District Councillor report to Thriplow Parish Council 2008/09

I was elected councillor last May and am getting to know Thriplow and to understand what it expects from its district councillor. I regularly attend the full Parish Council meetings, and have been at meetings to defend the Post Office from closure and discuss the future investment of s.106 funds in Heathfield. I have attended the Duxford Airfield Liaison Committee, and have recently asked the Duxford museum director for more information about its proposed “Masterplan” for future development.

I have taken up issues and problems as people have asked me to. I have:

• worked with the parish council and South Cambs planning enforcement officers to secure a High Court injunction to prevent traveller caravans being moved onto a field next to the A505;
• ensured the views of local residents opposed to a house being built next to the bus stop at the entrance to Heathfield were properly listened to by planning officers, and that South Cambs took a proper interest in the long running issue of inadequate playground facilities there;
• campaigned to improve the service of the C7 bus route, and opposed the reduction of it from half-hourly to hourly;
• helped sort out inadequate street lighting at Heathfield and am trying to get additional lighting in place in Sherrards Croft on grounds of personal safety.

As well as attending to my ward duties, I am also a member of the South Cambridgeshire District Council Planning Committee, and I chair the Corporate Governance Committee. This ensures that risk management and auditing are properly carried out by the council. In these uncertain financial times, I see this as an important check, and I am happy to report that South Cambs had no money invested in any Icelandic banks! I am also vice-chairman of the climate change working group and I am on the board of the shadow housing association which will form if council tenants vote to transfer properties to a new association, South Cambridgeshire Village Homes. As I work full-time as a civil servant all this keeps me pretty busy, but a lot of these meetings are in the evenings.

The two issues that have demanded the most of my attention during the year have been the threat from developers to build an “eco-town” of ten thousand houses at Hanley Grange, and the notice from Post Office Counters to close Thriplow’s Post Office.

I worked closely with the affected parish councils on opposing Hanley Grange: getting people signed up to the huge petition that was part of the campaign, speaking at meetings and writing to the press. I challenged the poorly worked up assumptions put forward by the developers at meetings of South Cambridgeshire District Council, and used my past experience of public relations to work with our local MP, Andrew Lansley and his advisers on the media efforts to see off the Tesco backed plan. I was very pleased that the developers eventually withdrew their proposals.

On the Post Office, in mid-September I went round and leafleted every house in Thriplow alerting people to the meeting being held to oppose the closure, spoke out against it in the press and supported the local campaign led by parish councillors. Although the logic and force of the arguments for retention that we put forward were very strong, the Post Office will be closed. We did however make some useful links with bodies that could help secure the future of the village stores.

If you would like to contact me please call me on 07825 876582, or email me at cllr.topping@scambs.gov.uk. If you want to read about what I am doing, I post regularly blogs online at www.petertopping@blogspot.com