintained
• never burn rubbish
• never use flammable liquids such as petrol or paraffin to light your fire.

Station Commander Amy Bailey from HWFRS’s Community Risk department said: “To keep you and your family safe from fire make sure you have your chimney swept regularly, depending on what fuel you burn.”

Station Commander Bailey continued: “A stove or open fire can be an ideal and pleasant way to keep warm, but without proper maintenance a chimney can become dangerous.” She urged people to make an appointment now with a registered chimney sweep if their chimney is due a clean. Further chimney safety advice and full details of chimney sweeps operating locally are listed on the Service’s website at www.hwfire.org.uk under the Safety and Advice heading.

A recent survey by Jane Chamberlain RIBA AABC at St. Mark’s (our village church) has identified works that need to be carried out over the next 12 months, to main the safety and soundness of the building and grounds. It is estimated that works will cost approximately £8000.

Further works estimated at £10K will need to be carried out within the next 5 years.

We need someone to help facilitate the project that will see these works being done, which will sustain and maintain a building that has been at the heart of the village for over 160 years.

The person will advise and help steer our church volunteers in the right direction, The person will not be expected to do the work. The church volunteers will do the fundraising.

If you or someone you know can assist, email our vicar Canon Sue Oliver email: canonsueoliver@btinternet.com

Please share this message with your friends.