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A HISTORY OF THE GREAT WALTHAM PARISH COUNCIL

In 1984 the following account of the first 90 years of the existence of the Great Waltham Parish Council was written by Councillor, and past Chairman, William Dannatt. 

Previous to the passing of the Local Government Act of 1894 there was only one tier of Local Government as we know it today, that was the County Council which had been in being only 6 years.  By the Act of 1894 the Counties were divided into District Councils, and Great Waltham became part of the Chelmsford Rural District.  The Rural districts were to be divided into Parishes, each with its own Parish Council.  Great Waltham was divided into two wards (i.e. Church End and Ford End).  Each ward was allocated one member on the Rural Council.  Previously the affairs of the Parish were governed by Overseers elected by the Annual Vestry Meeting.  At the same time they elected an Assistant Overseer who was responsible to act as Clerk to the Overseers.  This was in pursuance of an order of the Poor Law board.  The Vestry held delegated powers to act under the Poor Law Act.  It. was one of the duties of the Overseers to levy a local rate. (The School Managers also levied an Education rate).  After the passing of the 1894 Local Government Act the Parish Council took over the duties of the Poor Law, appointed the Overseers and paid the Salary of the Assistant Overseer.  Each year the P.C. precepted on the Overseers for its finances.  The Local Government Act of 1925 abolished the Poor Law and the system of Overseers.  Under the L.G.A. of 1894 each parish was obliged to hold an Annual Open meeting for the purpose of electing members of a Parish Council.  This Parish was allocated 11 Councillors, and as it was divided into two wards there was also an Annual meeting at Ford End to elect four representatives.  It was considered that it would be too far for Ford End people to walk to Great Waltham.

PEOPLE ENTITLED TO VOTE
Those entitled to vote at the Parish meeting were all whose names were on either the Parliamentary or Local Government Register.

PROCEDURE AT THE MEETING
The first duty was to elect a chairman, should he be nominated for election he had to vacate the chair and another Chairman chosen.

HOW THE ELECTION WAS CONDUCTED
Candidates had to be parochial Electors of the Parish, or a person who resided within 3 miles of the Parish for the 12 months prior to the election.

Each candidate had to be nominated in writing by any two parochial electors as proposer and seconder.  In the event of more nominations being received than the number to be elected the Chairman had to submit the names in alphabetical order and the election was conducted by a show of hands; those with the largest number of votes were duly elected.  If 10 or one third of the meeting (whichever is the less) demanded a Poll, the Election passed out of the hands of the Parochial Electors and into those of the Returning Officer of the Board of Guardians and the expenses charged upon the Parish Rate.  In 1894 it was estimated that a Poll would cost about £15 for each ward.

In Great Waltham a meeting was fixed for November 20th to explain the provisions of the Act.  In the account of is meeting it was stated that the evening was unfavourable and the attendance was not large.

POWERS OF PARISH COUNCILS
The Council was to take over all the powers, liabilities and duties of the Vestry and Churchwardens except such as related to the Church Affairs or Ecclesiastical Charities.
In addition:-

For providing buildings for public purposes.
For hiring and for administering of Allotments.
For complaints of unhealthy or obstructive houses and dealing with ponds, ditches, drains and other places likely to be injurious to health.
Acquiring rights of way and giving consent before any existing right of way could be stopped.
For the custody of public books, writings and papers of the Parish.
For keeping in repair closed Churchyards and private Cemeteries.

The Council could spend money, to be charged on the Poor Rate:-

For its own administration, secretaries (clerk) salary, books and stationery, printing, hire of rooms, all incidental expenses connected with the meetings and Annual Election of members.
For the provision of any objects which it is empowered by the Act to carry out as above.

LIMITS OF EXPENDITURE
Without the consent of a Parish Meeting, the P.C. cannot incur expenses in excess of a 3d rate in the pound for any one year.

No loans to be raised without approval of the Parish Meeting and of the County Council and the amount borrowed not to exceed half of the assessable value of the Parish.

The total raised from rates in one year must not exceed 6d in the pound of the Parish Rateable Value.

ELECTION OF COUNCILLORS
The first meeting of those qualified to vote was held, at the Club Room on December 4th 1894 to elect 7 members for the Church End Ward.  The Rev'd Walter Smith elected Chairman for the meeting and the following were elected:—

On the same day at a meeting in Ford End School, with Mr Martin of North End in the Chair the following four were elected:-

Tenure of office was for one year, but those now elected were to hold office until March 1896.

The first meeting of the Council was held on 15th December 1894 in order to elect a Chairman, appoint a Clerk and to arrange for the distribution of the Parochial Charities.  Members present signed the Acceptance of Office.  As no member of the Council offered to act as Clerk Mr Robert Dannatt, Assistant Overseer, was appointed.

Although not an elected member the Rev'd H.E.Hulton was elected Chairman.  The Book of the Charities was produced and distribution of Marshall Straights Charity due on 21st December ( St Thomas 's Day) was arranged. A further meeting was held on 18th January 1895 . It was proposed that Messrs Sparrow Tufnell & Co. to be appointed Treasurers for the Council, which was subsequently accepted.  A cupboard in the Club Room was provided for the storage of Parish Books and Records.

Messrs Snook, W. Matthams and F. Britton were appointed Overseers.  A precept of £20 was made on them to meet expenses already incurred.

Elections were carried out each year according to the Act until 1904 but thereafter until the beginning of the 1st World War in 1914 it appears that elections were confined to every 3 years.  No elections were held during the war, the next election being in 1919.  After 1925 it seems that the period of election was for 5 years until World War II and after that, according to the records, no further election was held until 1949 when the election of Parish Councillors was taken over by the District Council.  This came about by the passing of the 1949 Representation of the People Act.  Since then Elections have been held under the same rules as those of Candidates to the District Council, by secret ballot on a set polling date.

For some reason which is not apparent from any records at the 1949 election the number of members was reduced from 11 to 9 (6 for Church End and 3 for Ford End).  No one appears to have made any objection to this.  At the 1961 elections, owing to the fact that the returning officer adjudged the nomination papers of all the sitting members to be incorrectly completed, they were all disqualified from the election.  The reason for this was the incorrect initial letters prefacing the proposer and seconders numbers on the register.  This caused quite a stir nationally and I as chairman of the Council was contacted by BBC. and National Newspapers reporters.  This left nine candidates for Church End Ward at the election and only three for Ford End.  As all the Church End members were new, the Council decided to ask me, who had been Chairman, to join the Council as Chairman.

The number of Councillors remained the same until 1976 when the District Council agreed to increase the number of Church End Ward by two.

FREQUENCY OF MEETING
Initially meetings of the Council were held only twice a year, by 1914 the number had increased, but from, the minutes it seems that there was no set pattern of dates, it must therefore be assumed that, in addition to the Annual Meeting held in April or May for the purpose of electing a Chairman, meetings were called if and when there was enough business to discuss.  Indeed it was not until 1947 that regular monthly meetings were held.

OPEN SESSION
In November 1972 the Council agreed to allocate fifteen minutes at each meeting when members of the public would have an opportunity to speak on subject of interest to the Parish.

ANNUAL ASSEMBLY
By the LGA. of 1894 it was obligatory for each Parish to hold an open meeting at which any local government elector could speak on any subject concerning the welfare of the Parish.  At this meeting the accounts of the Parochial Charities had to be presented as had been laid down by the above Act.
In fact these meetings as a general rule have been very badly attended; unless any protests were made about particular subjects.  Queries about distribution of the Charities was, at one time, a frequent subject.  However since 1972 all these were amalgamated into 'a relief in need’ Charity and the amalgamated balances produced more scope for a more worthwhile distribution.  Since the Council adopted the idea of a short open session at each P.C. meeting the Annual Assembly has not the same urgency for complaint, but in the last year or so, greater publicity has been given to this meeting, with some definite subject of interest included, the attendance has been far greater.  At the 1984 meeting Mr W.A.Dannatt became the first Honorary Yeoman of the Civil Parish of Great Waltham.  He was presented with an Illuminated Address for his long and valuable service to the Parish, Mrs Dannatt was included in the celebrations receiving a bouquet of flowers.  At the same meeting a 90th birthday cake was enjoyed by all as was a display of maps and pictures of the Parish.

DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE
It was not until 1947 that a main sewer was laid in Great l/Waltham Village and. not until 1973 that Ford End and Howe Street were connected to a. sewer.  Previous to these dates there were difficulties in disposing of the contents of earth closets although the Parish Council had endeavoured to have what was called night soil collected and. suitably dumped.  There were also complaints about polluted ditches where septic tanks and cesspools were in operation.

WATER SUPPLY
Prom the outset the Council was in constant correspondence with the RDC. over the inadequacy of the water supply throughout the Parish.  In dry seasons many wells ran dry, Broads Green, Ford End, North End and Rolphy Green were worst affected.  However the Spout at Ford End (at the bottom of Sandon Hill) and that in Great Waltham, adjoining the Hoppit Meadow never seemed to fail and the ram that was housed in Dickymoors, which pumped water up to an elevated tank, situated next to the White House provided a constant supply to certain houses in the Village and also to three points for general use (i.e. South Street adjoining a cottage now demolished, in Barrack Lane next to the old Beehive and outside the premises of Messrs Bigg Bros. (Bakers), evidence of this last outlet is still visible).  Any new house was built on a site where water was available and a well was sunk.  All the Farmhouses had a well and pump, besides others in strategic parts of the Parish.

It was not until 1934 that the District Council decided to extend their mains at Great Waltham and Howe Street , that water was no longer a problem in these parts of the Parish.  However even when supplies were extended to Ford End and North End the problem was not solved until reservoir tanks were built at Mashbury and the Butchers Arms at North End.

ALLOTMENTS
In 1957 the Parish Council became involved with the provision of allotments.  Previously adequate provision was provided by the Langleys Estate.  At one time the whole of the Duffries Close site and a great part of the Model Village site were allotments, those at the corner of Barrack and Bury Lane and at Howe Street were also in being.  I would estimate that until about 1930 there must have been about 100 which were cultivated and this included a large one on which School boys learnt to become gardeners.  After the end of World War II the demand diminished especially after the building of Duffries Close and Cherry Garden Road as the gardens on these estates were adequate for the tenant requirement, except for the keenest of gardeners.  In 1957 the Langleys Estate suggested that the Parish Council might be interested in taking over those which remained (i.e. on the east side of South Street , Barrack Lane and Howe Street).  In March of that year the Council agreed, and appointed the Chairman and Hon. Treasurer of the Great Waltham Allotment Holders (now Horticultural Soc.) to act as their managers and be responsible for collecting the rents and allocating any vacant plot.  In 1964 the South Street one being required for building, a fresh site was agreed beside the bungalows in Brookmead.  It was considered, erroneously, that water from the brook would be sufficient for the needs of watering the allotments.  Looking back it would have been wise to press for the laying on of water when the new allotments were taken over.

RECREATION
Prior to 1937 the Church Field of which the Cricket ground now forms part was the Village Recreation ground, with the Churchwardens as trustees.  In 1936 Mr Tufnell offered to provide a Recreation Ground in South Street of approximately two acres.  In I960 Mr Tufnell by deed of gift gave a further piece of land to the east of the recreation ground to enable a full size football pitch to be made.  However with the village population growing the Village Council decided that a larger area was required to provide a children’s play area and space for a tennis court if and when funds were available.  In the event the Langleys Estate agreed to sell a further 25 yards on the south side.  Although this was not as large as the Council would have liked it has relieved the overuse of the area of the football pitch.

The Council has always been under pressure to provide recreational areas at Ford End and Howe Street .  In 1966 Mr V.C.Britton generously offered a piece of land in Pleshey Road for a recreation ground; now the Council have just completed the purchase of land as an extension so making room for a football pitch.  As regards Howe Street it appears from the minutes that in 1935 Mrs Weston, who lived with her family at the Woodmans for some years, offered to provide an area in memory of her late husband - the Council were unable to find a suitable site and the matter was dropped.  In 1975 after protracted negotiations an area of land in Howe Street was obtained on lease for a recreational area.

In 1957 the Langleys Estate offered Broads Green to the Council as they were unable to keep it cut - the Council accepted this offer and ever since the Green has been regularly cut so enabling children to play on it.

ROADS
It was in 1907 that the Road through the Village was first tarred, this was, in subsequent years, done annually.  This was not really adequate as before the year ended the surface was covered in dust.  In extra dry periods a water cart was used to spray the roads to abate the dust.  The minor roads were not tarred until much later and were only maintained by the steam rolling in of hogging - adequate for the horse and cart, but causes of problems for the cyclists and motor cars.

The Parish has been waiting for the By Pass of Howe Street and Great Waltham Village since the early 1930s and now in 1984, in spite of repeated pleas from the Parish Council, we are still without one; the date now given for the Chelmer Valley North route is for commencement in 1986/87 but in view of the many postponements it may be well into the 90s before Howe St. and Great Waltham are relieved of the ever growing traffic problems.  The Parish Council will bring all the pressure it can on the Highway Authority to ensure there is no further delay in carrying out the work.  Meanwhile Ford End is still neglected and no date is fixed for their by-pass.

SPEED LIMITS
As far back as the early 30’s the Parish Council asked for speed restrictions through the Parish - the first was a 20 m.p.h. limit.  In spite of persistent pleas by the P.C. for a speed limit through the Parish on the A130 it was not until 1979 that the District Council Highways Committee, with delegated powers from the County, imposed a 30 m.p.h. limit in Great Waltharn.  Even now; the limits at Ford End and Howe Street are 40 m.p.h. The reason for the long wait was the County Highways and Police always insisted that Great Waltham did not meet the necessary criteria for imposing restrictions.  The District Council was able to get the Ministry to vary its criteria in certain cases.

DEVELOPMENT FOR HOUSING IN THE PARISH

Although planning was not one of the functions of the Parish Council in matters of fundamental change the District Council have given the Parish an opportunity to state their views.  The 1972 L.G.A. made it obligatory for all planning applications to be submitted to Parish Councils for their comments.  The first development of group housing occurred in 1925.  With the agreement of the Parish Council 16 houses for letting were built in Mashbury Road and 10 in Ford End.  The Parish Council were asked to name suitable tenants.  The next major building programme of the R.B.C. was in 1950 when Duffries Close was built.  In 1953 Cherry Garden Road was developed.  In all over 100 houses were erected.  At the same time houses were built in Woods Road and Pleshey Road Ford End, Litley Green and North End. In 1965 seven bungalows for the elderly were built at the rear of the Walthambury Stores, they are named Brookmead.

The last major development was a private one and caused a great deal of controversy in which the Parish Council was involved.  A Consultative Committee was formed in 1963 chaired by Mr Leslie Lane of the Civic Trust and with Mr Michael Dower as Secretary (also Civic Trust).  The Committee consisted of Mr J.J.Tufnell, his Agents Messrs Strutt and Parker, the Vicar Rev'd B.W.Jukes, Officers and Members of both County and R.D.C and two members of the P.C., (Messrs W.A.Dannatt and P.B.Johnson).  Three meetings of the Consultative Committee were held.  The lay out included housing for the elderly to be built by the R.D.C., recreational facilities and removal of unsightly wirescaping in the Village.  The concept of the whole scheme was that the development was to be in the hands of a local Company, comprised of Mr Tufnell and a firm of builders and would make Great Waltham into a Model Village which would be an example for the whole County.  This the Parish Council were in agreement with, but suddenly without any prior consultation with the Parish Council the land for which outline planning permission had been granted was sold to a development company and. the wider aspects of the Model Village idea were abandoned. A further application with Mono-Pitched houses was substituted.  This scheme both the District Council and Parish Council opposed, but it was approved by the County Council and at the same time the Civic Trust withdrew and all that remained of the Model Village as envisioned was the Radburn type layout of the estate.  After the first phase of development the developers abandoned the Mono-Pitches and phase two was built with duo pitched roofs.  The third stage to the East of the recreation ground had always been opposed by the Parish Council but found no support from the District and County.  The P.C. wanted the land in question for an extent ion of the recreation ground and after intense lobbying particularly to our M.P. a Public Enquiry was granted.  Briefed by our solicitors Mr W.A.Dannatt represented the P.C. and although congratulated by the County Council on the way we put our case the Minister came down on the side of the developers, who immediately sold the land to another developer and instead of 34 houses which were in the original plan and of the same design as the previous phases; the new developers put in a further planning application for 46 conventional houses.

Although the P.C. did not like the original development, they considered it would be incongruous to depart from the original plan.  As is well known the new development was approved and gardens of some of the houses abutted the recreation ground, thereby causing friction between the owners and the P.C. due to the fact that footballs were being kicked into the gardens and even breaking windows of at least one house.

ROYAL OCCASIONS
It has always been the policy of the Council to hold, celebrations to commemorate Royal Occasions.  To defray the costs subscription lists were opened to which the public were asked to contribute.  At Queen Victoria 's Diamond Jubilee, King Edward VII's and King George V's coronation, sports were arranged both. in the Church End Ward and at Ford End.  In addition the schoolchildren were treated to a special tea and presented with a commemoration mug.  Celebrations for King George V Silver Jubilee consisted of gifts to Old Aged Pensioners and needy widows and widowers and sports for the children.  To meet the cost a Id rate was levied and the remainder to be met by public subscription.  For the Coronation of King George VI the Council allocated £17 and £9 for Great Waltham and Ford End respectively towards the cost of any celebration, the remainder to be raised by public subscription and a Public meeting was called to discuss plans - unfortunately there is no record of what transpired.  Mr Tufnell offered the use of Langley 's Park but apart from a large bonfire no other celebration appears to have taken place in the Park.  For the Coronation of the present Queen in 1953 authorisation was given to levy a 2d rate, but no mention is made of what form celebrations should take, although the School children were entertained to a tea at the School.  There is no evidence that the 2d rate was used.

In 1977 a special meeting was held in the Village Hall to discus arrangements to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Queen's reign.  It was decided to give each child of Primary School age a commemorative crown and hold a get-together of Villagers at which a pig would be roasted.  It was also decided to form a Jubilee Twinning Association to find a suitable Village to twin with.  In-1979 after much hard work, Great Waltham Parish twinned with Ceyrat, a lovely village in Mid-France.

ITEMS OF INTEREST
1910.  A plague of rats was reported and Farmers and Householders were urged to do all they could to destroy the vermin.  The District Council were urged to take steps for their destruction in the District.
1912.  Proposed that money left over from the Coronation fund should be used to purchase two seats.  The seats are still in use, one at Howe Street near the bus stop and the other at Pendon Hill.
1914  Two Cottages at Broads Green built by William Dannatt for the aged poor of the district, were handed over to the P.C. to act as trustees.  The cottages were functioning until after World War II but as they were not endowed the cost ,of repair was considered to be too great.  In 1949 they were sold and the proceeds of the sale, £1,300, formed the bases of the William Dannatt Trust.  When the charities of the parish were amalgamated this trust formed part of the new Great Waltham Charities.
1934.  Mrs Billingham was the first woman to be elected to the Council.
1952.  The Council proposed the formation of an Old Peoples Club and with the help of other Village Organisations the inaugural meeting at Great Waltham was held in April when there was an attendance of about 70 and it was decided to name it The Over 60s Club.  The Club continues to prosper and no financial assistance has ever been asked for from the P.O.  
1967.  Mrs Joan. Wood was appointed the first woman to be Chairman.  In 1984 Mrs Carol Jones became the second woman to be Chairman.

BEST KEPT VILLAGE COMPETITION
1953 Great Waltham Village won the Chelmsford Section.  1967 Great Waltham Village won for the whole County.  Generally results have been poor due to lack of organisation.  The Village of Ford End has been much more successful in this competition and has several winnings to its credit, this being in the Small Villages section.

ROAD MAN
1972.  Previous to 1972 the Highways Dept. had employed a man to keep the roads and paths in the Village, Howe Street and Ford End regularly cleaned but after the above date, the Dept. intended to make the road man redundant and replace him with mechanical sweepers on a quarterly basis.  The Council protested strongly about this and decided to press that our man - Mr Harry Fuller - should be retained.  This was taken up by the press and he was interviewed by local and national papers as well as I.T.V.  An article headed ‘Happy Harry' appeared in the London Evening News together with a photo of. him with his broom over his shoulder.  However our efforts were of no avail.

CHARITIES AND THEIR TRUSTEES
The P.C. on coming into being in 1894 were responsible for appointing Trustees of the Parochial Charities:-

The P.C. also has power which they exercised to appoint two managers to the Schools at Great Waltham & Ford End.  The Council also has power to appoint two trustees to the Church Housen Trust which they have always exercised

CONCLUSION
Before 1894 the Annual Vestry elected Churchwardens (usually one being the local Squire and the other a prominent farmer).  Also at the meeting Overseers were elected; thus the Vicar and Churchwardens, the Squire and prominent farmers governed the affairs of the Parish.  The majority of inhabitants had little or no say in the running of the Parish.  The franchise of the people was very limited, only owners of property, and one member of a household would be entitled to vote.

The coming into being of the Parish Council really did not alter affairs to a great extent; the elected Council usually consisted of the same people who had. acted under a different name.

The solution of the Parish Council with its powers had been very gradual until the Representation of the People Act of 1948 - even then with elections conducted under the auspices of the District Returning Officer interest in the work of the P.C. was poorly supported.  By 1974 when the effect of the L.G.A. of 1972 gave extended powers of finance and a chance to comment on all Planning Applications of the Parish the P.O.(still limited in its powers) has been able to have more public respect.  As far as Great Waltham is concerned the appointment of our present Clerk has had a considerable impact on the work and influence of the Council.

The Great Waltham Parish Council wish to express their sincere thanks to Councillor William Dannatt for the many hours of work which has been done to produce this history of the Parish Council. 1984