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Hallmark October1983. Can't Slow Down. A request from the Parish Council to reduce the Lacey Green Main Road speed limit from 40 m.p.h. to 30 m.p.h. and extend the limit to the Loosley Row boundary on "Woodway" has been turned down by the Bucks County Council Highways Dept., on the grounds that the accident rate is too low. The Council are to ask for an explanation of the criteria of why the speed limit is to be extended on the Walters Ash end of the Parish but not on the Loosley Row end of the same road. It was also pointed out at a recent Parish Councl Meeting that the 'increased vision' work being carried out at the 'Crooked Chimney', while welcome, will increase speed.

Hallmark February 1986 Reporting Parish Pump Politics. By Councillor Ray Gosling. (click Ray & Jill Gosling for more about Ray)

I'm starting my report with some good news, the Parish Council rate is being reduced by 25%! Unfortunately, this is a mere drop in the ocean when compared with the possibility of a 30% increase in the county rate. Our reduction only represents 0.2p in the pound. Nevertheless every little helps.

Road safety is still causing concern. With large lorries, speeding traffic, cars obstructing pavements and the dangers associated with parking outside the school, we seem to have more than our fair share of traffic problems for a village as small as ours. The feeling of the Parish Council is. that action has to be taken before another serious accident occurs. Hence we have made requests to the police to monitor the speed of traffic through the village and take action against those who insist on parking on pavements, it would be a shame if these measures produced prosecutions against village residents, so be warned.

Planning is once again in the local limelight. As I hope many of you already know the modified South Bucks Structural Plan was at last released by the Department of the Environment and as we all hoped the whole of Lacey Green and Loosley Row is to be brought into The Green Belt. All seemed well until Wycombe District Council objected, wishing our villages to stay as they are and to be held in reserve for possible future development. As a result there.is to.be. another public. enquiry. The Parish Council along with many local residents have written in support of the proposals and although we feel confident, vigilance must still be maintained.

On routine planning matters we are continuing to see "in-fill" where new houses are built in the grounds of larger, older properties, I think most people would agree with me that the mere recent developments stand out from the older properties like a sore thumb, So if you are considering developing your garden or even an extension, please try to make the building in keeping with its surroundings. It is a great pity that in our "Chiltern Villages" brick and flint the traditional local building material is now in a minority.

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Hallmark December 1986. Parish Pump Politics By Councillor Ray Gosling (Ray & Jill Gosling)

With the coming of winter the traffic situation in Lacey Green and Loosley Row has markedly deteriorated.

Added problems for parking. Along with the well-known problems of parking outside the school, speeding and obstruction of pavements, we now have to add the sheer volume of through traffic and dangerous parking outside Hickman's Stores.

The cause of the former, we believe to be the expansion of Strike Command and of more concern is that people are finding our villages a quicker and more convenient route into and beyond Wycombe. The question of parking outside the shop is quite a different matter. We are pleased that Mr. and Mrs. Norris and family have taken over and revitalised Hickman's Store and we would in no way wish to damage trade, but the irresponsible parking on some of the approaches to the bend and even by parking on the opposite side of the road defies belief. During the rush hours particularly vehicles negotiating ''the bend" take their lives in their hands; all it is going to take is one speeding car, at the wrong time, and we could well have another fatality.

The Parish Council has thought long and hard on what we can do to alleviate these problems. The answer unfortunately is very little but we have decided to carry out an extensive campaign to try and prompt action by the District and County Councils. As part of this, we have already had a meeting with the Thames Valley Police who have agreed to work with us and carry out the following package:

1. A speed check is to be carried out somewhere in the parish in the near future – be warned.

2. Support for the Council is extending footpaths up past The Black Horse and from the Village Hall to Roundlands.

3. Fixed penalty fines for "bad" parking throughout the village i.e. obstruction of footpaths, parking on bends etc.

4. Work with the council in encouraging customers of the shop to use the Village Hall car park – no matter how short the stay.

In addition, we are actively pursuing the possibility of an entrance into Strike Command from A4010. This, of course, will require National Trust agreement, which may not be possible under their charter, but think of the benefit to Bradenham (a N.T. village) as well as ourselves if we succeed! Lastly, we hope to persuade the County Council to bring forward the improvement of the A4010 (scheduled for 1990) and hence make the main route into Wycombe a more attractive proposition than the winding roads of our villages.

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Hallmark 1989. report by Randall Evans. (click Randall & Peggy Evans for more about Randall)

After 2 months in the Antipodes it was delightful to find oneself reinvolved in an English country parish.

I would like to encourage more of you to attend the Council meetings. It's the best way to get to know; 50% boring perhaps but at least 20% interesting. Is that worse than day to day life?

The planning application for housing, on the Christmas Meats site, was presented by the architect to a Council meeting in April. This produced an audience of at least 40 residents of Loosley Row. Beautifully presented, it was well received and unanimously approved. Now we need one for the Palmer & Harvey site!

Last week was the Annual Meeting of the Council (in Speen Village Hall with no public attendance). Don White was re-elected Chairman and Ray Gosling his deputy. This will be Councillor White's 5th year in the chair. Should we be looking for a change in 1990? No offence, Don!

The “litterblitz" in Lacey Green and Loosley Row run by the Council and the Residents Association together was a great success. Our thanks to all those who took part, especially the Cubs. It is gratifying to know that the quantity of rubbish gets less and less each year.

We are informed that British Gas will complete a supply to the whole village "by next winter". This is a great achievement brought about by the Council's constant nagging.

By July we have to send our tree planting requirements for next winter to the County. Ideas on where and what would be welcomed by any Councillor.

A "bottle bank" in the village has been suggested by a correspondent. He also suggested the Village Hall car park as a site. How does that grab you?

This parish is covered by a network of footpaths and these were well utilised in "Beating the Bounds" on 13 May. Probably the first time this has been done in the 55 years life of the civil parish. Councillors were delighted to be joined by over 90 people in tracing the perimeter of our 2592 acre parish.One Hambye visitor, after very little sleep, a good crowd of children and five quarrelsome bitches joined 5 Councillors (out of 7, one is unwell and one drove the ‘chuck wagon'). A lovely spring day with the Chiltern countryside looking its best made even more enjoyable the "discovery" of "new" vistas and paths in the parish.

The Parish Council would like to thank local landowners and Speen Baptist Church for their kind co-operation in allowing the walkers to cross private land. Many thanks too to all those who took part – it's a must for next year.

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