From our Reporter at the Parish Council Meeting
AN UNRELIABLE ACCOUNT OF THE PC MEETING ON 08 JUNE 2006
IT'S ALSO A BRIEF ACCOUNT at this time of year, with holidays affecting
attendance. Deputy Chairman Andrew Camps took charge.
Allen Alderson mentioned a planning appeal at Mereham, and the 100,00's of new houses planned for the fastest growing DC in the country. Consultation on and consideration of the new Local Development Framework does include water resources and we still hope to avoid a hosepipe ban this summer. Allen also expanded upon the scandal of bus passes - we find they are practically useless for the trips many of us wish to make. "It's all down to politics" he said, and he should know. The rogue fen pylon's warning signs are hidden by summer's vegetation growth, so look out. Travellers on Headlake Drove are resisting encouragement to seek pastures new.
A new planning application for residential development at the water tower site has been submitted for a notional 13 units, though up to 27 units may be considered. A large bundle of submission papers defeated the meeting and so a special meeting will be held to consider the matter next week. However, comments about road traffic on Mill Hill and the potential effect of a new site access were rehearsed again. The report in the Crier at the time of the previous application covering some of the main issues following the public meeting that led to its withdrawal, may reward rereading. This time the applicants claim "brownfield" or "brown windfall" status in an attempt to justify exception from current Local Plan policies. But, our village school is already oversubscribed, and the Red Lion is always full! Many members felt that they could not comment because they have an interest in this proposal.
The Sports & Recreation Society have supported school projects and want to assist the Burwell Tigers in their current difficulties over the recreation Ground - which I shall go into no further yet - the situation is both confused and sensitive. Let us just ask what a Cambridge lawyer and a sperm have in common? They both have a 1 in 50,000 chance of becoming a human being.
The RoSPA report on our playground asks for tree branches to be trimmed and roots to be removed, so there will be a lot more daylight there when the trees fall over.
Your reporter was generously allowed a few minutes at the end to remind members that planning decisions are made by the democratically-elected members of the planning committee after carefully considering all the evidence before them. Giving too much credit to a private individual serves only to devalue the efforts of the applicants and their architect, and ignores advice to the committee from the planning officers.
PS. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this Crier report; as you know they are not always reliable. For example, PC members struggled to reconcile their recollections of the previous meeting with the account of it published here last month. In fact, "they were stunned" by it. I too enjoy fiction and I'm not averse to some creative reporting myself, so perhaps this was a case of the biter bit?
...And More from July
STROLLING TO THE MEETING on a beautiful summer's evening, I pondered one of the essential truths of life: you can leave middle age behind, but not middle age spread; it stays where it was before, literally before.
The meeting also looked backwards and forwards when it considered a resignation letter from Henry Hardiment, long-serving member and former chairman. Sadly, Henry was not there to hear the expressions of gratitude and respect for his many years of service to the community. Everyone wished him well (and a successful auction sale too - a brave act to clear years' worth of collectable bric-a-bac - which some of us could imitate). Clearly, Henry's departure will create a vacancy on the PC and, if you have any plans to fill it yourself, you'd better get a move on because one or two potential candidates are about the throw their hats into the ring (or, maybe, a third party is about to throw their hats in on their behalf - we shall see). Henry's departure also meant management moves were needed to ensure that the financial side of matters would proceed smoothly, and now it will.
Our CCC and ECDC councillors were attending another (no doubt, more important) meeting elsewhere, so they could not be challenged about the need to manage a new influx of travellers to Headlake Drove, close to where 27 old tyres and other stuff have been dumped. There may be no connection between the two events, but the facts need to be ascertained and urgent remedial action taken. The authorities had already been informed that this semi-permanent situation is unacceptable.
A new map of cycle Route 51 for the area between Cambridge and Newmarket is now available from CCC. Get on your bike and try it. The PC have also been invited to produce their own Parish Plan, and that will need a little thought. The Tour of the Parish (beating the bounds) produced no nasty surprises; we've known about the dumped glass on Barston Drove for a year now, and the 'fridge on the north side of the drove is probably Reach's responsibility, anyway.
The safe surface under one set of playground swings is breaking up and needs some attention, though kids are not yet at risk here. Swings always have this effect as the top of the frame is pulled horizontally, alternatively in opposite directions. I have seen a swing frame pulled right over, but our swings here are too secure for this to happen.
Special street lights in the "key part" (!) of our Conservation Area (CA) are to be shielded where they keep people awake by shining through their (too thin) curtains. The CA is official, but there is no official status for "key parts" so which bureaucrat dreamed up that one? (UKIP members be aware - we had them long before eurocrats. In fact, The Domesday Book, - but I digress, again).
Whoever is responsible for the substation at the foot of Cage Hill protected by rusty chicken wire, (centre village, and in the CA, if not in a key part) will be asked to screen it with an appropriate timber boarded fence like the substation in the key part of the CA, which is less prominent than the open eyesore.
The status of some road markings in the High Street was questioned. Some are invalid, while some desirable others are lacking. However, experimental roads in some Dutch and German towns have no markings whatever to denote priority, etc. and they prove that the exercise is unnecessarily expensive (often just another eyesore) because then road traffic moves more slowly and accident numbers are reduced as a result. Just think! No more large vehicles or 4WDs charging through the village at dangerous speed if we get rid of the yellow perils!
Geoffrey Woollard produced an original copy of The Times from 1940, wherein the first name in the DEATHS column was a young officer by name of Allix who died at Dunkirk. Close relatives living locally must remember this awful event, one of so many, having a profound effect on their family, and on the village. This relic must be one of many which have no appropriate home. Do you have something of value like this, and can you suggest how best such memorabilia relating to the village could be kept safely, together, here? The Pound does have a new roof, but without damproofing and heating, it cannot fulfil this function. Neither can the bus shelter do the job, though Kim Sheldrick has done us proud with a robust, no longer flat, new roof. If a new convex mirror could be wall-mounted on the opposite side of the street, one could also see buses approaching, but not in a key part of the CA, please!
In the north east, a large metal sculpture "Angel of the North" dominates the skyline where it has stimulated the economy of the area, simply through increasing awareness of the region, thereby more than repaying its cost (£800,000 in 1998). Here, the proposal for a tall, sculptural bridge (sculpture and road bridge) landmark over the A14 estimated to cost £25m. is not getting much sympathy hereabouts (a bridge too far?) so, if the proposal does not come to maturity, unemployed people here need not worry about it helping to present them with new opportunities.