County councillor for ten Cambridgeshire villages: Pampisford, Ickleton, Duxford, Fowlmere, Gt Abington, Thriplow, Whittlesford, Little Abington, Babraham, Hinxton.
District councillor for the communities of Whittlesford, Heathfield and Thriplow.
One of the major causes of neighbour disputes and complaints is noise. At the moment I am working with South Cambs District on five seperate issues to do with noise concerns about:
- a licensed premises with live music, and where the district environment team can install highly sensitive equipment to allow noise to be monitored automatically from a bedroom or a garden;
- a local shooting school, where recent tree-felling has reduced the screen of trees that previously baffled the noise from neighbours;
- bird scarers - especially this year where the farmers have had to protect their young crops from pigeons hungry from the cold Spring
- Formula1 Racing tests at Duxford - although there number of complaints is very low considering how far the noise can be heard: Fowlmere to Sawston High Street depending on the wind direction;
- the Whittlesford Bridge scrapyard, where a planning application for a wall to act as a sound baffler should alleviate the noise heard by neighbours.
Formula1 cars first started being tested at the IWM at Duxford in 2009. The testing of F1 cars is a highly specialised activity, and the IWM is paid for the use of the runway.
Since then a number of different F1 teams have used the track, starting with Renault (see left) and their activity is subject to a protocol agreed with the South Cambs District environment officers, and the local parish councils.
This includes the time that the testing can start and finish, duration and break-times, and noise monitoring. I have been talking to the environment officers and I am pleased that the racing teams and the IWM are being considerate of local requirements.
For example, the testing that was due to take place on 15 May was delayed in the morning as local schoolchildren were taking their SATS exams. I have asked that there is noise assessment done during the next test day, on 19 June, so that the situation is kept under review. But so far, this has worked reasonably well for four years.
Brilliant and evocative talk and slide show this evening in Whittlesford about Historic Duxford. Historic Duxford is a new exhibition and historic site trail for families which explores Duxford's time as an RAF airfield from 1918 to 1961.
We are lucky to have such an amazing facility and tourist attraction nearby.
The Duxford Air Museum has secured planning permission to replace the roofs on the one of the earliest buildings put up on the site between WWI and WWII. All part of the ongoing task of safeguarding the air heritage that makes Duxford one of the most visited places in the country.
When I have been out and about in Thriplow, Heathfield and Whittlesford people have asked about the proposals for building many more houses around the villages, and why the developers keep coming back with their plans.
The bottom line is that our villages and the countryside within which they sit are hugely attractive to big developers. Why? Well, we are near enough to Cambridge to bask in its reflected cachet and enjoy its booming economy and chic shops, there is the 43 minutes rail journey down to Liverpool St and the M11, the village shops, schools and pubs, the air museum, people riding horses through the villages, children playing football on a crisp November morning on the recreation ground, cricket on summer evening with the long shadows over the the village green..you get the picture.
No wonder then, that as in the opening of HG Wells famous novel, there are "envious eyes across the gulf of space slowly and surely drawing their plans against us."
But we'll see them off...
Quick canvassing in Burma Rd this afternoon dodging the April showers. General view was the IWM tries to be a good neighbour, and most people quite like its iconic status - and rather it than a load of new houses, thanks.
Tho not that keen on the F1 tests - and not looking for any more than the current number of days - people recognise the need for the museum to diversify its income streams. And for youngsters having Lotus turn up is pretty cool.
Oh - and there's a walnut tree that may be becoming a hazard, so I'll get the district's tree officer to take a look.
Energy Minister Greg Barker will be in Cambridgeshire tomorrow - stopping off in the morning to spend time meeting residents at Rampton Drift, who are part of a pilot scheme run by South Cambs and commercial developer partners. The scheme is retro-fitting insulation onto mainly 1970s houses, and it is incredible the scale of the insulation going on, in, and around these houses, built before the early 70s oil crisis when fuel was dirt-cheap.
Later in the day he will be giving a talk.
Hope it isn't to announce that photovoltaic panels on roofs, if not installed by end of the year, will not qualify for the high feed-in-tariff, which is a rumour going round on green websites and blogs.
More likely he will be making a very strong link between insulation and feed in tariffs. This does make sense, because there isn't any point in having all this alternative energy if your house or your school or the village hall or whatever rattles about and loses heat every time the wind blows.
We'll have to see - if the tariff does go down, it will be a challenge to make the numbers stack up for South Cambs who are putting panels on council-owned properties, and here in Whittlesford, where we want to put the panels on the village hall, Duxford Imperial War Museum, panels to go on one of the hangars, and William Westley school, who are thinking the same.
The village hall and the school are reasonably new buildings, so their energy efficiency rating should be good.
Just off to stuff some paper in the cracks in this house....
Good session with the director of the Duxford Air Museum. The museum is still doing well despite the tough economic climate, and is developing new income streams.
Interesting to hear that the airfield had featured in as diverse a range of activities as a British Airways advert and as part of the Horrible Histories TV series. 7,000 schoolkids attended its educational days more than the previous year.
No complaints received from residents re the last F1 test-day, but a good deal about the F15 plane. The IWM plan to seek permission increase the number of F1 test days to eight next season. Long discussion on the various accidents at airshows this last year and the precautions being taken to manage the future. Mick Martin knowledgeable as ever.
IWM plan to put solar panels on one of the hangar roofs, which seems sensible, and their plan for the north side of the A505 is to keep it largely as it is.
Airshow dates next year - 27 May, 30 Jun and 1 July, 8, 9 Sep and 14 Oct.
Continuing the vaguely militaristic series of recent posts, here is the original Ledo Road, the overland supply route linking India to China during WW II and after which Burma and Ledo Roads in Whittlesford are named. I'm making sure that any issues from the residents of said B & L roads regarding the Imperial War Museum across the way from them are discussed in good time at the parish council and taken forward to the Neighbourhood meeting with the IWM director on October 19.
The F15s over Whittlesford this weekend are from the airshow - they fly over at three-ish today and tomorrow. Then they are not back for another five years. Makes the Spitfires that normally go over at this time of year seem like the drone of a passing bumble bee, but these jets do have a connection with Duxford, as this squadron evolved from the US air force based there in 1941.
Another day of F1 testing coming up - I'm asking the Duxford IWM if the numbers of test runs proposed for the day quoted in the Cambridge News is accurate, as it seems a lot.
Maybe the News got the sums wrong. I'll check.
Just got notice that Team Lotus will be holding a single full day of testing on 27 April. This is a different team than Renault who were doing the testing two years ago - this is me asking questions of the test manager at the time. Under the terms of the testing agreement which South Cambs District Council brokered, the test car is entitled to operate between 0800 and 1800 hours, with a break in the middle of day. Have to see how it goes - it will certainly boost visitor numbers to the museum.
Drove over to Thriplow for the Parish Council meeting pausing only to take this snap of a spectacular sunset. A good PC meeting with progress being made on a number of fronts. Here are the bits I'm most involved in:
- an update on the very positive meeting that morning with the Imperial War Museum at Duxford on reducing the sewage tanker journeys through Heathfield that occur on major event days at the airfield there. Derek Pinner, Thriplow PC chair, Tim Stone, county councillor, and I, met with Richard Ashton, IWM Director and his team about this;
- the planning officers at South Cambs have reassured me that the latest amendments to the proposals for building two houses at Woburn Place near the entrance to Heathfield will be given out for all statutory consultees (Parish Council, local residents nearby) to comment on;
- the planning enforcement officers have asked for any further information on allegations of someone running a (innocuous)business from a residential premises in Heathfield, to the annoyance of neighbours;
- the parish council is going to organise an information dissemination meeting on the proposals for a wind-farm at Heydon and what this might mean for Thriplow;
- I need to follow up on the results re the condensation that was affecting houses in Sherralds Croft Lane during the earlier part of the year, where some people are happy, others less so, with the service provided by the housing teams at South Cambs
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.
Monday evening saw about fifty local people making their way through the vintage aircraft at the huge hangar at Duxford musuem to attend a meeting about the formula 1 testing. The meeting was chaired by the museum's director, Richard Ashton, with Mick Martin as supporting cast. Richard ran through the museums finances and customer numbers, and put forward the proposition that F1 testing fitted with the technology/education role of the IWM, as well as bringing in a secure funding stream which they needed. Mick explained the complaints regarding the testing and how he had handled it. Paul Eccleston, Whittlesford Parish council chairman made some good points, based on the questionnaire that the parish had put out to residents, particularly the need to let people know in adavance, something the IWM admitted they hashed up in the early stages this year. There was then a lively and grown-up debate, which Richard Ashton chaired well, with residents from all sides putting forward their views, including people working from home who found they simply could not do their job with the noise of the testing going on on a weekday, to a young lady who put across students' interest and support for the testing. There was a good discussion on the nuisance issue, and the south cambs envirinmental team's assessment of the noise. The key thing that came out was the limit of five days proposed testing next year: with a reasonable interval between dates, plenty of warning, and a pause in the middle of the day. For some it will be too many, for Jeremy Clarkson petrolheads not enough, but for most people it is a reasonable compromise, and the questionnaire reflected that "threshold" of five days.
Whittlesford Parish Council met last night and discussed the results of a poll of people and their views about the F1 testing at the IWM. 160 responses were received, which is high for a village of 600-700 houses. Generally speaking, more people were in favour than were not, with the threshold in terms of how many days a year people reckon they could tolerate being around ten. This would mean, given that the racing teams are looking for about eight to nine days a year, that only one team could base themselves there - we believe McClaren were interested too, but at the moment it is the Renault team that have been whizzing round. The information will go off to the IWM, and to the district council environmental health noise team who would take any decision about noise nuisance. The comments in the survey demonstrate how different a view people take of this - for some it remains an intolerable intrusion - and I got an email last week saying the same thing - while for others it boosts the local economy, is a welcome addition to the air museum etc. There is a public meeting at the air museum later in the autumn - dates yet to be announced.
We always go to Burghley horsetrials and driving away always feels like the end of the summer. Things are certainly starting to get busy.
I'm seeing the people in Whittlesford's sheltered housing this week about the threat to their warden services from budget pressures on the council. I need to find out why someone who goes back three generations in Whittlesford seem to never get to the front of the council housing list for properties in the village. The residents of Ledo and Burma roads are having their roads resurfaced and want to make sure the district's refuse lorries don't damage the new tarmac. There's a session this week on the proposals for traveller sites in the district. And I need to catch up on the Duxford museum's strategic plans for development.
Last Wednesday saw the final test day this year at Duxford by the Renault team. There were plenty of excited children there, and some excited grown-ups too. The weather was pretty iffy, and the team would have liked to test over two days, as Thursday's forecast looked good, and they had had quite enough wet weather testing earlier in the summer, thanks very much! But talking to the Renault guys(when they weren't shepherding schoolkids out of the way of a very powerful jet engine on wheels)they are clearly very conscious of the potential annoyance factor for local residents, and they only tested on the one day, rather than running into the Thursday. This would suggest that the team at Duxford, led by Richard Ashcroft and Mick Martin, are getting it right in terms of weighing up the balance between the income stream from the testing and the good relations with the locality. Next thing is to get the views of the environmental health team at South Cambs. Whittlesford Parish Council are going to do a questionnaire for the village.
I went to the quarterly meeting between local parish councils, the district and the director of the Duxford Imperial War Museum and his management team. We ran through a number of topics: the airfield has decided not to pursue a proposal for making changes to the benefits enjoyed by people living locally in terms of access to the museum. The museum needs about 90,000 visitors over the summer months - which I'm sure it will get if the weather keeps up.
We talked through the F1 issue - the museum is trying hard on this, and there is support as well as complaints - they are going to make these car tests accessible for schoolchildren with an interest in science, and they got nearly 2,000 extra visitors last test day. In terms of the noise, the most recent test affected Healthfield the worst, and there are plans to try to block the noise funnelling into the estate, and baffle some of the sound when the car is stationery and revving up - obviously you can't baffle the sound round the car when it is doing 150 mph, but you can do things when it is not moving. The overall proposal is to wait until the end of the five days, in the autumn, and then have a public meeting to assess what should happen next, and we will have the professional views of the environmental health team from South Cambs as well. Whittlesford Parish Council are putting together a questionnaire to see what residents want. Next test day is Weds 29th July.
I met with the IWM on Thursday morning and this is what I'll be recommending to the parish council in Whittlesford - a certain amount of support but suggesting perhaps a probation period is needed including seeing what happens next time - the museum are trying to see if sound baffles makes a difference, and some breaks in the testing:
"I have had two discussions with the environmental health officers at South Cambridgeshire District Council who have been monitoring the situation. They would be responsible for any enforcement action should that arise. I met with senior management representatives at the IWM on Thursday morning. I have a further meeting with Richard Ashton next Thursday.
Because of some miscommunication between the IWM and environmental services, there has not been any quantitative data collected by the District Council, though officers have visited the museum while the tests were carried out. The Museum itself has gathered such data on sound levels at various locations, and is discovering where there are noise tunnels – such as into Heathfield, and it is taking advice on how the mitigate the noise – such as by parking large vehicles to bounce the sound back.
South Cambridgeshire District Council will be monitoring the next racing day in June.
The factors that the environmental health officers will be taking into consideration in assessing the level of noise nuisance include duration, frequency, location: then they will decide whether any mitigation is needed, or, ultimately whether any statutory abatement is required - i.e applying the civil law of nuisance.
To date, the district council has received 15 complaints, while the IWM has had 32 – which is three times as many than the number of complaints received annually for aircraft.noise – although complaints levels have themselves come down considerably in recent years, from well over a hundred five years ago.
For those people opposed to the testing, the noise levels have been described as intolerable. A number of people made the point that while they accept the IWM’s flying schedule, the addition of race car testing is a new and different intrusion. For most but by no means all, the limit of activity to five days a year is a significant factor in whether this is in any way acceptable. The question that I put to the IWM on Thursday morning is whether the museum would entertain bids from other racing teams. Their response is that they will keep this at five days this season and then reassess, consulting with local communities in October at the end of the season. I also stressed that amelioration such as the intention to have a break during testing would demonstrate a willingness to try to reach an accommodation.
On the other hand there is clearly a great deal of support for the racing car testing locally, on the grounds that it brings prestige and excitement to the locality, and the recognition that the museum has to find new revenue streams. The proposed level of activity is generally deemed acceptable to this group.
In discussing this with the IWM, they recognise and apologise for their failure to communicate effectively with neighbouring villages. I urged them to consider how they were going to put this right, and I said that not attending at the parish council meeting next week to explain and to listen would not be well received.
My view, as a member of the parish council and as district councillor is:
·if the level of activity is kept to five days a year, and
·subject to IWM putting in place any mitigation recommendations made by the environmental services officers from South Cambs district council following their assessment of the June racing test day, and
·we see a genuine attempt by the IWM to resolve concerns and engage with local communities
then we should continue to work with the museum to manage this situation and we should assess again in October. We should resist any proposal to increase the number of days of testing.
