Cogshall Lane closure 27th June
Cheshire West and Chester Council has advised a road closure on Cogshall Lane on 27th June for pothole repairs. Please see the notice below.
Posts made on behalf of CPC & CW&C
“Feed the Family for Less” workshop on 10th July
/in Cheshire West & Chester Council, General, News/by RFO ComberbachCheshire West and Chester council have organised a shopping and budgeting workshop in time for the school holidays on Monday 10th July at Northwich Workzone. The link below gives details.
Notification of public rights to inspect the 2022/23 accounts
/in General, News, Notices, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachThe Internal Auditor has signed off the Comberbach Parish Council accounts for 2022/23 and the Annual Return forms have been sent off to the External Auditor. As usual members of the public have a right to inspect the accounts, this year the period for exercising this right runs from Monday 5th June 2023 to Friday 14th July 2023. The notice below shows the dates and contact details, should you wish to inspect.
Copies of Parts 1 and 2 of the Annual Return and the notice of Public Rights are attached below.
Elections May 2023 – Notice of Uncontested Election
/in Cheshire West & Chester Council, General, News, Notices, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachThere were 7 applications to the Parish Council for the May 2023 elections for the 8 posts, so this election is uncontested per the notice below.
Soot Hill – Response from CWaC Chief Executive to Comberbach Parish Council letter
/in Cheshire West & Chester Council, General, News, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachThe Chief Executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council has responded to the letter sent regarding residents’ frustration at the time taken to repair the Soot Hill landslip. The response is below, as before click on the letter to enable navigation through the pages.
Soot Hill – Comberbach Parish Council letter to CWaC Chief Executive
/in Cheshire West & Chester Council, General, News, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachThe Parish Council is concerned about the prolonged closure of Soot Hill, the plans for repair, the ongoing impact on residents and local businesses and the timescales. The PC has written to the CWAC Chief Executive as outlined below. The letter has the support of Parish Councils across the Marbury ward, and comprises three pages – please click on the letter then use the navigation tools at the bottom to scroll through the pages.
Freedom Fibre / telegraph poles – update 27th November
/in General, News, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachFreedom Fibre (FF)
FF held a Teams meeting in May for local councils, MPs and CWAC Councillors. The invitation email was sent to the Parish Clerk in April but due to incorrect spelling of Comberbach this was not received. The invitation was also sent to the Chairman and Vice Chairman. The e mail detailed the plan for full fibre but Comberbach was not included in the outline map. The Parish Council like many other Parish Councils did not log onto the May Teams presentation
The Parish Council received a copy of the slides on 24th May but the slides could not be circulated as they were marked “Private & Confidential and Commercially Sensitive.”
The slide information showed that Freedom Fibre would engage with the local community including sending letters to residents who may be affected by any groundworks. It confirmed that wherever possible they would utilise the Openreach underground network.
The Parish Council posted on the web site on 23 July the Freedom Fibre details as well in the Village News
On 31st October notices were posted to lampposts in areas where telegraph poles were to be erected under Section 5 Notice of Permitted Development, without any engagement with residents
The Parish Council wrote to Freedom Fibre and they agreed to hold a meeting which was held on 17th November.
FF confirmed that they thought letters had been sent out on 19th July, but when faced with residents denying having received any letter from Freedom Fibre, they admitted that the letters must not have been posted to residents in Comberbach regarding the erection of telegraph poles. Freedom Fibre also confirmed at the meeting that the Openreach infrastructure did not support underground connectivity due to the ducting being not built or damaged beyond repair.
They confirmed at the meeting that they would not progress the pole installation and put on hold until they had investigated further a rod and rope examination and also to provide any costs for repairing the Openreach network.
At the meeting they also confirmed that if sufficient residents did not support the project, they would withdraw the proposed installation of telegraph poles. The Locke estate at Barnton was noted where they have withdrawn their support due to residents not supporting the project and stating that their current broadband supplier contract and speeds were acceptable for their needs.
On 24th November the Parish Council has written again to Freedom Fibre to ascertain what investigations have taken place to utilise the Openreach ducting. Once a response is received the Parish Council will provide a further update.
In confirmation the Parish Council has never received any information from Freedom Fibre regarding the plans to erect telegraph poles or their proposed siting and had not been directly involved in any meeting or communication until the meeting of 17th November.
Telegraph poles/ Freedom Fibre update 10th November 2022
/in General, News, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachParish Council Statement – Freedom Fibre Broadband
The Parish Council (PC) became aware earlier in the year that Comberbach is included in the plans for Freedom Fibre (FF) to deliver high speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) to the village. This information was shared on the website on 23 July and in the September Comberbach Village News.
It was assumed that the enhanced fibre service would be delivered within the village via the existing underground network of ducts/channels. It is now apparent that this is not the case with the notices posted around the village earlier this week alerting the PC, and the wider community, as to the intentions of FF to deliver their service via telegraph poles and overhead cables. Unsurprisingly, this has generated many questions and / or concerns amongst the PC members and wider village community since.
The PC contacted FF on Tuesday to request they send representatives to attend a public meeting with the Comberbach residents next week to answer their questions and / or concerns. Whilst FF have declined to attend a public meeting they have agreed to meet with representatives from the PC next Thursday 17th November.
A list of key points to be discussed is being drawn up based on feedback from those who have so far approached their PC representatives. The core areas we propose to cover with FF are as follows:
- Why the existing ducts / channels available in most areas of the village are not being used.
- Obtain a map of all proposed pole sites, and for each, seek evidence of the due diligence undertaken to establish telegraph poles and overhead wires as being the only viable option.
- Where a decision on viability is based on financial cost, seek evidence that any government funding criteria imposed to determine financial viability options have been complied with.
- Establish what the alternative rights / options are to obtain FTTP via underground solutions with other providers if the consensus amongst the residents in Comberbach is that they do not want FF to proceed with their installation of telegraph poles / lines.
If residents have any further questions they would like to be considered they should get in touch with their representative on the council (list in published in the Village News and available on the Parish Council website) or send an email to the Parish Clerk (clerk@comberbach-pc.gov.uk).
Residents should be assured the PC remains committed to working with the community to establish what options are available and, in the interim have requested in our correspondence with FF that they do not progress with any works until we have had our meeting with them and then had the chance to consult with our residents as to how we wish to proceed. Additionally, the PC are making CWAC of the current situation.
Once the meeting has been held with FF the PC will provide a summary of the answers received to our questions and propose how we secure the village opinion as to the next steps.
If any members of the community have relevant expertise, knowledge or experience in dealing with matters such as those at hand (e.g. permitted rights to erect the poles, telecommunications) and would be willing to offer their support to the PC please contact the Parish Clerk.
Comberbach Parish Council
10th November 2022
Warning of Energy Support text scam
/in Cheshire West & Chester Council, General, News/by RFO ComberbachOur PCSO has advised us of a new scam related to the Energy Support package, below:
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Police surgery dates, September and October 2022
/in General, News, Notices, Parish Council/by RFO ComberbachOur PCSO has informed us that she will be holding surgeries at the Memorial Hall as follows, for anyone who would like to discuss anything with her:
Friday 9th September 2022, 2pm to 3pm;
Saturday 1st October 2022, 4pm to 5pm.