News

Operation Christmas Child 2012 – Thank you

Joanna Davies, local organiser for Operation Christmas Child, writes to thank local people for their support of this year’s effort.

Despite everyone struggling with increased fuel and food bills the people of Hodnet and the surrounding areas have donated a magnificent number of filled shoeboxes in support of this annual event. 91 shoeboxes were collected and taken to the Telford depot and will make their way to children in war-torn Kosovo – a region in southeastern Europe. The total was greater than last year and I would like to thank everyone who took part. It has certainly demonstrated the true meaning of Christmas.

New Hodnet Walk Leaflets

With the help of Shropshire Council, Hodnet Footpath Group have now received a printed supply of our 1st two local walk leaflets.
You may have seen these in the Post Office, Hodnet Stores, The Bear Hotel or the Doctors, but they can also be downloaded from the Footpath Group’s webpage – where other information on the groups activities can be found.

Hodnet Housing Development – Revised Proposals Available

Last week Shropshire Council made public revised proposals provided by the developers for the land off Abbots Way. Six new documents have been posted on the Planning Depts. web site (dated 17 Oct.) Letters were sent out to interested parties on 8th Nov. giving them 14 days to respond to the changes.

The new documents can be downloaded from this page. They are listed as follows:

  • Info from agent
  • Response to PC comments from agent
  • Car parking info from agent
  • Ecological assessment from agent
  • Ecological method statement from agent
  • Ecological surveys from agent

In their “Response to Parish Council” the developers address the following points:

  • Size of Dwellings
  • Medical Centre
  • Street Lighting
  • Parking and Exterior Usability
  • Pond Management

They make no comments about the density of the dwellings on the site.
Those who wish to comment on the revised plans can do so via this page on the Planning Departments website.
Previous posts on this subject:

Trugg and Barrows Garden Diary November 2012

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree”

It has been a wonderful year for autumn colour. One of the first trees as always that showed it’s intent in the garden was the Cladrastis lutea (Yellow wood). This seemed to spur many of the plants in the garden to produce a fantastic display of reds, oranges, browns and yellows in every hue and shade imaginable. Standing beneath a mature Copper Beech, at the peak of its Autumn display, provided a moment of pure pleasure. The tree seemed to produce illumination from within its leaves, casting a soft ‘heavenly’ light around its base. Over the next two months we will spend much of our time picking these and millions of other leaves up, ah well, first the pleasure then the pain. As well as leaf collecting over the next month we will be cutting back herbaceous plants and mulching the borders. Any late planting before the ground gets frosted will also be undertaken.
You may have heard in the news recently about a fungus that is causing leaf loss and crown die back on ash trees in East Anglia. Chalara fraxinea is now the greatest threat facing trees in the UK since Dutch elm killed millions of trees in the countryside during the 1970s. The disease may have been lying dormant in our ash trees for many years, and it may already be widespread.
The first signs of the fungus arriving in Britain were in February when it was found in saplings at a nursery in Buckinghamshire, which had imported trees from Holland. It has subsequently been identified in several sites around the U.K.
Recently the fungus was found in 20-year-old trees in East Anglia. The fungal spores could have found their way from mainland Europe on cloths or boots or they could have blown over from infected trees on mainland Europe. This fungus adds to the problems already facing trees in this country such as the oak processionary moth, sudden oak death, horse-chestnut leaf miner and a fungus that has been devastating larches called Phytophthoria.
Until this year, ash trees in this country had apparently remained free of the fungus while it has been running rampant in parts of Europe. The disease first emerged in 1992 in Poland and other eastern European countries, possibly originating in Asia, where the indigenous ash trees have developed a natural immunity. Once some of these infected but resistant trees were imported in to Europe the fungus was then able to transfer to the non-resistant European stock.
It gradually spread across the continent, reaching Denmark in around 2003, where it has killed 90 per cent of the country’s ash trees, and Holland in 2010. The fungus responsible for the disease was identified in 2006.
Ash trees are the fourth most abundant tree species in the U.K. with an estimated 80 million specimens. It can be seen all over the landscape. In many hedgerows ash has replaced the elm after it was devistated in the 1970’s. There is currently a big effort to find infected trees in Britain in an attempt to identify sites where the disease has taken hold. As there is no known cure, infected trees have to be destroyed in order to try to contain the fungus. So far around 100,000 trees have been destroyed at 20 or so sites in the U.K.
In this modern age, the virtues of ash have been largely forgotten, but no tree has tougher, more elastic and flexible wood than the ash. In times past ash timber was the first choice for spears, arrows and pike-shafts. Larger timber was used for wagons or furniture; smaller poles were ideal for hop-poles, wagon wheels, ladders, oars and shafts for tools. Well seasoned ash has the ability to be steamed and bent into all kinds of shapes and still keep its strength; the chassis for the Morgan car is made from ash. As a fuel wood, ash is very useful as it will burn green.
Currently Chalara fraxinea is a quarantine pest under national emergency measures and as such suspected cases must be reported. You can do this by calling the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate on 01904 465625. Click on the link to find a pictorial guide on how to identify the disease.

A Garden to Visit.

As winter winds blow in, it is nice to think of sitting in the warm whilst the garden makes few demands and tasks can be left for sunnier weather. Yet gardeners, being the outdoors type, will often find themselves getting bored kicking around the house especially on clear crisp days. For this reason I always look for gardens to visit in winter. High on my list is Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire.
I had heard and read about this famous snowdrop garden and added it to my list of places to go if I was ever in the area. I recently went to a talk about this garden hosted by the Shropshire branch of ‘Plant Heritage’ which has now made it a must see for me.
Sitting in the Churn valley in the Cotswolds, Colesbourne has been home to the Elwes (think Galanthus elwesii) family for over 200 years though the original Victorian pile has been extensively modified and made into a comfortable family home.
The garden is open every weekend in February and such is its popularity that visitor numbers in this month alone pay for the garden for the rest of the year!
The collection of snowdrops now boasts over 250 varieties and for those of us, (myself included), who do not fancy kneeling in the mud to examine minute differences, they are planted in broad drifts which gives a wonderful effect.
The garden is just over ten acres surrounded by a shelter belt of mature beech woodland planted as a shelter belt. Glades are opened along pathways containing shrubs grown for winter interest. Yet it is bulbs for which Colesbourne is rightly famous. Henry John Elwes, discoverer of G. elwesii, was a keen plant hunter in the nineteenth century and brought many treasures back from his travels, mostly bulbous plants.
Winter aconites abound at Colesbourne spreading their cheery yellow flowers over a long period. They include some rare cultivars including ‘Lightening’ and the cheekily named seedling of this variety ‘Strikes Twice’.
Self-sowing is encouraged at Colesbourne such as the bank of G. plicatus ssp. byzantinus in the Icehouse Hollow and the Fritillaria meleagris ‘Alba’. Petasites japonica is also grown here but a word of warning to those tempted by the flower heads sitting flush to the ground – once you get this plant it is there forever and spreads wherever it wants!
Colesbourne is high on my list of must see places, perhaps you would like to write in and tell me yours? (See the email below).
In the Kitchen Garden.
Over the next month in the kitchen garden we will be:- pruning this years fruited stems out of the raspberries, winter pruning apple trees, more leaf collecting and generally tidying the vegetable plot. There are still some crops to harvest including leeks, sprouts and carrots. Due to the work schedule and mice I don’t plant any crops at this time of year, but you could have a go at sowing some early cabbage for planting out in spring.
Please note: images have been removed from this pages because some of them may have been used without permission.

Christmas Craft Fair At Hodnet Hall Gardens

Sunday 25th November.

Over 25 stalls selling local, handmade gifts and food.

Entry to the fair and the gardens £3 each. Under 16’s free.

Open 10.00 a.m – 3.00 p.m.

Tea rooms open for light refreshments.

A unique opportunity to do some Christmas shopping and explore 60 acres of magnificent gardens.

 
For information on opening days, entry charges, location and more pictures go to Hodnet Hall’s website.

Lots of mud on the road!

West Mercia Police are warning motorists and farmers about the problem of large amounts of mud on the roads due to the heavy rains. In an email today they say:

Rural Watch Update from West Mercia Police
Farmers
There have been increased reports of road traffic collisions where mud on the road has been noted as the main factor for the collision. Due to the current weather conditions, the tractors and trailers harvesting are bringing more mud onto the roads than usual. West Mercia are urging farmers to clear up any mud left on the roads as they work, not just at the end of the day. Slippery/muddy  road conditions can cause fatal collisions and farmers have a duty of care to prevent that from happening.
There will be a press release from West Mercia in the coming days regarding this, which mentions taking action against farmers who fail to take positive action to clear the roads of mud. Please pass the word to your neighbouring farmers/friends.
For those of you travelling on the main roads, if you see mud on the road which is dangerous for drivers, please report to the Police on 101 or to local Council’s highway department. Please be extra careful on the roads.

Update 2 Nov. 2012: Two days after the Hodnet website publish this report, Shropshire Council’s Newsroom carried their version of the warning on this page.

New food waste recycling arrangements

The Shropshire Newsroom this week has announced a new scheme to encourage food recycling in North Shropshire. On this page they state:

Residents in north Shropshire will find it even easier to recycle more, thanks to a new recycling initiative being rolled out by Shropshire Council and their waste contractor Veolia.
Residents who live in the former North Shropshire District Council area can already add all types of food waste to their garden waste, as it all gets treated in an in-vessel composting facility which is designed to treat both types of waste to turn it into compost.
To encourage more residents to join in the service, all households in north Shropshire are being provided with a kitchen caddy. The caddies, which will start to be delivered to households from Monday 5 November 2012, come with a starter pack of special compostable liners to make it easy for residents to separate food waste in the kitchen. An information leaflet explaining everything about the service will also be provided.
The aim is that people will use the new caddies to collect up all their kitchen food waste including peelings, tea bags and leftovers to keep it separate from the other rubbish which goes in the black bins. The rubbish in the black bins is sent to landfill, so by putting food waste in the garden waste bins, residents are recycling more.

 

Hearne Lane Proposed Car Park

Ringway, Contractors to Shropshire Council Highways Department are looking to expand the Council Highways depot by creating an extra 20 car parking spaces in the small paddock on the opposite side of Hearne Lane to the Council Depot.
People with an interest or view to express should come to the Hodnet Parish Council meeting at the Lyon Hall on 1st November 2012 at 7.30 pm.
Mr Derek Mathers of Ringway and Steve Brown from Shropshire Council will be attending the meeting to explain the need for 20 extra parking spaces in a small historic paddock within the conservation area of Hodnet.
Click the following link to view the information regarding the current planning application connected with the proposed Hearne Lane Car Park: http://planningpa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=M3TJH8TDF0000
 
 

Station Road Development – Revised Plans

A revised proposal has been sent to the Parish Council by the Shropshire Housing Group (SHG) with regard to the proposed redevelopment of the old council yard in Station Road.
The plans have been revised following comments made at the public consultation held at the Lyon Hall on 14th September. As yet no formal planning application has been received by the Parish Council.
Click the image below to download the full PDF of the revised proposals:

Major changes to the original concept proposals are as follows:

  • The number of dwellings has been reduced from 19 to 16;
  • The block of four flats has been replaced by a bungalow;
  • There are now two parking places per dwelling;
  • It is now proposed that thirteen of the homes will be available for rent and three will be for shared ownership.

Shropshire HomePoint (which has replaced the old council housing waiting list) have informed the housing association that they have people waiting for between seventy and eighty homes in the Hodnet area.
The housing association recognise that the Council’s SAMDev consultation earmarked the site as suitable for twelve homes. They ask local people to recognise that they need to be able to afford the Council’s valuation of the land and satisfy their planning criteria. They also have to persuade their own management board and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)- who will fund the project if it goes ahead – that the development justifies the cost.
The site’s capacity in the SAMDev is stated as indicative for 12 units. SHG ask that residents bear in mind that they have to satisfy both Shropshire Council in value for money and planning terms as well as their own board and HCA, the project funders, if the project is to go forward.
They have also asked us to make clear that the Meadows was built by North Shropshire Council and not a housing association. The management of the development was passed to another landlord in 2007 and currently Shropshire Housing Association (of which Meres and Mosses is a subsidiary) manages sixteen sheltered homes on the estate.

Come for a walk

This Saturday (20th Oct) the Hodnet Footpath Group have arranged a circular walk around the Faul’s area.
We are meeting at 10.30 AM outside Faul’s church, and expect to be back around 12.30.
Anyone is welcome to join us. Bring suitable clothing, footwear and a drink/snack.
Dogs also welcome, but it is possible that some stiles may not permit large ones to pass beneath them, so they may need to be lifted!
For more info, or to let us know you are coming, ring John Bourne on 01630 638965