Proposed improvement to skateboard park in Steeple Claydon

On Thursday 9th December the Buckingham Local Area Forum will consider and decide on an application for a grant of £ 3,000 to repair and upgrade the skateboard park in Steeple Claydon recreation ground. I shall do what I can to support this request.

From the meeting Agenda:

Steeple Claydon Skate Park - £3,000

The Steeple Claydon skate park was installed by a small group of parents in the village in October 2005, with the backing of the Parish Council, using money given by Steeple Claydon villagers and grants from the Police, Bucks County Council, Shanks McEwan, Aylesbury Vale District Council and other sources The main aim of the team was to install a long lasting structure that would be repairable by local tradesmen.
The ramps were designed and built and installed by Fearless Ramps, all of whom were either BMX bike riders or skateboarders themselves so the park built and designed was suited to these two groups of users. The quality of the design is borne out by its continued high use by BMX bikers, scooter riders, roller bladers, and skate boarders coming from Steeple Claydon, Calvert, Twyford, Buckingham, and Middle Claydon.

A RoSPA report has identified some risks apparent with the current structure:
1. Stopping of open tube ends.
2. Replacing of back panels on the platforms as these are weathering and also subject to minor vandalism.
3. Putting up a sign suggesting the use of suitable clothing and the fact that the Parish Council accepts no responsibility for people injuring themselves while using the ramps.
4. The tarmac surface between two of the ramps is developing holes where the wheels of the boards are wearing it away and weathering is creating cracks so giving weeds
somewhere to sprout.
5. Some of the screws fixing the running surfaces have failed or come out and need
replacing.
6. Two of the ramps’ leading edges have sunk into the surface leaving a step between the ramp and the concrete surface.
7. Rubbish and glass and other items have been allowed to accumulate under the ramps.

From this list quotations have been obtained to cover the works that are too complex to be carried out by a group of volunteers.

Replacing of the platform back panels:
a. quoted £520 for replacing all of the panels.
b. Some of the boards will need replacing within the next year as they weather and
the gap between the underside of the panel and the platform increases due to
the veneers failing and minor vandalism. At a certain size the gap would be
deemed to offer a significant risk e.g. a part of the body or head can get through
the gap.

Removing the existing tarmac between two of the ramps and replacing with power
floated concrete
c. quotes provided £2750.
d. Holes in the tarmac could be filled to reduce the risk to the users, but the
concrete would be a permanent solution and also improve the overall quality of
the skate park from the users’ point of view.
e. Weeds outside of the main ramp area need treating with weed killer.

Boxing in of the ramp furthest from the village
f. quoted £1100.
g. This would prevent children getting under the ramp.

TOTAL BUDGET £4,370
Required LAF Funding £ 3,000

fingers crossed !

Update following meeting:

I am very glad to report that this application was successfully approved at the Local Area Forum meeting on 9th December. Congratulations to all involved.

More information on the Calvert decision from the County Council

See below for more information from the County Council on the Calvert Decision. It is good news that our County Councillor, John Cartwright, has called in the decision for reconsideration by the Council's Resources Committee.


WRG to deal with Buckinghamshire's waste

Buckinghamshire County Council's (BCC) Cabinet today (Monday 29 November 2010) chose to award preferred bidder status* to Waste Recycling Group (WRG) for the 30 year contract to build an Energy from Waste facility (also known as an incinerator) to treat the county's household waste.

The company proposes to build and operate an Energy from Waste facility at Greatmoor, near Calvert, north Buckinghamshire, which will provide a cheaper and greener solution to disposing of residual household waste - which cannot be recycled or composted - than landfill.

Landfilling waste is environmentally damaging as much of the waste rots to produce methane, which is more than 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Landfilling waste is also extremely costly with the Government imposing hefty landfill fines on councils to encourage them to find alternative ways to manage waste. Current calculations show that by switching to Energy from Waste, Buckinghamshire would save over £100 million in landfill costs, over the life of the WRG contract.

Covanta Energy, which was also bidding to provide Buckinghamshire's Energy from Waste service, with its site at Rookery South Pit near Stewartby, Bedfordshire has not been selected.

In September last year the Council agreed to appoint Covanta Energy as its preferred bidder. Whilst clarifying the terms of their appointment, the company made the Council aware of a commercial matter, which impacted on aspects of its bid. As this might have affected the evaluation of the final bids the Council was legally required to re-open discussions with both Covanta Energy and WRG.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, Councillor Martin Tett, said: "Since March of this year, the project team have been working very hard with both bidders to ensure the proposals they put forward were going to provide the best solution for the county. In September we received the final bids, which have been evaluated by our technical, legal and financial experts and project team against pre-agreed criteria.

"This is a high-profile project of great importance to residents and the county. The announcement today may come of some surprise. However I would like to reassure residents that I have personally spent a considerable amount of time understanding both the process and the key elements of the recommendation by the professional experts on the Project Board to ensure this is the right solution for Buckinghamshire and our council tax payers. Both bidders offered very good solutions for Buckinghamshire and were of a high standard making the decision difficult. I would like to thank Covanta Energy for their hard work in putting their bid together."

"I am confident that the Energy from Waste solution proposed by WRG is in the best interest of our council tax payers. Value for money was an important consideration throughout. We need efficiency, effectiveness and economy from the winning bidder. But, we also need to consider another 'E' - environment. We must ensure that we reach our high recycling target of 60% by 2025 and that the residual waste left is treated efficiently. Waste is a renewable resource that when treated properly can produce significant levels of energy and reduce the country's reliance on dirty, fossil-fuelled power.

"We have conscientiously researched and objectively evaluated the technical options available for treating our leftover waste. Energy from Waste is a modern, highly regulated technology which is well proven in the UK and elsewhere in Europe and works well with high recycling targets, as demonstrated by countries like Denmark."

WRG's proposed facility will convert some 300,000 tonnes of waste a year into 22MW of electricity to send to the national grid. They are also considering how the heat generated from the plant maybe used.

Further information about WRG's proposals is available on their website at:
http://wrg.co.uk/page.php?article=831&name=Calvert+Home+Page&preview=true