Not that sort of warden!

We had a good session this morning at the sheltered housing centre at Butts Green in Whittlesford (after nearly setting off the fire alarm) going through what the changes in the warden service means for residents there, after the county council withdrew its funding.
We also talked about the proposed changes to the C7 bus, which would make it dificult for people without cars to get into Sawston, which has a lot of the services that people need - doctor, dentist, good supermarket, butchers etc etc.
On the first issue - I have some ideas, which we discussed and agreed, and people liked.
On the second, I'll keep people posted.

High Court injunction reposted on Thriplow Heath land

I mobilised South Cambs Planning Enforcement Officers this morning after alert residents at Thriplow Heath spotted people and vehicles on the land running alongside the A505 that is subject to a High Court injunction.
We obtained the injunction three years ago to stop any unlawful occupation of the land, and it remains in force to this day.The planning officers reposted the injunction notice on the entrance to the field, before leaving.
We believe the travellers now at Royston may be moved on imminently, and with the Easter long week-end coming up, a field by the A505 with no power or sanitation would not be good for them, nor for us. South Cambs has used these preventive injunctions effectively in several areas. The point about them is that the police can take immediate action to remove people, if needs be. 

Σφῆκες

That got you, didnt it!

Anyway this is a story about wasps and the big society, also known as people just looking after each other. Starts with an elderly gentleman in Whittlesford noticing a lot of wasps in a tree by a footpath, and concerned that children might get stung. So he calls the county council, who tell him to call the district council, who tell him to call his parish council. So he calls me, and I mention it to our postlady, and she investigates on her rounds.

And actually, there was a huge swarm of them, attracted by aphids. So we'll keep an eye on it, and if needs be we'll pay a chap in the village to let off a smokeball. And we'll leave the county and the district in peace, because they're busy doing something else.

fiat lux

I've got an email from delighted people from Sheralds Croft in Thriplow that their request to me to help get solar panels for their next door neighbour's roof  has been successful. Originally their apple tree blocked out the light but since the tree was removed all is well.

These are some of five hundred South Cambs District Council council houses having solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels installed. The cost of the panels and installation work is being met by Savills Solar, and properties have been chosen following a survey last year which identified those roofs capable of producing the most electricity.   This low-carbon renewable energy is available to tenants free of charge during daylight hours, and it is reckoned this will save about £150 per year in electricity bills. People in Thriplow told me the installation went very well.

Any surplus energy is sold to the national grid which also helps to pay back costs.

Good news for the Green Belt

Greg Clark's Ministerial statement on the proposed national planning framework is out today.

Importantly it says that "relevant policies - such as those protecting the Green Belt - cannot be overridden by the presumption in favour of sustainable development."

recycling = and a strong road safety message

A very clear message on the district's bins in Newton Road in Whittlesford - this is a bit of a rat-run for drivers trying to get to the A505 and they come hell for leather down this narrow road. Fred Winter and others have complained about it.
So the bins serve a dual purpose - South Cambs recycling rates are very high - and they just might make the drivers think a bit too.

Wardens watered down - what next for village services

Called in to talk to the warden at the sheltered housing at Butts Green in Whittlesford. Currently the county council passes on around £643,000 annually to the district council for the service, but that is being reduced to approximately £424,000.
It is tough for the residents - who I talked to a few weeks back - because the basic service provided is being cut further as a result. Some people get very little social contact except the warden service. And Butts Green has a really active group of residents so it isnt that people are just waiting around - they do help themselves.
The library at Shelford, the C7 bus service through the villages, the warden service - all being cut back. Yet the county has put its rates up - unlike the district. 
Some villages have a warden scheme - and that is something that I want Whittlesford to look at. It won't be the same, but it might help. It means the parish picking up more financial commitment.

Thriplow Parish Council AGM

The Green Man at Thriplow

Over to Thriplow on Thursday for the PC annual meeting, where outgoing parish councillor Tim Spicer was given an engraved glass for his 16 years on the parish council.
The recreation ground play area has now gathered all the funding it needs - including £18,000 from the District Council - which I was happy to support. So now the improvement work begins, ready for the summer and the Jubilee.
Other issues including dog mess, the development proposals triggered by the call for land, whether there should be a parish plan, the yellow lines outside the village school, updates on local issues such as policing, village school, Heathfield issues etc etc 

Meeting finished, over to the Green Man for a very good pint and a natter.

yellow lines progress for station road whittlesford

Good meeting on Friday with highways team from county council and Tim stone, our county cllr.

From a parish council perspective we asked for the yellow lines to go in as a matter of urgency on the blind corners on station road and knights orchard. This will be done within the next two months.

We will then get the county to put on a longer stretch of yellow lines to stop congestion down that road.

Thriplow parish council deals with the nitty-gritty

Over to Thriplow for the Parish Council meeting where the issues include yellow lines, bus shelters, ditches that need clearing, buses, dog mess issues. All things that need doing for people to live their lives in a small community.
Updated on the solar panels going on the roofs at Sheralds Croft, the district council tax which is frozen for the coming year, a recent planning decision where we need to work with the district council officers, and the call for land issue.

Discussion about housing and land development at the this tuesday's parish council

We have managed to secure Keith Miles, the head of planning policy from the district council to come and talk about the proposed development issues across the district and how  they might affect whittlesford. Some of us know Keith from the Hanley Grange campaign from a few years back. He is very sensible and well worth coming along to discuss this with.

So we are letting people know - even though it is short notice - so that there is a reasonable turn out and a chance for people who are concerned to come along to listen and find out more.

Heathfield says well done to the cops

It was good to talk to people in heathfield yesterday morning, and especially to hear that while there are still noisy kids in cars and on bikes congregating in the centre of the estate, near the Iceni water building, people say that the local police paying more attention to the problem, with more regular patrols crusing in and around on fri and sat nights, has made a difference. 

Thriplow - looking good for Daffodil weekend

Out and about in the beautiful village of Thriplow this afternoon - it is still a village with much amazing pasture, fields and working farms - resisting the creep of infill. If the weather holds then the daffs will be blooming next week-end.
Talking to people - major concern is about the interest that the developers have for building in and around our South Cambs villages, which we need to manage and protect.

Scrapheap challenge

Sleeting this afternoon, but never mind, onwards through snow and ice...
down to Station Road to talk to residents there about continued opposition to the scrapyard - which is trying to obtain a goods vehicle operators licence. I got the planning people at the district council to write continuing opposition to the grant of the licence, and I've dropped that off with people in Station Road so they can see what has been said.
I was pleased that the district used good robust reasons about the noise and the disruption caused - which is what the people living there say they have to put up with. We just have to keep the pressure on to prevent the scrapyard being even more of a disruption and misery to people than it is now.
 

Arthur "two sheds" Jackson

an old monty python sketch actually - but also an issue in whittlesford where the planning application to put up a new shed on the Lawn and also retain the old one has been a matter of some contention.
So many thanks to Julie, planning officer from the district council, who came along to the parish council last week to give advice.
We will keep both sheds, but look to replace the old scruffy one with a smaller and newer one.  

On the buses...

The bus system is a county council issue. The county council has been cheerfully handing over a quarter of a million a year in subsidy for the C7, which trolls through Whittlesford, usually with one or two people on it.

I challenged the bus company at a meeting over a year ago to come up with a more integrated transport system that linked with the Whittlesford rail timetable. They just shrugged their shoulders - and carried on trousering the subsidy.

So now the subsidy is going to end because the county coucnil has to make savings. Finding an alternative is for the county council, not the parish or the district - we pay our precept (taxes) to the county and we expect a service of some sort even if we accept the situation cannot go on as it is.