Tag Archives: Turner Road

Northern Approach Road bus lane

The planning application for the Northern Approach Road bus and cycle lane has finally been submitted for planning approval by Essex County Council.

Colchester Council planning committee will be the final arbiters on the scheme approval. Cllr Martin Goss called the scheme in for their approval as some
concerns are raised about the design.

Although the bus lane has been known about since the inception and build of the houses on the Northern Approach Road development in 2003 the whole design has changed as it now includes dedicated cycle lanes.

Some of the main concerns raised include the noise levels which will exceed legal limits of 68DB in places. The entire 8 foot high acoustic fence will be moved within meters of housing blocking out natural light and over 60 London Plain trees will be felled which have over 20 years of growth.

Essex County Council also propose removing a crossing at the southern end of the Northern Approach Road.

All of these issues have been highlighted as being totally unacceptable.

To comment or views the plans please visit https://www.colchester.gov.uk/planning-app-details/?id=b61d4bf2-54f0-eb11-bacb-000d3ade7c07#ValidationSummaryEntityFormView

Turner Rise Mcdonalds

The Turner Rise Mcdonalds planning application was recently approved by the Planning Committee at Colchester Council.

We spoke against the plan on various grounds including transport and the
impact it would have on the area at peak times. Unfortunately Tory controlled
Essex County Council signed off the traffic assessment submitted with the
application which included traffic modelling for a Retail Park in Croydon!

Dunelm Mill also objected at the last minute citing the Retail Park in Croydon
where they also have a store was smaller than Turner Rise and the Mcdonalds
store they were comparing it too was also smaller!

The store will be built and open in 2022.

Now the store is approved we need to ensure the impact on the area including extra litter is minimised.

£300 reward to catch the graffiti bandit

You may have seen some of the graffiti around Mile End on Turner Rise, Turner Road and North Station where around 26 different incidents of graffiti were recorded on various bus shelters, fences, houses and bins.

Most of this has now been cleaned up but wastes taxpayers money in having to carry out such an extension clean-up when resources could be spent on more valuable community projects.

Cllr’s Martin Goss and David King have offered a £200 reward for information leading to the apprehension and prosecution of the culprit. A local resident has also offered a further £100 bringing the total to £300.

If you know anything please get in touch with absolute confidence by calling Martin Goss on 07912 396335 or email Martin@MartinGoss.org.uk

Our litter heroes

During lockdown and more recently there has been issues over the increase in litter being dropped around the ward. Dropping litter is an offence and can incur a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100. We have requested fines are increased to £150.

Our thanks to our Neighbourhoods team and all those residents who have undertaken litter picks or picked up litter on their walks.

Also thanks to our existing and new Litter Warriors who have volunteered to do regular litter picks. If you or your family would like to become Litter Warriors please let one of us know and we will provide you with the equipment.

Hospital parking

The hospital has our and community support.  But David King and colleagues’ have made clear they need to be better neighbours, to take account of Mile End needs as they modernise the hospital, manage traffic flows and reduce the pressure on local roads.  Improvements are coming.

A new travel centre will help everyone. But we know fewer staff parking permits are a problem and can affect residents, as staff unable to park will look for spaces on local roads. We welcome steps taken to reduce that pressure, such as free use of the park and ride for three months and subsidies for car sharing and public transport use.

We will continue to monitor and press for further improvements through our liaison meetings. SHARE YOUR CONCERNS with us and we will continue to make sure your voice is heard.

Electing a new Councillor on May 3rd 2018

On May 3rd you have the chance to elect a new Councillor for Mile End as Dominic Graham is retiring after representing Mile End for the last 4 years.

David King has been working as part of our team for the last year and has been a great asset rolling his sleeves up and getting heavily involved in the Mile End workload.

During the last year he has personally responded to the hundreds of Mile End resident surveys we have received after we have knocked on every door and ensured everyone in Mile End has had a chance to have your say.

  • He has also spoken to many resident’s face to face on the door and followed up the many issues highlighted in your responses, from potholes, parking issues and facilities to holding developers to account.
  • He has cleared snow from the pathways of many local residents, has picked the litter and worked at the environmental concerns of residents.
  • He supports the rest of the team in our work to improve Mile End. This will soon include new outdoor play equipment for the Mile End playing fields.

David lives in Mile End with his family and has a long history of being active in the local community not only as a Community Councillor but as Chair of Governors for various schools in the area. David is, like us, totally against pointless tit for tat with other political parties and for a positive approach to the issues.  He is part of a collective team only interested in putting Mile End first.  Our regular newsletters delivered all year round will always be full of Mile End information and updates. We hope that you find them useful.

We hope that you will support David to become your newest Councillor and further strengthen our already community focussed team with his great breadth of experience. If there are any issues that we can help with, please do not hesitate to get in touch with any member of the team.

Kind regards
Councillors Phil Coleman, Martin Goss and Anne Turrell

Mile End Locality budgets

Each Councillor gets £2,000 to spend in their area.

We have invested in the following:

  • New trees for Mile End to be planted in our open spaces
  • Sports equipment for local Primary schools
  • Bulb planting in two locations in Mile End
  • Sports equipment for children’s holiday camps at First Site
  • A bench on Mill Road by the gym equipment
  • Contribution to the “Community First Responders”
  • Contribution to homeless charities Beacon House and Colchester Night Shelter
  • Sports kit for a football club

David King said “This is a great investment in many worthwhile causes either in our local community or in organisations that help support Mile End residents.”

 

Highways updates for Mile End

All of the pot holes on Turner Road, Mill Road and Northern Approach Road have been reported to Essex County Council for repair.

Bergholt Road is finally set to be resurfaced by Essex County Council in the 2018/19 financial year.

Most of Bakers Lane & all of Spring Lane has now been resurfaced.

UK Power Networks have been chased about the lack of functional lighting on the zebra crossing at the entrance to Bergholt Road.

Mill Road traffic calming design is being costed by Essex County Council & we hope they will shortly publish their proposed design.

Turner Road is set for major resurfacing & stabilization works due to the identified subsidence found by a leaky water main.

Bus lane cameras are also now working on Nayland Road and North Station Road bus lanes so fines will be issued.

David King, Phil Coleman, Martin Goss, Dominic Graham and Anne Turrell

Mile End Team

Hospital expansion

Many of you have complained to us about  visitors and staff parking on nearby roads. One particularly bad delay was due to  a burst water main in Turner Road.

Cllr Anne Turrell helped get that resolved swiftly.  Anne, David King and Martin Goss have also met recently with a senior manager from the Hospital Trust. The good news  is that the Trust are thinking ahead. They are looking to improve their services. More importantly – and we pressed hard on this –  they have added 180 spaces to the public car park. Some of this has recently been used by their contractors, but they will now have their own temporary parking facilities.

They are also introducing a permit system to encourage staff to leave their cars at home. And they will be helping them to use buses and or the park and ride.

They will be building a new travel centre in 2018.  They have streamlined entrance and help arrangements at the hospital. We are encouraged by the attitudes, the new facilities and the investments in the hospital (and by their improved recent performance).

We hope you will see rather less congestion and more parking on site and less nearby. If the problem persists we will push the trust for more radical solutions.

We will see them again early next year and will feed-back to you then.

David King, Mile End Focus Lead

 

MIle End roads update!

Mill Road from the Northern Approach Road junction to Myland School end is being resurfaced in August.

Turner Road will be getting partial resurfacing later this year to deal with the continually sinking road.

Spring Lane and part of Bakers Lane is going to be resurfaced later this year.

We are still pushing for resurfacing to occur on Bergholt Road, Three Crowns Road and Kingswood Road (off Turner Road).