Langdon Hills News

Come Join our Community Payback Scheme!

March 10, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

Last Friday was a nice sunny day, remember? For reasons best left unsaid I was walking through Vange that day when I saw a cheerful group of young men and women working to tidy up the grounds around St Chad’s Church. I smiled to see how carefree they were as they were obviously having a great time. Perhaps there was even a sense of romance in the air and I could not help thinking how uplifting it was that they had come together in this deprived area to help out with much-needed community work.

When I got home I wondered if there was a similar scheme in our area. Being a bit of an old sod I had never really thought of doing voluntary work before, but inspired by these youngsters I could see myself contributing more to our community while perhaps making some new friends in the area. I decided to bite the bullet and phone the council to see what was going on, which I did a few days later.

Well at first the lady on the other end of the phone seemed a bit confused and was not sure what I was talking about. I explained what I had seen again and asked if there was a similar scheme closer to langdon Hills that I could join. I was sure it was something run by the council. She asked how the people were dressed and I described the bright orange jackets they were wearing with the words “Community Payback” written clearly on the back.

From that point the conversation got really bazaar. She said that it was not a scheme I could join because it was reserved for people who had committed a crime. I was furious! Surely it is not only criminals that are allowed to enjoy themselves and help the community. Then the lady really seemed to lose the plot. She suggested that the work the people were doing was not fun at all and was actually more like a form of punishment. I assured her that quite a lot of people enjoy helping their community and often do it just for the chance to meet people and get some good excercise. The young people I had seen on Friday certainly seemed to see it that way. It was no use. No matter what I said it was clear that I was not going to be allowed to join the scheme.

So now I have decided to start a similar scheme myself in Langdon Hills. Obviously I am going to drop the requirement that participants must have committed a crime because otherwise the only person eligible here would be that weird guy who scrawled graffiti over hundreds of cars a couple of years back. However, I have decided to keep the name “Community Payback” because I think it is a catchy name that will make people want to join the scheme. I’ve found a good supply of jackets and it shouldn’t be so hard to stick the scheme name on the back. Now all I need is a few people who want to get involved and some suggestions for things we could do to improve the area around Langdon Hills. If you are interested in joining please send me an email to notreally@lamgdonhills.org, thanks

Posted in The Weather, humour | Leave a Comment »

More yellow lines

March 10, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

If you have been driving around the Basildon area lately you will have noticed that council workers have been repainting road markings these last few weeks. Chances are you have been stuck in an unexpected traffic jam or two by now as the council reduced the road to one lane so it could get on with the job. I suppose it’s about time they did it because many of us have been starting to wonder where the middle of the road is. They seem to have started the process with roundabouts, but apparently they are not just renewing old markings, they have been making some “improvements” as well.

This week they have moved on to doing yellow lines and have extended the existing scheme around Laindon Station so that it goes another hundred meters or so into the residential areas. You may remember that they started putting down yellow lines around the station a few years back when the private car park across the bridge from the station was sold for a housing development. To compensate a much smaller car park was added nearer the station. of course this was never going to be enough and commuters were forced to park wherever they could legally park nearby.

Needless to say the council’s response was to make it illegal to park near the station by putting down single yellow lines. The result was that the parked cars moved a little further from the station into residential areas. It seems that the commuters were still not getting enough excercise so the council are addressing the problem by making the yellow lines extend a little further away.

Needless to say this has its pros and cons for residents. I for one will be glad to be able to turn right at the bottom of Great Berry Lane without the obstacle of cars parked opposite the junction. On the other hand I will have to have a good look round to make sure “The Basildon Beast” is not cruising nearby before I stop to post a letter there.

Another problem that faces a few residents is that the yellow lines now pass outside their house. Of course most people in the area do not have enough drive way to accommodate their three cars and all garages in the area were obviously designed at a time when it was thought the mini was the car of the future. So most people need some extra parking space in the road. At least one shrewd resident found a great way to avert the problem. He simply ignored the council’s instructions to make sure his car was not parked in the road when they were due to come round for some “essential maintenance”. As a result he now has a convenient break in the yellow lines just outside his house where he will always be able to park. I bet a few of his neighbors are kicking themselves for not thinking of it themselves.

Posted in Roads, humour | Leave a Comment »

How good is our education cabinet minister at maths?

March 5, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

Councillor Stephen Castle is the Essex County Council Cabinet Minister for Education. This makes him the top man for all decisions involving schools in Essex. Last week as he announced the figures for Essex school admissions he told us ”I am very proud of the work that all partners have put in to achieve another increase in the number of parents who have landed their first or second preferences.”

This turns out to be based on an increase from 91.44% last year to 91.50% this year, a small increase of 0.06%. Since there were 15,425 applicants that represents a total of 15,425 x 0.0006 = 9 applicants, a tiny number but an increase nevertheless. Oh, but wait! If we check the overall figures for last year we find that there were slightly more applicants, 15,764 in fact. So the total number who landed their first or second preferences was 15,764 * 0.9144 = 14414. This year the figure is 15,425 * 0.9150 = 14114. So actually the number of applicants who were allocated to their first or second preference school has decreased by about 300. Cllr Stephen Castle please do your maths homework a little more diligently next year.

If you think I am being a little harsh consider this: If the number of applicants has gone down then the competition for places should be less. We should therefore expect an increase in the number of people getting their most preferred schools. That is unless the number of secondary school places available has gone down narrowing choice further, and of course that is what has actually happened.

Having said that I don’t doubt that everyone including Cllr Castle has worked very hard serving us folk, and they deserve their pat on the back all the same.

Posted in Schools, humour | Leave a Comment »

Council angry over housing appeal rulings.

March 3, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

The Basildon council has reacted with anger to a number of allowed appeals for planning applications recently refused in the district. These include the plans to build more houses in Langdon Hills on land owned by Tesco which were refused three times by the council planners. After a successful appeal to the central housing inspectorate the builders now have the green light to start work.

Councillor Geoff Williams expressed his concerns at a council meeting saying that “We make our decisions based on our understanding of the area, the views of local residents and the likely impact on our communities. The inspectors spend a minimal amount of time looking at the various locations. They often live in different parts of the county and work with guidelines which are in favour of development. I am very disappointed with these decisions. I think they represent a rejection of local knowledge and local experience.”

Posted in New Houses | Leave a Comment »

Why do we get only four preference choices for school admissions in Essex?

March 1, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

Today is “national offer day” when half a million children around England can find out which primary or secondary school they have been allocated. Councils send out letters which are likely to arrive tomorrow but the growing number who applied online can find out now by logging on to the local authority website, or via e-mail if they registered for one.

For many people the result will be a disappointment. One in six do not get their first choice and a few percent do not get any of their preferences. They then have to appeal or simply wait in the hope that a place will become available at one of the schools. The government is fond of telling us that “ The tiny number of appeals heard compared to the overall number of admissions shows the system is working for the vast majority.” Yet the number of families affected is still significant. In some areas the community is blighted with a lack of schools and a larger number of people face this problem.

One such area is Langdon Hills and West Laindon on the outskirts of Basildon New Town. Despite being a well populated area, here there are no secondary schools within a radius of one mile. The only school within two miles is James Hornsby High School.

The government has spoken about investing money in new schools and increasing parental choice. The reality is that about 100 schools in England have been closed over the past two years. This is because school roll numbers have been falling and the government has demanded that the number of unused places be severely reduced by the local authorities. Yet in Basildon there has been an increased rate in building of new homes and the demand on school places has gone up. The credit crunch has also forced some parents to withdraw their children from independent schools that they can no longer afford. There has been no extra provision from the government to cope with the extra places needed in state schools as a result.

Today about 20 children from Langdon Hills are likely to be told that they have not been allocated a place at any of their four preferred schools. The families concerned must now wait to see if a place becomes available at one of their choice schools before the school year starts.

Another option is to appeal but very few appeals are successful. Some solicitors are happy to take thousands of pounds from parents to help out in the appeal process and claim high rates of success. In truth they only take on the few cases where the chance of success is good anyway. Most people will be in for a deflating experience. They may go to the appeal with the claim that their child is exceptionally well suited to the schools speciality subject and this is what school choice is meant to be about. The school representative who may have previously boasted about the schools excellence in the subject will then cynically claim that the speciality actually does not really matter much. If you think it will make a difference that there is no public transport to take your child to James Hornsby and that the two-mile walk each way requires crossing busy roads, think again. This holds little weight when it comes to an appeal. When you have finished putting your case to the independent panel they will congratulate you for having stated your case well. In patronising tones they will assure you that it could not have been done better. A few days later you will hear that the appeal has failed.

Luckily that is not the end of the story. In the past years all the children from Langdon Hills have eventually been offered places at other schools in the following months. When you fail to be allocated one of your four choices you will have the opportunity to apply to other schools. Even though you join the waiting list at the end of the queue, there is still a good chance that some schools will eventually have places available. Last year Brentwood County and Shenfield School took some Langdon Hills children on this basis. Nevertheless, the closure of Sawyers Hall school in Brentwood, the recent increase in new homes nearby and children leaving the independent schools (such as the Brentwood School and St Johns) will place more pressure on schools in this area this year.

Sadly this waiting process leads to much worry for families. In the meantime they will miss the induction day at the school they eventually go to and may buy school uniforms that end up being the wrong ones. If school places are available in the end, why does it have to be this way?

The answer is that it doesn’t. The Essex local Authority only allows parents a choice of up to four schools initially, but this is not a fixed number. Nationally it varies from three to six choices depending on where you live. For example, in the Thurrock area which includes nearby towns such as Stanford Le Hope and West Horndon, families are allowed six choices. The same applies in Uppminster which is lucky enough to be part of the Havering Local Authority. In these areas every child gets a place at one of their original preference choices and avoids the ordeal of waiting anxiously for a place. So if the Essex Local Authority is committed to offering parental choice as they say they are, then why don’t we get six choices too?

Well if we ever find out we will of course let you know. If you are not happy about it we suggest you write to your county councillor and demand the choice you are supposed to have.

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Will there be enough parking at the Basildon Sports Village?

February 26, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

Basildon is looking forward to the completion of its £38 million sports village scheduled for April 2010 after construction work started three months ago. The centre will feature a full size 50m swimming pool to replace the crumbling facility in Gloucester Park to the South. It will also be the new home of the renowned South Essex Gymnastics Club where a number of olympic hopefuls form their elite squad. This will not be just an ordinary leisure centre with fun water slides. It will be a serious training ground designed to nurture our best sporting talent for the 2012 London Olympics and beyond.

The village will bring together people from sports centres previously scattered around Basildon. The swimming pool in the South of Gloucester Park will be demolished as will the South Essex Gymnastics Club’s home at the other end of Cranes farm Road. Markhams Chase will also go with its facilities joining the village and its surrounding grounds that are already home to netball, football and of course the athletics track.

That’s a lot of different sports and as well as the sports men and women themselves each of these sports brings along a fleet of cars requiring parking space. Indeed there has always been a problem with parking at the centre even without the new complex. In the past it was not uncommon to pass along Cranes Park Road on a Saturday morning to see many cars parked on the grass verge outside the full car park. Once the grass verges are filled up they park across the road in the retail centres and cross back on foot. This happens because the sports clubs hold regular competitions that attract extra competitors as well as their families who come to support.

The plan for the village is to increase the number of parking spaces from the existing 290 up to 380. It is not difficult to imagine that this will be inadequate even for the needs of the existing clubs. The three new facilities that are being incorporated have their own car parks which are often full so it is not difficult to add up the number of extra spaces they will require: about 50 for the Gymnastics Centre, 50 for Markhams Chase and 100 for the swimming pool. Of course the new village will be bigger and better and will also have more staff. Common sense suggests that about 500 spaces would be a more realistic target with some extra provision to handle the sporting events.

I put these points to Roy Short, Project Director for the sports village and he kindly sent me a helpful response that I will reproduce here

“In designing the Centre a balance had to be struck between the loss of grassed areas and the need to provide for car parking. The car park in the north of Gloucester Park is being increased by approximately 90 spaces to 380 spaces together with coach parking bays, and will be supplemented by an adjacent ‘overflow car park’ of 64 spaces.

This will be supplemented during large events by the 300+ spaces available in the south of the park, although it will be a key part of the management of the Centre to ensure that there are not large events taking place at the same time in different parts of the complex.

Under exceptional circumstances such as the ‘Race for Life’ and the ‘Basildon Festival’ we will continue to use the grassed areas in either the north or the south of the park for parking.

Car parking can be a very emotive subject depending on your point of view, but we have tried to deliver the best compromise that will ensure that users who have to use their car can park near-by whilst at the same time not ‘concreting over’ large areas of the park. We are also working with Essex County Council to ensure that users of public transport can have safe access to the centre and reviewing cycle access to the centre.”

So there you have it, extra provisions are in place. In the final analysis it will come down to how well the facility is managed. With so many different sports clubs under one roof there will be a lot of special events of varying magnitudes in the combined sporting calendar. During any such events the other clubs will need to continue their usual training schedules and the normal run of liesure visitors will still be present. If this is not managed correctly we will have people crossing the busy Cranes Park Road on foot in a desperate hurry to get their kids to their usual club sessions because the car park for the village is full. let’s hope the planners have got it right and that will not happen.

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National Offer Day Approaches

February 23, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

In a few days time, on Monday 1st March, children all over England will be told which school they have been allocated by their councils. It can be an anxious time especially in areas where the choice of schools is limited. Langdon Hills must certainly be one of the most poorly served areas for schools in the whole country, especially secondary schools, so the wait is especially nerve-wracking. The system allows parents to select four schools as preferences for their children. Across the country 82% of families get a place at their first preference. Only a tiny number fail to get a place at any one of their four choices and in that case they are allocated the nearest school that has a free place. The statistics for Langdon Hills are very different. In fact very few get allocated their first choice of secondary school here and as many as 10% can fail to get any of their first four choices.

The situation would be far worse were it not for the fact that many of the children in the area are relatively high achievers by time they come to leave primary school. Some apply for grammar schools in Southend, Westcliff and Chelmsford. Because of the distance they are required to do exceptionally well in the selection exams to enter these schools, but there are still a significant number who succeed. Others can be selected into nearby foundation schools with a subject speciality. These schools are allowed to take up to 10% of their intake based on tests or other criteria related to their specialist subjects. This system has ensured that a good number of children from Langdon Hills have been able to find places at schools such as Billericay, St Martins, Brentwood County, Coopers, Gable Hall and the Anglo-European school in Ingatestone.

In the past few years the remaining pupils have usually been allocated places in schools such as Beauchamps and Billericay under distance or sibling criteria. Sadly those days have passed. Many new homes have recently been built along the A127 corridor nearer to Billericay and Wickford. Children from these areas get priority over those further away. Last year only Brentwood County and Shenfield School were able to find places for the remaining children from Langdon Hills who did not enter through specialist selection criteria. It is doubtful whether they will be able to do this for 2010 because the closure of the Sawyers Hall school in Brentwood and further new housing means that they are now likely to be oversubscribed.

Even the entrance by selection tests has been getting more competitive. In 2009, 133 children sat the Billericay entrance test of which only 28 can succeed in winning a place. This compares with 108 candidates the previous year and 80 the year before that. Now only the very top scorers can hope to enter these schools on test results. Other schools such as Coopers who can select based on sporting achievement or religious background have tightened their criteria and now select far fewer from outside their catchment area. The result is inevitable and we predict that record numbers from Langdon Hills will not be allocated places at their four choices of secondary school on Monday.

How can the situation be so bad? The map below shows why. In almost all built up areas of sufficient size to support at least one secondary school you can find one within 1 mile of any residential area. Using circles drawn round each school of radius one mile we see that most areas in Basildon are indeed covered and the same principle applies around Billericay, Brentwood, Corringham and Wickford. However, the majority of Langdon Hills and West Laindon is unusual for part of such a big town, in that there is no secondary school within 1 mile.

In fact this area is even more unusual in that it does not fall into the priority admission are for any Secondary School at all. Of course there is a Basildon school that will be offered to those who do not get a place at any of their preferred places, namely James Hornsby School in Laindon (pink area on the map). However, James Hornsby no longer has a priority admission area and there is no convenient bus going there from Langdon Hills.

The effect of all this on the local community is devastating. Children go to so many different schools that they do not have many school friends living nearby. After bus journeys of up to an hour each way they come home exhausted. Then, instead of playing outdoors with their friends in the park they pass their leisure hours on Facebook, MSN Messenger or Xbox Live - communicating with their distant friends online. No wonder that families do not want to move into the area due to the lack of school choice. Of course this also affects businesses based nearby who want a location with good infrastructure and an established skilled workforce. Ultimately the whole of Basildon suffers from the knock-on effect.

Will things ever change? Possibly not for a long time. The council likes to tell us how parental choice is high on their agenda, yet they do nothing to provide it here. Langdon Hills is surrounded by green belt with no sites where a school could currently be built. The last part of free land in Langdon Hills (owned by Tesco) has finally gained planning permission for more houses. Only a major change in policy or the extension of the urban area into fields such as those at Dunton could give us hope for the future of the area.

This year we are likely to see a change of government. The Conservative manifesto promises the following:

* Building hundreds of good new schools within the state system
* Shifting the balance of power away from the government and towards parents
* Removing the obstacles which prevent new schools being established
* Encouraging smaller and more varied schools to respond to parents’ demands

In fact they promise to take the power of building new schools away from the councils altogether. Will this help us or is it just election talk that will be conveniently forgotten after they get into power? Basildon has many of the most deprived areas in the country and is badly in need of regeneration. Fixing the lack of desirable schools in the area is an essential part of that. Plans to rebuild the existing schools is not enough. We wait with bated breath.

Posted in Events, Schools | Leave a Comment »

Last Day of School Admissions Consultation

February 12, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

Today is the last day for comments on the public consultation for a shared admission area for Great Berry and Lincewood primary schools. As well as our assessment here, there has been a lot of other opposition to the plan with most residents wanting an expansion of Great Berry instead. Opposition leaflets were circulated in the proposed shared admissions area and there was a news item in the echo.

However, the Essex council and school governors will only have to take into account comments sent officially to the consultation. If you wish to make your opinion known the best way to do it in time is by sending e-mail to admissions@essex.gov.uk . A quick short message will do but you have to do it today!

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Planning Appeal for Homes by Tesco Allowed

February 11, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

A little while ago we were discussing the planning applications to build houses on the site between Tesco and the railway. So far the developer Reliant Building Contractors have made three applications and all three have been refused by Basildon Council. However, RBC have taken the last two to an independent appeal and the first of these has now been allowed. This means that they can proceed with their plan to build eight new detached houses on the site.

Basildon Council had refused the plan of the grounds that the access road to the site would meet the Tesco exit road just past the tight bend. They claimed this would be an accident waiting to happen. However, an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government sought an independent road safety audit that found in favour of the developer. The inspector stated that the council provided no factual evidence to support its claim that the scheme is contrary to Planning guidance. Since this was the only objection to the plan it has now been allowed.

RBC have another plan for the same site under appeal. If they continue with the appeal and it is also allowed then they could build twenty houses on the site instead of eight. Whichever plan is seen through, it will mean more families in Langdon Hills and an increased pressure on its infrastructure. In particular, the new estate will be in the Great Berry Primary School catchment area and will result in an increase of children applying for places. New houses of this size are frequently bought by families with pre-school children. This is further reason why plans to create a new shared admissions area with Lincewood Primary will not be sufficient to cater for the growing population of the catchment area.

Posted in New Houses, Schools | 3 Comments »

Pothole Season Update

January 22, 2010 by langdonhillsnews

Since we reported the large pothole in Welbeck Drive, the nice men from the council have been round to repair the damage. In just a few minutes they kicked the loose stone and grit back into the hole and shovelled tar on top, nice work. Let us hope they return to fix the rest of the road and the many other potholes that have appeared around Langdon Hills.

Their usual method around here seems to be to just fill in cracks with liquid tar and move on, rather than doing a proper job. Of course the rain and ice makes easy meat of any weakness in the road so that quick repairs are soon turned into bigger problems. Such false economies seem to be the rule of the day.