IT’S EASY – HONESTLY

I know it’s a council form but the bits you need to fill in:

question 1 – yes
question 5 – SAF6
question 6 – Residential
question 7 – Choose Other and write in The Hub

Name and date are straightforward.

Uttlesford Site Allocation Form to fill in

Once you have filled out your form you can email it to planningpolicy@uttlesford.gov.uk

If you are not able to attach the form to an email, the just copy and paste the entire contents of the form into an email and send that.

This is really important – please do it now and tell your friends!

If you would like to read the full Council write-up and download the forms direct, you can read all about it here: http://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/developinguttlesford

Settlement Allocations Plan Draft_Jan_2012_revised – full document with maps (large)

Members of the Skate Group, presented their vision to a wide range of volunteers who had read about the Group’s plans in the local press just before Christmas.

Gill, who has a great deal of fund-raising experience, and was amongst those who attended the meeting said; “I am delighted to be able to lend my skills to such a high-energy, high-impact community based project.  There is a lot of enthusiasm and commitment which needs to be harnessed for the long-term success of the park, the events to be staged there and hopefully the realization of the new community/youth hub.”

There are a number of high-profile events planned at the park for the coming months including the SKOPERA on the 19th May and the Urban Games on 2nd September.

Beverley Young, Chairwoman commented: “We need lots of energy and enthusiasm not just from our skaters, but our Skate Mate volunteers too to make these a success.   We’re still looking for volunteers with a legal or financial background to get involved.”

If you are interested in becoming involved in this exciting creative community based project please call Beverley Young, Chairwoman, Saffron Walden Skate Park on 07922 028080 or email Beverley_y2000@yahoo.co.uk

Who do you admire at the park for their skills at skating, blading, biking or scootering?

Email Jane and she will organise sending in the nominations.

Please help us find Uttlesford’s Sporting Heroes

I am writing to ask if One Minet Skateboarding Club would like to nominate a local sporting hero as part of our 2012 celebration of sporting activity across the district, especially the contribution made by dedicated people in their local club or community. As you may have seen in the press, the Museum is asking local residents and sports clubs throughout Uttlesford to nominate their local sporting heroes, past or present, and submit their nomination (with a digital image or photo if possible) for display at our big event ‘Sparks Will Fly at Walden Castle’ on Saturday 19 May. After 19 May, nominations can be viewed in the Museum’s Sporting Heroes exhibition until 1 July and a digital copy on CD will be deposited with museums and libraries in the district as a record of Uttlesford’s sporting life. This will include the information (max 100 words) which we are inviting clubs to submit about their own activities on the nomination form.

2012 is going to be a very exciting time for One Minet park but we desperately need more people to help with the current organisation of the park that we are so proud of.
We are particularly excited about ‘The Hub’ – an exciting new building for not only skate park users, but for the whole community.

A place where ideas and skills can be shared, where people can relax and socialise and the epicentre of a thrilling new extension to the existing skatepark.

Also in 2012 our skatepark is destined to host the finale of Saffron Walden’s olympic celebrations on May 19th as well as hosting some new events including a jubilee celebration and the Urban X Games!

All of this work falls to a very small number of volunteers who are desperately in need of more adult support, hopefully from you! You may not even realise that you have skills that we need and just a little of your time could make a real impact on our plans for this amazing site that your children and hopefully you enjoy to visit.

We are holding an open meeting in the leisure centre at 6pm on January 24th and would love to see you there. If you cant make it please do contact us via email and suggest any ways that you may be able to help.

If you have any questions please call Jane on : 07967 444321
or email: janempc@btinternet.com

For more info take a look at the Skate Mates page on the website

2.    Our late night shopping stall made a profit of £209.39, thank you to Paul and Geraldine, Bev and Pete for manning the stall and ladling out the amazing mulled wine !   We certainly warmed and cheered a great many cold shoppers.

3.    We have also been awarded a grant from the District Council to enable park-users to have a go at bowling in Turpins.    We tried this some years back and everyone had a great evening.    If you want to be part of the group who will be invited in and instructed in the art of bowling, please contact Jane, 07967444321, to book your place.    Once we have an idea of interest, we will book at date after Christmas.

4.  At the last Skate Group meeting it was decided to hold a meeting at the Leisure Centre cafe on Sunday 18th December at 4pm to work out some of the requirements for the proposed Youth and Community Hub.   We want to look at possible room allocation, design of building, use of green technology etc:   This is the first of many such meetings to investigate how we see the building developing to fulfil the needs of the Skate Group and the wider community.

The Group are always looking for practical support, especially if you would like to help with getting the new Youth and Community HUB off the ground, so….

Why not become a Skate Mate?

See all the details here

The Group run and maintain the skatepark and are always looking for funding for specific projects or general running costs.   A donation can be sent to the Secretary at Moor Pasture Cottage, Radwinter Road, Ashdon, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 2LZ  (please make cheques payable to the Saffron Walden Skate Group).

Alternatively you could become a Friend of the Skatepark.  Please ask for details.

The Skate Group would like to thank everyone who supports us both financially and with kind words.

For immediate release                     5th December 2011

Plans to extend skate park gather momentum
Plans to extend the popular One Minet Skate Park at Saffron Walden have been gathering pace since the scheme was presented to the Saffron Walden Town Council last month.

The Saffron Walden Skate Group, who made the presentation, have just launched their brand new website at  www.oneminetpark.co.uk

Beverly Young, Chairwoman said; “We have had such a show of support since the news broke that we have brought forward the launch of the website so people can read about our exciting plans.”

Those plans include the building of a youth/community hub at the site and an extension to the already world famous park.

Beverley however has a plea to make: “What we need now more than anything is for people to come forward and get involved. We need lots of volunteers with a wide range of skills – anything from finance to film-making, purchasing to project management – to turn our plans into reality. Skate mates really.”

If you are interested in becoming involved in this exciting creative community based project please call Beverley Young, Chairwoman, Saffron Walden Skate Park on 07922 028080 or email Beverley_y2000@yahoo.co.uk

- ends -

For more information see www.oneminetpark.co.uk

To supply energy to the Hub Mark suggested using:

Solar PV panels on the south facing side.

Vertical access wind turbine, which would be about house height and quiet (see Colchester Garrison for similar one).

The café and toilets could be heated with a ground source heat pump, which has less maintenance costs, less noise; the pump would heat the space or if larger would also provide hot water.  (see the National Energy Foundation in Milton Keynes).

The heat pump could be supplemented by an automated wood pellet stove, which would need a store to hold the wood pellets but the whole system is automated with the wood pellets fed in by an auger.   There will be a Government Green Renewable Heating Incentive with a feed-in tariff in the next few years.

With the right building materials, insulation and draught proofing, 85-90% heat reduction can be achieved.

The innovative nature of the building could be a strong promotional advantage for Kier and would give all the young people involved in the project first hand experience of sustainable building.

It may be possible to run the lighting at the park with a green solution.

To maximise solar gain, large windows should be placed at the south facing side, which will make the building very light and airy.   These could be covered by shutters at night, like the Olympic White Water Rafting site in Waltham Abbey.

Water:

The Discovery Centre at Braintree has grey water re-cycling and rainwater harvesting is key at a house that Mark is involved with in Wenden’s Ambo.

The drinking water, showers, basins and kitchen water must come from the mains but all the roof water and even the water collected in the skatepark bowl drains can be harvested to flush toilets etc:

To have reed bed filtration to get rid of toilet waste it is necessary to have high foot-fall in the building.    In the middle of the reed beds we could have ponds for ecological benefit.

Roof:

A sedum roof is a possibility but not a grass one as these get untidy.  Sedum planting on the roof will filter and store the rainwater as well as insulate the building and it is possible to get strong architectural lines with sedum. (see Riverside Care Home in Witham).

Full pipe built by Dreamland in Italy