Eastrea Village News For all Eastrea residents.
No 11.
October 2004.
From Brian J Ford, Rothay House, Mayfield Road, Eastrea.
Waiting for the Land By now our Hall should be in full operation. But after all the delays, the land for the building of the Hall is no longer available. The Foundation is powerless to do anything until next spring at the earliest, when a new village Structure Plan is announced. All this, remember, is after we were assured we’d get full planning permission.
Latest News In June we were due to get our permission. Fenland had agreed our case, subject to just one final step: a legal agreement between the landowner, Mr Garner, and Fenland District Council. That’s all we needed. In the event the agreement was never reached. I learned at the last minute that the landowners now had different plans for the land, and they withdrew the application. This meant our own permission couldn’t be granted. The Hall depended on the landowner’s application succeeding, and as there was no agreement between them and Fenland, this wasn’t possible. The Foundation only decided to withdrew our application just before the meeting, in case there was a last-minute change.
Other Sites We have now had several proposals for possible sites submitted by local landowners, and our fine design will work on any of them. The previous landowners may hope to develop the
original site for housing. The repeated delays have resulted in our major grant from WREN (the landfill tax) being compromised. They have asked the Foundation to reapply but WREN may not have as much money available as last time.
New Committee Eastrea must now elect a new Committee. Many of the current members have served all the time they can. Elections will take place at the AGM, at the Nag’s Head at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 26 October. The senior posts - like Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer - need new volunteers to carry on the project. Contact our out-going Secretary on 205323 for further details and come along to the AGM to take part in the meeting.
Lunch Club After that, some good news for our Senior Citizens - there are plans to start a fortnightly lunch club in the village. The organisation is being handled by Care Network, a lottery-funded body based in March. They have set up lunches in the past and the meals have been followed by talks or other presentations. The cost will be £4 per head, and the events will take place at the Nag’s Head. The success of the annual Storers lunches shows how popular these events could become, and a notice is being delivered to everyone on the invitation list for The Storers. Please ensure that any OAPs who haven’t received an invitation contact the pub, or either of the addresses on this newsletter, so we can promptly add their names to the list.
Drop in letters to The Secretary, 103 Coates Road, Eastrea. E-mail: hall@eastrea.net