Local services for local people...

I'm planning to go along to a forum in Shelford that has been set up about local library services - meanwhile what to do about local bus services continues as an issue, with a second of the meetings chaired by County Cllr Tim Stone coming up. The district council has done some good work here in knitting together the various strands of community buses, dial a ride etc for South Cambs.

Some good news in terms of one vital local service - the new units and shelving is going up in the village shop in Whittlesford, so it wont be long now before that is back in action...

Whittlesford Parish Council update

I attended the Whittlesford April parish council meeting last Tuesday: as well as a useful discussion about the potential for a village orchard, which Ann Beeby is leading on, and I am helping, and some discussion about planning matters, here are the main things I've been doing that I reported on:

I have had complaints about litter round the bench at the corner of the A505 and New Farm Road, and will contact the district environmental services to arrange to have a clear-up done.

Station Road scrapyard: I met the enforcement officer at South Cambs who updated me on the request for a meeting that had come in from the owners, in response to the formal letter written to them about apparent lack of planning permission for the site. The planning team at South Cambs are going to meet with them this week. The purpose of the meeting is to see if the owners have any evidence to counter the district's assessment that there is no covering planning permission.

Boundary changes – I attended a meeting of the Electoral Committee at South Cambs, where the district boundaries between Whittlesford and Duxford were discussed, following on from the changes to the parish boundaries. The committee agreed to change the district boundaries so that the A505 will be the boundary. The inconvenience for residents living on the south side of Station and Royston Road is that they will have to vote twice in district council elections in two years: in 2011 in Duxford, in 2012 in Whittlesford, as the Boundaries Commission in London can't make the change any quicker.

I asked the housing and new communities team at South Cambs for an explanation of the sheltered house that appeared to be for sale at butts green: they confirmed it is just the equity share – I’ve passed that information on to people who raised the question.

I attended the Neighbourhood Policing Panel at Sawston. I queried progress on the two burglaries just after Christmas in Whittlesford. The police had conducted patrols afterwards and offered advice to a number of houses that looked vulnerable. No arrests have yet been made.

KWS: new glass house at Thriplow

Did you know that nearly half the cereal crop in the UK, covering some 20,000 hectares, comes from varieties bred at KWS, the plant breeding site at Thriplow? Now planning permission has been secured to erect a new glasshouse on the site, to support development of new strains of wheat and barley. The glasshouse will replace some polytunnels. Just the sort of new science industry that we need.
You can now see more details of planning applications, including links to maps, at the Scambs website.

New nets for Thriplow Cricketers

The District Council has given planning permission for practice nets to go up at Thriplow Cricket Club.
Funding for the nets was secured last year in a successful bid to the district's grants committee, and one that I was very happy to support.
At one point the cricketers feared that if planning permission was delayed, they would run out of time to spend the money, because one of the conditions attached to the grant is that it was to be spent within 18 months.
I've been talking to the grants officer. Now, just in time, all clear to go.

Blue lamp update: Sawston Neighbourhood Policing Forum

Well attended and brisk session last evening to discuss local crime and anti-social behaviour issues with Inspector Savage and his high-quality team. Went there representing Thriplow and Whittlesford.

Lot of concerns about people parking on pavements, in front of schools, speeding through villages and using mobile phones while driving. Also rogue traders pestering people on the doorstep. Police distributed 17 tickets in Whittlesford last quarter - mainly at Station Road. The two houses burgled in Whittlesford in late December/early January. Police regretted that they haven't caught the culprits but they did mount patrols following on from that and identified some high-risk houses and gave advice to people in the village about crime prevention.

Insp Savage confirmed that he is in close discussion with planning enforcement officers at South Cambs about the scrap-yard at Station Road Whittlesford - I can confirm that because I saw him in South Cambs HQ the other week!

Interesting presentation delivered by Sawston Village College youngsters about vandalism and litter in the area, and an urge to action to get it sorted.

In some ways, we should be thankful that generally speaking crime is low in this part of the world, because we have strong, active and reasonably prosperous communities.