Author: FVCA

Community Falls Silent at Service of Remembrance

A well attended Service of Remembrance this morning, which was held inside the Village Hall.

Wreaths were laid by the Parish Council (Cllr. Gibbs), Community Association (by a child, Miss Jessie Gibson), West Mercia Police (PCSO Cadwallader), Fairfield Women’s Institute (Mrs. Cotterill) & Fairfield First School (child & headteacher, Mr. Scott Smith).

Following the service, members of the community enjoyed refreshments.

The collection raised £134.30, which will be donated to the Royal British Legion

Thanks to all volunteers involved with the service and serving refreshments.

Litter Picks to Continue

Thanks to Keith & Carol, who have volunteered to coordinate litter picks, our Community Litter Picks will continue in 2024.

A deputy is needed for when Keith & Carol are on holiday. Can someone help with this?

The next Community Litter Pick will be on Saturday 13th January 10.30am.

Cold Mornings

Although vehicle crime is low across West Mercia, every winter the force receives a number of reports from drivers who have had their cars stolen after leaving the engine running, while they wait in the warmth of their home for it to heat up and defrost the windscreen.

Some vehicle owners nip inside for just a few seconds to collect a bag or finish the last mouthful of their breakfast coffee – but that’s all the time an opportunist thief needs. To ‘freeze out’ the thieves, West Mercia Police advises motorists to:

• Clear windscreens with de-icer and a scraper

• Sit in vehicles while the heater de-mists the windscreen

Drivers who ignore this advice are taking big risks. Thieves will drive around residential areas looking for likely targets – when they spot a vehicle with its engine left running on a drive or outside a home, it’s there for the taking.

One person will be dropped off, gets into the target vehicle and simply drives away.

Many of the vehicles are never recovered, and some – especially high value models such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi – may be shipped overseas.

It is also worth remembering if your car is stolen when keys have been left in it, you may find your insurance will not cover you. If your house keys are stolen along with your car, your home is then vulnerable too.

So, this winter, don’t give criminals an easy ride by leaving your car running unattended.

Monthly Litter Picks To Stop

As nobody has come forward to coordinate our Community Litter Picks, and with dwindling volunteers, the last outing for the Fairfield Wombles will be on Saturday (11th November) 10.30am, meet outside the Village Hall.

Everyone is welcome to give our community one last Fight The Grot, it’s only one hour of your time.

It is disappointing, after 7 1/2 years, that litter picking is coming to an end, but we have been struggling for far too long with lack of support, with 3 to 6 volunteers, or is it that people living in the community are content with how it once was, with litter along our roads & open spaces and in our ditches.

Community Meeting: Wildmoor Quarry Expansion

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday evening’s Community Meeting (1st November), we hope you found the information informative.

The village website’s STOP THE QUARRY webpage has been updated, and now includes a copy of the slides, please make sure your neighbours are aware of what could be happening, and start thinking of your consultation response.

Once the planning application has been published we will make the community aware via our online communication channels.

http://fvca.org.uk/stop-the-quarry/

At the meeting, Residents enquired about the Parish Council and whether the Council will reaffirm its 2018 decision (which is not legally binding) to not sell or permit mineral extraction on Parish Council owned land, something that FVCA has asked for, so far this request has been declined.

An extract from the 2018 minutes is below. The approved motion is not legally binding and can be revisited after a period of time, i.e. now.

If you want the Parish Council to reaffirm it 2018 decision, please lobby the Parish Council by emailing the Parish Clerk belbroughtonpc@live.co.uk

Belbroughton & Fairfield Parish CouncilMinutes 3rd September2018
244/18 Emerging Minerals Local Plan (4th County Council call for sites)

Council considered the proposals from the owner of Wildmoor Quarry for inclusion of parish council land in order to extend minerals extraction in the locality which had been presented to council in July 2018 and, local quarrying in general and the effects on the local community.

A motion was proposed: ‘’This council refuses to give its consent to quarrying of its land located near to Wildmoor quarry, without any further consideration of the financial and environmental implications of this decision.”

The motion was approved by seven votes in favour and one vote against.The Council further agreed that no further action would be taken on the matter.

Planning Application – 1 – 2 Money Lane Cottage, Money Lane

The following planning application is available to view and comment on. Please use this
link to take you to the home page of Public Access
https://publicaccess.bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk/online-applications/ which is the tool for
viewing applications and making comment electronically.

Click on the link above
Type in the application number and click, this will take you to the summary page of Public
Access.
When at the summary page
To view the documents you will need to click on the tab, then
the .
To make a comment click on the tab,
Fill out your details and make your comment and press submit, this will go straight to the
relevant planning officer and be immediately viewable in the comments tab.
If you have provided an email you can request a confirmation email.

APPLICATION REFERENCE :	23/01146/HHPRIO
APPLICATION TYPE:	Householder Prior Notification
DATE ACCEPTED:	26.10.2023
LOCATION:	1 – 2 Money Lane Cottage, Money Lane Chadwich Worcestershire B61 0QY
PROPOSAL:	Single storey rear extension off rear elevation
APPLICANTS NAME:
PARISH COUNCIL:	Belbroughton Parish
WARD:	Belbroughton And Romsley Ward
CASE OFFICER:	Chad Perkins
TELEPHONE:	01527 881257
EMAIL	chad.perkins@bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk

What You Can Do: A Guide to Protecting Your Home From Floods

Flooding is becoming a real issue in the UK, and not just in coastal areas. No longer a rare occurrence, climate change is making flooding a problem for many, including homeowners who never previously needed to consider it. Therefore, it’s important to understand whether your property is at risk of flooding, as well as what you can do to reduce the impact if the worst does happen.

This expert guide to flooding from Comparethemarket explains everything you need to know about contents and home insurance for flood damage, as well as sharing actionable advice to protect your property. For example, you may have considered stocking up on sandbags and pallets to protect your furniture, but have you looked at installing one-way valves that stop sewage coming back up your pipes in the event of a flood? Is your garden landscaped in such a way that it diverts water away from your property? Have you raised electric sockets so that they might be able to stay out of the water?

If not, then read this guide and get some top tips that can help protect your home. This is especially important as we head into the winter months, where the risk of flooding is greater due to winter storms. You’ll be glad that you’ve implemented these changes if water levels do rise – you can feel secure, knowing that you’ve done what you can to protect your house.

Source:

https://www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/content/i-live-in-a-high-risk-flood-area-will-this-impact-my-home-insurance/

History of Pepper Wood

Pepper Wood is an ancient woodland which has shown a remarkable ability to heal through natural regeneration. The wood has been devastated by clear-felling twice – once during the First World War and again a few years following the Second World War, although fortunately it was not re-planted with conifers.

The name Pepper Wood has developed over the years, and its name can be traced back to 1230 AD. Pepper Wood is a remnant of North Worcestershire’s ancient Feckenham Forest.

According to the Survey of English Place-Names (The University of Nottingham et al) the suffix, the name name Pypba or Pyppa refers to a person and the word rod means clearing, the whole name means ‘Pypba’s clearing.’, within the forest area.

Historical Forms

Pup(p)erode 1230
Pepperod(e) 1251
Purperode c.1255
Pipperod 1262 For 1275 Ass
Popperod 1271
Pypperode 1494
Pyperode Wood c.1830

The Woodland Trust took ownership in 1981, and they handed the guardianship of the wood over to Pepper Wood Community Woodland Group whose loyal members have taken on the management of the site by reintroducing the centuries-old tradition of coppicing with standards. A past owner of Pepper Wood was the Earl of Shrewsbury (Tythe records 1840).

In 2017, The Woodland Trust acquired Gorsy Piece, and in 2022, having raised £1.5 million, the Trust purchased 120 acres of adjacent land, thereby achieve some 100 hectares of resilient continuous native woodland.

During December 2022, 20,000 trees were planted, including 250 trees plated by members of the community and children from Fairfield First School.

The newly acquired area, which once served as World War 2 Starfish Decoy Site, will also include areas of regenerative growth, species rick meadows and rough pasture for grazing.

Can You Name The New Pepper Wood Extension?

We are delighted to be partnering the Woodland Trust with this competition. Email your suggestions to admin@fvca.org.uk

Pinches Quarry – Further Consultation

Further Information (Regulation 25) – Extraction of sand and gravel and subsequent infilling with inert waste at Pinches (4) Quarry, Wildmoor – Ref: 19/000056/CM

Re-Consultation on a Planning Application (County Matter)
Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended)

Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017

Submission of Further Information in respect of the Environmental Statement relating to the following planning application

Application Ref: 19/000056/CM Grid Ref: (E) 396794 (N) 275686

Applicant: Mr Timmins

Proposal: Extraction of sand and gravel and subsequent infilling with inert waste to achieve full restoration

Location: Pinches (4) Quarry, Wildmoor Lane, Wildmoor, Bromsgrove, B61 0QN

On 7 January 2020, Mr Timmins applied to Worcestershire County Council for planning permission for the above proposal. The County Council sought comments on this planning application from 29 January 2020 until 4 March 2020, from 21 April 2021 until 2 June 2021 and from 4 May 2022 until 8 June 2022.

Following the consideration of the comments that were received on the application and Environmental Statement, the Mineral Planning Authority wrote to the applicant on 9 August 2022, 16 August 2022 and 23 January 2023 requesting further information in respect of the Environmental Statement. On 26 May 2023, 20 June 2023 and 15 September 2023, the applicant wrote to Worcestershire County Council submitting further information in relation to the Environmental Statement regarding a minor amendment to the red line boundary and a number of matters, including: access and highways, landscape and visual amenity, ecology and climate change. The County Council are now seeking comments on this further information.

The further information, together with the planning application, the plans, the Environmental Statement, Non-Technical Summary and relevant documents are available to view on www.worcestershire.gov.uk/eplanning using application reference: 19/000056/CM. When searching by application reference, please ensure that the full application reference number, including the suffix are entered into the search field.

Please email your comments to devcontrolteam@worcestershire.gov.uk

I would be grateful for any comments you may have on the above application by 22 November 2023. If this is not possible please let me know. If you have already commented on this application, and if I do not hear from you by this date I will assume your comments remain unchanged.

Please note that all correspondence regarding any planning application will be available for inspection by the applicant and any interested third parties.

Marta Dziudzi-Moseley (she/her)

Principal Planner – Development Management

Directorate of Economy and Infrastructure

Worcestershire County Council

County Hall, Spetchley Road

Contact