Ivy Chimneys Primary School pupil Arabella Moore has been announced as the winner of Epping Forest District Council’s “Football Badge Competition” and presented with the new football team kit by EFDC Chairman, Cllr. Mrs. Penny Smith and Leisure portfolio holder, Cllr. Brian Rolfe.
School children across Epping Forest district were invited to design a badge for the new women’s football club - the Davenant Diamonds - that Epping Forest District Council and the Essex FA set up last year.
Over 500 entries for the competition were submitted. The standard of the badge designs were extremely high but Arabella’s simple design of a diamond placed on a pink background, featuring the team’s name, was chosen as the winner.
Following my discussions with local residents and the increase in the number of road traffic accidents in the Bower Hill and Ivy Chimneys areas, I requested that Essex Police carry out some speed monitoring exercises during peak hours, i.e. 7am-9am and 3pm-5pm.
100 speed checks have now been carried out and of that 100, the top speed has come in at 37 miles per hour. Three other vehicles recorded at 36 mph. The average speed was 24.15 mph. Essex Police has issued 12 warnings to drivers travelling over the speed limit, the vast majority of whom were local residents. Essex Police will continue to monitor this situation in the weeks ahead and updates on results received will be shared on this website.
At Harlow Magistrates’ Court on 2nd June 2009, Mr Philip Knowles of Bridge Hill, Epping pleaded guilty to 13 offences of wilfully destroying trees on land adjacent to Eppingdene, Ivy Chimneys Road, Epping which is the subject of a Tree Preservation Order made in 1990, without authorisation of Epping Forest District Council. The Magistrates fined Mr Knowles £400 in respect of each tree destroyed, totalling £5,200. He was ordered to pay prosecution costs to the Council of £297.46.
The unauthorised works carried out involved the cutting down of 13 mature trees being a mixture of Sycamore, Ash, Oak and Field Maple. On 23 January 2009 a member of the public reported the cutting down of trees to the Council. Officers visited the site immediately and stopped Mr Knowles, who was on site, from carrying out any further work. Philip Knowles admitted that he had carried out the work to the trees. During two interviews under caution, Mr Knowles denied that he was aware that a Tree Preservation Order affected the land and indicated that checks had been carried out on his behalf before he purchased the land. He was fully aware of the law relating to preserved trees. At the court hearing on 2 June, it was admitted that Mr Knowles had bought the land ‘blind’ by auction and that no checks had been carried out prior to his purchase.
In mitigation, the Court was told that Mr Knowles has now replanted part of the land with approximately 100 saplings (whips) of native species with the aid of the local school that are now using the area as an educational wildlife area. He has supplied relevant educational booklets to the school and spent £3,000 to put up a fence separating this area from another field where he plans to graze horses. The Council’s estimate of the value of the trees cut down is £80,350.
Ivy Chimneys Primary School pupil Arabella Moore has been announced as the winner of Epping Forest District Council’s “Football Badge Competition” and presented with the new football team kit by EFDC Chairman, Cllr. Mrs. Penny Smith and Leisure portfolio holder, Cllr. Brian Rolfe.
