News from Hardwick Parish Council
Hardwick Parish Council met as usual in October on the fourth Tuesday of the month at the school starting at 7:00pm. Here are some items of general interest.
Great West Walk
Dr Treacy from Coton attended the meeting to seek support for the Great West Walk which is a proposed 13 mile circular walk of the villages to the west of Cambridge, including part of Hardwick. She hastened to add that the walk could be done in sections. The indicative route stopped short of Main Street and it was suggested that it should extend to take in the attractions of the Blue Lion public house and St Mary’s Church.
Hardwick Play Parks
There was some great news from the Hardwick Play Parks Group who had received an offer from WREN of £19,000 of funding to assist with phase 1 of a new play park on the Egremont Road site. This will now go ahead in the next few months. A separate item on the agenda dealt with the difficulties of accessing the school through the new play park gate which is too small to allow access for a triple buggy. The Council agreed to investigate the cost of installing a wider gate.
Village eyesore
We have all seen activity around the burnt out building at the corner of Cambridge Road and St Neots Road. District Councillor Grenville Chamberlain gave an update but cautioned there were still issues to be resolved before this work can be completed. In the meantime he urged parents to warn children against entering the site for safety reasons.
Cambridge to Cambourne busway – impact on trees along St Neots Road
There have been fears of wholesale destruction of the trees should a new proposed busway be built along St Neots Road. The Parish Council has sought clarification from the Greater Cambridge Partnership. The Parish Council has received a reassuring response (see item 5.1 of the meeting papers on the village website) which explains that any plans would seek to minimise the impact of proposals on the environment but if there was unavoidable impact on the environment this would be mitigated e.g. by new planting. It is not yet possible to identify which, if any, trees will be impacted as this will depend on the detailed design, which will be subject to local consultation.
Litter behind the Scout and Guide Hut
The Scout group had offered to clear and keep clear the area behind their hut. The Council decided that this would present legal issues and their preferred course of action was to get the area cleared of rubbish and brambles themselves.
Recreation field
In common with the experience in our own gardens this year the grass on the recreation field just keeps on growing and has needed extra cuts. The Council has approved the additional cost of providing the extra cuts and is pleased with the improvement of the sports pitches in response to the three year maintenance programme which started two years ago. Such is the quality of our pitches we are now getting requests from teams from outside the village to use them.
For those interested in Parish Council issues there is more detail provided on the village website. For those who would like to offer their services on the Parish Council they should note that there are currently two vacancies for Councillors.
Steve Rose
Hardwick Parish Council