Hopwood Residents Association

Ash Lane to B’ham;- 0609, 0705, 0740, 0855, then every hour until 1355, 1450, 1455, 1555, 1645, 1745.

Ash Lane to Redditch;- 0705, 0811, 0906, then every hour until 1606, 1715, 1802, 1856.

New timetable just issued as from Jan 2011 and its not good news, service cuts to the route!

Sunday Bus service Ended, Diamond Bus cancel weekend bus service on Subdays.

e-mail us at

hra@hopwoodonline.co.uk

ALVECHURCH PARISH POLICE MESSAGE FOR MARCH

The Local Policing Team would like to offer you practical advice and information on how to help protect yourself and your family. Including how to help safeguard your property and help build a safer community. This month:

The chances of you or a member of your family becoming a victim of a violent crime are low. Violent crimes by strangers in public places are rare. You can make yourself even less likely to be the victim of a violent crime – for example, robbery (mugging) or assault – by taking a few sensible precautions. Many are common sense, and may be things that you already do. Think about how you would act in different situations before you are in them. Think about whether you would stay and defend yourself or simply get away as quickly as you can. There is nothing wrong with doing either, but you should consider your options. Remember, property can be replaced, human life can not.

Domestic violence accounts for 14% of all violent incidents in the UK. Anyone can experience domestic violence – it can happen in all kinds of relationships, regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality disability, wealth, geography and lifestyle.

It involves being abused, threatened, or physically or sexually assaulted by a partner, a former partner, or a family member. As well as actual physical violence, domestic violence can include a wide range of abuse and controlling behaviour, such as:

Domestic violence is a way to gain power and control over another person and may include destructive criticism, disrespect, isolation and harassment. Women are more likely to be at risk in the home. Statistics show that three in ten women experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Crimes in the name of honour, forced marriage and female genital mutilation are also considered to be domestic violence.

Everyone has a right to be safe in their own home. If you experience domestic violence, you may feel as if you have nowhere to go, or no-one to turn to. The most important thing you can do is tell someone you trust.

Never be afraid to ask for help. You may decide to report your abuser to the police. In an emergency always call the police by dialling 999. For non emergences dial 101.

It is not easy to accept that a loved one can behave so aggressively. Often, you assume that you are to blame. You are not and there is no excuse for domestic violence.

Women are not the only victims of domestic violence. Men can also be victims, or can experience violent relationships. If this happens to you, it is not your fault – as with women, you have the right to live free from abuse and violence.

Broken Rainbow: 08452 60 44 60 (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender domestic violence forum)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: 020 7008 0135 or 020 7008 0230 (for forced marriage guidance)

For more information or any further advice, please contact your Local Policing Team. Alternatively contact CSO 6715 HYDER at Wythall Police Station. You can find out who your LPT is by visiting our website: http://www.westmercia.police.uk/localpolicing/

Parish Council Start the process of making a Neighbourhood Plan for our Parish.They are looking for volunteers, can you help..do you have project skills. Contact the Parish Council Office for more information.

It's the only way local people can influence Planning decisions for the future, Neighbourhood Plans will have legal status in the new Localism Act.

Plus.......
Speeding Issues on the A441

Speed restrictrictions to be changed.40 MPH limit to be extended towards the Birmingham Boundary by a couple of hundred yards! Why not extend the 40 MPH right up to the Birmingham Boundary that makes more sense.

Road safety issues were high on the agenda at the November meeting of Hopwood Residents Association meeting. The Rise and the Drive Residents continue to face life threatening decisions trying to cross this major road at rush hour times.

Ash lane junction....drivers still ignoring NO RIGHT TURN signs, accidents waiting to happen.

Committee to petition the whole area to demand County Highways act on traffic calming and crossing measures.

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON 2nd MONDAY of month.

THERE IS ALWAYS A PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON THE SECOND MONDAY OF EACH MONTH, MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC CAN ATTEND, AND ARE ALLOWED TO SPEAK IN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES OF THE MEETING, IF YOU PREFER , YOU CAN PASS ON YOUR CONCERNS VIA MYSELF (ADRIAN SMITH).

IF THERE ARE ANY LOCAL ISSUES YOU WANT TO BRING UP ......MY NUMBER IS .....0121 445 0481

Issues at the last meeting were the overgrown footpaths towards the Westmead Hotel and from Arrowfield top these are again being reported to Worcester Council.

Bunding has been put in place at the Community Hall ground ,hopefully preventing further trespass from Travellers.

NEW NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH FOR ASH LANE AREA IS UNDER-WAY

Be vigilant, any thing unusual contact the email above, or any of HRA committee on the contacts page.

Network rail plan a second track from Alvechurch station towards Redditch.

This will increase trains to Birmingham from 2 per hour to 3 per hour, the station at Alvechurch will be improved by providing a second platform.

There is to be public consultation;-22nd September, Kingfisher Centre,Redditch (2pm-8pm)

AGM...AT THE LAST AGM THE COMMITTEE CHANGED SLIGHTLY, AFTER 3 YEARS AS CHAIRMAIN I HAVE HANDED OVER THE REIGNS, AND THE COMMITTEE ELECTED PETER HIGGINS AS YOUR NEW CHAIRMAN , HIS CONTACT DETAILS ARE ON THE CONTACTS PAGE IF YOU NEED TO SPEAK TO HIM.

I AM CARRYING ON WITH THE COMMITTEE AS VICE-CHAIRMAN AND AS PARISH COUNCILLOR FOR THIS WARD, SO I AM STILL AVAILABLE TO HELP OUT WITH ANY PROBLEM IF I CAN.

80 BEDROOMED NURSING HOME......

We spoke at the Planning Committee, and reminded the Councillors of their previous failings by recomending non appropriate schemes in Hopwood, fortunately this time a unanimous panel agreed with us and the application was squashed.

However these things have a habit of coming back via appeal.......we will keep vigilant on this.

June Griffiths (Con) - 1,206 - ELECTED
Patricia Harrison (Con) - 966 - ELECTED
Roger Hollingworth (Con) - 1,251 - ELECTED
Geoff Hulett (Lab) - 646
Ken Wheatley (Ind) - 747

There are now no independent candidates on the council, after Bill Newnes, David Pardoe and Ann Doyle lost their seats. There is a total Conservative majority in the Council now.You get what you vote for!

Work on lay-byes and footpaths near services come to an end. We hope the County Council do not regret their decision... to not continue the bollards along the edge of the left hand side lay bye....... We will monitor this in case artics' begin to encroach across this again.

In all good success for HRA and it's continuing badgerring about the appalling previous state of this section of road.

IF YOU ..notice encroachment by lorries please tell us ,take pictures and we will report to the County Council

Attempted Break-ins at Woodpecker Close .. Ash Lane, please be aware of any suspicious activity or strangers lurking.

SPEEDING ON A441

Police inform us that data cables are to be put across the road in November to monitor traffic! This has been done before! We wait to see results!

We have been told that the 40MPH sign is to be moved further up the road towards Birmingham end, goody!

BURGLARIES AT LEA END LANE;.. STILE SAWN THROUGH IN STONEHOUSE LANE;

We think this happened on Monday 6th September, access and get-a-way to properties via the stile at the top of Stonehouse lane; Sheds and out buildings broken into;tools etc.taken

Be Vigilant with your security ! if you have seen anything contact us please.

Sept 2010.

Information from the Parish Council

Alvechurch Grammar School Trust,

was established to provide an education to the needy children of the parish.......

This trust is still in operation and;-People can apply for assistance grants, these are for educationally related purposes covering books, travel expenses, uniform, work clothes, tools and equipment ; applicants must be under the age of 25 and living within the old parish of Alvechurch.

PACT MEETINGS START AGAIN

First meeting was completed and was mainly to set the ground rules and structure for future meetings

PACT stands for Partners and Communities Together. It gives you the chance to tell your Local Policing Team, local authority and other partner agencies about the issues that are causing concern within your neighbourhood and which ones you want us to deal with as a priority. Once the community agrees on the top priorities, we’ll work together to address them.

get in touch if interested.

A fun evening was had at the 5 Ways sports club when a varied team of residents turned out in fancy clobber to take on the mighty 5 Ways in a 20 -20 match.

A good turn out of local residents gave a creditable performance in a 20-20 against King Edwards Five Ways on a nice summery evening, the home side Captained by Tony Harris put on a formidable total of 130.

The residents 11 captained by Keith Murphy were well supported by an enthusiastic crowd an achieved a creditable 100 for 6.

The evening was rounded off in the club house with a fine supper being presented by Tony Harris and his staff, in all a fine evening that went well and has cemented a good relationship with our local club and the residents of Hopwood. Heres to the next one

22nd May 2010

Dellow Cars coming to Alvechurch in May click here

Many of the fully restored Dellows Cars will be on view outside Alvechurch Village Hall on Saturday from 2pm onwards, don't miss these locally built in Alvechurch classic Trial Cars.

Wow what a cracking afternoon hundreds of people had in Alvechurch ,viewing all of these super cars outside the village Hall and having afternoon teas at the impromptu "Al Fresco " cafe outside.

Loads of positive comments about a wonderful couple of events arranged by Alvechurch Village Society with the help of some members from Hopwood Residents Association featuring The Dellow cars hand built in Alvechurch who were Celebrating their 60th Anniversary in their Home Village.

Lovely weather and a lovely turn out from local people supporting these unique events.

THIS IS HOW YOUR COUNCILLORS BEHAVE !!!!!

FROM "THE BROMSGROVE STANDARD"

<! THE POLICE had to be called out twice to the Bromsgrove District Council Chamber last night (Wednesday) after unruly antics by the town’s Labour group.

It all started when Labour leader Peter McDonald refused to move from the front bench so new opposition leader Jean Luck could sit there.

Chairman Chris Scurrell pointed out that, although not constitutional, the opposition leader sitting on the front bench was Bromsgrove District Council tradition and the Labour Group should move.

When Coun McDonald refused again, he and the Labour Group were asked to leave and, when that did not happen, the police were called.

When the police arrived, officers said they could not do anything as no laws had been broken so the meeting was moved to the Committee Room in a bid to exclude the Labour Group.

But the Labour members joined that meeting and were excluded again and asked to leave.

When they refused that request, the police were called for a second time and, as once again no law was being broken, 'advice' was offered by the police to the councillors.

After that, the meeting was moved back to the council chamber and, as the Labour members followed, the details of the Shared Services item were read out and passed.

The meeting originally started at 6pm and, despite it only dealing with one item on the agenda, business was not completed until around 9pm.

Other items that were scheduled for last night have now had to be moved to be dealt with at a later date.

A West Mercia Police spokesperson confirmed officers were called twice to The Council House, Burcot Lane, to deal with allegations of 'trespassing' and 'a group of people obstructing a premises'.

One person at the meeting told The Standard: “It was like a circus throughout.

This along with the Ombudsman's report is a damning indictment of our still poor performing District Council.

It's an improving Council as they keep telling us in all the local media publications, ....................................not sure we are convinced !

WE HAVE KEPT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ON THE WEB SITE, EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOW FINISHED, JUST AS A REMINDER THAT THE DISTRICT COUNCIL MANIPULATED FIGURES IN ORDER TO GET A HOUSING ESTATE BUILT ON GREEN BELT LAND, EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO PROVEN NEED OF HOMELESS PEOPLE IN HOPWOOD AS WE WERE KEPT ON BEING TOLD!

NEW RESIDENTS HAVE MOVED IN AND WE HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THEM,IN FACT WE WISH THEM ALL WELL, AND WE HOPE THEY ENJOY LIVING IN HOPWOOD AND APPRECIATE THE LOVELY SURROUNDINGS WE ARE ALL BLESSED WITH.

OMBUDSMAN'S REPORT COMES BACK !!!!!!!

Maladministration Found Everywhere !

and the build goes on, that cant be right !.see here for more details

WE have all received letters from Thomas Vale instructing us that work commences in earnest on June 1^st 2009. And affordable housing is, against all logic, going to be sited on green belt land.

We are utterly disgusted at our local representatives in recommending affordable housing on this unsuitable site despite the advice of planning officers. A site that is totally unsustainable in the small hamlet of Hopwood, another 20 houses in a small community of 60, and they say there is a need. How can a community of 60 houses have a need for another 20 with no facilities or amenities?

These officials are bending over backwards to appease their masters. Somebody is having a laugh at our expense and the sooner we get these overpaid bureaucrats out of office the better.

We have tried our best as a representative committee of Hopwood but it was not good enough in respect of the result that the affordable housing development in Hopwood has been given the go ahead due to the very blinkered attitude by Bromsgrove District Council and parish council and the Governments Secretary of State.

It all appears to come down to the Government giving directives to local councils to get on and carry out their wishes with the new flavour of the year topic that is, affordable housing to be built on green belt land.

There is one final thing we can do and that is to write to Dale Birch and his boss David Hammond, the planning officers at Bromsgrove District Council in charge of this proposed development, who carried out their duties within directed guidelines and followed all recommended policies.

They are the only people to have come out of this debacle with any credit and I suggest, unfortunately, that their jobs are totally worthless as nobody takes a blind bit of notice of them and they have no useful purpose at all and are a drain on our local finances!

Sorry guys, we appreciated your endeavours.

The fact of the matter is that over the years local government has changed so slowly that not many people seem to have noticed.

Twenty years ago the council was headed by a town clerk and its job was to serve the public. These days they rule us. Instead of a town clerk we now have an individual who wishes to be known as “the chief”.

With gold plated guaranteed pensions, a job for life, early retirement and wages higher than the private sector, you would think that these ruling elite would simply appreciate their good fortune and keep their heads down. Instead of which they delight in making life as difficult as possible for the peasants' who pay their wages.

So get out there today and vote them out!

Don't put up with poorly performing councillors ,vote them out

Council elections are in May 2011.

TAKE CARE

PETER HIGGINS:- Has advised that the brook alongside the public footpath and the Rugby ground edge has been dug out and is 5 or more feet in depth and width now and could be dangerous to walkers and people playing sport.

Thank you for your email of yesterday, informing me that work involving machinery was being undertaken on the development site adjacent to your property. I contacted the Ecologists for this development and they visited the site yesterday, advising the contractors to cease work until they were on site to manage and oversee the work.

Natural England are currently considering what further enforcement action to take in this case.

Work gets under way on building site in Ash Lane and Smedley Crooke Place.

More Planning Applications put in! see here

HOPWOOD;

No need for our Post Box!

No need to upkeep our pavements!

Financially not worth delivering the Redditch Standard to!

Sorry you can't have green waste recycled any more unless you pay!

A very expensive bus service every hour is adequate for you!

In fact Hopwood is so isolated and insignificant that it is not deemed viable to put any thing worth while there or to spend any money on at all!

EXCEPT FOR A RENDERING PLANT AND AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT that nobody wanted in the first place apart from our splendidly performing Council who think its a spiffing idea!

Redditch beware now you have made the Chief Executive Officer of Bromsgrove's poorly performing Council your CEO as well, 2 jobs for the boys!

Perhaps they will share the head of Bromsgrove Council as well, then they will be in real trouble as we will have affordable housing right from Redditch to Alvechurch.

Mr Brown told council leaders in London yesterday(29th January 2009) that town halls had a vital role to play in getting Britain out of the recession. “In the past we have placed restrictions on local authorities delivering social housing,” he told a conference held by the New Local Government Network. “But, today, let me be clear: if local authorities can convince us that they can deliver quickly, and cost effectively, more of the housing that Britain needs . . . then we will be prepared to give them our full backing and put aside anything that stands in their way.”

There seems to be a pattern emerging across the corridors of power that has filtered down from the House of Lords and the House of Commons of late with financial remuneration being the only goal to which even our local civil servants aspire.

There appears to be hardly any democracy taking place within our electoral wards but just a constant and avaricious hunt by elected officers to find the biggest trough they can get their big fat noses in!

(See Local Photos to see the band)

BDHT REPLY TO RESIDENTS QUESTIONS ABOUT NEW DEVELOPMENT

CLICK HERE for latest news

News You tell us and we will publish it,( within the realms of decency of course)

HISTORY Past information about our once quiet Hamlet, plus local ancient History

Visit the Forum , join in the posts, post your own topic, ask some questions it might be fun!

the Lord Mayor of London has joined and made a comment on the Forum!, yes Boris Johnson has posted a comment!, Whats going on? take a look, the worlds gone mad!

The community spirit has been fantastic.... and hopefully is becoming stronger as we all communicate and get to know one another and combine our efforts to make the Hamlet a better place to live!!

We will be adding information, LOCAL PHOTOS , News and residents concerns about the local issues, as it is passed on.

In fact it would be fantastic to keep this site going for the community once we have attended to all immediate issues and hopefully resolve them with your already splendid support.

We all thought a smaller development would be built at the bottom of Smedley Crooke and in Ash Lane but the planning committee have OK'd the 20 houses even against the recommendations of the Planning Officer, MP, and 98% of the residents. (issues on this are still on going and we will post updated news as we go along) November has been mentioned for the start of building, its only hear-say thougH

Below is an outline of where the affordable houses are to be built, it just shows how irresponsible Bromsgrove's Planning Committee have been in allowing such a large piece of unspoilt Green Belt land to be gobbled up by developers, for 20 invisible homeless people in Hopwood!

HOPWOOD ON LINE

hopwoodonline.co.uk

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Hopwood, 146 Bus time table at Ash Lane during the week.