Clerk’s cornerBy Viv Robins, Clerk to The Lee Parish Council
Well as you will see the parish is suddenly flush with post-boxes! The pillar box has finally been moved from the old Post Office to outside the Shop and a new pedestal box has been installed by the Well. In addition we still have the pedestal box at Sly Corner and a postbox in the wall up by the Green.
However there is some unhappiness about the positioning of the letterbox by the Well and at the time of writing (14th November) the Parish Council is trying to get it re-located.
As you may remember the
original plan was to have it sited to the left of the grassy area, close
by the boundary with Appletree Cottage and a respectful distance from the
Well itself. But apparently when the engineer came to install it he encountered
footings of some kind when he dug down and he used the discretion which apparently
all Royal Mail engineers have in these circumstances to re-site it closer
to the Well, assuming that would not be a problem since a rather hideous
litter-bin is already positioned near the spot. However far from making the
post-box look acceptable the effect has been rather to open the eyes of the
Parish Council to the horrors of the litter-bin, and it’s our intention to
get the pair of them re-located if we can! The only problem is that Royal Mail are getting a trifle exasperated, given that the box was being put in free by them as a goodwill gesture to the community, so I’m not quite sure how our latest request will be received. I know I’ve said it many times before but: watch this space!
Winter gritting
The County Council has just produced its lists of roads to be salted over the coming winter and it’s fair to say the Parish can’t expect too much attention from the gritters: the only roads listed are Chartridge Lane towards Ballinger Road and Ballinger Road towards Ballinger.
However a conversation with the Transportation bods about the non-inclusion of Oxford Street revealed that they did not have it listed as a bus route, which it clearly is, not just for the school buses but for the extremely occasional public bus. Anyway being on a bus route is good for 10 points which would take Oxford Street above the 35 points needed for inclusion (other points are awarded for things like bends, gradients etc.) So it may yet make it onto the list for this year, but if not should certainly qualify for next.
Road repairs
Good news: the County Council will be repairing the road at Swan Bottom from 7th to 9th December.
During this time Swan Bottom Road will be closed to traffic and the alternative route is given as “Swan Bottom, Lee Clump Road... and vice versa”.
I don’t quite know what that means but I’m just passing it on!