The Parish Council have asked me to write a brief report following each meeting for inclusion in the Hardwick Happenings. As there isn’t an issue of the Happenings for a few months the opportunity to publish on our new website was not to be missed so here is my report for July.
Hardwick’s Parish Council meeting for July was well attended by villagers and 6 of the 8 councillors. There were two speakers who both spoke before the business of the meeting at 7.45pm.
Clare Gibbons from South Cambs District Council gave a Powerpoint presentation on ideas for setting up a working group to develop a Village Improvement Plan; like many local villages have. This would involve committed involvement from residents and the PC. Following surveys, meetings and explorations into village needs it would result in a plan for Hardwick’s immediate future. A working party is on next months agenda.
District Councillor Francis Burkitt spoke about the proposals for a public transport system between Cambourne and Cambridge to include Hardwick as a bus stop on a new busway similar to the one along the A14. There could also be a new Park and Ride east of Madingly Hill adjacent to the A428. There will be a lot about this in local press and on local media and a public consultation will happen in the Autumn. Getting into Cambridge will hopefully be much easier and much quicker in the next few years.
The rest of the meeting included a decision to save PC money as HSSC will now carry out their own legionella testing; the addition of a dog bin at the Toft end of the village will help alleviate the never ending problem of dog mess and listing the Blue Lion pub as an Asset of the Community with CAMRA. The new webmaster for the village site is Robert Cassey and our new new editors for the magazine are Howard Baker and Peter Cornwell. The meeting finished at about 11.30pm and the draft minutes will appear with the next agenda on the Cambridge Rd noticeboard on Wednesday 19th August. There is one vacancy on the Parish Council, if you are interested please email the clerk.
Written by Jane Humphries