Harston Residents Group Meeting 21/2/23
Present. Claire Cock-Starkey (chair), Peter Hayde, Gaynor Hayde, Rupert Pearce Gould. Hilary Roadley, Brian Williamson, Jan Nanor, Fabio Puddu.
Apologies. Joy Richardson
Traffic and transport
Church Street is congested due to building works at surgery. Concern raised that this may be long term due to expansion of surgery and reduction in car parking places.
EWR. There may be news from EWR soon, nothing new at present.
Consultations. No new consultations.
Combined Authority Bus strategy closes at 5pm on 22nd Feb
GCP has online poll re colour of signage on new greenways. Residents can opt for Cambridge Blue or Country Green.
Current greenway discussions.
BW received letter from Chris Harte regarding the You said, We Did Paper discussed at Joint Assembly. They will implement/consider resolutions to route issues on Church St in the preliminary design. It is not known if residents will get another chance to consult on the final design.
The HRG Transport Group suggested Harston PC should write to GCP.
HR proposed the letter should refer to the Harston Neighbourhood Plan, which considers land use.
BW suggested contact person in first instance would be Chis Harte, who is project manager for Melbourn greenway.
Action. Transport Group will draft letter to go to HPC for consideration and then on to GCP Executive Board
The layby near bus shelter on A10 northbound near Hauxton junction with A10 will remain.
Footpath to Newton
No new info that we are aware of. Cambridge County Council Active Travel initiative implements these schemes. We need to find out how to ask CCC to put the footpath on to a list for consideration. Should this be via Harston PC or our County Councillor?
2023 funding is for ‘Shovel Ready’ schemes. Most works undertaken on active travel are in Cambridge.
Action. Ask Cambridge county councillor, Maria King, about getting scheme recognised.
Communications
Website migration. Decisions to be made when JR returns.
Newsletter
Send items to Claire Cock-Starkey for inclusion in next newsletter.
Litter Pick
There is still a hope that an enquirer would take on the litter pick.
There’s a lot of litter around Harston.
Equipment for the litter pick and advice about organising it is available.
Action. A note on Facebook.
Pavilion development
Dom, HPC Chair will update later.
HR has made suggestions for development. Facilities need volunteers to run the activities.
Facilities for teenagers are needed, eg skatepark.
Results from survey are available. Charlotte Clarke and Mike Luffman may be able to provide an update for next newsletter.
The Pavilion is in the wrong place and splits the rec up in an unhelpful way. There is funding available for this sort of development project.
Community engagement
There is a lack of volunteers for community activities in Harston. We need people without young family responsibilities to help run activities.
The A10 may contribute to lack of cohesion. East side of A10 has more residencies than west side. The village is long and spread out and lack of involvement of residents appears to be characteristic of Harston. No overall group or centre of communication to welcome newcomers and provide oversight.
We discussed whether it was better to combine the different newsletters and magazines into one document, but decided it was best to keep the current arrangement as it is.
Main theme of meeting is more people are needed to help with village activities.
Football. Now only one junior team.
Neighbourhood Plan
Summary of survey results to go to consultant ready for the workshop on March 15th. People with knowledge and expertise needed for their input to parts of the Plan.
The document that answers the questions from the survey directly will go on to website.
Better Brew coffee morning on 1st April and Annual Parish Meeting will have information.
Information will be relayed back from the workshop at various events. Many more assessments still to be done.
Response rate to surveys was 288 returns from 755 households.
A table of location linked with traffic options is available.
Only one written response from 70+ businesses and verbal comments from another 3 or 4.
All landowners responded.
This is all quantifiable evidence.
Greener Harston
The Green at end of London Road has spring bulbs coming up.
March village tidy-up proposed. New volunteers welcome.
Action. CCS to coordinate with B Korb.
Planning
Pemberton Arms to be demolished. Village will look better when this and Vujon development are finished.
Enforcement inspector to visit Byways on 27th Feb.
161 High Street, holiday lets. An objection from a neighbour who keeps animals.
Building next door to Franks has been bought and space cleared around it.
Liaison with HPC
No additional updates.
The Green. The water was turned off again. The drains should have been cleaned. As the water is turned off the green is getting waterlogged again.
AOB
SCDC, who is the owner of the land in The Footpath, has accepted that the land is for allotments. SCDC should be advertising them. The allotments are being used currently.
Action. RPG to contact SCDC to enquire and let CCS know
Date of next meeting is March 21st.
Email Claire with any items for the newsletter.
Jan Nanor