grovefieldsresidents

Dear Grove Fields Residents Association (GFRA) member.

Please note. all previous updates are available on the website.

The Committee met on the 19th October and we would like to share the following with you.

Dacorum's public consultation has been approved – the clock is ticking
We hope to appoint a planning consultant this week
We need to raise funds to pay for the professional advice - donations and an event
We need to grow the membership so raising funds becomes easier
Our use of the media Gazette, website, facebook and twitter

More detail behind each of the headlines is contained within the email below.

1. Dacorum's public consultation has been approved - the clock is ticking

On the 17th October, six Councillors from Hemel Hempstead approved the options for Tring's housing development. We have until the 13th December to respond to the consultation questions. The current proposal is that the new houses will be shared between Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring, increasing the population of each town by about 30%. We believe democracy has been bi-passed as not a single political representative of Tring had a vote on the options for housing development prior to them being approved for consultation. See the link below (Item 7 on Cabinet agenda) for all consultation paperwork.

https://democracy.dacorum.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=157&MId=1360

Tring Town Council are holding a meeting at the Victoria Hall on Monday 30th October at 7:30pm to discuss the public consultation. This is for all residents of Tring. Please attend if you can.

Graham Bright, from the Committee is liaising with David Gauke MP, the Leader of Dacorum Council, our County Councillor, Dacorum and Town Councillors to ensure we remain fully engaged in this process.

2. We hope to appoint a planning consultant this week

We do not have the capacity nor the capability to respond to the public consultation. The next 3 months represent our best opportunity to influence the solution for house building in Tring for the next 20 years. To commission a professional planning consultant to develop our response we need to raise £XXXXX. We initially engaged seven planning consultants and we are now in discussions with three organisations to attempt to get the best service for the best price. A special thank you to John Coghlan (one of our members) who has provided significant expertise with the procurement process.

Bob Winter and Graham Bright, from the Committee are leading on the procurement of the right consultant to work with our association.

3. We need to raise funds to pay for the professional advice

It is free to register as a member of the GFRA, this has not changed. However, we have raised £XXXX in voluntary donations from 157 of our 301 members. We will continue to send regular reminders for the need to raise money through donations, we apologise in advance for this!

Keiron Wybrow, our Treasurer, is overseeing the management of the voluntary donations.

We have a Quiz and Auction event on the 1st December. See link for more details http://www.grovefieldsresidents.com/quiz-and-auction.php

This will provide an opportunity for everyone to discuss the proposed housing development and what we are doing to influence the shape of this development. However, the evening will also include a Quiz and an Auction that will be run by John Bly from the Antiques Roadshow.

Bob Winter, from the Committee is leading on the Quiz and Auction event.

4. Growing the membership

We have 301 members. To reach our target membership of 1,000 members we need YOUR help. Please share the grovefields@virginmedia.com email address with your neighbours and friends in Tring. All they need to do is email this address to register! There will be a coordinated campaign of door-knocking, leafleting and signs in Tring to continue to grow the membership.

Dimitri Patrikios and Tony Johnson from the Committee are leading on this and will be asking for wider membership help shortly.

5. Our use of the media – Gazette, website, facebook and twitter

There has been a number of articles in the local Gazette newspaper (attached) attempting to raise our concerns with residents.

We have a Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/1422643161152802/ ), a website ( http://www.grovefieldsresidents.com/ ) and a Twitter account Grove Fields @keepgreenbelt. The point of our social media activity is to keep you all updated and to make Dacorum aware we have serious concerns about what they are proposing. We will raise these concerns with them online as well as through formal channels. Please join and follow Facebook and Twitter because the more online numbers we have the more attention we will get from the press and Dacorum.

Belinda Goss-Lambourne, from the Committee is leading on all things online for us.

Thank you for caring

The GFRA Committee.

28th October, 2017.