Firstly I would like to give some extremely disturbing news we have received regarding the overflow of raw sewage into the water courses in Therfield. Councillor Morris from North Herts Distrct Council has made me aware of the amount of raw sewage being put into our water system. This is basically happening during periods of heavy rain and is a consequence of the sewage treatment plant for Therfield not being capable of handling the housing already in the village. There were over 270 hours of raw sewage discharge into our water courses during the last 12 month period. This is second only to Barkway in the whole of North Herts.
The Parish Council will now be embarking on a mission to lobby Herts CC, NHDC, our local MP – Oliver Heald, and ofcourse, Thames Water who manage the local sewage plant. As a consequence of this, we are also going to be requesting a complete moratorium of all building applications around the village (as obviously, more housing will mean more raw sewage going into the water systems). We will endeavour to keep the village up-to-speed on the progress of this issue.
This leads to my next topic – the new “Local Plan” for housing development. We are given to understand that the new plan has now passed Committee stage and should hopefully get the full authorisation next week. As far as Therfield is concerned, the only project which is on the plan for our village, is Grange Meadow. We are however, hopeful that we will be able to continue to prevent this development from happening.
I was also hopeful that now we are almost at the end of 2022, I would not be making any comment about Covid !. Unfortunately it is still around and local cases have been reported as we enter November. Again, I would advise villagers to be vigilant and take as much care as they have done previously. Most local cases have only produced mild symptoms but there are still people who are being hospitalised with the latest strain.
I would also like to advise the village that the Conservators will holding another “workshop” on 29th November. This will be the same format as last year (when they get feedback from villagers on how we would like the various greens around the village to be managed). I would encourage all villagers with strong views on how our greens are managed to make themselves available for this meeting.
Finally a word to all the villagers of Therfield and Kelshall who have joined the Community Hub. Our numbers continue to gradually increase. So again, a big thank you to everyone who positively contributes to the site and its usage.
Andy Osbourne – Chair
