We must cooperate with the travelling community

I would like to say without cooperation and understanding with the travelling community, we will get nowhere.

Booker WI members were leaving our cars for the day while we picked up the coach for our annual outing.

They were very courteous and said they would keep an eye open for the safety of our cars.

They were making every effort to keep the place tidy, admonishing the children when dropped a plastic bottle.

Everything was bagged up and put in the same place, as your photographer indicated (Bucks Free Press, August 9, page 5).

Mary Simmons, Bolter End

Wrong to cut down healthy mature trees

Many of us complain about how little power we have to change the minds of our politicians - whether it’s the minds of our MPs, or our county, district or parish councils. Sometimes the only way to get them to listen is to take them to court or expose them in the media.

But changing the minds of charities can be even more difficult.

At least with public bodies, you can generally find out what decisions they have made, you can go to the meetings (or see them on the computer or TV) and you are legally entitled to ask for information.

But charities can be a law unto themselves.

A month ago, I found out that a local charity, the Widmer End Village Hall Committee, had decided to cut down some trees on my local recreation ground. The Widmer End Tennis Club, which leases land from the VH Committee, asked for the trees to be cut down as they were apparently damaging the tennis courts.

I asked the VH Committee if it could tell me which trees it intended to cut down and if I could see the two independent reports it had commissioned which made recommendations about the trees. No response.

The object of the charity is to improve the condition of life for the residents of Widmer End so I asked if the residents could be consulted about the decision to cut down the trees. The Secretary of the VH Committee, Lyn Marchant, told me there would be no public consultation; it was for the charity alone to make the decisions.

I asked to go to the meeting where the decision would be made. I was told the meetings were private.

I suggested the VH Committee wasn’t complying with the Charity Commission’s Code of Governance nor its own constitution. No response.

I suggested to the Chairman of the VH Committee that it was conducting its business like a secret society. He told me the trouble was I didn’t have the right handshake - a reference I assume to the fact that I am not a Mason (whatever that’s got to do with anything).

I asked the Chairman of the residents association, Daniel Fairless, if he could provide the information as he is also a trustee of the VH Committee. He said he had to abide by John Marchant’s decision not to release the information.

I put my concerns to the Charity Commission. It said considering breaches of its Code of Governance was “outside its remit”. I therefore asked the Commission who does consider such breaches. It has not responded.

So I do wonder what is the point of the Charity Commission’s Governance Code when it is not enforced. And what is the point of the VH Committee having a constitution if it doesn’t comply with it? It simply brings the Charity Commission and the VH Committee into disrepute.

The reason I am writing today (Monday 29th July) is because five of the trees – all poplars - were felled this morning without any warning to residents. More tree felling might follow.

We are encouraged to plant millions more trees in this country. The Woodland Trust says taking down a tree should always be the last resort because of the implications to people and wildlife. Obviously the VH Committee doesn’t agree because there are ways to protect the tennis courts from the trees apart from chopping them down.

I don’t know who is paying to cut down the trees, although I believe the VH Committee is footing some of the bill. You have to ask why because cutting down the trees does little to improve the condition of life for residents of Widmer End – quite the reverse. The benefit is all to the Tennis Club.

It was sad to watch five mature, healthy trees being cut down. Whatever residents think now, the damage is done; they can’t come back. And there are still no plans to plant replacements.

Dr Linda Derrick, Widmer End

High Wycombe does need attention

RE: ‘Don’t talk our great town down’ (Bucks Free Press letter page, August 2)

As chairman of Wycombe Labour Party, I write to address this letter.

First I will mention the fact that Cllr Sebert Graham has been a respected Councillor in Wycombe for much longer than Cllr Wood. I will urge her to recognise his dedication and contribution to High Wycombe Town instead of her manner in which she addressed him. Please let us observe some standards.

Having read Sebert’s original article carefully, I saw no ‘talking down’ of High Wycombe. His comments were a reasonable résumé of the town’s current state and accurately warns that things may not get better under a unitary authority.

There must be a certain amount of agreement on this from the Wycombe Conservatives, because they issued legal challenges to the unitary authority.

With a nod to letter from Mr Andrew Barrow, we must remind Cllr Wood that Cllr Graham’s heartfelt plea has struck a chord with all readers of the BFP. No amount of distraction will deflect this concern.

High Wycombe needs attention. I too believe we must give it attention now, not in some yet to be set up future actions from Unitary in Aylesbury. £25m can do a lot for our town.

I found the contents in Cllr Wood's paragraph opposing a High Wycombe Town Council a bit hard to follow (my apologies). We do however recognise that such a council is feared by the Conservative Leadership, for quite understandable political reasons.

I would urge this Cllr to reflect on the fact that 5000 Wycombe Town residents have signed up wanting a Wycombe Town Council. All these signatories were verified by her own Officers.

We find the desire for HWTC or Local Governance endorsed on the doorsteps, majority of opposition parties notably the Liberal Democrats. We suspect Conservatives members are quietly being supportive of a new Town Council.

Lastly, I urge Cllr Wood to stop and think on overusing the austerity argument; it really is dead in the water (Refer to T May and recent headline expenditures promised by B Johnson). Local representation locally is far more important.

Nigel Vickery, chairman of Wycombe Labour Party

Road improvements have been a disaster

Recently Bucks County Council completed their highways improvement scheme allowing two ways traffic along Queen Victoria Road (QVRd).

This £4 million project, caused 10 months of severe disruption to traffic during its construction and has proved, as forecast, to be an utter disaster especially for traffic southbound on the A404.

The frequent blockage of QVRd stops traffic from leaving Crendon Street when the signals are green resulting in long delays on the Amersham Hill.

The situation is exacerbated by northbound traffic in QVRd being unable to turn right into Easton Street and having to use the Railway Station loop to return back down Crendon Street.

This has added to the traffic, both northbound and southbound, in Crendon Street thus creating further delays. It is quite clear that Bucks CC did not considered this problem when they imposed ‘no right turn’ restriction from any direction at the High St/Crendon Street junction.

Part of the congestion could be eased by directing northbound traffic from QVRd wanting to access Easton Street not through the Station loop but into Castle Street, down Corporation Street and back into Eason Street via the High Street.

The southbound A404 congestion could be further eased when QVRd is blocked if traffic used the previous route via Easton Street and the Law Courts to gain access onto Abbey Way and then the Marlow Hill.

It is possible that many motorists do not realise that this route is still available and is often the quickest way to avoid the bottleneck in QVRd (indeed it raises the question as to why £4 million pound was wasted).

Very soon Bucks CC Highways will embark on their next major road improvement project and spend over £6 million on an attempt to increase traffic flow on the A40 London Road.

A close examination of the plan shows that the changes are mainly cosmetic and will do little to improve traffic flow.

In all over £10 million of the very limited Highways budget will have been spent on projects with very minimal results while our roads continue to be very badly maintained with an increasing number of potholes, white lines that have been completely eroded, trees obscuring road signs and weeds/buddleia plants sprouting like forests through our pavements and verges.

There is an urgent need to spend more on the maintenance of the highways to repair some of the neglect which is becoming increasingly obvious. If this involves shelving some of the expensive improvement projects it will be money well spent.

Arnie Parr, High Wycombe

Housing explosion’s effect on sewage system

Bucks Free Press, August 2 - the numbers of new dwellings proposed in the Wycombe District (page 13, the Local Plan), then letters (page 20) “Erosion of the Green Belt”, and finally not forgetting the opinion column page 21, new dwellings.

While I appreciate we need more housing and certainly more “affordable” housing I wonder how the existing infrastructure will stand up.

Traffic management has been very well aired with no real solution but more important if not the most important consideration is sewage.

Once Wycombe had its own sewerage works, with methane gas collection and powerful methane powered electric generators that more than adequately powered the works and supplied, not an inconsiderable amount of electricity back in to the grid 24/7.

Still Thames Water Authority (TWA) sold that for housing (shareholders profit) and we now pump Wycombe’s waste water to Little Marlow, with Little Marlow pumping back treated water to the Wycombe river (the Wye) to help make up that lost to extraction further up the valley.

Fine, my last enquiry, I was told the pipe system out to Little Marlow is running at about two thirds capacity most of the time. And remember large parts of the old town still run on a combined collection system that is storm water and foul water together in one pipe.

So add more houses to this and what do you get. We have already seen untreated and partially treated water being dumped into the Thames, remember TWA received the largest pollution fine recorded not so long ago.

The Wycombe river, this has also been subject to overcapacity dumping and the resultant pollution that caused. So add these new houses those in the pipe line and those planned, then add some “exceptional weather” and you can guess what happens next.

Back up and overflow into our river system. I posed this question to one of the TWA people and was fobbed of with a noncommittal answer. I have asked WDC and they say “it is Thames Waters problem”. Earlier last year I overheard it mentioned that the pollution infringement fines are an expected “business expense”.

OK so will someone tell me what provision is being made for waste water treatment these extra houses will generate, the ones being built and the ones to be built?

Are we going to have another tunnel to Little Marlow and back returning treated water for our river to compensate for the extra water drawn for drinking? Is the Little Marlow treatment works, which TWA themselves admit is over stretched, is this to be enlarged?

Please no more stepping to one side and saying “not my responsibility” can someone give a sensible answer that shows there is a plan in hand and there is the finance to carry it out, or we will all be knee deep in something rather nasty.

Anthony Mealing Dip Arch RIBA AABC, High Wycombe