Proposals to build two houses at Woburn Place at the entrance to Heathfield

The planning officer is refusing this application - much to the relief of the Heathfield Residents Association. I have kept an eye on this, and asked that if needs be, it should come to full planning committee, because of the impact on the access to the estate, road safety and the way it would overbear the surrounding area. It will probably now go to appeal, and we will need to make our views known to the inspector.

Update on the sheltered housing wardens

A busy Council meeting - good news about the warden service, which we voted to maintain - and I spoke to some residents of the sheltered housing scheme in Whittlesford on Friday night, and they were very very pleased. But the money has to come from somewhere, and rents for ordinary council tenants will be going up. We agreed the budget for the coming year for the Council too. A rate increase of 2.9%.

"I think that I shall never see...

... a poem lovely as a tree."

I've met with the tree officer at South Cambs about concerns expressed by residents that the building work at Station Road is reducing the number of trees beyond what had been approved.

The officer has now come out to check on the ground against the plans. The problem is that ordinary trees and hedges are described as of "low amenity value" which can be grubbed up and replanted, and I suppose in twenty years time it will look alright. But people (and birds and animals) have got used to a wild wood between them and the A505 and now there isn't much at all. Technically, all this is in Duxford Parish, so Whittlesford Parish Council have not been part of the loop. One thing the tree officer did say is that the parish council should chip in as much as possible with regard to saving trees, as that can be used to balanced the arboreal reports that tend to say it can all be replanted. At least the horse chestnut and the fruit trees have all been saved.

Cambridge Chord

Went along to a performance by Cambridge Chord in the village hall: place was packed, about 150 people there to listen to close-harmony singing and barbershop of an amazing standard (I'm reading a book about the Eisenhower years, so it seemed appropriate). The event was to support the Church building.

The night before was the school'd PTA quiz night, with again, a very good turn out of 19 teams of six taking part. We won last year so we had to set the questions, mark the answers and deal with any heckling from disappointed participants.

I guess we are fortunate to have such an active village community, and long may it continue.

Sheralds Croft - condensation and damp

I'm working with residents in Sheralds Croft who as tenants of Scambs are having problems with damp and condensation in their houses, especially against the walls in some rooms. I've had some informative replies from the team at Scambs, but I think we will need to have a site meeting so that we can understand what is doable and what is not. Part of the problem is the deasign of the houses - going back 30 or 40 years - and the changes in heating systems since then. This isn't a winter to be having these sorts of problems though.

Howzat! - we hope

Thriplow Cricket Club have made a bid to Scambs for funding to install two astro-turf practice nets. I'm very happy to support the bid as they have gone for matched funding from sources such as the Lords Taverners and have the backing of the ECB. After last season's disappointing conclusions, after a good start earlier on, I think Chris Neild and his team need some support.

As with the tennis courts that were relaid at Whittlesford with matched funding, in part from South Cambs, and which I supported last year, this all helps to provide sporting amenities in our villages, rather than people having to traipse over to Royston or into Cambridge for a bit of exercise - especially good for children who can't always rely on parental or public transport.

Station Road and the Da Vinci Code?

Latest development in the long running saga of the building development going on in Station Road.

Apart from concerns that the builders have chopped down too many trees, which I have asked planning enforcement to investigate, there is now some mix-up over what the two sites will be called, when the houses are built, people move in and life returns to normal, without lorries blocking the roads, vans churning up the grass into mud and some bright spark turning up at three am to load a tarmac machine onto a trailer.

It seems that both sites plumped for variations on "Knight", so one wants to call itself "Knight's Orchard" and the other "Knight's Walk". This has the potential for problems for both the emergency services and, on a more mundane level, the delivery companies (though I suppose people taking parcels back and forward to each other is one way of building up community cohesion on a new development).

South Cambs has sensibly invited the developers to come up with a compromise, and one of the sites may now go for "Templar's Close". You didn't know Whittlesford had such close links with mediaeval orders of chivalry did you? Well - there is Duxford Chapel just over the railway bridge next to the Red Lion, but that was founded by the Carmelites. Next thing we'll have tourists looking for directions to the Rosslyn Chapel.

The Red Lion building - progress

I spoke to the planners and conservation teams at South Cambs last week, because an old wall has been found next to the area of digging. It has now been agreed by the conservationists that the wall doesn't require the levels of listing that would have put the development of the new hotel back several weeks. We can't have the place left looking as it does, and with the hotel held back from making progress, so a victory for common sense.

Wardens for Whittlesford - making progress

The stage is set - will there be a development in the next few days about the warden service that provides support to those living in sheltered accommodation at the Lawn - I very much hope so.

Up to Swavesey

Once a year I chair a meeting on a cold February evening in Swavesey attended by the fen farmers who pay a levy to maintain the roads or droves in that part of South Cambridgeshire. Very little money is spent on the roads, because the farmers do much of the work themselves, and the district council is frugal in purchasing the material that goes into potholes and gaps that appear. It is a very different world from Whittlesford, with its Cambridge-centred economy and commuters clutching their lattes on the station catching the 0725 down to Liverpool Street. A diverse place, South Cambridgeshire.