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ASTON PARISH COUNCIL |
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Welcome to the Aston Parish Council web site.
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LATEST PARISH NEWS FROM MAGAZINE
NEWS ITEMS ASTON PARISH COUNCIL:
Little Orchard: At the November District Planning Meeting the application for 5 houses was rejected by East Herts. This was despite support from the Parish Council and our District Councillor. The Parish had supported the application as it included 2 affordable homes for either starter homes or for older people to downsize into, and this is what our 2007 Housing survey showed the village to want. The Parish Council had consulted East Herts on several occasions and they indicated that they would probably support building on half of Little Orchard. However, in the end, the Officers argued that Little Orchard was outside the built up envelope of the village and would join the village to Oddie¡¯s Barn and the Dene and nibble away at the vital green belt between Aston and Stevenage. Under the current category 2 rules it is difficult to see any sites "within the built up envelope" for development. The Parish Council have already had two letters from Mr.Fleming who is pondering whether to appeal or what to do with the land now and of course, sometime in the future, category 2 disappears and the now Local Development Framework (LDF) takes over ¨C suddenly, at that point, all may change.Aston Parish Council visit to the Palace of Westminster: The Parish Council always have an ¡®Annual Trip¡¯ ¨C usually it is to Aston End to stare into an overgrown ditch or to the top of Stringers Lane to look at parking issues ¨C to leave the Parish is rare! However, Stephen McPartland MP, wanted to meet the Council as a group for the first time since becoming our MP and kindly invited the Council to Westminster ¨C even though this meant a 7am meet at the railway station. The visit started with a tour of the whole Palace including walking through the chambers of both the Lords and the Commons and having every piece of detail explained. Mr.McPartland then took us on to the terrace overlooking the Thames where a very useful half hour of discussion took place. Our MP is actively discussing with the Minister concerned whether a law change can require current 3" water mains in rural areas to be replaced with 4" mains, as used in towns, when they become due for renewal. Thanks to Herts Fire Service, we were able to supply him with the report into the fire at 52/54 Long Lane which required 24 Officers to attend and 10 appliances. Some of these had come from Rickmansworth and Bishop Stortford and other stations in between. This was all because the flow and pressure of the water at Aston End was low and they wanted to pump from Stevenage. Mr.McPartland made the point that had there been a major incident in the County during this operation the service would have found it difficult to cope and the cost of all these officers and machines should be weighed against the cost of enlarging the pipes. The second issue we discussed was the recent European legislation regarding the amount of water that can be taken from aquifers and its result on chalk streams. A list of rivers which have suffered has been published and it was our intent to get the (has)Beane both on the list and pushed up to the top. The Environment Agency and lobby groups have talked about this for 10 years but actually extraction is unchanged and the river remains a memory. Action is required! ¡¡ ¡¡ Parish Clerk.
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Aston Parish lies on the extreme western boundary of the East Hertfordshire District and on the eastern boundary of the Stevenage Borough . The Parish of Aston comprises of three areas, each with its own character. Aston Village is situated on the top of the Beane Valley ridge and has developed historically around the church of St. Mary's. It has many older properties and now embraces a number of small developments and is home to the local school, village hall, cricket, bowls, football and tennis club together with 2 public houses. Aston End comprises a number of active farms and small clusters of houses and cottages, many of which are listed . A butchers shop and public house are located there. Hooks Cross ,situated on the busy A602 which dominates the character of this area , is a series of active farms and houses in a rural setting . It is bounded by the civil parishes of Walkern(NE), Benington(E), Watton(SE) and Datchworth(S). |
| The Parish covers 712 hectares running broadly SSE to NNW direction. It straddles the strategic ridge line between Aston Brook and the River Beane. Overlooking Stevenage to the west and the Beane Valley to the east, the ridgeline is a significant planning watershed and natural boundary. The entire Parish is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt and is designated as a Landscape Conservation Area. Much of the Village of Aston is designated as a Conservation Area although a number of the most historic building are located outside of this. The Beane valley has been occupied since Palieolthic Man 150,000 years ago and there are several several sites of archaeological interest in the Parish. The river Beane which is a tributary of the Lea and hence the Thames, flanks Aston?s eastern boundary. It was once a much larger river ssuporting boating and fishing activities. Aston or Estone as it is referred to in the Dooms day Book formed part of lands belonging to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Until the 2nd World War, it retained a quiet existence and even as late as 1991,10% of Aston's residence still had agricultural interests. |
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