WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO THE FIREWORKS AND BONFIRE NIGHT ORGANISED BY THE PARISH COUNCIL. THE DISPLAY WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER @ 6:30 PM AT THE SPORTS FIELD. THE EVENT INCLUDES A PROFESSIONAL DISPLAY, BONFIRE AS WELL AS HOT FOOD AND DRINKS. FOR THOSE WISHING TO GIVE A DONATION TOWARDS THE EVENT, THERE WILL BE VOLUNTEERS HOLDING BUCKETS.  

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!

Consultation on South West Hertfordshire Joint Strategic Plan

A consultation on South West Hertfordshire 2050 - ‘Realising our Potential’ - is now open. This document sets out a draft vision and objectives for South West Herts to 2050. To find out more and to respond to the consultation, please visit SW Herts Plan consultation. The deadline for submitting comments is 5pm on Friday 4 November 2022.

Next Steps

All the comments received before the consultation closes will be analysed and a summary report produced and published on our website.

The responses will be carefully considered and used to help inform the next stage of the SW Herts Joint Strategic Plan. This will be a ‘spatial options’ consultation, where feedback is sought on the appropriate amount and best locations for growth.

• Section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972 enables local councils to spend a limited amount of money for purposes for which they have no other specific statutory expenditure.  Please read our grant application policy and if you think your organisation meets our criteria then fill out the application form attached and return to the Clerk.

PLEASE VALIDATE YOUR ULTRAFAST VOUCHER

If you pledged a voucher some months ago to help bring Ultrafast Broadband to Wigginton, you should have received an email from 'Gigabit Vouchers' with instructions on how to validate your pledge.

This is NOT a scam email, unfortunately the process requires two steps: originally pledging the voucher, and then validating the voucher when you receive the email. Just pledging a voucher is not enough!

The voucher has to be validated within 28 days of receiving the email, so there is very little time left to act.

If you have pledged a voucher, and not yet validated it, please check your email and spam folders for an email from 'Gigabit Vouchers' and click on the link to then validate your voucher.

There is a full walkthrough and some Q&A on this process available at www.wiggintonultra.co.uk/validate

Openreach have committed to installing Ultrafast Broadband in Wigginton in April 2023, but ONLY if the vouchers pledged are validated. Validating your pledge is therefore vital, and the last step required to bring Ultrafast Broadband to Wigginton.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL AND SPAM FOLDERS FOR AN EMAIL FROM 'Gigabit Vouchers', AND VALIDATE YOUR VOUCHER

Wigginton Parish Council meeting set to take place on the 20th September 2022 had been postponed until 27th September 2022 due to the National Mourning.

The Parish Council are delighted to announce 'Wigginton Big Picnic' on the 2nd July on the sports field. This is an event that the village used to run years ago and we are keen to return this year, hopefully being the first of many. Alongside the classic cars and live music, we have bouncy castles, BBQ and Beer tents and something for our four legged friends! We have some wonderful stalls for the farmers market and some fun activity stalls being run by community groups! We have been working very hard to make this a family fun day and would love to see you all there!

Watch this space for further information, and find us on Facebook - Wigginton Parish Council Herts

If you would like to be involved please contact - wiggintonhelpinghands@gmail.com

Concern regarding speeding through the village is often a recurring theme in recent Parish surveys. With that in mind the Parish Council recently passed a motion to join the growing national campaign to support:

20’s plenty where people, live, work and play

Local Authorities have the power to set speed limits, so along with other Parish and Town Councils, the aim is to persuade Hertfordshire County Council to adopt this policy county-wide as well as in Wigginton itself. County-wide campaigns involve 20’s Plenty groups across a highway authority area jointly calling for 20mph limits. Rather than compete for funds, campaigns work together for the policy commitment to giving all built up areas wide 20mph limits. Unity is powerful and it’s the most cost-effective policy.

The benefits of a 20mph speed limit are multi-fold, including, but not limited to:

• Creating a safer environment for everyone but particularly children, families and the elderly to be out and about, walking to school or the shop, at play, enjoying bike and scooter trips.
• Promoting healthy activity, a more pedestrian friendly environment, less pollution and a reduced risk of serious injury or death.
• Many village roads do not have a pavement or footpath to walk on.....pedestrians compete with passing traffic.

Join the campaign: 20s Plenty stickers for cars, wheelie bins and bikes will be available to pick up at the Annual Parish Meeting or can be purchased directly from the 20s plenty website. The Parish Council, with the support of our local Hertfordshire County Councillor, Sally Symington, is working with the Highways Dept. to undertake ‘Speed and Traffic Surveys’ in the village. Statistics are only one aspect .....if you want to achieve speed reduction in the village make sure Hertfordshire Highways have no doubts about public feeling.

You can let us know your thoughts comments on the Parish Council website and contact HCC transport committee through our local HCC Councillor, Sally Symington. Come to the Annual Parish Meeting to sign the petition and display 20s plenty stickers on wheelie bins, cars and bikes. Find out more about 20s Plenty on their website:

https://www.20splenty.org/

URGENT – IT’S NOW OR NEVER!

ALL PLEDGES NEED TO BE MADE BY 7th APRIL

Unfortunately, Openreach have moved the goalposts on us due to financial year planning, and we now have until 7th April to reach our pledging target, regardless of the date given on the pledging site.

If you have not pledged a voucher then PLEASE pledge your voucher now. This really is the last chance to bring Ultrafast Broadband to Wigginton. We currently have 70% of the pledges needed, so we are close, but we just need one last push to get us over the target.

DON’T DELAY – If you want Ultrafast Broadband then you NEED to pledge your voucher. If we don’t reach the target then the scheme will end.

Please ACT NOW! Click the button below to find out more about pledging a voucher, and pledge your voucher!

www.wiggintonultra.co.uk/pledge

If you have already pledged your voucher, then thank you! But remember to tell your friends and make sure they have pledged their voucher as well.....

It’s time to ACT NOW!

Openreach have agreed to install Ultrafast Internet in Wigginton, but only if enough households pledge a government funded voucher which Openreach then use to cover the costs of installing the fibre optic cables.

Pledging a voucher is free and earmarks a government grant available to all households in Wigginton to bring Ultrafast Broadband to rural communities such as ours. Installation is expensive, so we have a large pledge target we must reach for Openreach to go ahead, so...

we need as many households as possible to pledge a voucher

If we don’t meet this target then the scheme will end, and we’ll likely have to wait years and years for Ultrafast Broadband to come to Wigginton as part of the (slow) National roll out. We’ll certainly need the village to pull together to gather enough pledges, but our neighbours in Aldbury, Cholesbury and Bellingdon have all managed to fund a scheme this way, so we can do it too!

Ultrafast Broadband future proofs the village and provides the reliable, high speed connectivity we’ll need to support future services delivered over the internet. This is our one chance to bring Ultrafast Internet to Wigginton in the foreseeable future.

Please ACT NOW! Click the link below to find out more about pledging a voucher

www.wiggintonultra.co.uk/pledge

The 207 Bus Route is back, running each Friday, after being suspended due to Covid 19.  

Want to get involved in Village Life?

There are often lots of little jobs and some bigger projects within the village that could do with a few more hands to help! This could be helping at the firework display, freshening up the village hall, helping dig a bog in the Rec, or getting involved in many of the activities that help make Wigginton the special place it is. 

We recognise that sometimes it's hard to know exactly what's going on in the village, or who to contact if you're interested in helping out. Wigginton Helping hands aims to help with that, by creating an email distribution list which will be used by the various working parties in the village to let you know when they could do with a hand. If they are short on volunteers for an activity or event, then they'll send an email to the Helping Hands distribution list, and if you're able to help then just reply to let hem know!

There's absolutely no commitment to signing up, or replying to any emails you receive - but if you think you may like to help out with any future events, why not sign up and get the details sent directly to you?

Are you a plumber who can help with a leaky tap, or a carpenter who can fix a sticky door? Looking to the future could you help to organise a fete, put on a fundraiser in the Village Hall or have you got any ideas for the village, to join the Wigginton community together? All these things need volunteers and working parties to get off the ground so please sign up if you can spare any time or have a useful skill to offer…...

....You may even have fun doing it!! 

To sign up please email: wiggintonhelpinghands@gmail.com

The 2021 edition of The Oddy has now been printed, and will be on it's way to being delivered to your door shortly, however if you'd like to get a sneak first look and view it electronically, you can view the PDF file by clicking the link below:

The Oddy 2021

Dacorum have been holding a consultation on their new New Dacorum Local Plan, which details their strategy for growth in the coming years.

The proposed developments don't affect Wigginton directly, but it does propose substantial increases in the number of houses in Tring, primarily built on Green Belt land. Development on this scale would have an impact on traffic and our local services, which could impact Wigginton Residents. Whilst the parish council agrees with the broad principles behind the plan, we have concerns over the way they are being implemented, and have submitted our concerns via the consultation document. 

You can read our full response by clicking here

Our concerns were shared by other parish councils in Dacorum, and as such we co-signed a joint letter from other town and parish councils detailing our shared concerns.

You can read the letter submitted by clicking here

Wigginton Support Fund

The Wigginton Support Fund has been established to help families and individuals who are really struggling during these very difficult times

The Wigginton Parish Council support this great local community initiative.

The Wigginton Support Fund is crowd-funded and more information can be found at 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/wigginton-support-fund

Climate Change Action Plan

The Climate Change Action Plan that was adopted by the Wigginton Parish Council at the December meetings is now available

CPRE Hertfordshire Awards

For those caring about their community and/or the environment

You can nominate yourself or someone else.

Click here for the full details

Wigginton Parish Council Community Support During The Coronavirus Outbreak

In response to the Coronavirus outbreak, Wigginton Parish Council has instituted a community support channel to help the Wigginton community through the crisis.

We have established a group of volunteers who are ready to help people who are ill or need to be in isolation.

If you need help please telephone 07555 662654 or email wiggintonhelp@gmail.com

We are particularly keen to provide support for people who are not able to be supported by friends and family.

We expect that the most important area of support will help with shopping for food and other essentials.

The Village Shop is developing a home delivery service that will be operational soon.

The Village Shop website is at http://wiggintonshop.org.uk/ Tel: 01442 891061

Volunteers will also be able to visit local supermarkets and pharmacies to collect food and medicines.

Other support areas may be: 

     - Help with children's school work online or by phone

     - Someone to talk to

If you need support just phone or email and we will put you in touch with a volunteer who can help.

If you would like to join the volunteer group either phone us or send an email giving your name, contact details, roughly where you live in the village and what help/support you are able to give 

Many thanks!