Wookey Hole Village

RIP Gerry Cottle  7^th April 1945 – 13^th January 2021

Wookey Hole Residents Forum offers sincere condolences to all Gerry’s family and friends.  Our sympathy goes out to you, as it does to all those bereaved loved ones who are suffering loss during these Coronavirus blighted times.

Space for a camper van?

Adam and Louise are considering buying a medium sized camper van, but realise they need a space to store it, in (or close to) Wookey Hole before buying.

If anyone has a space, or a suggestion, it would be most appreciated.

Please call Adam on 07531199542 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jigsaw, book………… exchange

The idea of having a place in the village where jigsaws, books, dvds, seeds (any other ideas) ……could be freely exchanged seems like a good idea.  The phone box has been proposed but would need to be fitted out with shelving.  Is anyone interested in taking on the project of kitting it out?  I believe that phone boxes in Haybridge, Westbury and Coxley have already repurposed their redundant phone boxes so a starting point might be to look and see how they have done theirs. Please get in touch if this might be of interest.

Footpaths

A much used path from Wookey Hole to the top of Mendip has recently had closure notices put on the gate.  Paul Cannon, our Parish Councillor who oversees the local footpath network has provided the document and photo below of the gate with the notices.

Anger over lane closure
A Mendip farmer's decision to close a well used local walking trail has been met with complaints and vandalism to his closure signs.
Green Lane, which runs up to the hills from the riding stables at Wookey Hole, is not a public right of way but has been used by walkers for generations.
Martin Edwards, of Higher Pitts Farm, Priddy, said he locked the gate for safety reasons after the wooded lane was blighted by ash dieback.
The first signs he posted to warn of the danger were torn down within two days and the replacements have since been damaged.
His priority in dealing with the tree disease was to make safe thirty other affected ash trees alongside the official rights of way across his land.
He does not propose to reopen Green Lane as he plans to join a new stewardship scheme for nature recovery and protect it as a wildlife haven, two to three acres in area.
Walkers concerned about the closure contacted local parish councillor and volunteer Mendip ranger Paul Cannon. He confirmed the lane wasn't a right of way despite its regular usage over time.
There is a trail leading to the village close by but it's difficult to see from the lane’s upper entrance. Farmer Edwards gratefully accepted an offer from Cllr. Cannon to make and post a sign on the gate to help people find the designated footpath.

Melitta Izzard has kindly offered to collect people’s experience of having used the Trout’s Bend Footpath. Please send the information you have of when you have used this path to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 Food Bank

Wells Food Bank are experiencing increasing demand for food and other necessities.  They are extremely thankful for all the things that we have been collecting each month.  Sandy and David will be taking our next donations a week on Wednesday, 24^th February.  All donations are welcome but a particular request currently is for large tins of ham.

Lockdown experiences

Thank you to those who have already shared their lockdown stories.  Keep them coming, I know there are more in the pipeline, check out wookeyhole.info to see  what has been going on from a wildlife point of view and wonderful things that have been grown at the allotments.

Details

Category: Residents' Forum

Published: 14 February 2021

 

Our last AGM was held on 17th October 2019. We have made the decision to postpone having another AGM until it is possible to hold it in person rather than via zoom.  In the meantime here is a recap of events, activities and issues that the Forum has had involvement with in 2020.

Tribute to Hugh
Our founding Chairman Hugh Talbott passed away on June 12th 2020.
A large number of villagers lined the streets to pay their respects & say a fond farewell to Hugh as the funeral cortege left the village, it was a very moving moment for the family and villagers alike.

 

Housing Planning applications
A Zoom meeting was arranged by the WHRF with our elected representatives on June 12th 2020 to discuss the worrying increase in planning applications in & around Wookey Hole.   It was well supported by local residents. Ros Wyke, leader of MDC listened to residents concerns & answered all questions. Notes were taken by Lisa Poole, the Parish Council Deputy Clerk. Tessa Munt and James Heappey were among the attendees.

 

Armchair Field
The planning application for 148 houses on the Armchair field next to the Underwood Business Park was rejected last May but in July 2020 an appeal was registered with Mendip Council. It has still not been validated/registered by the Planning Inspectorate.  When it goes “live”, all objectors should be notified by MDC.
Ivor Tetley is co-ordinating moves to have such an appeal rejected. A flyer asking for people to  be involved in an Objectors Group has been circulated. The first step might be a Q&A with a town planning consultant.

 

Homestead Park
The planning application for 11 new houses on the Homestead Park was withdrawn. Another application for 9 dwellings was submitted 20/8/20 & no decision has been made about it yet. It seems likely the planning officer wants to recommend approval but MDC could not approve it until the phosphate issue is settled.  However the application will go to MDC’s planning board first. In the meantime  more drawings have been filed with some changes to the appearance of some of the houses. To find out more see Mendip’s planning portal reference 2020/0668/FUL

 

Glencot Road – Gladman outline planning
The outline planning application for 90 houses on the land running down Glencot Road to Haybridge was refused in September ’20. As yet no appeal has been made.  See Mendip District Council’s planning portal reference 2020/0484/OTS for more information.
Our Parish Council have objected to all of these applications.
Currently the majority of planning applications in our area cannot be approved by MDC as a result of a court judgement affecting wetlands of international importance. The Somerset Levels is one of these RAMSAR sites and many proposed developments around us, potentially, have an impact on the quality of water feeding into the Levels.  Applications can of course always be refused (see the 60 houses below Elm Close as well as the 4 houses behind the Mermaid on Tucker Street)
To find out more see https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/mendip-district-council-will-protect-somerset-levels-and-moors

 
WH Road Network Working group
Roger Hancock and Sarah Chambers initiated this at our last AGM.  Thanks to all who have already responded to emails contributing ideas about how our road network could be improved and made safer and who have helped in the mini traffic surveys we’ve done.
We have joined forces with the Parish Council and the working group now consists of Cllrs Paul Cannon, Ed Danson, Tony Hathway and Diana Newington as well as Forum Committee members Sarah Chambers, Roger Hancock & Julia Scarth.  We are meeting regularly and in due course plan to submit a report to Somerset County Council Highways Dept. We will be in touch again over the coming months with ideas, suggestions and requests for help on the issue of roads.
 
Footpaths
Discussions have taken place regarding the fenced off rubbish dump that blocks the footpath leading to Trouts Bend. It was felt that to protect this well used path, we should make an application for it to be recognised as a footpath. We need a volunteer to take this on. It would involve requesting residents to provide witness statements to declare that they had regularly used it & for how long. If enough people have used it over a set 20 year period that is grounds to make it an acknowledged footpath.  
The law is changing in 2026 & if a path is not on a definitive map, it will not be recognised as a footpath.

 

Truespeed
A number of people in the village are having real problems with very poor internet speeds.
A Truespeed Zoom meeting was held in July for villagers and 5 people attended.
There are approx 230 properties in Wookey Hole & Truespeed need between 90-100 households to sign up for it to be financially viable for them. So far they only have 34 orders for our area.  We asked Tony at Truespeed for an update on costs and received the following
With the nation now in lockdown again, we at Truespeed are doing all we can to speed up the delivery of your FULL FIBRE broadband network.  Thank you for all your support and help!
Demand for Truespeed is high as home workers, home schoolers and even low usage households struggle with the overcrowded and underperforming copper network.
Just before Christmas we launched our new packages.  We listened to feedback from our customers and now we have packages starting at a GUARANTEED 80Mbps (upload AND download) from £29.99.  For those with larger families we can now offer a GUARANTEED 900Mbps for £69.99.  All our packages include a telephone service too, so no need to retain your BT line!
Truespeed 80Mbps   – £29.99 per month
Truespeed 200Mbps – £47.50 per month
Truespeed 350Mbps – £49.99 per month
Truespeed 500Mbps – £59.99 per month
Truespeed 900Mbps – £69.99 per month
To secure your FREE installation please complete the attached form and return to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you’ve signed up already and have been waiting for some time, it’s probably because there isn’t quite enough demand in your area yet.  You can help speed things up by sharing this post and telling friends and neighbours about Truespeed.
If you have any questions or would like more information I can be contacted at the same.
Don’t forget, complete the attached form and return to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 
Feedback on Bring & Share Supper Jan ‘20
The Bring & Share supper raised £168.
£74 was from ticket sales & £94 from the raffle.
Many thanks to all who made this such an enjoyable evening.

 

Lets Weather The Storm Together (LWTST)
During the Covid lockdown, the committee members joined forces with the LWTST team & for 14 weeks from April to July provided food boxes to isolating residents in Wookey Hole.  A huge thanks not only to the many volunteers who became involved in this initiative but also to the even larger number of people who were willing to help with this and other initiatives but were not called upon.  Thank you all for being such good neighbours.

 

Food Bank Donations
Wells Food Bank which is run from Wells Vineyard on Jocelyn Drive continues to meet the needs of a growing number of vulnerable people, struggling to make ends meet.  They are enormously grateful for the food donations that we have been giving them each month.
Donations can be left at any time in the box in the church porch and are taken to the Food Bank on the last Wednesday of the month.  This month that is this Wednesday, 27th January.

 

Pyrolysis Plant
A temporary 12 month "experimental" facility for treating waste which cannot be recycled was approved by Somerset County Council with conditions at the end of 2019.
This 1 year trial was due to end 07/11/20 & the site restored to its previous condition by 07/12/20.  We understand that an extension of up to 12 months to the original time period was approved in September 2020. See Mendip District Council’s planning portal reference 2020/1364/CNT for more information.

 

Neighbourhood Plan
The Parish Council continues to have a working group investigating the formulation of a Neighbourhood Plan.  We have been in communication with Tony Hathway, one of the councillors on that group.  Currently this matter is on the back burner but we can become involved if required.

 

Hand Rail
The handrail that was affixed to the wall on the left of the steps on the footpath that leads from the High Street over the stream to the Caves Grounds came off some time ago. The owner of the house (& wall) has said he needs to rebuild this wall.  He has the handrail & will reinstate it when the wall is re built.

 

WH Village Charity
This idea suggested by Ed Danson is under consideration but currently on hold as a result of Covid restrictions.

Disappearance of the Charabanc sign
Paul Cannon has said that another replacement may be commissioned if the one that has disappeared doesn’t show up.

 

Ghost train disturbance
During Halloween a temporary, noisy ghost train was installed  next to the Crazy Golf which was causing disturbance to residents in School Hill. The problem was shared with us and the relevant authorities and those affected were most grateful for the support received.
 
Buses
St Cuthbert Out Parish Council is working with others to establish a regular and direct bus link between the Wells area and Castle Cary mainline railway station. More details to follow from Paul Cannon.
The Parish Council is also seeking to develop a network of footpaths/cycle ways across its area. This is in association with a wider Mendip District Council aspiration as part of its climate emergency response. Both the bus link and foot/cycle way initiatives are being progressed by the council's newly formed Environment Working Group.

 

St Cuthbert Out Parish Council
Our Parish Council, both Councillors and Clerks work very hard on behalf of everyone who lives in this very large Parish.  We have been forwarding the Covid news bulletins etc gathered together by the deputy clerk and trust you will have found some useful information in there.  
The Parish Council website has recently been redesigned and additional information added this is a link to the home page https://www.stcuthbertout-pc.gov.uk/ . On the community tab there is a link to the larger villages in the Parish this is the link to ours https://www.stcuthbertout-pc.gov.uk/wookey-hole.html on that page there is a link to a facebook site Bygone Wookey Hole.  It is well worth a look, if you are not already acquainted with it. There are many great old photographs of the village and historical information.

 

New initiatives
Who knows when we will be able to meet up for our next AGM?  If in the meantime if you have a project or idea, opinion or question about things in the village that you would like to share, do get in touch with one of the committee members, who are currently;

 

Julia Scarth – Chairperson     This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.         01749 672754
Sarah Mardle – Secretary    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sarah Chambers – Treasurer
Committee Members:-

Charlie Chambers
Roger Hancock
Chloe Parish
Doug Robinson

 

Details

Category: Residents' Forum

Published: 11 February 2021

Minutes OF WHRF Cttee meeting via Zoom 8th December 2020

Present, Julia Scarth-Chair, Sarah Chambers-Treasurer, Charlie Chambers, Doug Robinson, Chloe Parish, Roger Hancock, Sandy Witter, David Witter.

Apologies for absence. Sue Lee, Sarah Mardle.

Minutes of last meeting. 7th October were agreed and signed and will be posted on the Wookey Hole website.

Treasurers report - Sarah C (who has replaced Roger Hancock) Sarah reported that the current balance is £1622.14 (£520 is being held for Parish council grant) Closing balance £1102.14.  Julia will inform the bank about changes to signatories and change of treasurer.

Neighbourhood plan – Julia. Julia has been in touch with Tony Hathaway. Not much progress has been made with this as the council has been busy with other matters. If it is to progress more people will have to get involved. Tony said he is happy get in touch with anyone who would like more information.

Road working group – Sarah C, Roger, Julia
Sarah informed that since we last met a working party has been formed involving herself, Julia, Roger and four local parish councillors.  They have met once and are meeting again tomorrow; the outcome of the first meeting was that a traffic survey has been performed whilst we were in lockdown. They thought this would measure the flow of traffic in the village when the caves are closed.  A comprehensive report collating the results of this survey are available as are the individual surveys that were done in six different locations at three different times of the day over a week. Sarah says that that the aim at the moment is to have a map of the roads and lanes in the village which we can indicate our observations and requirements on e.g dangerous spots, where signs could be improved.

Sarah suggests the next steps are 1    To action a signage survey – it is felt that there could be better signs in the village, or some of the current signs in the village could be moved to better locations. Sarah would like the opinion of the rest of the Forum/village on what signage would be preferred. 2. It would be useful to do another traffic survey in the Village when the Caves/Inn/Club are open to compare to the current lockdown survey however, this would need a lot of people to be involved - we need to decide to what depth we want to take the next survey. Julia thought that an all-year-round survey would represent more of comprehensive set of results to give to the council. It was suggested that a similar scheme to Priddy could be undertaken where school children have designed and made signs. Lack of schoolchildren in Wookey Hole would mean that a wider spectrum of people would be required, no plans were made for this. Doug Robison highlighted the fact that the Homestead Park planning application road survey suggested that the average speed limit in the village was below 30mph. Julia would like to thank Tatiana for the hard work done during the road assessment along with other participants.


Lockdown Experiences – Chloe Parish
Chloe has put together a written request to the village for residents to share their lockdown experiences. This will be uploaded to the village website. Julia asked if anyone would object to this going on to the website, no objections were made. Sarah Mardle has had some training from John Grange on website management; therefore we could approach Sarah as to how to upload the content. Chloe also volunteered to help to make this happen.

Website
Julia informed that John Grange has most likely renewed our hosting for the website as it is still up and running. Julia also said that the total number of hits on the site is 10,250. Chloe suggested it might be good to get more analytical information about who is viewing the site. Julia will also check with Sarah M what period this covers.  All agreed it is worth keeping the website up and running.

Footpaths - Sarah C/Julia
Julia has asked Less Cloutman if he would be interested in taking on a footpath working party. He is not keen to do this. Sarah informed of the Ramblers new initiative to save British footpaths and maybe we could put forward the obstructed Trout Bend footpath as a case specimen. Julia thought that longer paths may be first choice and Trout Bend may be too short. Therefore, we will wait to see if the Trout Bend footpath appears on the Ramblers mapping before further investigation. In the meantime, we can continue to try to get extra sources involved within the village.

Bring and Share supper – Julia
It was discussed that the new bring and share idea suggested at the 7th October 2020 meeting will be difficult to plan and implement under the present lockdown and tier systems. Roger still feels that a new year bring and share is a good idea and will put together some ideas for the next meeting as to how it could be planned and funded. It was suggested that a summer picnic style bring and share event held in the church grounds or Glencot house grounds would be a good idea for the summer when restrictions should be easier.

Holding the AGM – Julia
Julia informed that there has not been an AGM or general meeting since October 2019. In previous years AGM’s had been in April 2015, April 2016, April 2017, and Sept 2019. Julia asked the forum if we should have an AGM via zoom in February or wait until April and assess the situation. This was voted on and the decision to postpone until April was unanimous. It was agreed that an email should be circulated reviewing what the Forum had done since the last AGM and our intention to delay holding one until we can do it in person rather than zoom.  Julia will ask Sarah M if she could write this up and circulate it.

Food bank Donations - Sandy Witter
Sandy informed that 80 food parcels have been delivered from the Wells vineyard the last time she had helped.  The donations from Wookey Hole are appreciated and we will continue with the current collection system.

AOB – No

Next meeting  Next meeting to be held via zoom on Wednesday 10th February at 7.30

Details

Category: Residents' Forum

Published: 13 February 2021

Minutes of WHFC meeting via Zoom 7th October 2020


Present Julia Scarth-Chair, Sarah Mardle-Secretary, Roger Hancock-Treasurer, Doug Robinson, Sarah Chambers, Charlie Chambers, Chloe Parish, Ed Danson, Paul Cannon

1: Apologies for absence.    Sue Lee (Sandy Witter who is thinking of joining the Cttee)
Parish Councillors Ed Danson & Paul Cannon attended the meeting. Julia thanked the councillors for all the work they do for the village & thanked the Parish Council clerk for her Weekly Info Harvests, which were extremely useful.

2. Minutes of last meeting 19th August 2020 were agreed and signed & will be posted on Wookey Hole Website

3: Treasurers Report - Roger
Roger reported that the current bank balance is £1685 (£520 being held for Parish council grant)
Sarah M reported that the closing balance after the LWTST was £1720.
Julia Scarth was reimbursed £35 for flowers sent to a resident on behalf of the residents forum.
It was unanimously resolved that Sarah Chambers would replace Roger Hancock as Treasurer.

4: Neighbourhood Plan - Julia
Julia has left a message for Tony Hathaway, the Parish Councillor dealing with the Neighbourhood Plan. Julia will ask him if he needs any information about Wookey Hole.
Ed Danson reported that the Government white paper is being written for future plans (there are 3 of them) & the Neighbourhood Plan is on the back burner. The bare bones of the N.P. needs to be done & Tony Hathaway, Ian Humphreys & Marcel Hayden will be working on it. Ed Danson is responding to White Papers.

5: Road working group.
Sarah C, Julia & Roger met with Mike Pullen & walked through the village highlighting the traffic problems. It was a busy Saturday morning so the issues were obvious.
Mike Pullen said that a 20mph speed limit through the village would not be feasible because we didn't have a school in the village, he also said SIP (Solar Indicator Panel) speed signs would be our best option. Also virtual pavements, with different coloured tarmac for pedestrian areas might be an idea. We may be able to create a footpath  running along the edge of the allotments, from the pink cottage to Glencot Lane, the allotment committee would need to be approached.  Sarah C to get cost of SIP's from Mike Pullen. Maybe the caves or the Parish Council could fund these.
Paul Cannon reported that a considerable amount of traffic going to the caves is directed (by satnavs) down Tynings Lane & then Milton Lane. He felt it would be good to put a single track sign at the top of Tynings Lane & another sign directing traffic via Ash Lane to the caves. Roger suggested a no entry sign at the village end of Glencot lane & also a single track sign.
It was suggested that Active Speed Watch should be re started.
Ed Danson said he would find examples of other villages that have no school but have a 20mph speed limit. Ed also said he had been waiting for over 2.5 years for a traffic inspector from Somerset County Council to come to the village, he said we need to compile a list of safety issues & then we may get a response.
All safety issues to be reported to Julia & she will pass them on to Ed Danson.

6: Lockdown experiences publication
Chloe to compile an email to send out asking for residents experiences.

7: Trout Bend Footpath
Discussions took place regarding the fenced off rubbish dump that blocks the footpath leading to Trouts Bend. It was felt that to protect this well used path, we should make an application for it to be recognised as a footpath. We need a volunteer to take this on. It would involve requesting residents to provide witness statements to declare that they had regularly used it & for how long. If enough people have used it for the last 20 year we have ground to make it a recognised footpath.  
Sarah C said she would compile a mailing to be sent out to the WHRF mailing list to try & get a working party created. The law is changing in 2026 & if a path is not on a definitive map, it will not be recognised as a footpath.
Julia to speak to Les Cloutman to see if he is interested in leading the working party.

8: Renewal of website domain name & hosting
John Grange has been doing the domain name & hosting. Julia to ask him if he still is.
Sarah M to see if she can get stats on how the web site is used.

9: New Committee Members
Julia reported that we have 2 or 3 spaces available.

11: Future Events
Bring & Share supper is usually held in Jan. This is unlikely to be held in the ususal way. Julia suggested that we  organise dinner parties for 6 in several houses. More discussion at next meeting.

12: Next meeting via Zoom 9th December 7.30pm, No AGM will be planned, we will discuss further at next meeting.

13: AOB
The Arm Chair field is under threat again, an appeal has been registered with Mendip Council about the rejection of the planning application. Ivor Tetley is trying to get as many residents involved as possible to try & ensure that the appeal gets rejected. He has requested that we email out a flyer asking for people to be involved in an Objectors Group. It was agreed that we should email this out to residents.

The Church recently had a Harvest Festival, a collection was done & they received lots of donations.
It was suggested that the Forum contact the food bank each month & ask what they are short of & email the info to residents. All donations could be left in the church porch. This could be done until the end of the year.
Items currently most needed are; tins of meat, nappies, tampons etc. They do not need anymore pasta as have too much. Julia to speak to Sandy Witter to arrange this.

Details

Category: Residents' Forum

Published: 04 January 2021