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2015 events

November Parish Meeting Report

The meeting was attended by 7 councillors and 2 members of the public including the District Councillor Grenville Chamberlain.

Grenville reported to the PC that he had recently been to a Neighbourhood Planning training session which was a greater undertaking for a village than a Village Plan. A Neighbourhood plan gives a village more control over its future but at a greater cost and a greater need for volunteers, the PC noted his comments. As DC he said Hardwick would remain a one member ward at present but many villages were combining and therefore reducing the numbers of District Councillors. His concerns at the moment are still the congestion on Cambridge Rd at peak times and emphasised that the new Park and Ride between Cambourne and Cambridge and new houses at Bourn airfield could put extra stresses on our roads. Finally he reported that there is a process that has now started where the District Council enforce a demolition or improvement of the burnt out property on the corner of Cambridge Rd leading into Hardwick.

Martin Cassey was invited to give an update on the Village plan and he reported that the committee still needed two people to take on some responsibilities. He also reminded the PC that a bus route south of the village was still an important facility that could be a part of the emerging BOLD agreement.

The 2 village signposts will be replaced in the new year with ones like the new board opposite Portway. The PC has noted all of the responses from villagers about the lack street lighting in some parts of the village and repairs that are needed. The repairs required were all reported immediately to the DC.

The PC gets regular requests to prune or remove trees that overhang properties, householders can always prune overhanging branches from their land and return the branches to PC land but we cannot remove trees or make these arrangements ourselves as it would use most of our precept (money from your council tax for village maintenance) each year. We have a tree survey done regularly and each tree that the PC is responsible for is catalogued and assessed by the professionals in this field, a plan of works is then set up, budgeted for and adhered to by the PC.

A long discussion took place about the allotting of free advertising in the Hardwick Happenings magazine. There has always been space allowed for village groups to advertise free in the magazine but of course this does have to be paid for in printing costs and at the moment the losses on the magazine are increasing monthly as paying advertisers are fewer. The PC decided that free advertising should still be reserved but at the discretion of the editor and suggested at 1 page per group.

Finally the fence around the Egremont Road play park will be repaired as soon as possible.

Parish Council Vacancy

There is a vacancy on the council which the council hopes to fill at its meeting on the 15 December 2015. If you are interested in applying for the position you can download the relevant forms here. Please return your application form and any other correspondence to The Clerk.

October Parish Meeting Report

There was a Parish Council meeting on 27th October. Due to resignations the Parish Council had only six councillors of whom four were in attendance. However there were four applicants wishing to be co-opted on to the Parish Council in place of Ian Storr and Betty Grimes who had resigned. It is a sad fact that we cannot co-opt every willing volunteer who puts their name forward and the Council voted to co-opt Tony Gill and Pauline Joslin. Tony and Pauline had served previously on the Parish Council and had continued to assist the Council with matters such as planning, footpaths and trees where they had expertise. Tony and Pauline were welcomed on to the Council and the other two candidates, Tom Fletcher and Tim Tack, were thanked for offering their services to the Council. There will soon be another opportunity for Tom, Tim or others to join the Parish Council following the recent resignation of Jim Coe. During the time Jim was on the Council he was always willing to offer his help. He inspected the main play area each month and helped set up the group of residents who are looking to raise funds for better play equipment in the village. Many of you will remember the survey he helped organise. He also helped co-ordinate the sports clubs regarding the recreation field maintenance. Village residents can call for an election to fill the vacancy caused by Jim’s resignation. Details are shown on the village website and the village noticeboard but the period for calling such an election ends on or around 12th November. If no election is called for by residents then the Parish Council will ask for permission to fill the vacancy by co-option. The implications are clear. If residents in the village want a direct say in who fills the vacancy they need to call for an election to be held.

The Parish Council has approved a planning application by St Mary’s Church for a new Church Community Hall. This has gone to the District Council who have also approved the application subject to some improvements to the access road from Main Street. This requires use of a small area of land owned by the Parish Council and the Council considered what was required of them and Chivers Farm in order for this condition to be met.

The councillors confirmed their support for the Village Plan Group and agreed that £1,000 from the special project fund would be made available to help this project get started.

Hardwick owns a speed camera which can be used by trained volunteers to monitor speeding through the village. However there are only two trained volunteers at present and we need a minimum of three. If anyone is interested in being trained for this role please contact our Parish Clerk on hardwickpc@lgs-services.co.uk .

District Councillor Grenville Chamberlain gave a report on the significant progress that has been made in getting the eyesore which is the fire damaged building on the corner of St Neots Road and Cambridge Road sorted out.

The Greater Cambridge City Deal consultation on improved bus services and cycleways was noted. It is understood that all houses in the village have received a copy of the consultation documents and residents are encouraged to make their views known. Fortunately all options, other than doing nothing, will be a direct benefit to Hardwick but we can have a say in which option we prefer. If residents want to know more an exhibition is being held in Hardwick at the Community Primary School on Tuesday 3rd November from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.

The results of the St Neots Road development survey results were reported to the Parish Council and they will help the Parish Council when it has to comment on the planning application when it is made.

Thank you for all your feedback and comments about Hardwick and its issues.

 

St Neots Road Survey Results

Many residents in the village attended a drop in afternoon at the school on 8th September at which Circle Housing presented their plans for a 184 houses development on St Neots Road between Meridian Close and Hall Drive.

The Parish Council wanted to find out the views of the residents on such a plan and on the possible consequences for improved facilities within the village.

The Parish Council distributed about 150 survey forms on the night and has made further copies available since then to those who could not attend on the evening through the Hardwick Village website.

Many thanks to all those who completed the surveys. We received back exactly 100 completed surveys which was a fantastic response. The contributions are all valued and will help guide the Parish Council in its submissions to South Cambridgeshire District Council whenever a planning application is made for the development.

Thanks also to the village shop and the Blue Lion for agreeing to collect completed surveys; to the Village Plan group for their suggestions and to Robert Cassey for his help in collating the results.

Here are the summary results.

Question 1 – Do you agree that the proposed new housing development at St Neots Road should go ahead subject to meeting planning obligations?

Question 2 – Do you agree with the traffic planners that the St Neots Road development will not cause additional traffic problems in the village?

Other Notes:

  • Potholes on roads need improving
  • St Neots Road by A428 roundabout is too dangerous
  • Worries about the use of Hall Drive as a rat run

Question 3 – Do you agree that there should be more pre-school facilities in the village?

Question 4 – Do you agree that there should be a doctor’s surgery in Hardwick?

Question 5 – Would you likely register with a new doctor’s surgery based in Hardwick if one was started in the village?

88 Responses
No: 27%
Yes: 73%

Other Notes:

  • Many residents who stated ‘no’ cite their existing doctor as the reason for them not to move to a local surgery.

Question 6 – Do you agree that a multi-purpose community centre is needed in Hardwick?

Question 7 – Do you agree that the number and quality of sports pitches, the facilities for match officials and storage for sports related equipment in the village needs to be improved?

Question 8 – Do you think that additional retail or food/drink outlets should be provided in Hardwick?


Other Notes:

  • Many residents don’t want new facilities to take business away from existing facilities such as Madingley Mulch, the village shop, or the café by Pet Paks
  • Some respondents would like to see a café that caters to young people

Question 9 – Please indicate which facilities you would probably use if they were available in Hardwick:


 

I hope you find the results of interest. If you want to help more in helping to decide the future of Hardwick please sign up to the Village Plan. See http://www.hardwickplan.uk/

Steve Rose

Chairman

Hardwick Parish Council

Village Survey – St Neots Road development Hardwick Parish Council needs your feedback

Hardwick Parish Council is asking residents of Hardwick to complete a survey to help them with responding to a planning application which Circle Housing will make next month for a housing development of 184 houses off St Neots Road.

Please download a copy of the survey here and return it to the Village Shop or the Blue Lion or Hardwick Sports and Social Club or by post to the Parish Clerk

Starting a Village Plan

The Parish Council has endorsed the preparation of a Village Plan. This will set out how the Village wants to develop in the future. A small group of volunteers has agreed to kick-off the process but its ultimate success depends on residents of the village contributing to the development of the plan. To find out more, visit the website www.hardwickplan.uk

Circle Living Proposal Display

Circle Living ltd (part of Circle Housing Group) has sent leaflets inviting residents to attend a display of their plans for a new development on land to the south of St Neots Road and west of Hall Drive. This display will be on Tuesday 8th September at Hardwick Primary School, 3:30pm – 7pm. Hardwick Parish Council is encouraging residents in the village to view the plans and to provide feedback to the Parish Council about them.

Details of the proposal will be posted on this website shortly after the 8th.

CambridgeBOLD

In October the greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board will launch a public consultation for views on the best course for a new bus and cycle route between Cambourne and Cambridge.

To facilitate the best possible route for everyone it is important for there to be a positive and constructive dialogue between the villages and communities along the Cambourne-to-Cambridge corridor, and the City Deal Board/highways department.

It is the aim of CambridgeBOLD to set out a locally conceived proposal for the new route which will represent, as best as possible, a broad consensus of opinion from villages within the Cambourne-Cambridge public transport corridor. As such you are invited to visit the CambridgeBold website at www.cambridgebold.org and view the current draft proposal. If you would like to have your say or if you have any comments on the proposed route you need to submit them to comments@cambridgebold.org before Friday 9th October.

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