HRG Meeting Minutes 16.11.21
Present: Joy Richardson, Claire Cock-Starkey, Irene Richards, Hilary Roadley, Peter and Gaynor Hayde, Mavis Gardner, Rupert Pearce Gould, Paru Naik, Beki Korb, Evelynne Hull, Brian Williamson, Russ Phillipo, Jan Nanor, Fabio Puddu
Apologies: Margaret Greeves, Linda Churchman
Communications: Is the Facebook page fit for purpose? Is the Harston and Newton Families Group Facebook page better? It was agreed that we should just focus on the H & N Families group to save from doubling up.
Joy put out a call to find someone who could help work on our website. No one volunteered but might be worth posting on Facebook to ask for assistance with social media.
Traffic and Transport:
Meeting with Mayor Nick Johnson: Rupert took us through a presentation made by Tim Arnold which HRG and PC showed to the mayor at a recent meeting. It highlights the congestion in the village and shows that 22,000 cars move through Harston every day. It also highlighted the infrequent and very expensive buses. Cycle path at top end of the village is single file. Cars often park on cycle path. Harston is the only village on A10 which has no station. The presentation will go on the website.
Nick Johnson had two supporting officers with him during the meeting.
The meeting laid out all the transport and traffic problems facing Harston and the lack of suitable public transport, arguing that Harston has been forgotten. Aspirations and requests for Harston: Bypass, more frequent and cheaper buses, overview of how Harston fits into local transport plans, protection from EWR, consideration for Church St junction.
Rupert asks if anyone has any ideas to add to the presentation to contact HRG transport group and this can be fed back to the mayor. Brian also asks for photos or reports of problem traffic on Church Street so we can keep the pressure up.
Rupert says that they have got the lines on the road next to the Church to be redrawn.
Irene Richards asks if there has been a proposal to make the Church St and Button End junction safer. Brian says they are always looking for new ideas to try and make it safer. Irene says the lorries damaging the road. RPG says to email Paul Holdom on the PC direct.
Rupert says they are looking at getting a 20mph limit for Button End and Church St.
Russ Phillippo points out that cars and lorries riding up on the pavements on Church Street have been degrading the paving and are also very dangerous to pedestrians.
Joy asks Rupert to feedback to the PC all these comments about problems on Church St.
Jan added her notes from the meeting with Nick Johnson and Roland Potter and Oliver Howarth (Bus Strategy). NJ wants to develop active travel, encourages us to continue to campaign for reopening station and wants an integrated look at traffic issues. They asked if we would be in favour of joint feasibility study with Foxton as this would reduce the costs and make it more likely to happen. Dom tentatively agreed but pointed out Foxton already have a bypass so their issues are different.
Mr Gardener worries that reopening a train station in Harston would not help the older members of the village as the station in Cambridge is so far out of town. He also worries that it would draw more parked cars to Station Road. Joy reassures him that it’s not even really on the table at the moment.
GCP have cut the number of parking spots at Foxton in response to the consultation.
Air quality monitoring: Results of the meeting have been sent to the PC but HRG have not seen it yet. Brian will try and get the figures for the next meeting.
Speed monitoring: the speed camera on London Road has been moved. Camera will be moved to Church Street soon. They now have some data but need it to be analysed. Rupert puts a call out for a statistician or maths whizz to look at it for us.
Action: Claire to add info about meeting with Mayor to newsletter.
Greener Harston: Beki reports that hedges have now been planted opposite Vujon. About 45 plants went in. End of November we will add some more hedging plants. PC are going to provide some mulch which will help them get established. More volunteers have come forward but we should keep advertising the next meet on 27 November.
Beki suggests we look into some tree planting for the jubilee, at this time of year they are cheap as they are bare root. Harston green could also do with some attention next year and also some more bulb planting. Rupert reports that the PC also have jubilee trees on their agenda.
Hilary sent the PC a list of what we’re doing but says that the PC were happy to see our plans but were keeping their plans separate which was frustrating to Hilary. She asks for better coordination with the PCs’ gardening plans. Trees need to be planted by February. Silver Birch or rowan trees? Joy suggests we try and do something end of January. Rupert suggests telling the PC where we want to put them. This will be discussed on 27 Nov and proposal needs to be with Rupert by 2nd Dec.
Action: Ideas for tree planting locations to be submitted to Beki/Hilary before 2nd Dec.
War memorial: Beki feels like putting lots of bedding plants at War memorial is quite wasteful and wonders if a more permanent planting scheme would be better? Hilary says at the moment they’re sticking with tradition but perhaps look at changing it in the future.
Neighbourhood Plan: Paru reports that positive news that the PC have given green light to move forward with NP. A working group has been formed and they are hoping to hold a meeting/exhibit in March to get awareness up in the village. They are hopefully going to get some expert advice to move the NP forward. There are 6 in the working group (Diane, Dom, Joy, Rupert, Hilary and Paru) but they’d like more people and a diverse range of people with different skills to join. They’d especially like some younger people to join.
Gaynor thinks a leaflet explaining what a neighbourhood plan is and asking for people to join should be sent to everyone in the village. Paru agrees but says that perhaps slightly further down the line. The March meeting is the time to engage the whole village.
Litter Pick: Sunday 13 March 2022 date for next litter pick.
Planning: Porsche have been granted planning permission so Aston Martin will be leaving the site soon.
Pemberton have asked for a letter of support for their old application. The PC was split but narrowly voted in favour of giving the letter so things moving there again.
Beech Farm development has been approved.
Rupert asks Gaynor if a specific neighbourhood plan email address would be good? Gaynor thinks it would and that we should try and reach as many villagers as possible.
Action: Paru to set up a separate neighbourhood plan email address.
Hilary also offers to contact all Harston-based groups to get contact emails so they can create a list and group email to everyone who is a stakeholder in the village.
Consultations: Peter Hayde highlights some consultations which will affect Harston and urges people to respond:
Making Connections a GCP consultation views sought on proposals to radically enhance bus and active travel journeys, closes on 20th Dec.
Also a Local Transport and Connectivity Plan for the mayor’s office is also open for consultation. Closes 28th Nov. You can email responses to: mailto:contact@yourltcp.co.uk
Greater Cambridge Local Plan closes 13th December: where they’re planning on building houses for next 5 years.
Community Groups: Harston Village Warden Scheme and Phone Buddies still going strong.
Harston Food Hub has appeal for cereals, tinned food, especially meat, fish and mild cooking sauces etc. They also have bank account for donations: Account number: 20434960 Sort Code: 60-83-01. Please contact Kukka on 07876 297001 with any enquiries.
AOB: Gaynor asks Rupert to ask PC to get people with overhanging trees near the BP garage to cut them back to stop so many slippery leaves on the path. There is no official cleaning of pavements and it’d be good to get leaves swept up. Hilary suggests encouraging residents to do their bit. Rupert to find out what PC position is on this.
December 21st next meeting, probably brief and with festive drinks!