Melbourn Parish Council L to R standing Councillors Christopher Stead, Rosemary Gatward, Dean Hardingham, Janice Guest, Mike Sherwen, Robson and Colin Charter L to R seated Councillors Andy Qulina (recently co-opted) Donald Mowatt (Chairman), Michael Linette (recently co-opted) Absent Val Barratt, Irene Bloomfield, Clive Purbrook, Jocelynb Robson, Maureen Townsend (Vice Chairman), Richard Wakerley. It was however an easy decision to make, given the talent and depth of experience of my fellow councillors, who would surely be bound to keep me on track or else. Having grown up in a village I am no stranger to village life. Further, I am ambitious for Melbourn as I believe it is a delightful parish that we all wish to sustain. With this in mind, I am keen for the Parish Council to consult with fellow villagers and come up with a Parish plan. Such a document will, I am certain, allow us to address the wishes and ideas of all the community. It is hoped that a Parish plan will provide a clear agenda to help organisations to work together for the benefit of the Parish community. It will be used to drive change and to influence policy with the Parish Council, local authorities and, service providers as well as other agencies. Though not a simple matter to organise, I am certain the outcome will more than justify the means. The plan will be a mixture of short and long-term projects. These too, will be subject to modification as circumstances change and new challenges arise. Not prepared by professionals, it is expected that expert opinion and professional advice will be needed to gauge the feasibility of any major projects. Parish plans originated with the Government’s November 2000 Rural White Paper. The main objective was to give rural parishes the opportunity to influence more effectively the way in which their community develops by producing a plan that reflected the wishes of the community. Anyway, I will put my pen down now, and look forward to keeping you posted in future issues. Further, with the Festive Season beckoning, I should like to take this opportunity to extend to you all, the very warmest and best wishes from your Parish Council.
Report by Cllrs Val Barrett and Janice Guest During the autumn things at South Cambs start to get busy again once everyone is back from their summer holidays and the children are back at school. In fact, the same thing hap-
pens at Council and we are once again attending meetings on a more regular basis. As stated earlier the kerbside collection of plastics has begun. Although we are sure that it will take some time for residents to get into the practice of putting out the two boxes with the green bin we are sure that all this recycling is worthwhile. Of course, in the coming months the two collection bins will be removed from the car park in the High Street. We are sure that there are a lot of residents who will be pleased to see them go and we think this will give the village the opportunity of tidying up the area around the bus shelter. No doubt the Parish Council will now look for ways to enhance this area. We had both received complaints about the state of the green area in Haggers Close and at last, after long discussions with several departments at South Cambs, we have been able to have the area levelled with the exception of a few shrubs. The whole area has now been re-seeded with grass and hopefully by the spring things will be looking better - definitely tidier and, we will do our best to see that the shrubs are not allowed to grow to the excessive size they were last year. During October we were invited to Foxton Village Hall to meet the new Bishop of Huntingdon, Rt. Rev. Dr David Thomas, and we were also invited to the presentation of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International Trade to the TTP Group plc. This award was presented by A H Duberly, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, to Peter Taylor, who accepted on behalf of everyone at TTP. We were also privileged to have a brief tour of some of the laboratories and see some of the marvellous products they have invented, some of which we use in our day-to-day living, all without realising they may well have been designed at TTP – Melbourn Science Park. We are both regularly in contact with Melbourn residents and try to help them with their enquiries; a lot of these are to do with housing. Unfortunately, we can only ensure that those queries are taken to the appropriate officer and followed up by ourselves. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact either of us and we will endeavour to help in the best way possible. Both of us offer you our best wishes for the Festive Season. melbournmagazine
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