One area looked at in my meeting on site in Dronfield on Wednesday with Road safety officers from Derbyshire County Council were at the junction of Church Street and Lea Road.

At the bottom of Church Street we watched as literally hundreds of school children from Henry Fanshawe School came up in a wide stream at about 3.30pm onto Lea Road and crossed from an area where the footway runs out to Church Street and the footpath which runs along the Oaks Christion Fellowship building. I found this quite alarming at times when the traffic was also heavy due partly to the “school run”.  A solution to improving pedestrian safety here in not obvious but the officers (who should be the experts!) undertook to think about this and report back later.

Your comments about this would be most welcome - just click on “comments” at the beginning of this post.

One of the most frequent complaints I get as a County Councillor is about the vicious four road humps on Stubley Lane near the petrol station. Originally put in when the school was still on the Gosforth site many people cannot understand how they are still justified. If you drive a small car like I do at the speed limit of 30 mph the car would be wrecked in no time.

I have asked for these to be reviewed several times in the last 2 years. This was one of the issues discussed when I met officers from the County Council in Dronfield yesterday and it looks likely now that they will be replaced by a pedestrian crossing sometime in the next year. Ironically this is what was originally requested in this area!

I have just come back from several hours in a cold wind looking at several sites in Dronfield identified with road safety issues with a group which included road safety officers from Derbyshire County Council.

We looked at the School Lane area, the bottom of Church Street/Lea Road junction where hundreds of school children cross the road every day, High Street and the area between the Civic Centre and Sainbury’s where many people cross the road.

I will report in more detail in later posts

The planning application below for Dronfield was received at NEDDC in the last week. You can follow whats happening online -see the “side panel” and Planning Applications Online where an up to date list is always available from NEDDC including the current status of applications
 

Construction of a detached two storey dwelling (outline application - siting and means of access not reserved for subsequent approval) on land adjacent at 39 Marsh Avenue Dronfield Derbyshire for Mr D Wright

Dronfield Town Council [where the LIBDEMs took control last May and of which I am currently Mayor] has agreed to the seting up of a  Youth Council for Dronfield. Details, with a constitution and allocation of funds will be decided following consultation with the Towns young people in the next few months

Despite a £3 million enquiry lasting four years the Labour Government has quietly dropped plans to replace council tax with a fairer local tax system. The report concluded that council tax was not fit for purpose and had some fairly modest proposals to tackle some of the unfairness. But it now seems even this was too much for ministers.  

Do you remember the poll tax fury? The Labour party at that time were proposing ‘fair rates’ to replace the poll tax, well there’s nothing fair about the way that council tax has increased since 1997!!! 

With new Council Tax bills due to drop through letter boxes in about a months time with rises locally about 3.7%, again no account will be taken of peoples ability to pay.  

I am Dronfield Town Mayor this year. Two events in March and April in aid of my charity appeal

Around 30 young performers are to feature in a talent show on Friday 14th March starting at 7.30 pm in Dronfield Civic Hall. This is organised by the local magazine - The Dronfield Eye and will feature all manner of entertainment from tap dancing to card tricks and piano to punk  Tickets £5 and £3 concessions

The Sheffield Chorale (one of the best mixed choirs in the Sheffield area) are to perform a concert at the Dronfield Parish Church on Saturday 19th April at 7.30. Works include Vivaldi’s Gloria and short pieces by several composers including an extract from Karl Jenkins Armed Man. Tickets £7 and £5 concessions

Contact me by telephone 01246 414956 or e-mail islwyn.pryce@derbyshire.gov.uk if you would like to come

My charities are the Dronfield Disrict Scout Group and the Gosforth Field Sports Association [a charity set up topreserve the old Gosforth School fields for sporting and recreational use)

Following a local campaign (I am the Town Council representative on the Action Group) to increase the abysmally low number of trains that stop at Dronfield Railway Station it is great news that up to 32 trains a day will be stopping here from the end of the year. We must now try to ensure that this is integrated into a system whereby bus services enable people to readily access the station and that people can park near the station. There is a real chance to decrease the total of road congestion for commuters and business travellors and make this a sustainable project for the Rail Companies 

In November 2007 Labour controlled North East Derbyshire Council who have maintained Dronfield’s Green spaces - parks, football pitches, bowling greens, cricket pitches and flower beds, since 1974 decided that they would increase the costs of this maintenance in 3 steps by nearly £100,000 to nearly £150,000 by April 2010. The LIBDEM Dronfield Town Council of which I am a member (and mayor this year) have however decided that they will find alternative ways of doing this work. We believe that we will be able to save at least £50,000 per year perhaps more.

Derbyshire County Council gives all County Councillors (including me) £4000 each year to award as grants to help local organisations as part of its “community leadership” scheme. These grants are generally intended as one offs to help organisations which I wish to support. For example in the recent past I gave £2000 to help pump prime the newly formed charity -the Gosforth Fields Sports Association which have taken over the management of the former school fields and will maintain them for recreational use. I have also given grants to the Air Training Core, Scout and Guide Groups, the Cardio Club etc.

Dont hesitate to contact me if you are an organisation in Dronfield and have a project which you would like me to consider supporting.

Construction of a single-storey rear extension and a front porch at 52 Balmoral Crescent Dronfield Woodhouse Dronfield for Mr And Mrs J Young

Application for conservation area consent for demolition and rebuilding of a 12.5m long section of front boundary wall (Conservation Area) at The Green Nursing Home 2 Green Lane Dronfield for Dr R C Jaiswal

The above planning applications for Dronfield were received at NEDDC in the last week. You can follow whats happening online -see the “side panel” and Planning Applications Online where an up to date list is always available from NEDDC including the current status of applications
 

Labour controlled North East Derbyshire District Council are proposing closing the two public toilets in Dronfield to save money. They claim this is to protect frontline services! One of  the toilets is adjacent to the railway station where it is hoped that by the end of the year there will be an hourly train service from Dronfield in both directions.

I have been on holiday for nearly 4 weeks and have not posted in that time. We were in New Zealand. Though trying not to think about political issues on this our  first signicant holiday for 18 months I could not help be impressed by the apparent great Civic pride of New Zealanders. Not a scrap of litter anywhere and great provision for young people were two things which impressed me