Following a number of problems that have been experienced in and around Sweyne Park over the last few months a meeting has been arranged by Rochford District Council. The meeting is to be held at Sweyne Park School in the library on the 8th of September 2009 starting at 7.30pm. The meeting is open to all residents of Rayleigh and Rawreth.
Funnily enough, Chris and Ron didn’t hear about this meeting from the District Council – but from residents.
About time too!! We will be there, but I am sure that pressure has been put on then from this website. Good on you Chris and Ron, even if you were not notified, out of courtesy, by RDC.
As a school governor, I am more than aware that St.Nicholas School has suffered enough vandalism over the past few months, which has cost a lot of money in updating the security cameras to give a wider view of the culprits. Perhaps this time we may be able to name and shame those little darlings and make their parents pay towards the cost!! They seem to get a great enjoyment in standing across the road and throw bricks/stones at the windows and now the doors, but this time a lot more damage has been caused, not only to the doors but to the screen which covers the entrance doorway. I am sure someone must have seen/heard the noise, but did the police respond in time to catch those responsible or were they not called?????
It is a wonderful school and one which the district should be proud of but, one asks was it sited in the wrong place and would it have been better placed on the ASDA/Leisure Centre site and ASDA/Leisure Centre be placed near MAKRO?
There was problems around Durham Way in the early hours of today, many cars had their ariels stolen, and 1 car had a windscreen wiper ripped off, there has been a large police presence today in the area.
I share your concerns Rita – it does make you wonder what possessed RDC planning department by allowing this ugly development to grow in this unacceptable manner.
ASDA should never have been built on this particular site – I agree that the Rawreth Trading Estate would have been more suitable for a store and perhapes that environment would have also discouraged kids hanging around and causing mayhem…And whatsmore would be more suitable for a bus terminus.
Sweyne Park has it’s problems because it is open 24/7 and is not frequently patrolled.
The foorball pitches on Priory Chase adjacent to Sweyne Park, that are being built as I “speak”, will only create more problems for local residents and I suspect the school.
The Priory Chase Skate Park, next to the football pitches is being mis-managed by RDC/Virgin and should have restricted opening times and regular inspections to prevent misuse and deter anti-social behaviour. I suspect that the football pitches will be similarly mis-managed by RDC.
The shops including a hot food take away planned by CORAL for the ASDA carpark in Priory Chase will simply give the kids yet more reason to congregate and cause nuisance for local residents.
I have seen drug handovers in the town centre car park in broad daylight. Taxi Drivers tell me that drug dealers are operating quite openly in the pubs on the High Street (I don’t visit the town centre at night). Priory Chase is an easy target for drug dealers to operate in.
Local people, the Police and RDC need to open their eyes and see what is happening and take immediate action to stop the rot before it’s too late.
I was an out off towner and in 2006 I thought I was moving to a pleasant semi-rural Market Town – how wrong could I have been 🙁
I suspect I am wasting my “breath” by expressing these views as most people don’t seem to think that there is a problem or see the bigger picture.
It saddens me to say this but I for one am hoping to move away from this Rayleigh as soon as I can afford to do so. Sadly Rayleigh has little to recommend it and seems to get more depressing by the month.
Wake up RDC planning department and wake up Rayleigh Police.
TWR – there was some discussion this week at a council meeting about why there weren’t more people going to the Area committee meetings where the public can speak (and raise issues like this).
Some councillors thought that the meetings should be better publicised. I agree with that, but I think that a bigger problem is that people weren’t leaving the meetings feeling that their questions were being answered adequately.
I would love you to say something like this at the next West Area committee – though I don’t know how adequate the response would be, and you words are seen by more people on onlinefocus than heard by people at an area committee meeting.
But if it’s OK with you I will submit a written question to the leader of the council,quoting what you have said, saying ‘this is what a resident has written, what is your response?’
Chris,
The following is taken directly from the RDC website and details the role and functions of the West Area Committee
What ever happened to the plain English that local authorities were recommended to adopt by the government recently? Is it any wonder the public do not attend these meetings.
Perhaps you could raise this with the leader of the council also and suggest that a personal active appearance at an Area Committee meeting occasionally would go down well.
West Area Committee
“To identify the needs of the community through consultation and the involvement of the community and other appropriate bodies, including the Environment, Community Health and Social Care, Crime and Disorder, Street Scene, Recreation, Leisure and Tourism and Lcoal Highways matters that affect it, advising the Executive as appropriate on such issues; to meet the objectives associated with Highway Localism, including: considering proposals for funding (including any joint funding) submitted by constituted bodies, including the District Council, Parish and Town Councils, or other elected bodies that represent the local community. These proposals will be set out in a schedule prepared by the Area Highway Manager and reported to each Area Committee; consulting the public on proposals and priorities through the Area Committee; proposing priorities to the District Council Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation for Localism funded projects and the work of the Highway Rangers, who will assess the proposals and make recommendations for project approval to the Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation; considering and monitoring progress on the processing and delivery of approved projects through reports received from the County Council’s Area Highway Manager; to seek agreement from the Executive for changes to services to meet local needs that are outside the immediate responsibility and/or budget of the Area Committee, including seeking agreement for revenue and capital expenditure to meet any changes; to monitor local service delivery; to make arrangements for the provision of information about local services and other information to people in the area; to act as a community forum where the Area Committee and members of the community can discuss issues of concern to them; to exercise delegated authority with regard to Council functions in respect of power to create, stop up and divert footpaths and bridleways, designate cycle tracks and any other Council functions as may be delegated to it by Full Council; to exercise delegated authority with regard to Local Choice functions and to exercise any Executive functions as may be delegated to it by the Executive”.
Thank You Chris please do submit a written question on my behalf. I hope it provokes some sensible debate and solutions!
I appreciate that you and Ron work hard for our community with little reward and you must find it so frustrating at times. I hope that our posts do help to inform the RDC and the Police of what is really happening! It’s what motivates me to log on and join in the discussions afterall!
Hopefully these issues will be reflected in future planning meetings for Priory Chase i.e Reject the CORAL application for 3 shops!!
And also the CC Highways adoption of Priory Chase and Temple Way incorporating proper enforceable signage and road markings and removing some of the cowboy double yellow lines painted by ASDA to allow reidents to park AND the removal of the No 24 bus terminus (put it on Rawreth Lane in the allocated layby and find a more suitable place to turn around!!)
Keep up the good work Chris!:-)
TWR, this website receives a few thousand visits every month, certainly including lots of people connected with RDC, and the local news media. As for the police – I don’t know.
Greenbelt, I think that RDC must have employed a consultant to put together a remit, in this type of language. This is where our money is going.
Please, RDC, go back to ‘plain English’ the type of language that is easy to decipher.