Progress to Date...

A mere six months after Action4Hoddesdon was launched, due to the efforts of a small and dedicated band of people backed by over a thousand local residents we can claim a number of major victories....

Read about them and find details of our next public meeting at http://www.action4hoddesdon.co.uk

Following on from the success of their Hoddesdon Tomorrow exhibition which was visited by over 300 local residents over 6 days last month, the Action4Hoddesdon campaign group held a public meeting last Thursday 1st October at Hoddesdon Parish Church. Chaired adeptly by Rev Jeremy Brooks, nearly 200 people saw presentations by Broxbourne Council of its Draft Town Plan followed by Action4Hoddesdon’s alternative "People’s Plan" for the future of Hoddesdon.

For further information about the meeting and the plans presented please visit our website: http://www.action4hoddesdon.co.uk/public_meeting.htm

NEXT CAMPAIGN PUBLIC MEETING: THURS 4TH JUNE

Following on from a very productive month of activities the next General Meeting of the Action For Hoddesdon campaign will be held at the Mayhem Theatre Arts Hall in Brewery Road on Thurs 4th June at 7pm to discuss progress of the Action Groups and to prepare to encourage a large public response to Broxbourne Council’s full Town Strategy Document which is due for publication by the end of June. Everyone is welcome to come along and get involved.

The first newsletter is being mailed out to supporters this week and copies can be picked up at books @ Hoddesdon for anyone else who’d like news of what has been happening.

First Priorities

The most urgent task for the Action For Hoddesdon campaign has been to encourage local residents to show their support for the proposals in Broxbourne Council's draft Hoddesdon Town Centre Strategy to open up of the north end of Hoddesdon High Street for free short term parking. Various members of the group helped to distribute 500 copies of the Council's leaflet and collected signatures supporting the proposals in the town centre. Others persuaded friends, neighbours and fellow members of local clubs and societies to sign the support sheets. Additional sheets were filled out by customers at several High Street shops and at Mayhem Theatre Arts. More than 700 people signed to show their support by the consultation deadline on 8th May, and the sheets were delivered to the Planning Department at Cheshunt by Keith Wilson, one of the members of the Publicity Group .

Money, money, money

The campaign is looking for people who can put the fun into fundraising. Although the campaign has so far received donations of around £300, general publicity and newsletter printing and distribution costs have eaten into this fund. The scope of Action for Hoddesdon’s future activities will be determined by the availability of funding, so anyone with ideas for helping to raise money and the ability to contribute an hour or two should contact: action4hoddesdon@googlemail.com

Spreading the word

The campaign wants to link up with as many local groups and organizations as possible to promote ideas for the town’s future – so, if local clubs or societies would be interested in hearing more about the Action For Hoddesdon campaign, we can supply a someone to talk about the issues and options. Just let us know your group’s needs and help us spread the word.


Knowing me, knowing you...

Anyone who want to be kept informed about the campaign should send their E-mail address to: action4hoddesdon@googlemail.com

OVER 70 ATTEND FIRST CAMPAIGN MEETING - ACTION GROUPS SET UP

At a packed meeting last night over 70 people agreed to set up an ACTION FOR HODDESDON campaign group as an independent community group of residents and business people who are concerned about the current state of our historic market town and its communities, and wish to ensure that the views of local people are taken into account when decisions are made which affect the growth and development of Hoddesdon in the future.

Action for Hoddesdon's vision for the future:

Hoddesdon will be a safe, attractive and well designed town, enhanced by the quality of its built and natural environments, acting as the focal point for the whole community.

The heritage of the town will be respected and all future developments will be sympathetic to its character and setting.

The town will need to be economically viable – improving the profitability and allowing for the growth of its businesses as well as increasing local employment opportunities.

Sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions will be developed and encouraged alongside new measures to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

The whole community will be encouraged to contribute to the town’s future through debate, discussion and consultation on development policies and proposals.

Objectives:

Over the last 40 years our rural market town has seen an explosion of new housing development and rapid population growth. That expansion is likely to continue and we therefore want to ensure a sustainable and economically viable future for town, whilst improving the quality of life for newcomers and long-established residents. At the same time we need to protect the town's unique heritage, attractive rural character and local distinctiveness for both its citizens and casual visitors.

Aims:

1) To lobby Broxbourne Council to address the major issues which are currently affecting the town, as outlined in the Charter for Hoddesdon:

Create a Parking Strategy for Hoddesdon Town Centre - the first priority being to open up the northern end of the High Street to create as many free short term parking spaces within the existing parking bays as possible. Long-term parking facilities must be introduced for town centre workers.

Initiate an urgent meeting with the owners of The Tower Centre and Fawkon Walk plus other major landlords with property holdings in the town to discuss tactics which can be adopted to attract new chain and independent retailers to move into the large number of empty retail units.

To fund the immediate launch of a Shop Local Campaign.

Provide proper funding for an annual programme of four Town Centre events each year which includes an money to help expand the Christmas Carnival of Light.

Install new signage at all main approaches to the town which welcomes people to Hoddesdon and directs them into the High Street.

Provide grant funding for the maintenance and expansion of the existing Hoddesdononline website to promote the town to visitors and businesses, and provide a resource for the local community.

To adopt a policy to actively encourage leisure facilities back into the Town Centre and specifically to provide financial support to fund the expansion of leisure activity programmes run by Mayhem Theatre Arts and other youth organisations aimed at children and young adults.

Introduce free parking in all the Borough’s car parks on each Saturday in December to counteract the same policies which have being adopted by both Epping Forest and East Herts Councils in the nearby towns of Waltham Abbey, Hertford and Ware.

2) To set up a working group to produce a Town Design Statement for Hoddesdon which will provide support for local planning guidance by protecting and enhancing local distinctiveness and ensuring that all future development is appropriate to the scale, character and ambience of the town. This will contain concrete proposals for the type of development which should replace the town’s failed shopping precinct – The Tower Centre.

3) To set up a working group to monitor Broxbourne Council’s plans for the expansion of Brookfield Farm and to ensure significant public input into their future progress to ensure that any developments there do not adversely affect the viability and vitality of Hoddesdon.

The group will consult and collaborate with relevant pressure groups as well as officers and elected representatives at Borough, County, regional and national levels to identify planning and policy areas that are open to consultation and that might have an impact on the town and its surrounding area. The group may cooperate with, or work in formal partnership with other voluntary and statutory organisations, political groupings and commercial companies as well as using a range of approaches including surveys and public meetings to engage with local people.

Organisation and Structure:

A Steering Group was formed to include three key officers: chair, secretary and treasurer. Steering Group members will serve for periods of up to two years after which they must stand for re-election. The Steering Group will review terms of reference and receive reports from working groups, determine when general meetings should take place, set the agenda, produce newsletters and other publicity including meeting notices in the local press, invite external speakers, and manage the process of meetings. The Steering Group will meet as necessary to carry out this role.

Three Action Groups were also set up - one to deal with Publicity and Communication; a second to consider Leisure and Events including closure of the Outdoor Swimming Pool; and a third to look at Planning issues, starting with developing concrete proposals for the proposed Hoddesdon Town Centre Strategy which is supposed to be produced by Broxbourne Council this summer.

All three groups will be holding their first meetings next week - Publicity at Mayhem Theatre Arts in Brewery Road at 6.45pm on Monday 27th Apr; Leisure at The Hunt Room at Hoddesdon Parish Church at 6.45pm on Thurs 30th April, and Planning on Weds 29th Apr 7.30pm at Riversmead (e mail fredaldwinckle@yahoo.co.uk for address) We look forward to seeing as many people as possible who would like to come along and can spare some time and effort to contribute to all or any of these Action Groups.

We are also distributing a petition for people to sign to indicate their support for Broxbourne Council's proposals to re-open the north end of Hoddesdon High Street for free short term parking, as outlined in their draft consultation document. We need as many residents as possible to sign this document - so please come to Cannon Travel or Books @ Hoddesdon and sign yourself as well as encouraging your friends, neighbours and work colleagues to do likewise. If you are a member of a club, organisation or society then please e mail action4hoddesdon@googlemail.com and we will send you a copy of the petition so you can take it along to get fellow members to sign too. Please return the petition to books @ Hoddesdon at 79, High Street by Thursday 7th May.

INAUGURAL MEETING OF ACTION 4 HODDESDON CAMPAIGN

Following the unanimous vote taken by the 350 people who packed Hoddesdon Parish Church
last month, a meeting has been organised on Thursday 23rd April to set up an Action For Hoddesdon campaign. Anyone living or working in the town who wants to take an active part in getting Broxbourne Council to implement a range of policies to rejuvenate Hoddesdon as a matter of urgency is invited to come along to the Hunt Room next door to Hoddesdon Parish
Church on 23rd April at 7pm.

The meeting’s priorities will be to :

• Set up a small steering committee
• Agree a set of aims for the campaign
• Ensure the delivery of substantial feedback from local residents and businesses to the proposals in Broxbourne Council’s forthcoming Hoddesdon Town Centre Strategy.
• Lobby for the points in the Hoddesdon Charter to be implemented by Broxbourne Council.

Alan Jeffery, owner of Hoddesdon’s bookshop and a key speaker at the Public Meeting, said “This is an opportunity for all members of the local community to share their views on the future of our town, and then work together to make it happen. We look forward to seeing anyone who can spare a little time to help out with a wide range of tasks – writing and designing leaflets, preparing and delivering mailouts, updating the campaign website, fund-raising and helping with online research.”

The campaign would also welcome anyone who currently is, or has been in the past, a solicitor, accountant, architect or local authority planning officer.

For further information contact: action4hoddesdon@googlemail.com

PACKED PUBLIC MEETING BACKS CHARTER FOR CHANGE IN HODDESDON

More than 350 people packed into St Paul's Church in Hoddesdon on the 26th March for a major public meeting to discuss the urgent need for initiatives to revive Hoddesdon town centre. At the end of nearly two hours the audience made up of residents and local businesses voted unanimously to back the Hoddesdon Charter and launch a campaign to lobby Broxbourne Council to implement its points.

Broxbourne’s Conservative MP Charles Walker who ably chaired the event, introduced a range of speakers and encouraged a wide variety of contributions from the floor. Rev Jeremy Brooks, who had offered free use of his church for the meeting, started the evening by emphasising it was crucial for the local community to become actively involved in determining the future of their own town. Kevin Brooks, owner of Cannon Travel presented his vision of the future in which Hoddesdon might exist as an expanded retail centre with Greater Brookfield developed to provide additional housing and major leisure facilities, but not include the proposed 75 additional retail units which would only serve to fatally damage the retailers in the existing town centres.

Lyn Newhook, a resident of Rye Park, argued Hoddesdon needed fresh and innovative ideas to turn it into a shopping destination, and suggested that one of the many empty retail units in the town be adapted to accommodate market stalls which would be offered to local farmers and smallholders to bring in their produce to sell in the town.

Alan Jeffery, co-owner of books@Hoddesdon introduced each of the points of the Hoddesdon Charter, giving the historical context along with the current policies of Broxbourne Council and detailing their abysmal track record with regard to implementing them. For the final point he handed over to 18 year old Gareth Monk, Head Boy of the John Warner School, who made an impressive and impassioned plea for leisure facilities for young people to be introduced in to the town centre and pointed out that the lack of them led to boredom which inevitably encouraged anti-social behaviour. He warned that the town was seriously in danger of losing its next generation as there was nothing to encourage them to stay.

A lively discussion followed where arguments were made from the floor for introducing more leisure facilities, restoring free parking to the north end of the High Street, re-opening Hoddesdon Open Air Pool, making more of the town’s history and heritage, organising workshops for small businesses, and putting pressure on landlords to drop rents to help new retailers afford to take on empty shops.

As closing speaker Stephen Poulter asked for a vote to be taken on whether the meeting wished to adopt the Hoddesdon Charter as the basis for re-vitalising the town, which was carried unanimously. He then asked for a second vote as to whether people wanted a campaign group to be set up to lobby Broxbourne Council to implement the Charter, which was also unanimously passed. He went on to highlight the Council's appalling track record in ignoring the wishes of local people over the pedestrianisation of the town, the closure of the Open Air swimming pool, and the further expansion of Brookfield Farm. He suggested that the campaign would therefore be as much about the restoration of local democracy in the Borough as about regenerating Hoddesdon.

Video extracts of several speakers and a report on the meeting can be viewed at the Hertfordshire Mercury’s website:

http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/hertfordshiremercury/displayarticle.asp?id=403989

The first meeting of the ACTION FOR HODDESDON campaign will take place on Thurs 23rd of April at 7pm in the Hunt room next door to the main entrance to St Paul’s Parish Church in Hoddesdon.

All welcome at Public Meeting 26/03/09

Broxbourne MP Charles Walker has agreed to chair a public meeting at Hoddesdon Parish Church at 7.45pm on Thurs 26/03/09 after approaches from local residents and traders who are very concerned about the decline of Hoddesdon Town Centre and Broxbourne Council’s refusal last month to allow the topic to be discussed at the Borough’s Consultative Panel.

The meeting, open to everyone who lives or works in Hoddesdon, has two main aims:

• to agree a slate of immediate priorities based on those published in 2007 by the Town Centre Partnership
• 
  to start debate on a future “vision” for Hoddesdon over the next 20 years to be included in Broxbourne Council’s Core Strategy Document for the Borough.

Charles Walker agreed to participate on the basis that “as Broxbourne Member of Parliament, I recognise that there is a need for all interested parties to come together to find a workable solution that will reinvigorate Hoddesdon Town Centre. Emotions are running high on all sides and we must calmly sit down on the 26th to constructively talk things through. I remain convinced that we can achieve a win-win situation that meets the local concerns of traders and reflects the Council’s understandable desire to improve the retail experience across the Borough, both in our town centres and at Brookfield Farm.”

Local vicar Jeremy Brooks has offered the use of St Catherine’s & St Paul’s Church for the meeting because: “We have the opportunity here to make a difference to our town. It is easy to think that nothing we can do can make a difference, and this meeting will give us all the chance to express our views. Our concern in the church is to ensure that our community in Hoddesdon can flourish: we need the town centre shops and we need to ensure that the best possible future for us is safeguarded.”

Stephen Poulter, owner of Hoddesdon’s bookshop and former Town Centre Manager, also appealed for local people to come along: “This is the best possible way to bring public pressure to bear on Broxbourne Council so that they can’t continue to ignore their responsibilities under Government legislation to assist the town centre. We must stop any further deterioration and start a process of renewal by improving the town’s visibility and accessibility, and providing a focal point for participation by the whole community.”

At the meeting residents will be invited to discuss a CHARTER FOR HODDESDON which calls on Broxbourne District Council to implement the following:

a) Create a Parking Strategy for Hoddesdon Town Centre - the first priority being to open up the northern end of the High Street to create as many free short term parking spaces within the existing parking bays as possible. Long-term parking facilities must be introduced for town centre workers in an existing Council Car Park.

b) Initiate an urgent meeting with the owners of The Tower Centre and Fawkon Walk plus other major landlords with property holdings in the town to discuss tactics which can be adopted to attract new chain and independent retailers to move into the large number of empty retail units.

c) To fund the immediate launch of a Shop Local Campaign.

d) Provide proper funding for an annual programme of four Town Centre events each year which includes an money to help expand the Christmas Carnival of Light.

e) Install new signage at all main approaches to the town which welcomes people to Hoddesdon and directs them into the High Street.

f) Provide grant funding for the maintenance and expansion of the existing Hoddesdononline website to promote the town to visitors and businesses, and provide a resource for the local community.

g) To adopt a policy to actively encourage leisure facilities back into the Town Centre and specifically to provide financial support to fund the expansion of leisure activity programmes run by Mayhem Theatre Arts and other youth organisations aimed at children and young adults.

h) Introduce free parking in all the Borough’s car parks on each Saturday in December to counteract the same policies which have being adopted by both Epping Forest and East Herts Councils in the nearby towns of Waltham Abbey, Hertford and Ware.

i) To produce a Master Plan for Hoddesdon’s long term development in close consultation with local residents and businesses which includes a strategy to replace the Tower Centre.

Open Letter to Broxbourne Council

SAVE HODDESDON – SCRAP GREATER BROOKFIELD

An Open Letter To Broxbourne Council 02/02/09 - no reply has yet been received

At a time when Hoddesdon is experiencing further shop closures and stands at risk of sliding into terminal decline in the worst recession since the Second World War, we have been appalled to read in recent press adverts that Broxbourne Council is completely ignoring the issue at its forthcoming Borough Consultative Panel on 9th February.

Instead of addressing this crisis, the Council are instead using this exercise to discuss the expansion of Brookfield Farm which is guaranteed to further damage the trading prospects of the Borough’s towns. We, as both owners of a local business in Hoddesdon and residents of this Borough, are therefore calling on Broxbourne Council to abandon the presentation for Brookfield as item 2 of the Borough Consultative Panel on 9th February and replace it with a debate on the current problems and future strategies to help re-vitalise Hoddesdon as the principal town in the Borough.

We need to emphasise that if nothing is done as a matter of urgency then we, along with the dwindling number of independent retailers in Hoddesdon, clearly have no long term prospects of continuing to trade in the town and within the next 12 months of extremely difficult economic conditions face a very real danger of being forced to close.

We are therefore calling on our local customers, concerned town residents and local organisations to attend the Borough Consultative Panel on 9th Feb at 7pm at the Borough Offices, Churchfields, Cheshunt to make their views on this present crisis clear to the Council.

Here are the facts about what has happened to Hoddesdon Town Centre in the last two years:

A Report produced for Broxbourne Council in 2005 noted there were 30 empty units in the Town Centre representing a vacancy rate of 19% “well above the national average of 10.13% …the high vacancy rate in the Tower Centre is a concern.” There are now 43 unoccupied units in the Tower Centre alone – with only 11 units remaining as retail or food outlets. This means that less than 20% of the precinct is now occupied, and the vacancy rate for the whole town has increased by more than 50%.

Seven retailers in the High Street have ceased trading. Most of the retail units they occupied (including the former Woolwich, Pounds Electrical Store and Prestige Wedding Shop) are still empty after 12 months or more.

The sudden closure of Woolworths last month leaves the largest retail unit in the Tower Centre and second largest premises in the town empty.

Westgate, the town’s largest retail unit, formerly the Co-Op Department Store, closed down in the summer of 2008 after 50 years of trading on the basis that it wasn’t able to make a profit.

Ladies’ clothing boutique, Chardonnay, was re-possessed by Bailiffs in Febuary (making it the third shop to close in such circumstances), and there are strong rumours that at least three other retailers will be closing in the near future.

As traders in the town we believe that these facts demonstrate that Hoddesdon has reached tipping point and without appropriate intervention will rapidly become a semi-derelict place of boarded up shop units, cheap takeaways, cut price outlets (such as the one currently occupying the old Westgate unit) and pawn brokers – the first of which is opening shortly in the High Street.

And what action have Broxbourne Council taken to address this serious deterioration? They have not spent any money on helping Hoddesdon, but instead have commissioned a detailed plan for the expansion of Brookfield Farm which has so far cost around half a million pounds of local ratepayers money. They have signally failed to respond to the fact that all statistics show in cases of similar out-of-town developments that the trading in nearby towns is decimated as a result.

In direct contrast in Hertford, where we have another shop, East Herts Council have been actively engaged in trying to help the town. In the last three months they have carried out a direct consultation with local retailers; provided seed funding to help local businesses work with the Town Council to run a very successful Christmas Gala event; and in the first two weeks of December spent thousands of pounds on a major publicity campaign in the local press to promote Hertford. They have just agreed to provide money to help a number of initiatives in the town, including a “Shop Local” campaign which is to be launched soon.

We are therefore calling upon everyone who cares about the future survival of Hoddesdon to write to you expressing their views and to attend the Borough Consultative Panel on Monday 9th Feb to demand that an action plan is drawn up to save Hoddesdon from terminal decline.

We look forward to Broxbourne Council’s response.

Yours sincerely,
Stephen Poulter and Alan Jeffery
Directors
books @ Hoddesdon