Village Post

Spring 2010
To contact Rob: Latton Bush Centre, Southern Way, Harlow, Essex CM18 7BL Tel: 01279 429251 Email: halfon4harlow@roberthalfon.com Web: www.roberthalfon.com Blog: www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/roberthalfon www.twitter.com/halfon4harlow

Delivered free by your local Conservatives to Hastingwood, Matching, Nazeing, Roydon & Sheering

He added: The Epping Forest district already provides a large number of pitches, with many in the Nazeing and Roydon area. This will mean the minimum number of The Conservatives have pledged to replace pitches in the district by 2011 will be 128. the Human Rights Act which is used

THE Epping Forest district is being picked on over the ongoing issue of additional traveller pitches, Robert Halfon said: Epping Forest District Council is to be applauded for fighting its corner and persuading the Government to reduce the number but 34 pitches when some other districts and boroughs have been told to provide fewer additional pitches is still too many.

We are being picked on over traveller pitches

The big question now is where will these 34 pitches go. Months after the consultation document was published, no decision has been taken over where the pitches will go. We still have huge swathes of the district blighted by the threat of a traveller encampment. Delicate decisions still have to be made and it would benefit the whole district if these decisions could be taken sooner rather than later.

Prospective Conservative MP

Robert Halfon

extensively by travellers as reasons for granting planning permission with a new British Bill of Rights which will help authorities deal with unauthorised traveller sites.

Gordon Browns housing plans are unnecessary, undemocratic and unsustainable. Not enough is being done to build on brownfield land, not enough has been done to really involve local people in the decision-making process. No real pledges have been made, with financial resources, to guarantee the new infrastructure that will be a requirement if new housing is to be built. Rob added: We are not saying no to any new housing. Far from it. We just believe it should be evolutionary and sustainable.

Shadow Communities Secretary Caroline Spellman made a number of guarantees about the Conservative policy on housing, when she visited Harlow and Nazeing last year. Rob said: The good news is that Conservatives are pledged to abolish all the top down regional and national planning targets that have imposed arbitrary housing targets across Essex and the East of England - without any genuine local consultation. You cannot build extra houses through central planning, without giving people a real say in what occurs.

CONSERVATIVE promises to scrap Gordon Browns plans to concrete over our villagers have been welcomed by Robert Halfon who is also applauding the Conservative plan to involve local people in key decisions when it comes to developing Green Belt land.

Green belt we must save it

Plans for an extra runway at Stansted will be scrapped by a Conservative government with Robert Halfon believing that a nine-month delay over a public inquiry into the second runway is the final nail in the coffin for any expansion at the airport. The expansion would increase capacity to 68m passengers by 2030.

Stansted expansion Rob fighting for speed grounded safety in our villages

Rob said: This delay leaves the expansion plans not just in tatters but in tiny shreds. Expansion at Stansted is a non-starter, it always has been and the Conservatives recognise this. Conservatives will shelve Gordon Brown's plans for an extra runway. This expansion nonsense is simply blighting a huge swathe of our countryside and affecting the quality of life for people affected by the flight paths and people who live near the airport, and in our villages including Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering.

VILLAGERS in Hastingwood and Roydon have long suffered from speeding traffic as drivers look to avoid tailbacks on the A414/M11 roundabout and a cut-through to Harlow. Thanks to the campaigning efforts of Robert Halfon, Essex County Council is to undertake a speed survey on local roads with the possibility of introducing a reduced speed limit and traffic calming. Rob said: This news can not be too soon for people living in Hastingwood who have put up with the roads outside their homes being used as rat-runs by cars and lorries for years. Action has been long-awaited and it is great the county council has put in writing that it intends to do something about the problem. I have been fighting for something to be done for a long time now, as have the residents and local action group, so it is great to see that all the campaigning has finally paid off.

I am also keen to see something done about traffic speed between Harlow and Roydon. Rob said: I would like to pay tribute to the efforts of Hastingwood Action Group led by Viv Chipperfield and others who have done so much for so long to try and do something about speeding in Hastingwood Road.

Route 381
I have recently been contacted by local residents concerned about the lack of bus pick-up points around the villages - particularly in Roydon - and have made representations to bus companies and local councils alike. So it was good news when Conservative-run Essex County Council made a firm commitment to support local bus routes in Harlow and Epping. Cllr Norman Hume, Cabinet Member for Highways, took the decision to spend

3.3million in 2010/11 on subsidising local bus routes, which will include route 381 between Harlow and Roydon. Commercial companies have previously refused to run the routes, as they won't make enough profit on them. Cllr Hume said: "Local buses are one of the frontline services that ECC has pledged to support. Robert Halfon has explained just how important a local service the 381 bus is for Roydon, and I was pleased to announce the 3.3million today. These are difficult economic times, but I am grateful to Cllr Hume for sticking to his guns. The 381 bus is a lifeline for rural communities around Harlow and Epping, and I am delighted that local Conservatives and our own County Councillors have rallied to protect it.

Out and About with Rob Halfon

From swimming the Channel to Sheering Youth Club

Some of you will know that in Sheering, there lives a man by the name of Paul Forsey, who swam the Channel last year in 16 hours 8 minutes for charity. I first heard about this amazing feat from Dan Lucia (boyfriend to Paul's daughter), who has recently joined Harlow Conservative Future. Well, the purpose of Paul's swim was to raise money for local youth groups. Not content with just raising money, Paul has set up, with the assistance of his local church, a great youth group in Sheering. This is a youth club with a difference. When I visited the Club, young kids of primary school age, who otherwise might be out on the streets, were instead playing footie, games, and having a brilliant time, all under Paul's guidance. Also supervising was Carla (Paul's other daughter), who is a budding photographer, and currently studying Media at Lincoln University. The picture shows Paul, Carla and myself just by the mini-snooker table! Paul has a great vision for the Club, which is housed at Sheering Village Hall. He hopes to work with the Cricket Club, to build a youth centre on the side of the pitch, just outside. I am sure that Paul's determination to provide young people of Sheering with a great venue and loads of activities will make it happen. I certainly will be supporting him every step of the way. The village halls in Hastingwood, Roydon, Nazeing and Sheering would be among the venues hit by a Government decision to introduce new music charges. To date, voluntary groups have not had to pay for a so-called "PPL" performance rights licence in order to play recorded music. The changes are being imposed by Peter Mandelson's Whitehall empire.The new levy will come into effect in April 2010 once the new regulations are ratified by Parliament.

Now government hits village halls with stealth tax

Churches, village halls, charity shops and sports clubs across the Harlow constituency including Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering - face a new 20 million tax from Gordon Brown's Government. And with charity shops affected too by the charges, vital organisations such as St Clare Hospice, which is based in Hastingwood and has charity shops in Epping and Harlow, will also be affected.

There are many community buildings in Harlow and the villages which hold numerous events to bring our communities together and to raise money for countless local charities and causes. I have visited Sheering Youth Club which would also be affected should it hold discos in the future. With everything from discos to tea dances covered by the regulations it is all ages, our young people and senior citizens, in our communities that would be affected. I find it incredible that Gordon Brown is so intent on harming our local institutions that do so much to make our communities thrive. I am glad that Conservatives are opposing these changes and standing up for local voluntary groups. These stealth taxes must be fought tooth and nail.

In the small print of obscure new regulations, the Government is abolishing charities' and voluntary groups' long-standing exemption from music licensing rules - hitting them with unexpected new bills just for holding events with recorded music or for playing a radio.

The Fire Officers fortunately saved the Church from further damage and managed to preserve ancient medieval artefacts from ruin. Going inside the Church with a Fire Officer, it was tragic to see that a section had been gutted by the fire. I felt deeply for the acting Church Vicar, church wardens and local residents, watching and waiting to see how much damage there would be to this special place of worship.

The Tower of Sheering Church was built in 1160 and its majesty is something special. It holds a clock - a memorial clock, put in at a much later date. As I understand it, the rest of the Church was built in the 14th Century, with the North wing be added in the nineteenth. I remember going to the Church, with former Conservative Leader Michael Howard, so it was a bit of a shock seeing smoke from the rooftops.

I was very sad to be at Sheering Church on the night of the fire, watching brave local Fire Officers do their best to put out flames that threatened havoc on this ancient Medieval building.

A sad time at Sheering

From what I was told, it was luck, that a lady walking her dog by the church, saw the fire and called emergency services. Had she not been there at that time, the whole church could have been destroyed. As always, we have to give our thanks the emergency services - the Fire Officers - who did all they could to keep the Church from the flames. A sad time for Sheering villagers nevertheless.

Promoted by Russell Perrin on behalf of Robert Halfon both of Latton Bush Centre, Southern Way, Harlow, Essex CM18 7BL and printed by Metloc Printers Ltd., Old Station Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 4PE

To contact Rob: Latton Bush Centre, Southern Way, Harlow, Essex CM18 7BL Tel: 01279 429251 Email: halfon4harlow@roberthalfon.com Web: www.roberthalfon.com Blog: www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/roberthalfon www.twitter.com/halfon4harlow