From our Reporter at the Parish Council Meeting
LET'S BASH OUR COUNCILLORS appeared to be the order of the day at the last
meeting as our ECDC and CCC representatives came in for quite a hammering.
Hazel announced that an important meeting about the Travellers was to be
chaired by the new CCC Chief Executive Mark Lloyd and that all the important
players would be attending. She herself had to be at a conference on the south
coast but all the key ECDC people would be attending. Geoffrey was incandescent
and said that while he did not wish to be rude (which probably means he was
going to be), he thought Mrs Williams had too many jobs and that she should
drop everything and stand up for Prior. Hazel bridled and said that what she
did with her life had nothing to do with Geoffrey. I was reminded of the
constant spits and spats between Margaret Cook and Geoffrey Woollard when they
were ECDC and CCC councillors a decade ago. They were like two cats prowling
around each other ready to give a quick flick of paws not always with the claws
withdrawn. Is a similar "situation"developing?
I would not have reported that except that Allen Alderson received a similar roasting. He announced that the ECDC recycling publicity had been so successful that far more than anticipated had been put out for recycling. Because of this the new contractors occasionally fell a day behind in the collections. If you believe and hope that this will hold back "climate change"it should have been good news. Not a bit of it. All the hard-nosed complaints poured out - If the contractors fail to meet their obligations etc etc they ought to be penalized, etc etc., and what was ECDC going to do about it. The PC eventually allowed Allen to speak and calmed down when it heard that this has only happened a very few times and never in Swaffham Prior. I bet Allen wished he'd never mentioned it. It might even make him stick to Ely parking problems.
Sitting next to me was John Richards who had accompanied Kevin Hall (Area Traffic Engineer for CCC) who had come to talk about traffic calming on Mill Hill. Kevin had already incurred the wrath of the PC when he had written that he would be happy to talk again to the PC on site providing it was only two or three members and not the crowd he had previously met. I had a picture of a group like Millwall football fans (some of the roughest on the London scene) gathering at Mill Hill. How the PC had jumped up and down at the previous meeting - "who does he think he is?", "if we tell him he has to come he's got to come", etc.
So Mr Hall turned up with a minder, and a very professional one too. John Richards gave a general picture of costs, probable speed rule changes, etc which did form a very good background for the discussion. He then handed the meeting to Kevin Hall who laid out a scheme. Mr Hall was asked what affect the scheme would have on the speed of cars. He estimated "A reduction in speed of between 0 to 5mph". Some members of the PC were amazed. "What! Surely you can do better than that with all your years of experience", with comments equivalent to "Call yourself a 'traffic engineer'". But Kevin stuck to his guns - the anticipated speed reduction is "0 to 5mph".
The PC was uncertain how to move on so Hazel said it should be on the Village Assembly agenda. The PC was reluctant. Hazel suggested it again. Again reluctance. From the public gallery Mrs Williams received encouragement - "C'mon on our Haze, suggest it again." At the fourth attempt the Mill Hill traffic scheme made it on to the Annual Village Assembly agenda.
The PC also had a go at our councillors for giving information which is of little interest to people living in Swaffham Prior. There can be a point here regarding Ely because, even though it has the largest number of monastic buildings still in daily use in Britain, it is a long way away and a continued discussion about parking problems in Ely is of limited interest.
This is not so with Cambridge County and Cambridge City affairs. There are many people who do wish to know about the Cambridge Public Library, the congestion charge, the bendy bus, the closure of Hills Road, the re-organisation of Social Services, the affect of the new Chief Executive. It was Geoffrey who disliked any Cambridge information and I am not sure how many PC members shared his view. I hope it is few in number.