From our Reporter at the Parish Council Meeting
IT WAS JUST AS IF I HAD NEVER BEEN AWAY - my first PC meeting in over 10 years,
and it's still the same Mad Hatter's Tea Party even though some of the
guests have changed; we still have a March Hare and a Dormouse , and a
wonderfully patient Alice doing her best to make sense of it all.
The sense of unreality starts with the Agenda, with Apologies for Absence and Declaration of Interest coming after the first two items of business. It seems a bit odd that you can elect the Chairman without knowing who is there, and the Parish Councillor Responsible for Finance without asking for declarations of interest. In the event, Hazel Williams apologised for nearly being late, and no-one declared an interest in anything.
So on to the business; Geoffrey nominated John Covill for Chairman 'Cos he's a good old boy'and Andrew Camps for Vice 'Cos so is he', and so it was. The confirmation of other responsibilities wasn't quite so straightforward - who was the 'RFO'(Responsible Financial Officer) and who the 'PCRF'(see above)? Did anyone know the difference? Steve K-P said he couldn't be either because he was the internal auditor - so that makes at least three finance posts to be filled. After a lot of mumbling, they all agreed to agree on something and Karen wrote it down, but I don't think anyone else would be able to confirm afterwards what it was.
Then there was a bit of procedural wrangling about Matters Arising, because two of the items listed did not appear in the previous Minutes (and therefore could not have arisen from them), but it all got swept aside and forgotten when Geoffrey worked himself into a full-scale rant about Street Signs - why haven't the ECDC done anything yet? - and if nothing was done soon, he would uproot them himself and dump them on Allen's doorstep. Goodness me. The next debate came as a welcome bit of light relief - which side of the electricity substation on Cage Hill is the front? (If anyone is interested to determine the matter for themselves, apparently you can feed the new CB25 postcode into Google Earth and get a nice photo of the substation, but not into Google Maps, so you won't be able to find it).
Hazel reported that the CCC had considered various options for sorting the lorry bridge/crossing problem at Ely, and discounted most (including the proposal to dig a much deeper hole for the roadway under the bridge - who thinks these things up??) but was considering building stacking lanes for trucks on each side of the crossing.
Maybe the drivers will be able to pass the time watching the aircraft stacking overhead in the newly-defined holding patterns for Stansted. She drew the council's attention to Speed Limit Policy new review document, but had to admit that it was unlikely to result in any help for Mill Hill, which became a topic in itself, with everyone expressing dissatisfaction about obscure sets of rules which don't allow for any sensible traffic calming measures or a reduction in the speed limit.
Her best news was that this was 'Compost Awareness Week', and we can get free 'Environmentally Friendly Soil Conditioner' from the Donarbon site in Milton - but you have to take your own bag. Alternatively, hire a skip from them, and they will deliver it full of compost.
For ECDC, Allen was quizzed about the LodeStar festival, which has now been reduced from 30,000 to 10,000 capacity, so we can anticipate a mere 3,500 cars passing through the Lode crossroads. He then got a grilling about Travellers on Headlake Drove, and the fact that the number of vans had increased that very day. Members of the council who should know better asked why immediate action was not being taken to remove them, and weren't happy to be reminded that there were rules that had to be followed whether they liked them or not. Like the speed limit issue, there is a real sense of powerlessness about this.
Amongst the correspondence received was the Ely Ouse Lodes Strategy Document
(or something like that), the very mention of which got Geoffrey going on the
subject of NT plans to expand the Wicken Fen area. It seems that there are
proposals to reduce (or stop entirely) the maintenance of some major lodes
(including Reach and Burwell), which could eventually vanish, particularly if
the surrounding area has become fenland. The 'Future Fen
Policy'document that proposes this has been 'widely consulted' -
but not with Reach PC. Geoffrey handed out badges with the words 'Don't
Ditch our Lodes' - they were 30 years old, and had been made for a previous
campaign. We may need some more.
The other significant bit of correspondence concerned the use of Coopers Green - someone is unhappy about some of things some other people do on it. The PC reminded itself that they (the PC) owned it, and that it was registered as an 'Amenity Area', and thus available for recreational use. Two proposals were made to address the problem - the first (which everyone could sense coming) being to build houses on it, the second to offer the complainant a booklet on conflict resolution. The latter was adopted, but I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the former.
And lastly, the Rogers Road sign - the old fingerpost is rotten, and will cost around £600 to make a proper job of replacing, which the PC would have to pay, as the CC would only consider a standard boring modern one. Sorry folks, but with the best will in the world, they didn't think this was a sensible use of PC funds.
By this time it was 9.30, and I had to leave to attend another meeting, so I don't know what kept them going until after 10, but am willing to bet that Geoffrey had his say. The man is unstoppable, but at least it prevents the dormice falling asleep.
Don't ditch our Lodes.