Planning issues - Tickell Arms

Final parish council meeting of the year last week. Good mince pies courtesy of Penny Toop.
Quite a busy meeting for a December.
Some concerns raised by group of local residents who attended the meeting about access and boundaries re the Tickell Arms under the proposals put forward by the company - the Cambridge Chop House Company - that wants to run the place going forward.
Parish council is supportive of plans to renovate the Tickell - which has been closed now for at least a year - but we asked Kate Wood, a south cambs planning team leader who was at the meeting, to investigate the boundary/access issue, and I will pick it up in the new year.

Whittlesford solar panels are go!

The hard-working Whittlesford Memorial Hall committee have managed to get the panels on the roof of the hall and also sort the paperwork with EON (which was always the tricky bit, because if the energy company didn't certify us then the favourable feed-in-tariff would not have applied.)
But they did it!
The South Cambs district planners did their bit by getting the planning permission sorted.
Also had a session with the South Cambs climate change team and they reckon they can help Cambourne Parish Council with their plans for low-carbon energy sources on the major buildings at Cambourne such as the new sports centre. The revenue from these will not be huge, but it will give them enough to fund some sustainable activities.

"a thousand apple trees of some unforbidden variety"

This all started with a training day organised by South Cambs District in conjunction with the Apples and Orchards Project for the East of England last winter.
Despite some set-backs, because at one point we had identified a cracking site that unfortunately fell through, this morning Ann Beeby, Marie Swann and I planted the first nine trees (pears, plums, apples) on behalf of the Parish Council, and which we hope will grow, both physically and metaphorically, into a village orchard. They are just at the entrance to the allotments on Newton Road.
The plot isnt big, tho we reckon we can get another four trees in no problem, without encroaching on neighbouring space. We still need to clear up some redundant compost heaps and some brambles - though there are some well-established currants bushes which should stay.
We hope that we can put in a bench that would be used by both allotment holders and also people coming to have a look.
Tho' it doesnt look much now, we have planted the trees in a curve so that there is some space at the front to make it look welcoming.

The "call for land" issue

Regular readers will know that the parish council has put out a leaflet explaining the "call for land" process initiated by the district council planners, and with a map showing the land that has been offered by local land-owners and developers in and around Whittlesford, including land north of the A505 on the west of the M11, which is still Whittlesford parish (Lido and Burma Roads).

Not a huge response from residents, which in some ways is good, as it may suggest that people found the note re-assuring and believe that things are being taken forward that will allow a sensible assessment of the issue. The parish council is arranging to go and talk to the district planners but this will be after Christmas now. There has been most concern in Lido and Burma Roads, because a development there would entirely envelop those two roads. We'll focus particualrly on addressing that when we meet the planners.