The photograph is of the Main Municipal Building, Town Hall, in Fishers,
Indiana, the town with which we hope to twin in the not too
distant future. My wife and I spent twelve days in the town at the
back end of June 1997 when we were guests of the President of the
Town Twinning Committee. Although our itinerary was strenuous it was
nevertheless enjoyable and informative; up at 6.00am the first day,
Friday, for a meeting with the Rotary Club followed by a meeting with
the local press at the British Tea Rooms owned by a lady from Luton.
Golf on the Saturday with a temperature of 93F and humidity in the
region of 90%, I only managed 12 holes then I had to quit drenched in
perspiration and totally exhausted even though we had a motorised
buggy to ferry us round the course. A note for local golf clubs -
there were free ice cold water dispensers situated at several of the
holes and a young lady selling cold drinks from a buggy fitted with a
fridge - most welcome !!!!!. The rest of the week we were shown many
aspects of life in Fishers - commercial, educational, cultural, town
administration and concluded with the Fishers Freedom Parade in which
we took part. We took many photographs of and were given much
information about the town which will be on display in Billericay
Library on 17th, 19th, & 20th September 1997.
Fishers' Town Twinning Committee is very keen to establish links with Billericay and the President of the Committee and his wife are to be my guests for the week 4th October to 11 October 1997 when they will be shown as much of Billericay as time will allow. To proceed further with the twinning process Billericay needs a Twinning Committee - would you like to be involved? Please contact the Editor on 01277 623519.
The plan on page 2 opposite gives details of the roundabout to be installed by Waitrose at the southern end of Chapel Street as part of the retail development on The Fold. This roundabout was originally to be provided by Essex County Council as part of a traffic improvement scheme for Billericay but was shelved through lack of funds after the roundabout at the top of Bell Hill was built. Whether the design will please everyone is a matter of conjecture but I think that the Planning Officers at Basildon District Council are to be complimented on obtaining this "planning gain" for Billericay.
However there appears to be a slight problem with the traffic impact study for the High Street and Chapel Street carried out by the developer, I understand that the study is based on historical information which may not reflect the true situation. The Residents' Association, in considering the last traffic study instigated by the County Council, was of the opinion that the traffic in Stock Road and Norsey Road was already in excess of the design capacity and that further increases in traffic would be detrimental. Nevertheless this is not a problem for Waitrose but for the District Council who will have to consider the traffic movements, and the parking, on Chapel Street and for that matter on the High Street.
Editor - Trevor Stansfield, 174 Perry Sreet, Billericay, Essex CM12 0NX. Tel: 623519 E-mail:tremar@aol.com
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