Evidence has been found that the 1930 General Development Plan was adopted

8th February 2015
EVIDENCE HAS BEEN FOUND TODAY THAT THE GENERAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN WAS ADOPTED
New Evidence has been found today. A Planning Application from 1956 stating that the General Development Plan 1930 provisioning Speckled Wood as an Public Open Space was adopted.

The Trust and Charity Chairman had been researching Historical Planning Applications in regard Speckled Wood and located this Planning Application which clearly refused Planning on this estate on the basis  that it was not shown allocated for residential purposes in the Development Plan .

The General Development Plan 1930 .
Was an instrumental document that was responsible for shaping Hastings laying it out much as it is today.  This is a fabulous find in the Archive an really proves why the Council needs to have it available as a Public resource. Without this historical information being made available we will loose vital information That shows us why Hastings is cherished so dearly.

The Friends and Badger Protection Society visit the Coucils Planning Archives

6th February 2015
THE FRIENDS AND BADGER PROTECTION SOCIETY VISIT THE COUNCIL PLANNING ARCHIVES.

A second visit to the Council was conducted this morning in an attempt to view the Public Planning files  that were needed two days ago.  A previous visit had failed to present the Public Records.  Disappointingly the files where not complete again and files where missing. The Trust has been investigating a historic planning matter where the Hastings Badger Protection Society took the Council to Judicial Review. A third complaint has been raised  as the planning Department has now failed to provide information on three occasions. Paperwork in the file established and backed up the Badger Protection Society's case that it had only been to one Hearing. One possibility of this is that the first Hearing was provided on papers only in 2001 This is however not found in the Planning file. It is only by the Administrative Court Office  and was not documented and has not been resolved the missing documents would the Trust believe clarify this position. The documents on the desk are a report from Dr Julian Brown, an expert in the Judicial Review who outlines the requirement for 5m and 10m protected species corridors on page one. The other report is a report particular to the planning historic Application. More investigations are ongoing.

Speed checks on Frederick Road

06th February 2015
SPEED CHECKS ON FREDERIC ROAD.
Traffic speed checks where being conducted on Frederick Road today by a specialist team  who braved the cold in an attempt to keep the traffic speeds down on this road Well done everyone.

Ms Tanya Charman a local Councillor has told us that she has taken the issues of the speed limit and lorry use of Frederick road  to East Sussex County Council recently to ask for them to intervene .

Wasting Public funds

WASTING PUBLIC FUNDS.
4th   February 2015

If you were part of the cattle market at the town hall this evening proportioning to be a  large number of rushed Planning Meeting to be granted by our Council then this is very sad.

The Council that we elect including the Local Ore Councillor all voted in favor of building on the Clifton Road end of Speckled Wood ignoring 6000+ objections, illegal room sizes and the Plan that cant even get a normal size garbage truck up the road this is not withstanding  the badgers who have rights on the site. Why has this happened you may ask. was the Planning Inspector not making this decision in the Revised Development Plan (Local) Plan 2014 which from 2004-2013 alone cost  over £3 million  pounds Does the Council not read Kent County Council Planning updates? . It appears that the Council did not need the report from the Planning Inspector to make their decision tonight . Why then have they spent over £3 million  pound on this Development Plan when the Council is cutting services in Hastings.  How can our ward Councillor not know the extent of Speckled Wood. Perhaps he was covering his eyes. This is supposed to be democratic well you decide. Perhaps this gives some answers as it appears the Council has been paid by HCA a large sum of money.

The Trust & Charity have learned that there is a Planning Meeting tomorrow

02 February 2015
THE TRUST & CHARITY HAVE LEARNED THAT THERE IS A PLANNING MEETING TOMORROW.
We were told today that the Planning Department is going to have a Private Planning Meeting tomorrow  . To discuss planning regarding Church Street and other matters that have come up before them on Wednesday.

The Trust and Charity has already written to the Development Control Manager with complaint of the process.  Letters have gone out to Council Legal Department today in regard a major legal complaint.

The Trust & Charity  believes the Outline Application should not be prejudged by the Council when the Council has spent Public Money paying for a Public Examination give a decision in six weeks for this exact same matters. This is a total waste of Public Money that is being spent on a Pubic Examination if this decision is being made on Wednesday. Quite frankly this is appalling. Especially when you consider our Council is shutting down other vital services. What are they thinking .

Please phone the Council and ask them tomorrow. There has been no information as yet to tell us that the Outline Application has been withdrawn. Please come down and witness this "spiraling out of control decision making" tomorrow at the Town Hall 6:00pm tomorrow.

Is the Planning Department no longer following the law.

29th January 2015
IS THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT NO LONGER FOLLOWING THE LAW?

The Outline Planning Matter HS/OA/14/0087 for Church Street  today is  according to the Report by Mr Sam Batchelor  being recommended to be adopted. This is in direct contradiction to the Judicial Review CO/4509/200 , This has been noted in previous Planning matters and a 5m corridor has been enforced. Some of this land is owned by a government body HCA . How can they not be aware of this law? If the 5m corridor was enforced it would not give space for these allocation of Housing http://publicaccess.hastings.gov.uk/online-applications/files/A2AE4E219D453DEE954DFB8C7E5A7513/pdf/HS_OA_14_00876--360545.pdf

We are starting to believe the Planning Department in Hastings is not capable of functioning correctly. This comes two days after a East Sussex Highways removed a report from their website 'Ridge Movement and Access Study' concerning the hazardous report on the congestion on the ridge and includes accident survey from the AMEY department. The trust is alarmed at this process and nothing seems to stop this process. The Inspectors report has not even been published for these areas. Is this just another way the council is wasting our money on a report that they are going to ignore.  https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfSpeckledWood/photos/a.364014017005094.80616.363895927016903/813320308741127/?type=1&theater Even the Council who granted themselves Planning for this site on two separate back when some of the land was Compulsorily Purchased  did not build here  despite having Planning in place . 

It has not been explained by the Council why two pieces of land number 136 and 142 Church Street where compulsory purchased by Council in 1962 and then handed to a private company to develop. The Land Registrar information shows that these two plots along with the ones in Church Street subject to this Planning where handed over in HT19042 in 06.11.1985 . There has been no explanation of this despite letters to Legal and Freedom of Informatiion Requests.

Hard copies of the Trusts Response To highways Note are send to Program Officer

27th January 2015
HARD COPIES OF THE TRUST AND CHARITIES RESPONSE TO HIGHWAYS NOTE ARE SENT TO PROGRAM OFFICER
Following on from the Trust and Charity sending in their note by email after hearing the correct format from the Program Officer . Hard copies have been send.

Wood Chip is Dropped off to Church Street, Speckled Wood

27nd December 2014
WOOD CHIP IS DROPPED OFF TO  CHURCH STREET,  SPECKLED WOOD.

The Trust has been able to have Wood chip dropped up the top of the Woodland this week. The supplier has been asked to move location from the TOP.  This is ready for the warmer weather. Thank you everyone who helped. This is brilliant as the pathways will be much nicer this year again.

The Ore Stream floods knocking out power

08th January 2015
The Ore Stream floods knocking out power.
The Ore Stream flooded today with the heavy down poor of rain that occurred in the morning . The Agencies were aware of the likely hood of a problem and acted quickly to pump away water. There is known to be a blockage in the pipe that runs 100ft under the roadway at Speckled Wood. These it seems has been blocked by concrete according to a video probe which was sent down before Christmas. Pictured is a previous lorry attending to pollution and contamination.

The Friends & Charity want to thank the Agencies for their fast work restoring power and dealing with the flooding.

The last of the wood chip is dropped up the top of Speckled Wood

22nd December 2014
THE LAST OF THE WOOD CHIP IS DROPPED UP THE TOP OF SPECKLED WOOD.

The last load of Wood chip has been dropped up the top of the Woodland this week. The supplier has been asked to move location. 

The Wood chip was intended to be put down by the Trust & Charity in the upper part of the Woodland.

Recent events has meant another group has this area in their sights and have received  at least two  large local payment to keep this area maintained.

The Trust has not been maintaining this area for a week now as it is expected that other group will be doing this.

The Registered Charity has also been informed in writing that the other organization has no recognized charity status despite according to their publicity having said they have received over £3,000 in the last month alone.

The Trust clear one of the Upper pathways

11th December 2014
THE TRUST CLEAR ONE OF THE UPPER PATHWAYS.


This morning the Trust were out in the sunshine clearing back a fallen tree from one of the upper pathways. The pathway is now open again.

Our Google page gets more than 177,000 views in a year

06th December 2014
OUR GOOGLE PAGE GETS MORE THAN 177,000 VIEWS IN ONE YEAR.

News today from Google shows we have reached 177,060 page views on our Google pages in under a year. This is a staggering amount of interest and the Trust and Charity is very excited that you all love our pages so much . Thank you so much for this interest. we hope to keep bringing you this content about Speckled Wood .

Planning on prospective Children's Classroom site

06 December 2014
PLANNING ON PROSPECTIVE CHILDREN'S CLASSROOM SITE.

http://www.friendsofspeckledwoodmanagementtrust.org.uk/consultation/

The Trust was informed by letter that there has been and extension to the Outline  Planning Application on the site in Speckled Wood which the Trust and other local groups want to be a Classroom site to enable the schools to access the site. The Trust took this Local Plan to the HCA Pilot Meeting  3rd Nov 2012 , HCA have ignored this wanting just five houses which will benefit just 15 families , where the school room will benefit many hundred. The Outline Application must be stopped for this to have any chance of succeeding . This is the only site attached to a village green which has road access. Please help us click the link above and register your objection.

More tipped rubbish removed

1st December 2014
MORE TIPPED RUBBISH REMOVED
The Trust was busy this morning removing the tipped rusty metal tins which had been selfishly tipped and toppled down the bank earlier in the week. We managed to get stuck as the weight of the metal was much more than we anticipated. Both items have now been removed and are awaiting collection. The Trust want to thank the helpers that all came to help get the heavy lump onto the tractor & trailer so it could be removed.