Change of use from builders yard & offices to a Travellers Site with 4 pitches.

Hod Hall Lane is the first planning item on the Planning Committee Agenda for Wednesday 7th January at 2pm. The planning officers are recommending refusal, but not on the grounds that many residents had written - drainage, access and sewage etc. The officers say, that we do not require any more sites in the North of East Cambs as we have 27 pitches, out of the 28 pitches, required by 2011.
There will be a site visit at approximately 11.30am on that day (7/1/09) where the planning committee will arrive by bus to look at the site. There will be no opportunity for members of the public to lobby the committee members at that time. . ECDC have received 62 letters of objection. The committee meeting is open to the public at 2pm and one objector will be given 5 minutes to state the case against the application. The applicant will also be given 5 minutes. The officer’s summary is below.
“Proposal: Change of use from builders yard & offices to a travellers site with 4 pitches (08/00965/FUL) Applicant: Mr. M Rugzkiewicz

1.1 The application proposes a change of use to provide four gypsy/travellers pitches, including the provision of four single storey day rooms, and hard standing areas.
1.2 The main considerations in determining the application are the existing level of provision and need for sites in the area, the impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area, residential amenity and highway safety, the sustainability of the site, the possible presence of legally protected species on the site, and drainage and flooding.
1.3 The most up to date information on need in the local area indicates that only 1 further pitch is required in the northern part of the District in the period to 2011. This proposal would exceed that requirement by 3 pitches. In the absence of an established need for the proposed pitches, it is considered unacceptable to allow the proposed development, which would be on land designated as countryside.
1.4 For this reason, it is recommended that the application should be REFUSED.”
Full details of the planning committee agenda is available on the East Cambs web site (agenda item 4) including the main matters raised from residents letters on.
http://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/docs/agendas/planning/pl070109_H258.pdf

Thu, 18 Dec 2008

On his first anniversary as leader, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will today set out plans to put Britain on a Green Road out of the Recession, creating jobs and leaving a legacy that will save energy, put money back into people’s pockets and fight climate change.

The plans will cost £12.5bn, which would be paid for by scrapping the proposed VAT cut. The vast majority of that money will be spent immediately, making a real impact on the economy and people’s lives right away.

Green Road out of the Recession proposals include:

• A five-year programme to insulate every school and hospital, with 20% completed in the first year
• Funding insulation and energy efficiency for a million homes, with a £1,000 subsidy for a million more
• Building 40,000 extra zero-carbon social houses
• Buying 700 new train carriages
• Reopening old railway lines and stations, opening new ones, electrifying the Great Western and Midland mainlines and beginning the Liverpool light rail network
• Installing energy and money saving smart meters in every home within five years

Nick Clegg said:

“As the recession deepens, every day we hear news of more workers being laid off, more families struggling with bills and more elderly and vulnerable people plunged into fuel poverty.

“The Government’s answer is to borrow £12.5bn to tinker with VAT when what is really needed is fresh, bold thinking.

“For the same money that it costs to make that tiny VAT cut, the Liberal Democrats propose a huge economic programme that will put the unemployed back into work and leave a lasting legacy that will save energy, reduce bills and fight climate change.

“Instead of a meaningless VAT cut that people won’t notice, we will insulate every school and hospital in the country and the homes of a million people languishing in fuel poverty.

“We will build thousands of desperately needed social houses, install money-saving smart meters, re-open rail lines and build new trains.

“Gordon Brown and David Cameron argue about whether we should borrow money or not. They are two dogs fighting over the wrong bone. The real question is what we borrow for and how we invest it so that we all benefit in the end.

“These are real, achievable goals that would make a real difference to people’s lives now, create new jobs today, and leave us with the infrastructure for a long-term, green economic recovery.”

Another week, another by-election and another Lib Dem gain from the Conservatives. Just right for Christmas! This by-election, for the Cambridgeshire County Council division of Hardwick, came about as a result of the disqualification of the sitting Tory councillor. Local campaigner and activist Fiona Whelan had been preparing to fight the seat next year but got an early chance to show what she could do. She took it and delivered. Well done Fiona.

The full result:

Fiona Whelan (Liberal Democrat): 1369
John Ionides (Conservative): 1169
Helen Haugh (Labour): 208

At the recent by-election for the Teversham seat on South Cambs District Council Lib Dem Frances Amrani won the seat in a 3 cornered fight. The seat had previously been held by the Tories but this time Frances easily took first place with a 5% point margin.

The third candidate, an ex-labour councillor standing as an independent, came a good third. Frances’ success is probably due to a combination of her active local involvement on the one hand and voter disenchantment with the Tory council on the other. She ran a strong and effective campaign and was duly rewarded!

The full result:

Frances Amrani (Lib Dem): 269
Colin Barker (Conservative): 237
Dave Kelleway (Independant): 191

Haddenham Liberal Democrat Councillor Pauline Wilson has erected home-made signs on a dangerous fen road where a grandmother died, because she is fed up waiting for the county council to take action.

Cllr Wilson fears more drivers could be killed this winter on the stretch of road at Grunty Fen which claimed the life of 59-year-old Margaret Thorne last February.

Read more…

A controversial move to allow the 5,000 home Mereham new town to rise from the ashes has been attacked by East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats.

They claim a new bid for Mereham should never have been accepted by the East of England Regional Assembly.And they have accused the assembly’s chairman, Tory county councillor John Reynolds of naivety following his claims that “it might be a completely different project to the one that was rejected before.”Liberal Democrat leader, Haddenham Cllr Gareth Wilson said: “This is completely naïve. Even Hazel Blears said ‘No to Mereham’. What is it about the word ‘No’ that Cllr Reynolds does not understand?”

East Cambridgeshire taxpayers are still counting the cost of the Mereham fight which left the district with a £250,000 bill which it cannot claim back from the developer.”We have proved to the Government that Mereham is totally unacceptable and now, just two months after the appeal victory, we appear to be back to square one.”The Regional Assembly should never have accepted the submission of Mereham as a ‘new’ proposal as the definition clearly excludes proposals that ‘have previously been deemed by the Secretary of State to be inappropriate locations.’”

Cllr Wilson fears more drivers could be killed this winter on the stretch of road at Grunty Fen which claimed the life of 59-year-old Margaret Thorne last February.

The play equipment at the Haddenham Recreation Ground is in need of upgrading. The Recreation Committee has met and decided that it should be the next project.

Some of our Parish Councillors can remember playing on the equipment when they were children.

The new houses being built in West End has given us an opportunity to replace and upgrade the play area. “Section 106” money from the developer can be used for this purpose. We intend to apply for additional grants as well so we can do a really good job.

The first thing that is required is to know what the children would like.

I intend to make sure a survey of the children and young people is carried out. I hope that we can arrange for an online survey, questionnaires at the school and nursery groups, an exhibition of possible items of equipment and door-to-door survey forms.

Would you like to be involved? If so contact me at gareth.wilson@eastcambs.gov.uk.

Work is planed to start on November 3rd to level the Recreation Field. This will enable the football pitch to be moved towards the allotments and allow space for a cricket square. While it will cause inconvenience for the next few months it will be worth it in the end. We have managed to get grants from The Football Foundation, from Wren and from Haddenham Charities. Please stay off the area we are working on, particularly when the new grass seed has been sown.

The Tory County Council is planning to cut £300,000 from the budget to village buses. How can we be expected to use public transport when the bus service is so infrequent? So in the end, less people will use the bus and then they will have the excuse to make more cuts “because people are not using the service”.