Some good news at last on the planning front. Bovis Homes have cancelled their appeal on application 3/17/1811/OUT for 400 homes on Land Off Luynes Rise. No reasons have been given but I suspect it is because their appeal case was predicated mainly on the argument that the Inspector would have to find in favour of sustainable development because of East Herts District Council's inability to demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply. Now that EHDC can actually demonstrate a 6.2 year housing land supply I would imagine that Bovis realised that their appeal was fatally flawed and have decided to capitulate. Whether they will regroup and put in a revised appeal remains to be seen. Let us just hope that they admit defeat and ride off into the sunset!

EHDC is undertaking a Community Governance Review of Buntingford Town Council, including the town/parish boundaries, and needs to know the views of local residents. To this end they have written to the Buntingford Civic Society to invite its members and other interested parties to have their say. A Community Governance Review is a formal process by which the District Council can review, and where appropriate make changes to, the boundaries and electoral arrangements for parish and town councils within the district. The current review is being conducted following a request from Buntiongford Town Council. The Town Council asked East Herts District Council to consider whether the following changes should be made to the town/parish boundaries to include the following developments within the area of Buntingford Town Council:

Parkside and new development north of the town boundary, currently in Cottered Parish; and

Buntingford Business Park, currently in Aspenden Parish.

Initial public consultation on the issues to be considered is now live on the District Council's website, where you can find more details about the review. Responses are required by 6th April 2018. The review will consider the above suggestions and any other relevant issues that may be raised during the initial consultation period.

The Civic Society A.G.M. will take place this year on 17th April at 7.30pm at the Benson Hall. Our guest speaker will be local businessman Toby Archer, proprietor of the award-winning Cheese Plate. Toby is a great raconteur and I am sure he will prove an interesting and amusing speaker.

It will be interesting to see the results of Buntingford Town Council's survey on residents' attitudes to parking within the Town - specifically parking on footways and grass verges. I for one would certainly like to see far less lazy and inconsiderate parking with more thought being given to both pedestrians and our verges.

The Buntingford in Bloom competition will run again this year but this time with a bigger remit covering three categories - front gardens, back gardens, and container gardens. Judging will be on Saturday 7th July and entry forms and further details will be available within the next few weeks.

Graham Bonner, Chairman, Buntingford Civic Society

If you have any queries about Buntingford Civic Society or issues you would like to raise, you can email the Chairman direct at chairman@buntingfordcivic.org.uk.