So what is the SHLAA? Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment - why does it matter?

Spent an afternoon at south cambs district council with reps from parish councils being briefed on various developments in the planning world. All a bit dry, but Ken Winterbottom from Whittlesford PC and Anthony Cooper from Thriplow PC both asked some killer questions.

Because the district council is the planning authority it is starting on preparation of a new South Cambridgeshire Development Plan, which will set out the planning policies to guide the development and use of the land in the district up to 2031.

Part of this exercise is a call for land that could be used for housing. This runs to Friday 29 July 2011.

Why does it matter? The call for land has the effect of allowing developers the opportunity to try to bring their plans back to life - such as the 12,000 houses proposed for a site called Hanley Grange.

duxford formula 1

Went to see the film "Senna" about Ayrton Senna. I saw him win the Macau Grand Prix in 1983. Brilliant film, brilliant driver.

The Lotus Renault team will be testing their car at Duxford Air Museum on Friday 1 July. Under agreement with South Cambs district council there is a limit to the number of laps and there will be some breaks in the day's testing.

station flowertubs

mmm... the area railway manager, alan neville alan.neville@nationalexpress.com came to the parish council to talk about various things - including the new trains to London being introduced, which look pretty good. He also floated the idea of some group adopting the station and helping look after it - perhaps a bit of planting, a bit of sponsorship. We'll have to see.

I'd like to think that the station staff team down there should do this, aided in terms of crime and vandalism prevention by the Transport Police, but the days of the porter watering the flower baskets are long gone. Perhaps the guy who checks the car park to make sure people have paid the huge fees levied by NCP could do a bit of weeding. Doubt it. In the meantime, I'm chasing up whoever needs to fix the broken glass from the phonebox down there.

village orchard - and nettles!

The possibility of a village orchard in Whittlesford is growing. We had a site meeting with Rob Mungavin, the ecology officer at south cambs, who is really enthusiastic and knowledegable about lizards, butterflies, moths and all sorts.

So spent a very hot afternoon trying not to get stung by nettles or fall down rabbit holes (got any magic mushrooms, Alice) as Rob, parish cllr Ann Beeby and I explored the site. I can't say where it is as the site isn't yet safe, but if it is can be there it will be incredible, and there are old fruit trees and elms, so it would look good right from the start, rather than having to wait ten years for the trees to grow.
What it will mean is some volunteer labour in the autumn to help clear the nettles and fill in the rabbit holes! We'll know more next month - there are some legal issues to sort.