Gypsy and Traveller Site Consultation

To Cambourne this evening to take part in a meeting about the proposals for identifying and consulting on sites for gypsies and travellers in South Cambs. The process is a long one, with consultation next year.

The important thing about all this is that if the local authority is making proper provision for these sites, then it will be more able to get the courts to stop travellers just occupying a field, as they have at Smithy Fen.

There are no plans for traveller sites in this part of the district, but it is worth understanding the process. One thing to watch is that if a number of proposed traveller sites which are part of bigger developments, like Northstowe, don't happen because the whole development slows down, then the pressure will be on to find other sites...

A clothing bank at the village hall in Whittlesford?

It's estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away each year, or about 3% of household waste. Currently we only recycle 25% of textiles.

South Cambs District have written asking if Whittlesford wants a textile/clothing bank, to go with other recycling banks at the village hall. There is a clothes bank - of sorts - at the big recycling depot on the A505 at the Thriplow turning, and quite a lot of better quality stuff will go to the excellent Oxfam shop in Sawston. so that may be enough. I assume that it becomes uneconomical at some point to have loads of these banks.

Textile Recycling is described as "the process in which unwanted clothes, shoes and textiles are collected and sorted for re-use. Re-useable textiles and shoes are sent abroad where they can provide clothing for those who either do not have access to, or are unable to afford new garments."

Parking sensibly in Whittlesford

Popped in to the Post Office to get some stamps and return some Euros from youngest son's trip to Belgium - and to buy some of the new range of carrot cake in Massey's. Local postmistress Chris is very happy with the new traffic sign I got the Highways department to put up limited parking to 30 minutes, so that people don't just park outside the village shop and clear off for a few hours. And she was even happier that the local police community officers had dished out a parking ticket during one of their recent drop-bys!

There does seem to be a lot of parking in Whittlesford at the moment which seems to be causing people a pain - whether on the Lawn for football, or at the entrance to Maynards, or on the Duxford Road as the commuters park further up to avoid the £5.50 daily fee at the station. I've suggested that the parish council have a discussion next time to see what might be done. And there still is the yellow paint tin that the County Council handed over which might be put to use.

Green space at Pepperslade

The Thriplow Parish Council meeting last Monday was a lively affair: very good progress being made on using the Section 106 money to sort out the drains at Heathfield, and also on the proposed path between Heathfield and Thriplow village itself. A number of residents attended to raise concerns about the proposal to add some play equipment to the green field behind Pepperslade.

There is a younger children's play area in Heathfield, and this is now going to be properly equipped - after a fair amount of prevarication from the develop who was supposed to stump up the cash - see previous blogs from last year. But earlier in the year the question came up: what about older children, currently left playing ball games in the street? The Parish Council asked me if I could get some advice and I asked the District Council play area advisor - very knowledgeable and sensible lady. She passed on some guidance to the chair of the parish council which made some people happy but not others.

Basically, it isn't advisable to have smaller children and bigger ones using the same equipment, and the proposal now being discussed is to put something on the green space at Pepperslade. A lively discussion ensued!

Reviewing the East of England Plan - and making sure Hanley Grange wasn't hidden in it!

I rounded off a busy week (two evenings of parish council meetings and an evening district council meeting) by attending the East Of England Regional Assembly on behalf of South Cambs District Council.

The Assembly consists of 53 elected councillors from across the east of england, and today we voted to start consultation on what sort of growth (including housing) we can realistically expect in this region over the decade ahead. One thing that we decided was that any growth in the region needed to be supported by timely provison of infrastructure - in other words the roads, schools and amenities to support house-building.

The main thing now is that is up to the district councils - including South Cambs - as the planning authorities, to provide the evidence for what sort of growth is sustainable. We must do this otherwise the planners in Whitehall will conjure up housing numbers that will result in concreting over the historic counties of East Anglia. And if they do come up with big numbers, then our friends the developers will blow the dust off Hanley Grange ...

Planning matters - Camgrain on the A11

I went with the other members of the planning committee of the district council to visit the Camgrain store on the A11 near Wilbraham. There was a planning committee meeting today to consider the application to extend the site so that it can take in over 300,000 tons of grain. It is a huge enterprise, with grain driers as tall as an office block, and great bunds of earth to shield the serried ranks of grain silos and the noise of the trucks loading and unloading. Some concerns about the impact on the traffic on the A11 with all the lorries coming in. We did eventually vote for the application, which will benefit the economy, and enable East Anglia farmers, including ones in Thriplow and Whittlesford who wrote to me about the proposal, to compete with the rest of the EU. Modern food standards require the sort of technology that the average small arable farmer can't afford, and this site offers a real economy of scale.

Duxford Airfield meeting

I went to the quarterly meeting between local parish councils, the district and the director of the Duxford Imperial War Museum and his management team. We ran through a number of topics: the airfield has decided not to pursue a proposal for making changes to the benefits enjoyed by people living locally in terms of access to the museum. The museum needs about 90,000 visitors over the summer months - which I'm sure it will get if the weather keeps up.

We talked through the F1 issue - the museum is trying hard on this, and there is support as well as complaints - they are going to make these car tests accessible for schoolchildren with an interest in science, and they got nearly 2,000 extra visitors last test day. In terms of the noise, the most recent test affected Healthfield the worst, and there are plans to try to block the noise funnelling into the estate, and baffle some of the sound when the car is stationery and revving up - obviously you can't baffle the sound round the car when it is doing 150 mph, but you can do things when it is not moving.
The overall proposal is to wait until the end of the five days, in the autumn, and then have a public meeting to assess what should happen next, and we will have the professional views of the environmental health team from South Cambs as well. Whittlesford Parish Council are putting together a questionnaire to see what residents want. Next test day is Weds 29th July.