High-octane excitement or an intolerable noise?

Tomorrow, Wednesday, sees the second of the days when the Renault F1 racing team test their high-performance cars on the runway at Duxford. When this was first proposed, late last year, it was generally welcomed as a bit of excitement for the locality, with people recognising that as the IWM at Duxford has to maximise its income, why not make use of the runway in this way.However, the first test day, earlier this month, has provoked a good deal of comment and some strong criticism, with people living even on the far side of Whittlesford, miles from the airfield and its runway, saying that the noise is intolerable: which can be heard from inside houses even with all the windows closed.

People whose horses are kept in the village told me that the noise disorientated and unsettled them. Someone said that at least when the Spitfires are going over on air show days there is something to look at, whereas this pervading racing engine noise just goes on and on. I have a meeting with the director of the IWM next week, and based on the reaction of people to tomorrow's test run, I intend to raise this with him, including what this all means regarding noise as an environmental issue. (Click on words to go to Cambridge News article.)

As with the heavy tankers that are needed to empty the drains on display days, and who zoom along village roads, these are issues where the museum's neighbours need to work with it so that its activities cause the minimum disruption, recognising that the site is world-renowned and needs to have a diverse income stream to keep it going.

...and an evening of campaigning

Went over to the villages east of Cambridge to help some friends out with campaigning for the district elections. Whatever your political persuasion, it is not easy for anyone seeking office at the moment, thanks to Parliament and the abuse of the allowance system. So a few jokes on the doorstep - but I also got to see some beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside, and someone even gave me some gardening advice. A very English experience of politics!
If you want to know what district councillors get by way of allowances for doing this, click on the link.

A year of campaigning...

Actually, its a bit more than a year, as I was elected district councillor at the beginning of May last year. Here are some of the main issues that I have been bothering the local press about over the year:

• the huge fight which lasted all last summer against the "sneako-town" Hanley Grange, and the campaign in the autumn to try to keep Thriplow Post Office from the axe

• My attempts to keep One Railway and more recently National Express up to the mark about safety and security at Whittlesford Station, and the parking on Station Road
  

• The possibility of a Cambridge congestion charge, which I believe would make life more difficult for people living in south cambs villages

• the field at Thriplow Heath over which we secured a High Court injunction on to stop any inappropriate use.

I'm sure there'll be more stuff this year...

Oh Mr Porter!

Whittlesford Parkway station - now without its platform ticket machine for a month after the latest crime there. (Click on words to go to Saffron Walden Reporter news article)

Latest suggestion from National Express is that the village gardening club might want to lend a hand to brighten the place up. So, let's get this straight - a London commuter pays about £4,ooo a year to catch an old train, from a station with basic facilities but no shop, or lavatory, or even a ticket machine. Your children can't leave their bikes overnight because they will get kicked in, and there is no CCTV in a car park which charges over five quid a day. And now we're being invited to do the weeding as well! At least Will Hay watered his own flower baskets!

Parish Councils - you can't do without them!

For one reason and another I've been to three parish council meetings this week - Thriplow on Monday, Whittlesford on Tuesday, and because of some"cross-border" business, Duxford this evening.

In all three you find knowledgeable people prepared to spend two to three hours in an evening, month in, month out, plus all the reading and the various sub-groups, to transact the essential business of keeping local communities running. And they don't get paid a shilling!

Thriplow are making progress towards getting the Heathfield drains sorted out, using the S.106 money from the developers, and are also planning a footpath linking the two communities - which will be good for both sides - more people coming into the village store, more children to the school. One of the parish councillors had the brilliant idea of asking the children what equipment they want on their playground - in the hope that if they chose it, they will care more about its upkeep. I reported on the week-end developments on the field on the A505, and that the district council has given some money to the village store to get some better security, after it was burgled a few months back.

Whittlesford had a few planning applications to go through - the indications are that the southern end of the village, along the A505 may face a great deal of development over the next few years. The parish council resolved to put some benches along the route to Sawston, to encourage people to use the paths rather than always drive round, and considered how to keep the Lawn from becoming a giant car-park. And the tennis courts are going to be resurfaced after a lot of fund-raising and application-filling. I'm pleased to say that South Cambs chipped in.

Duxford were going through their planning applications this evening while I was there - even though the district is the planning authority, the parish council view is important, and I saw them dealing with a flow of applications, from large developments to tree applications, sensibly and with a good sense of local opinion and issues.

And then I came home and watched Question Time and some national politicians wriggling in front of a decidedly hacked off and forthright audience in Grimsby!

Entrance to Heathfield - decision for the Parish Council and the Residents Association

The developers looking to build at the entrance to Heathfield are back in contact with the Parish Council. This was discussed at the PC meeting in Thriplow this evening. I gave my understanding of the planning process, and I'm going to arrange for an officer from the planning team to come out and give the Heathfield resident's association some information on what their options are.

This is the view looking out to the A505 from Heathfield. The land is on the right, just out of camera shot. Ideally, people would like the land used to make a safer bus stop and turning area, but land is land.

Field next to the A505 at Thriplow Heath - why is it being dug up?

I called the police this morning (Saturday) having been alerted by people at Thriplow Heath about what was happening to a field there. South Cambs secured a High Court Injunction on the field in February. (Click on words to go to Royston Crow article). The injunction, which was not easily secured, and had to satisfy a high level of proof, was because SCDC believed that travellers were then about to occupy the site unlawfully. It has been quiet from then till now.

I drove over to take a look myself: a JCB was ripping out the hedges and clearing topsoil to make a three metre wide flattened strip around the field perimeter. The police view, initially, was that as the people on site were there with the permission of the landowner there was not a problem. I pointed out the High Court injunction factor and got them to issue an incident number as we were being bounced around a bit between the police control centres. I called south cambs planning enforcement officers and they sent a copy of the High Court injunction to the police, who then visited the site. The enforcement officer also went over went over to the site. I'm told that according to the contractor, the work going on there is to put in a fence around the field to prevent fly tipping. I'm also told that the contractor said he would now cease work and leave the site. I went over at six this evening and the JCB was still on site, and the cleared strip now running down the side of the field from the road, where the hedge used to be, is clearly visible.

South Cambs enforcement will be deciding whether to go back to the High Court on the basis that the injunction has been breached, which is a contempt of court. I've asked the people at Thriplow Heath to call if there is any further activity tomorrow. It is frustrating, but there isn't much more we can do without a court decision. I'll report developments at the Tuesday evening Thriplow Parish Council meeting.