News

23rd April 2024

Bayston Hill Parish Council Chair’s Annual Report 2023/24

This year Bayston Hill Parish Council have had another very productive year with many events being held, last year’s projects completed and new ones underway.

In April the Astroturf was replaced and is proving to be very popular and in demand by many groups in the village.

Our first event in May was the Coronation of King Charles III which was due to take place on the Glebelands but unfortunately the weather let us down so the celebration was held in Christchurch. Hundreds of residents attended the celebration which included; live music, a bouncy castle, barbecue and Bayston Hill Parish Council provided cakes for everyone.

The Big Green Week took place in June and the Chair, Kay Turner, and other members of the committee enjoyed working with the children at Oakmeadow School. Kay and I worked with the youngest children, helping them to plant their vegetable beds, make bug hotels and a life cycle of a sunflower. Neil and David worked with year six children who had the opportunity to learn how to use the thermal imaging camera and the benefits of using one for the environment. Many thanks go to Sam Hill, Head, her staff and the children for their enthusiasm and making us feel so welcome.

The Big Green Fair was held on the school field and was attended by many of the children and their parents where they had the opportunity to visit a wide range of stalls and display all their ‘Green’ work they had done in class.

The Deputy Mayor enjoyed his visit to the BGW Fair and hopes to return this year when he will be attending as the Mayor.

Many thanks to all BHPC councillors and staff who gave up their time to support all the events during the week and to the members of the BGW for organising such a successful week. Preparations are now well underway for The Big Green Week 2024 in June, to be held at The Glebelands.

The Carbon Neutral Working Party, led by Councillor Underwood, continue to meet regularly to find ways of achieving the Council’s aim to become carbon neutral by 2030. The group continue to train residents to utilise the Council’s thermal imaging camera which is free to hire for all residents of Bayston Hill. The Repair Café is now in operation and is held every couple of months at Christchurch. As a result of the group’s work all of the streetlights owned by Bayston Hill Parish Council have been assessed, the columns replaced as necessary, and the work to convert all the streetlights to LED is well underway. The group also actioned an energy audit on all of the Council’s premises and equipment and have now commissioned a biodiversity audit in order to improve the environment.

Bayston Hill Parish Council also have a Road Safety group, led by Councillor Lewis, which are exploring various options which will make the roads in the village safer for all.

During the Summer the children took part in many free sports and craft activities led by Julie, the Parish Clerk, and supported by Rachael Courtney. The children also had the opportunity to attend a film showing in the Memorial Hall where they were provided with refreshments.

On Friday 29^th September the MacMillan Coffee Morning at the Memorial Hall took place. The event was well supported and raised £140 for the MacMillan charity. Many thanks to Julie, BHPC Clerk, for organising this for the second year and this is now clearly an annual event in the BHPC diary.

The annual Apple Pressing took place on Saturday 7^th October 2023 and was well attended. Thanks go to Councillor Underwood for leading this event and staff member Peter for supporting the apple pressing and Rachael for running autumn wreath making sessions.

The Remembrance Service was held on Friday 10^th November and as well as the Deputy Lieutenant for Shropshire, Claire Crackett, who laid the first wreath on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant for Shropshire and His Majesty King Charles III. Pupils from Oakmeadow Primary School read the poem ‘In Flanders field’. This was followed by Stephen Jones,the Chairman of Ford and District RBL who read the prayer. Two-minutes silence was held followed by the bugler and the laying of the wreaths. Allan Caswell read the names of the fallen from Bayston Hill and representatives from Bayston Hill Methodist Church, Reverend MacNeill-Cooper and Storehouse Church led the reading of the prayers. Afterwards refreshments were served in the Hall.

December saw the Christmas Tree arrive to mark the start of the Christmas festivities including ‘Carols on the Parade’ and ‘Jingleation’. Many thanks to all involved and yet again Parr’s Pool was transformed in to a ‘Christmas Wonderland’.

At long last plans are now well underway for the for the refurbishment and updating of the Pavilion. A working party involving many residents and stakeholders from the clubs who already use the site have been meeting regularly to share ideas and discussion various plans. At the March meeting Full Council approved the plans and work will start later this year so watch this space!

Many thanks Julie, Clerk to the Parish and Peter Deputy Clerk and all their hard work in making all the events and projects possible. Thanks also go to all our ground-staff; Rachael, Sally, Roger and Ian for all their hard work during the year and to all Bayston Hill Parish Councillors who give their own time to help make Bayston Hill the wonderful place it is. Thanks also to all the volunteers, too many to mention individually, who give up their time to consult on projects and help out at events, again we could not do it without you.

This year the Council’s very special grateful thanks go to Rachael Courtney, who has worked for BHPC for 7 years. Sadly, Rachael will be leaving in the summer to embark on new adventures and she will be deeply missed by everyone. Not only has Rachael been part of our amazing team of grounds-staff but she has often given up her own time to support village events sharing her creative skills and talents. We wish Rachael and her family all the very best for the future.

Caroline Clode – Bayston Hill Parish Council Chair

April 2024.

Draft Minutes from the Annual Parish meeting can be seen here

Parish Council OBJECT to Redrow application on Lyth Hill Road

10th April 2024

Bayston Hill Parish Council STRONGLY OBJECT to this application for the following non-exhaustive reasons;

Within the adopted Local Plan, policy S16.2 provides the development strategy for the settlement. It specifies that Bayston Hill has a residential development guideline of 50-60 dwellings to 2026 and that “development by infilling, groups of houses and conversion of buildings may be acceptable on suitable sites within the development boundary identified on the Policies Map”. No sites are allocated for development at Bayston Hill within the adopted Local Plan.
Within Bayston Hill, over the period from 2011/12 to 2021/22, 65 dwellings have been completed. As of 31st March 2022, 7 dwellings were committed on sites with Planning Permission or Prior Approval. In addition, 22/02517/FUL bring forward a further 23 dwellings. As completions already achieved exceed the residential development guideline of 50-60 dwellings within the adopted Local Plan, this residential development guideline has been achieved.
This area is a greenfield site and next to a well-used and loved country park, with the current climate and food crisis it should remain green and available for agricultural use. In addition to this Shropshire Council has ambitious plans for nature recovery and this plan is in contradiction of these proposals.

Serious traffic concerns for Lyth Hill, already exacerbated by on street parking making it a single lane in a number of areas and it services a 90-place nursery which makes it very busy morning and afternoon. Little Lyth junction will be even more unsafe with vastly increased traffic. Frequent closures on the A49 already cause Little Lyth Hill to become a dangerous "rat run". The main junction at A49/Lyth Hill is already over capacity and has tail backs daily and requires traffic light control.

Overdevelopment - it is clear from the plans that the density is not in keeping with the village and is out of character.

Infrastructure - the village does not have a Secondary School and the Primary School is already at capacity. The GPs surgery is at capacity, evidenced by the failed recent push to have it relocated out of the village. The bus service has been cut to an “on demand” service that is sparse.

There has been no public consultation. The Statement of Community Engagement that was uploaded to the Planning Portal on April 8^th is the same document that was used for a previous speculative application. Given the time lapsed between the application, large portions of the report are invalid. The Parish Council requests that a full public consultation is undertaken.

Drainage and flooding. The area is well known for flooding and has done so several times this winter. Just this last weekend (April – 5-7^th 2024) water was cascading down both Lyth Hill and Yew Tree Drive. There is no adequate mitigation for this in the new design

Residents are strongly advised to lodge their own objections on the Shropshire Planning Portal, if you need assistance to do this please visit the Clerk at the Parish Office on Lyth Hill.

Planning Application for Lyth Hill Road

22nd March 2024

24/00765/FUL|Hybrid planning application seeking (a) full planning permission for the creation of 114 dwellings, open space and infrastructure with access from Lyth Hill Road and (b) outline planning permission for up to 4no. serviced self-build plots

https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=S9BPJQTDFXW00

Pavilion Project gets green light

15th March 2024

Full Council on Wednesday 13th March approved plans to alter the internal layout of the existing Pavilion and to add a side extension to allow for regulation (FA) suitable toilet and shower facilities. In addition to extend the car parking level with the planned extension and to create a compound area to allow for garaging, storage and a workshop. There will also be a parish office incorporated.

A group was formed of current users and all the ideas to make the space more accessible to wider community usage while catering for the existing needs was considered.

The next stage will see the plans submitted for permission to Shropshire Council.

Click on the links below to see the plans

https://baystonhillparishcouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/sk-301_proposed_floor_plans_-_sketch_option_3.pdf

sk-302_proposed_elevations_-_sketch_option_3.pdf (baystonhillparishcouncil.org.uk)

sk-303_proposed_site_plan_-_sketch_option_3.pdf (baystonhillparishcouncil.org.uk)