From our Reporter at the Parish Council Meeting
It was a damp night, there were puddles in the Village Hall drive, the bulb of
the car park security light had blown, and it was dark, and in my mind
were the words of many who often ask me "Why do you do it?" As
I sat down I also wondered "Why am I here?"
But the PC members were in a buoyant mood, were cheerful and keen, and while not exactly like a cocktail party of the chattering classes they could certainly be compared to a bellowing of bullfinches, or, would a mob of kangaroos be more suitable. It was impossible not to be caught up in all this enthusiasm.
The effects of the worst snow storm for thirty years came in for some comment. Geoffrey was appalled by the state of some country roads. Always one for a good headline he even compared it with the Haiti situation. Steve, while not saying "Calm down, calm down dear" did gently point out that there was little comparison between the roads in Wicken and the Haiti earthquake. Geoffrey asked for a return to the time when farmers were issued with snow ploughs and used them "either with tractor or horse" to clear the way. He thought CCC should consider this. Never before has any of Geoffrey's requests to CCC been met with such alacrity. In the informative CCC leaflet on Winter Gritting and Snow Clearing it says - If snowfalls occur, or heavy snow is forecast, all available resources including the many farmers who have agreed to fix snow ploughs to their tractors, are mobilised."After reading this I an sure Geoffrey will be a very happy man.
The second snow complaint concerned the Waste Collection over the Christmas period. Paul Latchford discovered via the web that Veolia would not be making rubbish collections because of the road and pavement conditions. He was quite indignant that this was their only form of communication and thought that the Veolia contract should stipulate that Veolia would use two methods of communication in any emergency. He was especially concerned for those people who had put out their rubbish and gone away for the Christmas period. Apart from the web other forms of communication are 1) a letter through the post, 2) a hand-delivered letter, 3) a telephone call, 4) a van with a loud hailer, 5) a personal visit. Paul did not say which method he preferred (there may be others) but whatever was chosen would cost a little extra.
The third comment about the snow came from Michael Limb in Open Question Time. He said that at one period during the bad snow some buses refused to go through the village and just used the bypass. It was thought this was an Elf and Safety directive from Soham. The difficulty in finding a solution to this problem (such as a notice at the bus stops) is that it all depended on each individual driver. Some came through the village and some did not. Undoubtedly some passengers suffered badly. For example I had met one lady with arthritic knees who had been waiting in the cold for over an hour seeing three buses going one way and none the other.
At the December meeting Allen Alderson had mentioned a funding shortfall of over £1.5 million over the next 3 years. A more recent ECDC press story (Newmarket Weekly News 21 January) declared a deficit of more than £1.6 million just for next year. CCC is also suffering budget cuts. Sandra Ginn asked if anyone else had been consulted by a consultancy team employed by CCC to try to decide which cuts we, the people, would prefer. The team came from up north and were being put up in hotels. Sandra, supported by David, wondered why we didn't use our own people. No one on the PC knew anything about this. Sandra said it had been a very long and complicated process and the lady interviewer regretted she could find no-one young to answer questions. It seems they have to interview a certain range and number of people in each village. The only other person I know to have been interviewed was Peter Whitely. Peter is a keen cyclist and when asked for his priority he stipulated cycle paths. Who else has been asked? Do let us know otherwise we will have to blame Peter and Sandra for all the shortfalls and cuts which will be occurring. Unless more were consulted we"ll have the announcement that 50% of the village demanded more cycle paths. And if any of the keen cyclists in the village had been asked it might have been that 80% of the village wanted more cycle paths. If that had happened I am sure the figures would have been manipulated. Is this cynicism unjustifiable or is David Dimbleby correct when he says that -"lack of trust"is a symbol of the current age?
It was explained that this expensive process is necessary because Central Government wishes to remain in control and insists on seeing that CCC has consulted the people. Of course this relatively random data, based on interviews with relatively few people, will be used by the consultancy firm to produce lots of charts and much complicated analysis which will then be boiled down to a simple statement like -œthe majority of people wished for ... ." etc. Money well spent? How much would the nation save if the number of consultants was cut by half? And is it true that weak and incompetent management employs the greatest number of external consultants?
A lighter note was hit when the name of the new Water Tower housing site was being considered. Geoffrey thought this should be named after Eric Day as the Day family had once owned the site until it was taken away to provide a source of water for the village. He thought that -"Eric Day Close" would be very appropriate or even "'Day's Field" - with the apostrophe causing a possible problem. Eric said - "Don't even contemplate it!", but even this stern reprimand did not halt the merriment and "Happy Day Close" and "Stolen Orchard" were amongst the suggestions. More seriously "Mill View" or "Miller"s Close" were also proposed. Or, what about "The Water Tower"? "No 3 The Water Tower" could sound quite grand and even be equated to "Virginia Water"
The impending cutbacks at ECDC are bad news for the village. Having spent nearly £1,000 for a consultant to pronounce on the Pound Wall and to specify requirements for its repair, ECDC now says that it can only make a "percentage grant" towards the costs. The PC has two concerns - will ECDC reimburse the £1,000 already spent at the request of ECDC, and how will the village be able to afford the almost inevitable high repair costs. Of course everything is going to get worse before it gets better and there are rumours that the buses will be reduced to one per hour and that plastic bottles may no longer be collected.
A brief note about some other items. The PCC (Parochial Church Council) has generously agreed to pay for the weedy cedar to be cut down - no-one at the meeting could explain this generosity. This of course will not solve the clock problem but in these hard times it is unlikely anything will ever happen to the main culprit - the coppice lime. Now winter is here we can all see what an unattractive tree it is - the result of neglect as nothing was done when the subject was first raised many years ago. The ECDC recycling specialist will be asked to make a presentation to the PC in February. At the time of writing it is not known whether he can come, but this will be of great interest to many of the avid village recyclers. The Neighbourhood Panel is still seeking volunteers to operate the speed check devices. Michael Limb thought it would be of greater benefit for all people to do something useful such as joining the "First Responder" scheme.