GRAPEVINE REPORT - March 2025, Bradfield Parish Council Chairman, Cllr Karen Burton:

Hello Residents of Bradfield,

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and as the final echoes of New Year’s celebrations fade, we find ourselves settling into the winter’s quiet embrace. The chill of winter is undeniable, and though the days feel short and the nights long, there’s a sense of anticipation in the air. If we let them, our eyes will start to wander ahead to the first signs of spring. The promise of warmer days, blooming flowers, and longer evenings is enough to warm even the coldest of spirits.

Parish Clerk
We are pleased to announce that our new Parish Clerk, Marie Snell, has officially taken over and has seamlessly stepped into the role. She is already progressing with the proposed projects and has settled in wonderfully with the council. We’re excited to work alongside Marie as we continue to move council business forward. For any enquiries, please feel free to contact her via email at clerk@bradfieldparishcouncil.org.uk or by phone at 07851760264. The contact details remain unchanged.

Mill Lane Cemetery
Some residents had suggested the idea of a covered seating area in Mill Lane cemetery, which we thought was a wonderful idea. Thanks to a generous contribution from our District Councillor, Carlo Guglielmi, through his Locality Fund, the Parish Council has received a gift to enhance the village. We’ve decided to use this funding to purchase an Arbour which will be placed inside the entrance of the cemetery. It will provide a peaceful spot to sit and reflect, offering a beautiful view of both the cemetery and the River Stour, a fitting place to remember loved ones.

Recycling
I regret having to bring up this issue once again, but the condition of the area around the recycling bins has become unacceptable. With the bottle banks now full, a few residents have taken to leaving bottles and jars, some still containing food on the ground beneath them, which is attracting rats. When the wind blows, these bottles fall over, roll across the village hall car park, and break, leaving shattered glass behind.
In addition to this, there have been several instances of bags of rubbish, including rotten food, being left beside and behind the bottle banks. We’ve also noticed plastic cleaning bottles that seem to appear every two weeks, along with discarded carpet and various other items. It’s baffling to think who these residents expect to clean up after them and take the waste to the recycling centre in Manningtree.
We’ve made efforts to communicate with the community through Bradfield Buzz and put up posters urging residents to take their bottles home or to another recycling location, such as in Manningtree or Wix, when the bottle banks are full. Despite these efforts, we’ve still found hoovers and suitcases abandoned behind the bins too.
The same message applies to the clothing bin, if it is full, please do not leave bags on the ground, as they won’t be collected and will eventually need to be taken to the recycling centre.
Over the festive period, the bottle banks will likely fill up more quickly, and at present, they are already at capacity. The collection trucks take the bins as a whole, and will not pick up anything left on the ground. Unfortunately, Tendring is unable to accommodate additional collections due to capacity constraints, and the short holiday break means they are behind schedule. Their lorries are fuller than usual, so they may need to make multiple trips to empty the bottle bins, which is causing further delays."
We have recently installed CCTV with two cameras monitoring the recycling area, and we've captured images of people, vehicles, and even someone pushing a wheelbarrow full of bottles and dumping them on the ground. Unfortunately, the Parish Council feels it has no choice but to begin publishing these images. It is incredibly unfair to the community what is happening, and we hope this will help re-educate those residents responsible for these actions.

New Playground Equipment
We are progressing with this project and are planning to install accessible pathways between the play equipment, along with the addition of new play equipment.

New Dog Waste Bin
A new dog waster bin has been purchased to replace the broken bin at Dairyhouse Lane.

VE Day – 80th Anniversary
Early planning for an evening event at the recreation ground on Thursday 8th May 2025 is underway so I shall have more information for you in the next Grapevine. If you have any ideas or would like to help with the planning, please let me know. This will be an agenda item in February.

Essex Highways – Message from the Chancellor of Essex, Councillor Chris Whitbread
£38 million has been invested in highways for 2025/2026. This includes Priority One funding for resurfacing potholes, kerbs, and vegetation maintenance. The funding has been called Priority One. This reflects the importance of highways to our residents and businesses.
£25 million will go towards resurfacing key roads and repainting white lines. It will also see more drain cleaning, cutting back vegetation and repairing signs. Priority One will focus on larger road resurfacing rather than individual potholes. These will continue to be repaired using existing funding.
We announced £12 million earlier this year for highways. £8 million of this supports the Members’ Highways Initiative. This allows our councillors to prioritise issues in their wards for repairs. £39 million was also set aside this year for the annual resurfacing programme.

Parish Council Meetings
Parish Council meetings take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm in Bradfield Village Hall. Our County and District Councillors attend whenever possible. You are always welcome to join us, whether to raise any issues during public participation or simply to observe how we make decisions. We look forward to welcoming you.

Kind Regards,
Karen Burton
Chair of Bradfield Parish Council