Harston Residents Group Meeting 20/10/20
Present: Joy Richardson, Beki Korb, Vince, Dom Bellamy, Margaret Greeves, Peter Griffiths, Brian Williamson, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hilary Roadley, Gaynor Hayde, Peter Hayde, Becki Mason, Tim Arnold.
Apologies: Jan Nanor, Linda Churchman
Communications: Tim doing great job on Twitter. Facebook a bit neglected as Joy can’t get a login but Gaynor is going to try and post more on Facebook for the group.
Finances: Money to go to Beki Korb for the bulbs and money due to Gaynor for website. Rest of the money in the account is for the bench which the PC will request once ordered. Discussion followed on where the bench should be placed, ideas put forward included: outside the village hall, on the green or on the green on Queen’s Close.
Litter Pick: Good weather but fairly poor turn out with just 19 volunteers. Good covid precautionary measures. Peter suggested next time we might try and organise some targeting of especially bad areas such as the ditches. Vince said the ditches near Button End fields were cleared by the council and asked if we could not just ask them to do it.
Action: Dom to find out if the council will clear the ditches on the High St. Peter to create a list of places around Harston which needs especial attention.
Lockdown Exhibition: Margaret Greeves reported that it went really well with a steady stream of visitors over the period with 150 visitors in total. Thanks were given to all volunteers. Exhibition will now go online on the Harston History website.
Greener Harston: Over 3,000 bulbs given out or planted. About 10 people turned up to help plant. Next the plan is to plant some wildflower seeds at the north end of the village. Gardening group will meet on the second Saturday every month at 10am.
Action: Call out for more helpers to go on Facebook (Beki to post) and in Newsletter (Claire). Beki to create a list of areas around Harston that need work.
Park House wall: Questions were raised over why the wall of Park House is still not fixed. The PC have issued an order to get it fixed but the owners are resisting as they want to build a driveway out onto the A10. Hilary suggested writing to the papers about it to get some attention.
Action: Dom to look into the latest news on this and report back.
Tree protection: A tree warden for the village would be of benefit but need to find someone who might volunteer.
Community Food Hub: Going really well, they’ve saved 5 tonnes of food that would have otherwise gone to landfill. About 26 people helping 69 people come to every session with deliveries also going out to people in Harston and surrounding villages. More volunteers required, especially on a Wednesday.
Action: Claire to include call out in next newsletter.
Phone Buddies: More volunteers required.
Action: Claire to include call out in next newsletter.
Planning: Lack of heritage policy for the village is proving to be a consistent problem in planning decisions, the Pem being a case in point.
Action: Hilary to work with PC on getting the heritage policy accepted.
Traffic and transport: 30mph campaign for London Road. Traffic subgroup have positive letter from Sharon Piper, Policy and Regulation manager, saying that London Road should be 30mph, this will be forwarded to council for action. Joy pointed out that all that needs doing to make it 30mph would be to remove the 40mph road sign as it is 30mph on the A10 at that point too and as a residential road it seems obvious that it should be 30mph.
Action: Brian to forward letter to Dom.
Church St: Lorries thundering down the street and mounting kerb. Pavements too narrow, you cannot push a wheelchair down them. M11 junction will be closed for works and letter from Highways suggests a ridiculous diversion which will encourage yet more lorries to cut through on Church St. Residents urged to complain to highways about this.
Action: Transport group to look at the issues facing Church St and Button End.
Meeting with Mayor/Mp: A meeting has been offered with Anthony Browne to discuss transport issues. Tim suggested holding it outside on the A10 at peak time so they can see how bad it is.
Action: Transport group to make list of key issues facing Harston and circulate then organise meeting.
Harston station: Application for funding for the feasibility study going well but extra cash will be needed to make it happen and so far no extra sources of money have been found.
East-West rail: Local villages have grouped together and report that they favour the route to the north of the village and this has been communicated to EWR. Just awaiting their response.
County Broadband: Expensive and possibly quickly outmoded by 5G. HRG will not take a position and leaves it up to individuals to decide if they want to go with it.
Next meeting: 17 November 8pm