The council's Planning Department is currently dealing with an application for another mobile phone mast in our area, this time on Partridge Road. The deadline for comments was last Friday, 24 June, but I've been assured that it's still possible for residents to submit their views to the council's Planning Department for another week and have them taken into account.

The council can't reject mast applications on health grounds, but is increasingly refusing them on grounds of visual appearance and the increasing 'clutter' on our streets. However, more and more applicants are going to appeal, where the council's refusal is usually overturned. (This has just happened further down Southern Way, towards Bush Fair).

The way in which the expansion of the mobile phone industry is being dealt with across the country really is unsatisfactory - for applicants, for local councils, and most importantly for residents. Mobile phone handsets themselves give out far stronger emissions than the masts do, but as long as phone operators fail to engage the public in proper, open debate about the siting of masts, residents will continue to feel suspicious.

Mobile phone operators need to be much more open with residents about their plans, and the reasons for them; they need to co-operate more, to reduce the numbers of single-supplier masts springing up everywhere; and they should be required to submit proper planning applications for all masts, not just those over 15 metres.

The Old Chequers on Commonside Road has been granted planning permission by Harlow Council planning officials for a two storey side extension.

Organisations in Staple Tye that fit the criteria will be able to apply in the next few weeks for grants from Harlow Council's Small Grants Budget. The maximum grant to any one organisation is £500. The advertisement will be appearing in the local press soon, so don't miss out!

Once again local residents are being inconvenienced by both Tysea Road and Commonside Road being dug up. There has been work here on and off since Christmas. We are contacting the utility companies to see if there are any more plans to do work on these two roads and let affected residents know.

Today I spend some time talking with a number of Risdens residents, council staff and the local beat bobby. There's a discussion about whether or not ball games should be allowed on the grass area in the middle of the bungalows; about regular dumping of heavy rubbish; about parking; about grass cutting; and a number of other issues raised by the residents.

The forthcoming refurbishment of the maisonette blocks, including replacement of the entry doors with entryphone systems, is good news, and should improve the quality of life for residents.

Moorfield Residents' Association met tonight, and are still keen to pursue their plans for a one-way traffic system in the estate. The proposals, though supported by the overwhelming majority of residents on the estate, were sadly scuppered earlier this year by a last-minute (and rather misleading) petition. Now Essex County Council is responsible for highways, including the STEPS Programme drawn up by Harlow Council, so we need to persuade county councillors and council officers to look favourably on the residents' scheme.

Congratulations to Sean O'Callaghan, whom some local residents will remember as Staple Tye's local beat bobby some years ago, now returned as Detective Inspector and the new head of CID for the Harlow police division.

Great news for local residents today - Stewards School is planning to re-open Stewards Pool to the public from 20 June. The pool will be open until 31 December, to enable the school to evaluate the possibility of more permanent opening. The school has spoken to many of the groups who previously used the pool to encourage them to return.

Each ward in the town has an 'advisory group' open to all residents, whether they are tenants, leaseholders or owner occupiers. Staple Tye's group meets on the first Tuesday of each month.

Unfortunately, the papers I've been sent have the wrong time for the meeting, so I - plus two other residents who've also not been informed of the change - find ourselves gathered at 2:00pm instead of 7:00pm. Never mind - "Let's do the show right here!", we suggest. So I take notes of the issues the residents want to raise, including the speed of the demolition of the maisonette block in the Briars, and the changes to the yellow lining of the roads near the police station.

But the longest and loudest complaints are reserved for the scourge of the mini motos and quad bikes that roar around the area. There's a planning application being considered by the Planning Committee on Tuesday of next week, to turn the old Road Safety Centre on Edinburgh Way into a mini moto centre. But, as residents point out, that won't help in Staple Tye, where young people would have to cross town to get there, and then pay for the privilege.

Two new planning applications in our ward have been advertised this week, both from the Pink Cottage restaurant on Commonside Road. Application reference number HW/PL/05/00200 is for the construction of a new single storey extension. The proposed works include demolition of part of the existing modern building. Application reference number HW/PL/05/00201 is for the construction of a new single storey extension.

These applications are available for public inspection from Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm at the Civic Centre in the Water Gardens. The planning officer handling these applications at Harlow Council is Peter Mountsteven.

The 'pilot block' in The Briars is at last being demolished, to make way for a new development by a housing association.

The maisonettes were so called because they were refurbished in a pilot project in the early 1990s to see whether it was possible to improve the existing block rather than demolish it. Clearly it wasn't - the result wasn't a success, and the other blocks of maisonettes in what was then Clarkhill, Fernhill and Honeyhill were demolished and replaced with housing association homes.

We look forward to the completion of the demolition, and the new project getting under way soon.