Tuesday 26 February 2008

is this the world's best flooding blog?

The answer is no!

a property news web TV channel www.onemove.tv is worth taking a gander at as it will be referencing this now "infamous" blog!

Friday 22 February 2008

happy 21 st Wheelo




Sam working on his 21st Birthday - looks like he is losing his hair a little! We liked the photo because of the Treasure Hunt sign!

the digger!



the beast of Deerhurst. the monster moved tons of soil so now instead of a dip at the bottom of the garden there is a little hill!

the new straight beams

the curvy beams - 500 years ago they were straight




the beams eventually had to go - replaced by nice new oak beams. Wheelo suggests we could make a nice new

heavy duty equipment




Wheelo was not strong enough to do the digging so we had to get some extra help in!

not a good time to get the hammock out ...

halfway to Australia -

the workers in a hole

there is a hole in the ground dear Wheelo!

Wednesday 13 February 2008

meeting explained

Transcript of introduction to the unanimous decision of DCP for the implementation of a basic scheme of flood defence


1. Introduction

We met almost exactly six months ago and decided to shore our banks. The steering committee has spent that six months in making exhaustive investigations into what is and what is not possible, taking into account the interests of the various parties concerned. Whilst all of this was very necessary ground work, we are, at this point, not even yet on a pathway from the 2007 flood to an implemented scheme for protection from flooding. We have now reached the stage where we must get on with the scheme to put protection in place as soon as possible.

In short, the resolution before you is the best that we have been able to achieve which commands the support of all of those most affected.

2. Purpose of the Meeting and the Resolution

The resolution contains a basic scheme which I hope is acceptable to and can be promoted by the whole village. Until we have this basic scheme in place, everything is “hypothetical” and we cannot expect the external parties with whom we have to deal (the Environment Agency, English Heritage, the Church and Tewkesbury Borough Council Planning Committee) to treat the matter seriously.

Thus the purpose of the resolution is to validate the basic scheme and that validation:-

2.1 shows we mean business;
2.2 exerts power and leverage on the external parties;
2.3 enables us to progress and to go forward with a planning application.

3. Support

The resolution comes with the full and unanimous support of the steering committee. Three of the four landowners concerned are on the steering committee and thus the resolution comes with the support of the Morris family, the Samuel family and, as a minor landowner, myself.

Reg Ward is the fourth landowner in respect of that part of the bank accessing Abbotts Court, The Barn and The Stables. These three houses are outside the present flood defence and will not benefit from the scheme envisaged by the resolution.

David Baker e-mailed me this afternoon from Cape Town to inform me that Reg Ward has his proxy at this meeting. Peter Lord is supporting the resolution because he is content with separate arrangements. He has applied for planning consent to raise the floor level and the roof level of his house and that application has been supported by Deerhurst Community Preservation pursuant to a resolution which we passed earlier.

I have secured Reg’s support (and with it David Baker’s) to the resolution conditionally upon Deerhurst Community Preservation looking at, with a view to implementation as ancillary to this scheme, a scheme for protecting Abbotts Court and The Barn.

I have given Reg a verbal assurance that if he liaises with David Baker and comes up with a scheme to protect Abbotts Court and The Barn, then I will place that scheme before Deerhurst Community Preservation for its consideration. Although I cannot unilaterally commit Deerhurst Community Preservation to any particular course of action, I was pleased to give this pledge, not because Reg is my friend and neighbour whose house I would naturally wish to have protected, nor because he and David have been good enough to give us their support when their houses are not benefiting from this scheme in any way whatsoever, but because I believe that Deerhurst Community Preservation is not a one trick pony which will down tools as soon as the basic scheme has been implemented. I perceive it to have been brought into existence as a permanent body to monitor the risk of flooding and to react to it appropriately and I hope that Deerhurst Community Preservation sees this scheme as a first phase and will be seeking to refine protection for the whole village on an on-going basis.

In addition to Reg, David Baker and Peter Lord’s support, I have also received the support of Patrick and Joanne Fay and Brendon Crawley, all of whom are outside the flood defence and it is generous, co-operative and good-hearted of them to do so. I hope that we will be able to reciprocate in due time.

I mention the above support simply to illustrate that those villagers who are most affected by the flood defence, or who have the least to benefit from it, have given the scheme their support and I am hoping that everyone else will as well. We are only voting on the basic scheme comprised in the resolution. We are not voting on any ancillary scheme – that is a matter for another day.

4. The Resolution

Having secured support for the resolution by all those villagers who are most affected by it, I am hoping that when I read out the resolution formally in a moment to ask for a show of hands that I will receive unanimous support. I am bound before doing so to ask if there is anyone who has any questions to raise or comments to make. I hasten to say that I am not seeking these, but if anyone wishes to ask any questions or raise any points, please do so. [David Gardener raised a few points. The resolution was read through and finally an e-mail indicating support from English Heritage was read.

The resolution, subject to correction in item 3 of “School House” to “The Old School”, was passed unanimously.]





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