Welcome to the Longstanton Ward page, covering the parishes of Longstanton and Oakington & Westwick.
Local contacts
Sarah Cheung Johnson (District Councillor)
scjlibdem@gmail.com 
@scjlibdem 
/sarahcheungjohnson
Alex Malyon (District Councillor)
You can also get in touch with any of our main South Cambs contacts found here.
We produce a regular email newsletter. If you would like to receive these then please subscribe here.
Northstowe Community Forum updates
The Northstowe Community Wing will be fully open imminently.
David Wilson has agreed to donate a defibrillator to the Northstowe community, to be located in the David Wilson show-home. The community has been raising funds for a defibrillator so these will now be used to provide training to use the equipment.
The Green is now officially open. The keys for the noticeboard, bollards and electrical substation have been handed over to Jon London.
After delays caused by the collapse of Hawk, new contractors have been appointed for the Western Park work, which will begin in September 2019. This covers the synthetic pitch, MUGA, pathways and bowling pitches. Seeding and planting will be done before Christmas, with soft landscaping to be undertaken by a different contractor.
Work on Pioneer Park has begun, and two paths crossing the park will be completed by the end of June.
Guided busway path: the design has been completed and construction should be done next year, but it cannot open formally until the bus lane is completed in phases 2 & 3.
Recording and slides of the latest Northstowe Community Forum
Northstowe Phase 2
Homes England has appointed Urban Splash to take on the Phase 2a parcel, which is 406 houses to be built between Rampton Drift and the Education Campus. 40% will be sold at market price; 40% will be starter homes, for first-time buyers and costing less than £250k; and 20% will be intended for older people. Urban Splash is largely known for its urban redevelopment work, such as the Dunlop building in Birmingham, but it has begun to build modular houses. We have uploaded their presentation to our Facebook page.
In summary:
- Buyers will be able to specify the layout of their houses e.g. whether the main living space is on the ground floor or the first floor.
- The houses will all be built in Alfreton, Derbyshire and a complete house will come in one or two deliveries – cutting down on delivery journeys considerably.
- Three houses can be erected in one day, with everything then connected internally, and the services connected.
- The houses are exceptionally well insulated low-energy structures, with solar panels installed as standard.
Northstowe secondary school
Kier has made a lot of progress and is on schedule to open the school to the 70 children on the roll to start in September. There will be an open day for the wider community in September as well.
The performance hall, art rooms, drama spaces and music spaces will all open in September.
Kier is tendering for a company to run the sports facilities. The sports hall and the 3G pitch will open in May, when sports bookings will open. CMAT, the school’s trust, will manage this.
Car access will be via Northstowe Phase 1 and there will be a footpath from Rampton Drift. Cycle routes are to be worked out in conjunction with the Highways Agency. The school has not looked at the potential issue of vehicular access through Rampton Drift and dropping off at the top of the road – this may be something the parish and county councils need to examine.
Adult Education courses, such as pilates, mindfulness and Mandarin, will be available from October.
The Swavesey and Northstowe schools share an Executive Principal, who will ensure that Swavesey does not lose pupils to Northstowe.
Road safety for pupils travelling from Bloor, and the need for traffic-calming on the B1050, were discussed.
Phase 2 construction traffic will not go through Phase 1.
Rampton Road bridleway closure
The contractor Sisk has informed us that the Rampton Road bridleway, between Rampton Drift and the Guided busway, will continue to be closed until the opening of the school in September. It has put diversions in place. It is currently completing the drainage works, and will soon progress to the earthworks, roadworks and footpaths connecting Phase 2 to Phase 1, and the school to Rampton Drift/Longstanton.
Northstowe construction noise
We have continued to receive reports, yet again, of breaches to planning conditions at Northstowe, for both Phase 1 and Phase 2. Enforcement are now investigating all these reports and carrying out spot-checks. Again, we strongly encourage you to report ALL incidents, including as much detail and evidence as possible to enable legal action.
Wherever possible reports should include the date, time, location, the nature of the work and a photo or video that shows the time and date it was taken. In the absence of photographic evidence corroboration from another resident is very useful.
Kingfisher Pond
Following a meeting between members of Longstanton parish council and South Cambs District Council leader Bridget Smith, we are going to be following up these questions with Sharon Brown, the Planning Director for Delivery.
- Has L&Q (formerly Gallagher’s) fulfilled the requirement for ongoing monitoring of the water table? LPC seemed to think that an interim report was completed in July 2017 but that a final report due in April 2018 never appeared.
- We have responsibility for the watercourses, not the Environment Agency or Internal Drainage Board. Why then have we not undertaken any assessment of our own to identify any detrimental impact of the dewatering of the site in Phase 1 or 2?
- Is L&Q required to maintain the ponds on Hatton Road and has it been doing so?
- Was an environmental impact assessment of Longstanton ever carried out as part of any planning application associated with Northstowe and was the RSPB ever consulted?
- When will the work to the road verges be completed?
We have also discussed the Kingfisher Pond with Adam Knight, Divisional MD of David Wilson, and he says he is also pushing L&Q, as the pond borders on David Wilson’s parcel of land.
Oakington transport
Our councillor for Cottenham, Eileen Wilson, met with members of the Oakington TAG and Tom Williams, the Innovation Lead for Whipper. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss whether there was any way of getting transport from Cottenham and Oakington onto the Guided busway via the proposed RTH.
Tom was very open to ideas if there was some way of subsidising the bus. He is in contact with several organisations that want to provide transport for their staff, such as the Science Park and St John's Innovation Centre, plus organisations that provide community transport. His idea is that, if all the money that these organisations are putting into their schemes was pooled, it could subsidise a services to Oakington/Cottenham at peak times, and then be used for community transport during the day and at weekends. He is drafting a document to propose the idea and will contact the GCP and Combined Authority for support.
Another point raised was that Oakington and Cottenham have been considering a 20m/ph speed limit separately, but we need to bring together the two TAGs on this matter.
Vicarage Close empty property
We were made aware of an empty property in Vicarage Close in Oakington and we notified Enforcement, who visited the premises. It has now written to the owner requesting them to cut the grass and vegetation, paint the garage door, re-stain the cladding, and wash the fascias etc. They have until 30th June to carry out the work, failing which a s215 notice will be issued.
We also contacted Housing to see if this house could be brought back into occupation. They inform us that they have attempted to contact the owner but have not received a response. If it remains unoccupied for more than five years, the property will be subject to the Council Tax premium.
Councillor updates and surgeries
We continue to be keen to meet residents, especially those who might find contacting us via email or social media difficult. We'll be confirming further surgery dates soon.
For those on social media we have a very active Facebook group covering the whole ward.
And please do not hesitate to email us if you would like to discuss the above matters or anything else:
Sarah Cheung Johnson cllr.cheungjohnson@scambs.gov.uk
Alex Malyon cllr.malyon@scambs.gov.uk
District Councillors for Longstanton, Oakington and Northstowe
You can view all our campaigns on the campaigns page of this website.
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