M11 Junction 11 Park & Ride

The Executive Board of the Greater Cambridge Partnership met on 27th June and, as expected, approved that the plans for a P&R on Hauxton parish land at J11 of the M11 be progressed to a full planning application. We will be scrutinising the detailed design proposals very closely as we still have very serious concerns about how the flow of traffic along the A10 will be optimised.

We reiterate that it is hugely frustrating that poor planning has resulted in the need for the P&R in this location, but we are extremely concerned that other options will make Harston’s traffic problems even worse. We hope to see faster progress now on other GCP interventions that could help, such as the Foxton travel hub.

Strawberries and Creem Festival

The festival went ahead under its new licence terms in June. The terrible weather the week before did little to help organisation and there were several problems in the days leading up to the festival. We have also received several complaints about the running of the festival and possible breaches of the licence conditions.

Two residents who are near neighbours of the festival are planning to request a review of the licence by South Cambs, as any person is entitled to do, subject to certain conditions. Once a licence review is in progress there is the opportunity for residents, the emergency services, the parish council and other bodies to make representations for, or more likely against, the licence for the festival.

The review concludes with a hearing with a sub-committee of the South Cambs licensing committee to decide on next steps (such as updating or adding to the licence conditions, or as the ultimate sanction, withdrawing the licence). Everyone who has made representations to the review is permitted to speak at the hearing.

We will keep the parish council informed of the progress of the review and when it opens for representations.

Community Chest grant for Little Owls Preschool

South Cambs District Council's Grants Advisory Committee met at the end of June and recommended to the Finance Portfolio Holder approval of grants for various community projects across the district, including the grant of £581.90 to Haslingfield Little Owls Preschool for the replacement of tables. The Lead Cabinet Member for Finance approved this recommendation the following week.

Street-sweeping in Haslingfield

A revised plan for targeted street sweeping across the district is coming into operation this month. Following submissions from both Haslingfield parish council and us as your district councillors, Haslingfield will be among the first villages prioritised for sweeping in July in the new rolling programme.