Buses to Coventry Reduced Service

Due to the coronavirus the service to and from Coventry is being reduced to a two-hourly service. The buses will run at the same times as previously, but only at 2-hour intervals.

Facebook Group

A Facebook group intended for residents of Burton Green has been created on Facebook.

To use this group, sign up to Facebook (which is free), and search for Burton Green Residents Association

The group is here (though you may not be able to see the content of the link if you are not a member of Facebook):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1076226606082384/.

As of Thursday 26th March 68 residents have joined the group.

VE Day Events

The VE Day planning group has cancelled the celebrations for May 8th and the event will be rearranged for a later date if at all possible.

A short film about life in Burton Green during WW2, which was intended to be shown during the VE Day tea at the village hall, will now be posted on YouTube some time in May.

It is still hoped to get the 'V and E' letters up on the Jubilee Verge to mark the occasion.

The visit to the National Memorial Arboretum has been cancelled and this has provisionally been rearranged for September 22nd.

Village Hall - Coronavirus Closure

Important Announcement

In line with recent Government guidelines The Trustees of Burton Green Village Hall have closed the premises for the foreseeable future. This is  inline with other social & public buildings. 

Thank you to all users and hirers. We hope to see you when the Government announcement it is safe to return to social gatherings etc.


The Art Exhibition originally planned for Easter is cancelled and may take place at a later date.

COVID-19 Impact on HS2

COVID-19 impacts HS2 in several ways.

Teleconferencing

Firstly, there is the long term effect of home working and teleconferencing, which may reduce the future demand for rail travel.

Complete article:

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/coronavirus-proves-hs2-not-needed-executives-turn-skype-2481781

There's a similar, though more in depth, article about the long term effects of home working and teleconferencing in The Telegraph.

Compete article:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/20/working-home-could-popular-ever-huge-consequences/

The Telegraph article is a Premium article so you may not be able to read the entire article. Some interesting paragraphs are:

The healthier of our railway franchises depend on the sale of season tickets to maintain their farebox (one of the reasons why the East Coast franchise has consistently run into trouble is the low demand for season tickets on that service). And yet, in the third quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year, despite constant and record-breaking growth in overall passenger numbers across the network, season ticket sales were at their lowest since 2010/2011. Season ticket revenue accounted for 33.7 per cent of all franchised journeys between October and December 2019 – the lowest share since records started being kept in 1994.

In other words, even before this current crisis, home working had become popular enough to start making a difference to season ticket sales: why pay thousands of pounds a year to travel Monday to Friday when you know you’ll be at home on at least one, perhaps more, of those days every week?

Economic Impact

And then we have the economic impact.

The government had been intending to raise the £100bn to pay for HS2, not from taxation, but by borrowing. Until very recently the UK government had been able to borrow money on international markets at very attractive rates of interest (almost zero).

That situation has now changed. This is a clip from BBC News, explaining that rates of interest charged on UK government borrowing have suddenly increased, giving the Chancellor a big problem: :

Burton Green - Recent Burglaries (2020)

There were 27 reported burglaries, or attempted burglaries, in Burton Green during 2019. Those incidents are detailed here:
https://burtongreen.blogspot.com/2019/07/more-garden-burglaries.html

There is a page of home security advice here:
https://burtongreen.blogspot.com/p/home-security.html

There have already been three incidents in 2020. We are starting a new page for 2020...


Attempted Burglary - Burton Green, Kenilworth - 17 March

Please be aware that at around 1800hrs on Tuesday 17 March 2020 offenders smashed a panel of the front door in an attempt to gain access to a property at Cromwell Lane, Burton Green, Kenilworth. The offenders did not enter the property as they were disturbed by the property owner causing the offenders to make off from the address in a black Vauxhall saloon. This is incident 347 of 17 March 2020.


Burglary - Burton Green, Kenilworth - 18 January

Please be aware that between 1400hrs and 16.30hrs on Friday 18 January 2020 offenders have smashed the rear patio doors and rear kitchen window of a property at Oak Tree Close, Burton Green, Kenilworth. It is not clear at this stage what, if anything, has been stolen. This is incident 290 of 18 January 2020


Attempted Burglary, Burton Green, Kenilworth - 14 January

Please be aware that between midnight and 0900hrs on Tuesday 14 January 2020 offenders have have forced off the lock on a front door of a property at Hodgetts Lane, Burton Green, Kenilworth. The door was damaged but no access was gained to the property. This is incident 88 of 14 January 2020

Bugle - March 2020

The March 2020 edition of the Bugle has been published.

Just below are thumbnails of the page images. To enlarge any page image, click on the thumbnail below. Once you have the individual page, you may also need to click on the magnifying glass in your browser, where you can view the page at its original size...

The text of the Chair's Report has also been added to the Residents' Association page.

The archive of back issues of the Bugle is here: Bugle Archive.

Minutes of Residents' Association Committee 4th March 2020

Present

Hilary Cox; Paddy Deeley; Andy Gibbs; Judi Hibberd; Janet Hickinbottom; Bron Putnam; Rona Taylor; Faith Ward.

1. Apologies and Minutes of the last meeting

Apologies had been received from Dianne Adams, Helen Hehir and Mary Webb

Summary of actions following the meeting	Responsible
Community Fund item to remain on agenda	Judy
Children in Need item to remain on agenda	Judi
Thank you letter to PC	Judi
Report potholes in Red Lane	Rona
Cakes for VE day	All
Item about VE day to be sent for school newsletter	Faith
VE day item to be added to Bugle	Mary
Maintain list of suggestions for funding requests	Judi
Compile and submit final list of dates for BGRA bookings	Judi
Further research about village What’s App group	Paddy
Complaint letter to HS2	Rona

Minutes of the last meeting and Matters Arising

See Minutes of January 22nd 2020 meeting

The minutes of the meeting were approved.

Matters Arising from the previous minutes

• To enquire if a management committee existed at Cala Homes site (Cala Homes was responsible until the build was completed. Often a landscape company would be contracted by residents at a later stage but there were no plans as yet)
• Continued planning of VE day celebrations (continuing)
• Community fund item to remain on agenda (continuing)
• Visit to Hickory’s Smokehouse to discuss community involvement (Rona had decided it was not currently appropriate to visit. A request had been made to add to the Santa Sleigh collection without response)
• Liaise with school about 2020 Santa Sleigh (completed)
• Children In Need ramble to remain on agenda (continuing)

All other matters arising were to be agenda items.

2. Village Hall Update 

The chair of the Village Hall committee had sent her apologies.
The trustees were still waiting for specifications to be finalised to go out for tender regarding the new village hall.
It was suggested the trustees be contacted regarding the re-siting of the defibrillator at the new village hall. Would it be accessible and how would the emergency services enter if a barrier was in place?
Post meeting note: Hedgerow Nursery had recently purchased a defibrillator for community use and a refresher training session would be held soon.

3. Treasurer's Report

A report had been circulated. Rona outlined the details. Total funds amounted to £5087.09. The only expenditure since the last meeting was the Christmas card prizes at £40 and deposits for two visits arranged by Mary (to the Phantom of the Opera and the National Memorial Arboretum.)

Income had been received from the Parish Council grant (£2100); £64.27 profits from the lunch; and £363 payments towards the visits detailed above.

Judi was to write to thank the Parish Council for its recent grant.


4. Residents’ views/concerns

• A number of local footpaths had been barriered off and padlocked by HS2. This was considered premature and residents were annoyed there had been no prior warning. The PC would be following this up.
• There were a number of potholes again in Red Lane. There was a particularly bad one outside Wyndrushe and another near Hillcrest. Rona would inform the relevant authorities.
• Broadwells Wood site had suggested holding tea dances once the new hall was available.

5. Update on and discussion of Residents’ Association initiatives and issues

• Cala Homes update on the site.  No-one else had moved in recently. There remained concerns about the amount of water in the ditch, although it was acknowledged that the weather had been extremely wet of late. The balance pond was supposed to deal with water levels but at present there were still issues with overflowing water. There were concerns for implications for the new Village Hall site.

• VE DAY May 8th 2020. The sub committee reported on the planned programme which included the planting of an oak tree in a large pot at 2pm which would later be transferred to the new hall site. A flower display on the Jubilee verge was being considered. Children’s games would take place in the car park (no cars would be allowed in there.) Children would be invited to dress as evacuees. Sherry would be served at 2.45 and Peter Stanworth would propose a toast. Churchill’s speech would be played. Community singing would follow afternoon tea and John Webb was compiling a video of the war history as it affected Burton Green. The event would conclude at 5pm.

Requests for cakes were made. Wartime recipes would be distributed. Action: Hilary
Help with refreshments on the day would be appreciated. Action: All
An item would be added to the school newsletter. Action: Faith
An item would be added to the Bugle as bookings would need to be taken for refreshments. Action: Mary
A request was made to the committee for funding to manage the event but this would be paid back as the event would be charged at £3 per head, £1 for children. This was agreed.
Should new residents receive a special invitation? It was decided a different welcome event would be arranged later in the summer for any new residents.

• HS2 fund – what should we ask for? A number of village organisations were considering submitting applications. The PC was looking at a suggestion about the monitoring of air quality in the village. Gated entrances to the village were a popular suggestion. It was agreed a list of suggestions should be maintained.
• Priorities for precept money: A new defibrillator box and the Bugle cost had already been included in the grant request. Other items should be added as they arose.
• Booking schedule: Judi explained that the Village Hall trustees were hoping to improve the hall booking system. Judi had been asked to submit all hall requirements for the Residents’ Association, (including meetings and events such as the Residents’ lunches), by April for the following academic year (September 2020 to August 2021.) Judi circulated a table showing dates selected for the meetings. She would liaise with Mary to obtain the proposed dates of the lunches. She would then submit to Vic. Action: Judi
• Village What’s App. A suggestion was made for a village What’s App group to supplement the Bugle and the email loop as a means of more instant communication. It might be used just for security issues such as reporting suspicious vehicles. Paddy agreed to do more research into this ready for the next meeting. Action: Paddy

   
 6. Greenway Trust update

There was nothing to report.


7. Parish Councillor's Report

The PC had discussed a number of matters including a proposal to increase the size of the Tile Hill station car park; the Neighbourhood Plan; the Crest Nicholson building site on Westwood Heath Road (where house building was now unlikely to begin until the autumn); the demolition of the air raid warden’s shelter which had taken place in Red Lane; and a proposition for an emergency plan.


8.  Any Other Business

• Children in Need ramble. It was hoped this would go ahead in September 2020. Mary was liaising with local walkers to create a simple route for families to use at a low- key event. This would remain on the agenda. Action: Judi
• Damage on the Jubilee verge was reported. Daffodils had been damaged by strimming carried out by HS2’s contractors. Rona would send a letter of complaint to HS2 to incorporate this and a number of other complaints about the way HS2 was handling issues. Action: Rona
• It was agreed to move some of the litter signs designed by children to other locations to maximise impact. Alternative locations were agreed.
• March 16th Balfour Beatty representatives planned to attend a PC meeting to provide feedback about people’s views regarding suggestions for what should be provided on top of the covered HS2 tunnel.

10. Date of 2020 Meetings

The next committee meetings were scheduled for

May 13th, July 15th,September 9th, AGM September 9th, November 25th

Speed Watch - Volunteers Required