Stock Parish Council held its monthly meeting on Tuesday 10 December 2024, at which a number of topics were discussed, including road safety, parking, maintenance and the village environment.
Before the meeting began, the Parish Council paid tribute to long-serving former councillor and Chair Sally Johnson, who has sadly passed away, with a minute’s silence being held in her memory.
Chair Paul Fenwick said: “Sally was a pioneer during her 42 years as a Parish Councillor, including her time as Chair. She was a great inspiration to me personally and talked me into producing a Village Design Statement and to become a Parish Councillor myself and later become Chair.
“Sally was formidable in her persistence in pursuing Highways regarding the need to maintain pavements around the village, and was reliable and steadfast in all her duties. Sally was a strong, community-spirited character and will be missed by all of us and her many friends and associates in Stock. Our condolences go to Mark and her loved ones at this sad time.”
Road safety was top of the agenda, with an update that over 1,200 people have signed a ‘Stock Against Speeding’ campaign petition, calling for a lower speed limit and average speed cameras to be installed in Stock Road/High Street. The petition can be signed in local shops and pubs, and also online at https://www.stockagainstspeeding.org.uk/
In a detailed report, Cllr John Pye explained that Parish Councillors have met with Sir John Whittingdale MP, who has expressed his support for road safety measures and has put the Parish Council in contact with Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport Tom Cunningham.
Parish Councillors have also met Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hurst, and Lee Scott, Chair of Essex Safer Roads Partnership (SERP) and ECC Cabinet Member, who both expressed support for the desire to make Stock a safer place.
Vice-Chair Mark Rolph, who also leads the village’s Community Speedwatch, said the Parish Council is also in discussions with Maldon Town Council over the potential for using Trucam handheld detection devices, which use a laser and digital video camera to detect speeding motorists, who can then be prosecuted by Essex Police.
The Speedwatch team have caught more than 350 speeding motorists during their patrols in the village since March this year.
For background, since 3 November 2023, the Parish Council has submitted nine Local Highways Panel (LHP) applications requesting speed reductions, average speed cameras and improvements to pedestrian crossings, but these applications have been met with very limited positive results.
The Parish Council has committed nearly £10,000 to carry out speed surveys in the village, but Essex Highways deemed the results of these surveys showing good compliance with limits and that reductions are not justified, despite thousands of vehicles being found to be speeding every week. As a result, no speed limits have been reduced.
A survey of the pedestrian crossing outside Budgens did find a signalized Puffin Crossing was justified, but this has since been downgraded to improved Zebra crossing due to technical issues. The light on the crossing has recently been replaced.
In a positive move, the Parish Council has placed an order for three vehicle activated speed awareness signs in Stock Road and Mill Road, which will alert motorists that they are breaking the existing 30mph speed limit. These will be delivered by the end of January 2025.
With regard to parking in the village, the situation regarding the painting of double yellow lines at dangerous road junctions and a limited number of other locations in the village, including the blind bend on Mill Road, is unchanged from October.
This is now in the hands of the South Essex Parking Partnership (SEPP) and nothing further will happen until the first quarter of 2025, when the Parish Council hopes funding will be approved.
Meanwhile, Stock School has agreed to join the SEPP-funded 3PR scheme to encourage responsible, safe parking. This was due to be launched on 20 November 2024 but has now been put back to the week commencing 13 January 2025 following the sad passing of Councillor Ian Grundy and election of his successor.
A Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) team has visited the village on a number of occasions and parking restrictions will be put in place in Swan Lane at school arrival and departure times.
Moving onto street care and the environment, the Parish Council is investigating the possibility of replacing the village gateways, to better inform road users they are entering the village.
The Parish Council has also reported a number of maintenance issues to Essex Highways including blocked drains, pavement damage outside the Village Shop, the curb at the junction of School Lane/Stock Road, signage at junction of Common Road/Mill Road, and the requirement for line painting in roads around the village.
The Parish Council is also working to remove dead trees on the Common and in Mill Road, to renovate the bench in Back Lane, the bus shelter opposite The Hoop and the kissing gate halfway down Mill Walk.
Councillors are also working to improve the situation regarding potential flooding in Smallgains Lane by removing blockages from ditches, the brook and the culvert under the roadway.
Finally, the Parish Council would like to thank all villagers who attended the Christmas Craft Fayre. The sales of mulled wine and donations from stallholders raised £379 to be donated to a bone cancer charity in memory of the late Ian Grundy.
The Parish Council’s first monthly meeting of 2025 will be held at Stock Cricket Club pavilion on Tuesday 14 January at 7.30pm.
