Precepts

Precept tables have been published showing what the council tax breaks down into: the figures are what the county takes, the fire service, the police, the district, and the parish. Thriplow is one of the lowest parish council precepts. Whittlesford more in the middle. Highest parish charge is Hildersham at £114.

County Fire Police District Parish Total
Thriplow 1047.78 57.87 169.56 115.46 26.72 1417.39
Whittlesford 1047.78 57.87 169.56 115.46 43.05 1433.72

Sport round-up

Three developments, all good news for sports enthusiasts, and one a sensible compromise.
- First of Thriplow Cricket Club has won some funding from South Cambs to improve its practice nets, which I was very pleased to back;
- Secondly, the work being done by Thriplow Parish Council to connect Heathfield with Thriplow means there will in future be a bridleway forming a loop to the south of the Whittlesford-Thriplow track, providing a diversion for those Whittlesford equestrians who brave the motorway bridge to get to the better riding country over there. I'm writing to the footpaths officer at the county to give my abosolute support;
- And finally the F1 racing tests at Duxford this coming year will be governed by some sensible arrangements which mean the testing can continue while not driving (!) some people living and working nearby nuts with the noise. This was the compromise brokered at the turn of the year and discussed in January at a public meeting at the museum where all shades of opinion were voiced.

Short holiday

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I was able to file a report for the parish council meeting from my hotel room in Hong Kong. Here it is:

Station Road: I briefed the district planning enforcement officer and the tree officer about concerns expressed by Station Road residents regarding the continued use of the scrap yard as a vehicle depot. Charlie Swain has been out to visit them and given them notice to put a change of use planning application in by the end of March or face an enforcement notice. The enforcement officer also attended the meeting with the Highways Department, which I assume Tim will provide an update on. The tree officer has visited the sites being developed on Station Road and has copied his report to the chairman of the parish council, indicating that there do not appear to be breaches of the tree orders controlling the developments there. He has also made some suggestions to the parish council regarding how it comments on tree order applications, which I will leave to Paul to discuss with parish council members;

Tickell Arms: I understand that the Tickell Arms has closed. I will raise this with the planning department so that if there is any application for change of use of the property (as happened recently with a listed pub in Sawston) the parish council has early information.

Road and footpath conditions: I have passed on a number of queries to Tim. I have asked the footpath team at South Cambs about the path from the Station Road to the Mill Lane. However, I suggest we form a parish council work party and do any clearing up ourselves;

Sheltered Housing at Butts Green/Lawn: The district council voted its budgets through in February, and while rent increases for council tenants have increased, this does mean that there is sufficient budget to retain the warden support which is what the people in the sheltered housing at Whittlesford were looking for and which I have been arguing in support of. The sheltered housing tenants are grateful to those people who signed the petition in the village shop, which helped to demonstrate the level of public support for this provision.

Planning decisions

Long day with South Cambs Planning Committee today, starting with site visits in the morning to see "on the ground" some of the applications on which we took decisions in the afternoon. Today we went to Bassingbourn, Willingham, Castle Camps and Great Chishill, and to get between those last two locations, driving through Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire!

The meeting itself started at two and finished well after six thirty. I had time to check on the planning enforcement team's progress regarding Station Road, Whittlesford and the meeting with the County Highways today.

In the year that I have been on planning committee we have taken decisions on wind farms and travellers sites, huge grain storage facilities and sixth form colleges, redundant pubs and estates of many hundreds of houses. But each application matters a great deal to those involved, and those living nearby, however small the proposed extension might be.

Today, as one of nineteen applications on the agenda, including a planning application for Heathfield, we took a planning decision on a rabbit sanctuary at Chishill, which takes unwanted pets, educates people about their care, and finds them new homes. But local villagers complain about the flow of visitors past their gardens to the sanctuary, the burning of waste and vermin problems.

We agreed temporary permission and urged the rabbiteers to build a better relationship with the local village so that at some point they might secure permanent planning permission. One thing comes up again and again, and that is the power of a parish council representative attending and speaking at the planning committee.