HRG Meeting minutes 18.10.22
Present: Joy Richardson, Brian Williamson, Gaynor and Peter Hayde, Hilary Roadley, Claire Cock-Starkey, Dom Bellamy, Rupert Pearce Gould, Fabbio Puddu, Irene Richards, Sophie and James Fletcher
Apologies: Beki Korb, Jan Nanor, Margaret Greeves
Traffic and transport:
EWR consultation at Haslingfield. Very well attended. Didn’t tell us anything new. Big white elephant outside got most attention!
RPG says there was a local representative group that met the night before. They are looking for an independent facilitator to help the discussions move forward. Supposedly EWR have not ruled out the northern route.
Buses:
HRG letters to MP, Mayor and district councillors. Had reply from all. Mayor said they are trying to get the franchises set out to tender but as yet no news on if the 915 will end at the end of October. Pressure needs to keep up as lots of school children will be unable to get to college.
Maria King and Brian Milne were asked to attend meeting to update us on the bus situation but did not reply.
New bus plans by GCP. Consultation currently running and people are encouraged to give their views. See here: http://www.greatercambridge.org.uk/mc-2022
Congestion charge seen as very controversial but this is the method they have suggested to fund a new and improved bus route with lower fares.
15th Nov drop in at Trumpington Meadows, 5 to 8pm to look at the bus plans, also webinar on 3 November 7 to 8pm, to register for the Zoom link see here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8e0qT34uSXWDisci8EA1xg
Melbourn Greenway: consultation open until 28th October.
Opportunity to see the plans in person on Thursday 20 October 4 to 7pm at Hauxton Village Hall.
Footpath to Newton: Brian wrote letter to greenways about a potential path from Newton to Harston. They replied and said they’d take it into consideration and advises that people include the idea in their response to the greenway consultation.
PH is going to go and try and look into how new footpaths could be included.
Website: Problem with payment to squarespace website which is paid in dollars but it can’t be changed. Gaynor also thinks we are paying more than we should be and we have to have a credit card attached. She has removed credit card and has asked PC to reimburse.
Gaynor wishes to resign as treasurer. Joy gives thanks to Gaynor.
PC has historically paid for the website and it will likely continue to do so but it will be discussed at their next meeting. Dom says if the website takes on the NP plan pages too it will add extra value.
The website has value to the village and Squarespace is not much more expensive than other providers and it could be costly and complicated to migrate it to another site. We also do not have the manpower to find a new provider or manage the migration.
Claire to ask Andy about capacity of Squarespace and if it can cope with more pages needed for NP.
Claire to appeal for tech help in newsletter for NP and HRG website.
Parish magazine the current editor wants to resign.
NP: Hilary and team had meeting with Catherine Cairn of Foxton which was really helpful. They then had a meeting with a consultant who has sent them a list of stages they need to go through next and how the consultants could help them. Costs £6,000 for the consultants but limited amount of time available for funding.
Hilary feels like they need an individual questionnaire so they can find out what age groups want what and where the respondents live etc. The meeting did give them lots of clear objectives but the pace seems a bit fast because we need more volunteers. We need to put out another call for volunteers. Especially people with online skills as maps need to be labelled online. They also need a communications lead.
A business questionnaire also needs to go out. Rupert suggests joining the two but Hilary explains that they need different focuses.
Community activities:
Greener Harston: Bulbs not arrived yet but once they have we’ll try and organise a bulb planting day. Hilary and another team will plant up the war memorial the day before.
Litter: Huge amount of litter collected at the latest litter pick but with not very many people. 13 adults and 8 children did a really good job. Some areas have really improved but the usual areas are still awful. Peter has been doing the litter pick organising for five years and would like to hand the baton over. We need a new person to take over setting it up. Huge thanks to Peter for all his efforts.
Litter at the shop: The PC have put a large new bin outside the shop so the capacity has now increased. Remains to be seen if it will make a difference. Hilary says there is still litter everywhere outside the shop. Hilary suggests posters to take litter home with them made by schoolchildren.
Notices have been given to the shop and Dal says they are going to put them up on posts outside the shop. Hilary asks that all the plastic signs look tatty and wonders if they could be removed? Also all the signs on the Green.
Dom suggests someone actually goes to talk to him with some suggestions that could help to tackle the litter problem. Beki Korb was going to approach Dal.
Sign for the pub and sign for slimming world on the Green. Brewboard do not have permission to have it on the Green. Joy suggests Greener Harston makes a list of all the unsightly signs around the village.
Planning:
Nothing new on the Pem. But Hilary says they have added a new plan showing how they would get the lorries in to deliver. Hilary says it looks ridiculously tight.
Flashing lights outside the school now flash. Double yellow lines in front of the pem should go in soon. Also more flashing lights on A10.
Carefields: Buildings they thought haven’t been approved according to planning they weren’t aware of anything. Some photos have now been sent to them.
AOB: Speed reductions – county council announced that it’s now easier to get 20mph limits and lots of villages in Cambridge have been successful. Peter suggests it’s something we could try for Church Street or even Button End. Dom is going to look into the scheme.
Pavilion development: Dom trying to organise another meeting on this. Hopefully at end of November. They have been gathering data and will link it into the neighbourhood plan.
Joy suggests asking for more volunteers from our wider network who receive the minutes. Highlight the gaps and help needed in the email sent with the minutes.
Next meeting: 15 November 8pm 2022