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Establishing HRA Membership Views

26/3/2013

I responded to a question from the Maidenhead Advertiser asking for the Holyport Residents Association view on a Gypsy Site proposed under RBWM Planning Application 13/00702 . The question was asked on Wednsday 20th March shortly before the newspaper would be published so an urgent response was requested.

I responded saying;

Firstly that the Holyport Residents Association was not sufficiently established for me to comment on their behalf.

Secondly that the application and the map seemed to show the location within the area covered by the Oakley Green and Fifield Residents Association.

Thirdly that as a general principle I have no objection to travelling people settling down provided that they behave as normal people, not causing any disturbance and fitting in with the existing population.

Fourthly that the location appeared to be far enough away from immediate neighbours so that few people would have reasonable grounds to object.

It has been suggested in the forum that I should not have commented, as by association it could be inferred that I spoke on behalf of the HRA. I agree and will not make such comment in future without having gained the views of the HRA membership.

Regarding the location – there has been doubt as to where the boundary should lie between the HRA and the Fifield and Oakley Green Residents Association. A membership application on 26th March 2013 from post code SL6 2NN has highlighted this problem and it appears that this area is close to the proposed Gypsy site and is in the Holyport “Ward”.

Regarding what I said about personally having no objection to travelling people settling down provided that they behave as normal people, not causing any disturbance and fitting in with the existing population. For myself, I stand by that statement including the provisions I stated.

What I said about the location not being near neighbours was wrong – I had believed that the site was half a mile further South than it is.

Also I had not known about the preliminary work at and near that site as pointed out in the Forum.

In conclusion;

In future I will not respond to Newspaper Queries without a lot of deliberation and consideration.
I have said elsewhere on this site that the HRA is to develop so as to be able to represent the views of the people of Holyport. Establishing people’s views is not easy and requires a survey of some sort. Suggestions are invited as to how we should proceed with this. For instance – you all could send me by email a list of questions you would like to see asked of members.
See the Poll on Gypsy / Traveller sites.

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HRA Concepts

18/3/2013

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By Andrew Cormie:

These first remarks are an attempt to discuss some concepts or policy for the HRA; to encourage contributions from members; and to encourage more members to join the HRA.

The reason to have a Residents Association is to express the views of residents. Thus it is necessary to measure the views of residents so that any demands or opinions stated on behalf of residents will actually be representative of the views of the majority of residents. The Forum is intended to enable and encourage members to express their views.

The Topics so far commenced in the Forum and in the "Topics" page were chosen in the hope that they would provoke comment and encourage members to express their opinions.

Many members will be accustomed to me, prior to establishing the HRA, acting basically on my own behalf, and copying you with my various complaints to local authorities and our MP. Indeed, I have written two items recently (early 2013) in that mode, one objecting to the proposed Holyport College, on the basis of traffic increase, and supporting Bray Parish Council; the other following up on my request to Theresa May to see how my complaint to the Ombudsman is proceeding, this being about the Planning Inspectorate's approval on appeal of the Holyport Road field gateway. These were both copied to those contacts in Holyport to whom I had customarily copied such correspondence. Most of the the current HRA members are amongst those on that list.

In this new situation where a Holyport Residents Association Committee or Chairman could write to express opinions, it is important that whatever opinions are expressed are in line with the vews of the majority of members.

I am on record expressing the view that, in respect of Neighbourhood Planning, there is a danger that the resulting plan will not be supported by the majority of residents. To elaborate, the residents working in the BPNP are a self selected group working on behalf of all Bray residents, who somehow have to gain the approval of these residents. This is why it is important to the BPNP to have consultations and public meetings.

The same problem applies to a Residents Association. The current committee is a self selected group, and the current members make the Association a bit bigger, but it is still basically self selected. We aspire to be representative of all Holyport Residents.

But without critical interest and input from residents, the opinions of the HRA Chairman and / or Committee cannot be said to be representative of the views of local residents.

This blog is set so that anyone, not only HRA Members, may respond to it, so please feel free to do so.

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Andrew Cormie is concerned about the possibility of adverse change occurring in the Holyport Area. He is particularly concerned about the steady increase in traffic in this area, and the consequences of this - (noise, pollution, delays).
He is concerned about the imposition on local residents of developments that will cause increases in traffic.
He sees the HRA as a possible means to garner local opinion for all mattters that give concern to local residents.

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