Village News Parish Council

28 Station Road Melbourn Cambs SG8 6DX Telephone 262494 e-mail: parishclerk@melbournpc.co.uk

Chairman Donald Mowatt 23, High Street SG8 6AL 268388 Vice-Chairman Maureen Townsend 32 New Road SG8 6ER 260959 Clerk & Office Avril Mellor, 28 Station Road, SG8 6DX 262494

E-mail parishclerk@melbournpc.co.uk

Website www.melbourncambridge.co.uk Councillors Val Barratt 2 Station Road SG8 6DX 261227 Irene Bloomfield 78 Russet Way SG8 6HF 222558 Colin Charter 58 Bramley Avenue SG8 6HG 262278 Janice Guest 1 Mortlock Street SG8 6DB 260894 Rosemary Gatward 94 High Street SG8 6AL 261225 Dean Hardingham 1 Portway SG8 6EU 232757 Michael Linette 11, Chapel Lane 262534 Donald Mowatt 23 High Street SG8 6AL 268388 Clive Purbrook Glebe House High Street SG8 6DZ 260899 Andy Qulina 77 Orchard Road SG8 6BB Jocelyn Robson 91 High Street Mike Sherwen 3 Hale Close SG8 6ET 260070 Christopher Stead 70 Russet Way 260743 pm Maureen Townsend 32 New Road SG8 6BY 260959 Richard Wakerley 32 Chalkhill Barrow SG8 6EQ 262247 Employees Handyman and Caretaker Peter Andrews 243312

Emergency mobile. 07778-682245 Village Ranger Keith Rudge, 4 Dolphin La, SG8 6AF 221212 Internal Auditor Peter Chilvers, 68A High Street, SG8 6AJ 260742 County Councillor David Charles McCraith 104 North End, Bassingbourn D-Rmccraith@supanet.com (send agenda by e-mail) County Hall 01223-833555 District Councillors Janice Guest, 1 Mortlock Street, SG8 6DB 260894 Val Barrett, 2 Station Road 261227 South Cambs M.P. Andrew Lansley 01954 212707 South Cambs M.E.P. Robert Sturdy 01954 211790 The Parish Office at 28 Station Road, is entered by the door at the front of the building directly opposite Sheene Mill. The Parish Office is now open on Mondays from 9 am to 1 pm, on Tuesdays from 2 pm from 4 pm, and on Thursday from 9 am to 1 pm. The office is not normally open on Wednesdays or Fridays. As the Clerk is sometimes out on Parish business it is better to ring 262494 to ensure that she is in the office. Meetings of the Planning Committee are normally held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month commencing at 7.15 pm. Council Meetings are normally held on the fourth Monday of each month at 7.15 pm at Vicarage Close Community Centre.

The Press Royston & Buntingford Mercury

Tom Ship, Media Centre 40 Ware Road,

Hertford, SG13 7HU 01992 526639 Royston Crow Heath House, Princes Mews,

Royston, SG8 6RT 245241 Fax 242231 Cambridge News David Williams, 3 Melbourn Street,

Royston, SG8 7BP 249144 Fax 244502 BBC Radio Cambridge

Reception 01223 259696

Newsroom 01223 358510

From the Parish Clerk – Avril Mellor

Do you, like me, wonder where this year has gone? It is nearly Christmas, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas period. You will, I am sure, have seen the new Parish Notice Board by The Cross. It is a beautiful piece of work, made of oak with hand carved letters. In order to stop any vandalism to the board it has been decided that it be kept locked. Any posters or notices which you would like to be put on the board need to be given to me or put through the door of the Parish Office on Station Road. I will then put these on the board for you and, of course remove them when the event is past. Stockbridge Meadows Riverside Park has now been legally handed over to the Parish Council. I do hope that you have been and enjoyed a walk around. Due to the wild flora and fauna of the site, all dogs must be kept on leads and owners are requested to clean up after them and use the bin provided. The Parish Council was approached by the River Mel Restoration Group with a request to use the Pavilion on the Recreation Ground as a base from which to provide refreshments for a litter picking session held in November. They will also use it as a base to provide refreshments for working party sessions, which will commence in January 2009. The Council was very pleased to be able to help with this matter. There seems to have been some problems with the emptying of bins in the village. Some of them do not seem to be emptied on a regular basis. I think this is due to cuts to the service being made by SCDC, which has resulted in three areas being rolled into two. This means that only two people now do the job of what used to be three. On top of that we do not get the same employees on the round all the time, which of course means that the round is unfamiliar to some. Unfortunately this results in certain of the bins in the less obvious places getting missed. I hope that by the time you read this, things will have settled down, but if you are aware of any problems, please report the matter to me. I can then phone SCDC Environmental Department and request that the bin be emptied.

From the Chairman of the Parish Council Donald Mowatt

A warm hello. My name is Donald Mowatt, and I have only very recently become Chairman of Melbourn Parish Council. Given that I am amongst the fledglings, and not long in the village, I feel particularly honoured to have been asked to take the reins.

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 happens 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.