From our Reporter at the Parish Council Meeting
It was Thursday December 8th. Mince pies were laid out in the middle of the
table for the end of year celebration of yet another successful PC year. It was
a trifle cold that evening but not as freezing as the village of Shobdon in
Herefordshire which two days before, Steve said, had recorded the coldest night
in England -a mere minus 14c. Shobdon is where his mother lives. "Ah!, do
you know Wyre Piddle down that way where my great, great, great grandmother was
born" asked Geoffrey. " I know it well," said Steve, "and
have taken many a wicket there." At this stage the usual response should
have been "What did you bowl?" Geoffrey failed to make that
response - maybe he only played football.
This little exchange caused the meeting to open two minutes late. And what an evening -POISON, SEX, AND MUTINY.
During the Public Participation section at the beginning of the meeting a number of residents from Greenhead Road brought the PC's attention to the apparently appalling situation with what was once known affectionately as the "chemical factory" in Greenhead Road. This was set up in 1996 by Dr Joan Rest and run as something like an animal testing station. There was local opposition at the time but, because the most stringent conditions were stipulated, it was approved at the time when the idea was to develop local industry which may even help to save the post office and Derek's Fabulous Food Emporium. (Do I hear a few guffaws?) Four or five years ago Joan sold the business and all went well UNTIL JANUARY 4TH THIS YEAR.
Since then there is often the most horrible stench in nearby houses with the smell coming into bathrooms and impregnating the walls inside houses. And some chemicals have been identified as being especially nasty. A detailed record has been kept, the authorities have been approached, and now the Parish Council has taken it up and will insist on answers. One question from the public gallery was "Can we allow an industrial premise to behave like this in a domestic environment?" The answer must be NO -especially when the new owners appear to be breaching so many of the original stringent conditions. If what was said is true this is diabolical behaviour and the authorities should have taken action already.
David Brown, our CCC representative, said he would never dare mention Neighbourhood Panels again after Geoffrey's onslaught at the last meeting. ( "Never" is a very dangerous word in politics as we shall see later in this report). CCC are still working on its budget and meanwhile many farmers have offered to help clear the snow. "I haven't seen any farmers clearing snow around here" interjected Geoffrey. "But we haven't had bad snow" was the chorus. Not to be put off, Geoffrey said "Well, we've had a bit, and I don't know any farmer who has been approached." This topic inevitably fizzled out.
Anyone reading these reports probably has the impression that Geoffrey talks a lot. Well, he does. Undaunted by his failure to convince about the amount of snow we've had, he went on to question the amount of money CCC spent on its journal Your Cambridgeshire. He thought it a complete waste of money and the only useful information he found was that the opening hours of the Cambridgeshire Collection are being extended -which he would have discovered anyway.
I share Geoffrey's reaction to Your Cambridgeshire but did find a little more of interest. For example you can borrow "energy consumption meters" from the Cambridge Library - which incidentally is a wonderful library. Also we were told that 100 people responded to a survey on the "Big Society" and that the survey "is a fascinating snapshot and makes a useful contribution to our thinking on local services meeting local needs." Turn to the table on page 3. You might find it a little depressing.
Allen then made his report on the ECDC which still doesn't know how much money it will be receiving. Meantime the railing at the Beeches has yet to be installed and the tale is too painful to tell. Then we moved on to SEX. If I heard Allen correctly ECDC had never approved some general Act about Sex Shops etc. This meant that up to December 8 any sex shop, sex spot, pole dancing club could have been set up anywhere in the district, including Swaffham Prior, without a licence. What an opportunity missed. Now villagers will have to continue to travel. The meeting moved on to Correspondence and in this was a letter from Councillor Fred Brown which David and Allen would probably have preferred not to have been sent. ECDC has written a begging letter asking for money to jointly fund Neighbourhood Panels for the next 3 years. The 2 page letter concluded "Neighbourhood Panels are an admired and now proven method of engaging our communities and taking action to address their concerns." The response from the PC was MUTINOUS. "What benefit do we get" ; "Who says they are admired?" ; "There is no justification for paying anything." ; "What have they ever done" ; "What happens if we refuse to pay?" ; "What a lousy letter."
Reluctantly David and Allen again had to try to justify NPs. David said they had been "very effective in sorting out the anti-social behaviour in Burwell." John Covill thought this an unnecessary double layer of action as Burwell should have been speaking to the police and others without going through an NP. Geoffrey inevitably supported this and said that if the Burwell PC had done its job then the NP would not have been needed. Allen also mentioned Burwell as being at the top of a list of achievements but he didn't mention the other 'achievements'on the list. But Allen did say that NPs were perhaps more suitable for large urban areas -and this could well be true.
Meantime another fact I learned from the last Your Cambridgeshire is that in January there are to be twelve (12) NP meetings in Cambridgeshire, with the first being held in Burwell on January 4th. That is a huge amount of time, especially by the police, to be spent on something which has proved to be not very useful. Peter Hart seemed to be the only dissenting voice; he had been to one meeting and thought it useful.
Amongst the ECD correspondence was a long document outlining the government's proposed changes to the current system of large developments making a contribution to the infrastructure and services. This is being replaced with a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which will be applied to all new building including caravan/mobile homes. The scale of the levy is to be decided by the local authority. ECDC has done some detailed work on this in remarkably quick time and the District has been divided into 5 areas -Ely, Soham, Little port, the north district and the south district. Next month, the Crier will publish the details of the changes for the north and south districts with the south district being everywhere south of and including Fordham. The tables list out the levies for the individual services. It's quite an impressive piece of work and obviously we are in the posh area. The charge levied for building a 3 bedroom home is £18,006 for us, £11,828 for Ely, £8,608 for Soham, £7,319 for Littleport, and £9,108 for the rest of the north district which is everywhere beyond Fordham and which includes Wicken, Wilburton, Haddenham. The Church has purchased a new notice board and has offered the old one to the PC. It needs about £300 to put it in to shape. The PC considered and refused it, with the suggestion that the scouts may like it. This reminded the PC that Karen had previously mentioned her fears that the existing village noticeboard might fall on her one day. It may take £1,000 to replace and Steve said this had been budgeted for if the PC wish to proceed. Geoffrey jumped up and down and said he would never support £1,000 being spent on a village notice board. Other members appeared overwhelmed by Geoffrey's forcefulness but I couldn't help wondering what this has to do with Geoffrey who lives 5 miles out of town and does not regularly walk past the village notice board. We must also consider the safety factor. It could become a Midsomer Murders situation if one day we found Karen flattened under the notice board. And if she had been helped by a friend there would be two of them side by side -squashed. I think we should treat our clerk better than this.