From our Reporter at the Parish Council Meeting
CLLR HAZEL WILLIAMS APOLOGISED for her absences from two recent PC meetings and
explained that they coincided with the Acre AGM and a Royal Garden Party.
It's just not good enough! Trust a woman - someone, please tell HM to avoid
our meeting programme dates in future. A penitent HW actually offered her
mobile telephone number to the masses. Her main 'phone number is published
in the Crier, but many people prefer to use email. It's a courtesy because
the recipient can finish their supper before choosing to take the message.
Perhaps the Crier should publish email addresses generally.
Our public call box will soon take only cards. Recent Fire Service changes have no effect upon retained men, but the control centre will move from Parkside to Waterbeach, and a new fire station in Coldham's Lane will be closer to us. Police authorities are to be revised, with mergers between adjacent counties. Court appearances are up 30% due to improved detection rates, so be good. Museum archives are at risk from economy proposals. Schools have better examination results (so now they can tell their 3R's from their elbows) and various responsible bodies are meeting to agree a rationalised policy towards gypsies and travellers. "Everything is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds" (Voltaire), but I digress.
Cllr Alan Alderson mentioned that Dencora Field is for sale, at quite a high
price for agricultural land with no early prospect of development. Let us hope
that a new owner will re-consider the proposal for affordable homes here off
Roger's Road that was frustrated in 2003, but will Reach Fair suffer a loss
of its car parking facility? The STOP sign on Station Road was hit again,
probably by lorries sweeping wide to avoid cars parked too close to the
junction. Street lights were first introduced to the village well before my
time, but some residents now want shades mounted to keep their bedrooms dark.
My advice is to try curtains, if you really don't appreciate free
illumination for the route to the bathroom in the wee wee hours of the morning.
The Cooper's Lane barrier is half done so, perhaps, he wants more money up
front before finishing it. The complaint about weeds in Lower End, where they
are never satisfied, has produced a result - an Inspector will come and have a
look!
Tina Jost's sketch of the newspaper sheds on last month's cover was
prophetic. Apparently, because the wriggly tin roofs need some attention, it
has been suggested that another part of our heritage (the remnants of adjacent
cottages) should be demolished. Well, metal wheelie bins for paper recycling
are so much more efficient, aren't they? (Yes, but they have no soul).
Standing orders are to be changed to permit CCC and ECDC councillors to take
part in discussion, "both of whom may be invited to speak" at the
discretion of the PC chair. HW said that some control should be retained as, by
their very nature, unrestrained non-PC councillors can be tempted to dominate
PC meetings, though she, herself is, of course, above any such temptation.
Lime trees alongside the village hall drive will be pollarded at the appropriate time, but the PC cannot afford to remove the lonesome pine on allotments behind the cemetery because it's not cheap and there has already been considerable unforeseen expenditure recently. The PC will not object to the allotment holder (alone seeking removal of the tree) doing the business himself, provided that he uses appropriate safety measures, gets appropriate indemnity cover and takes full responsibility for the consequences of his actions. How badly does he want it down?
The playing field arrangements are now very near to completion. Watch this space! The village sign is undergoing surgery as we speak, and the prognosis is good. The PC were invited to consider applying for a 20mph speed limit within the village. Mill Hill is now 40mph limited, but S. Bulbeck has 30mph. Why them, and not us? Someone cut the new play frame net with a sharp blade. Although it is covered by insurance, mummy please give back the culprit their dummy before they do something else silly. Some graffiti in the same area has been swiftly dealt with, but things aren't so bad. After all, if our village was in Kashmir, half of us would now be dead or missing, and all the buildings levelled to the ground.