TO REPORT A FAULTY STREETLIGHT RING 0800 253529.  IDENTIFY IT BY ITS CCC/PCC NUMBER OR NEAREST HOUSE OR OTHER LANDMARK.

 

Sincere thanks are due to the Parish Councillors who gave their time to sell raffle tickets to enable the Christmas lights on the Green to brighten grey skies for the schoolchildren and the centre of the village.  Those on ‘traffic’ duty that Sunday in the freezing wind needed thermals and a warm drink.  Steve Edwards and Charlie Gillings helped to accommodate Father Christmas and seventy children visited him.  A huge thanks to the Aragon Singers and Margaret Moor for the melodious renditions of popular carols, and to Mark in the Lion Hotel who drew the raffle prizes (of which nearly all ended up in Buckden). The Prize Draw was made possible through many people’s generosity and thanks to Steve’s powers of persuasion. 

Thanks also to all the staff at The Lion, to Peter Bush for his long hours manning the barriers and for helping to erect and take down the diversion signs, to Carol and all at Buckden Village Stores for their gift of sweets for the children, to Buckden Theatre Club for the loan of a screen for Father Christmas’s grotto and, of course, to Father Christmas himself.  And his family.  And the elves.

And last but by no means least thanks to everyone who joined us from the village.

Tilly Farmer Wright

Chairman, Parish Council 

 

The Planning Committee will next meet on Monday 6 January 2003 and the Parish Council on Tuesday 14 January 2003.  Both meetings will held be in the Community Centre and will start at the usual time of 7.30 pm.  The Council meeting includes an Open Forum at which you are welcome to raise matters of interest or concern to the village.  The Planning Committee does not include an Open Forum, but members of the public wishing to comment on an agenda item should do so in writing to the Chairman or Clerk. At her discretion, the Chairman may also allow them to make a brief statement when the item is reached. Agendas are posted on the Parish Noticeboards at Papworth’s Corner (George Lane) and the Village Hall car park.  The Noticeboards also carry details of all new planning applications notified to the Council.

 

Buckden Youth Research Team  Hinchingbrooke sixth formers Emma Fenney, Steven Hill, Emma King and Ben Strangeways reported on the results of the survey which they and fellow team members recently carried out to obtain representative views of the village youth, especially on leisure and recreational facilities. An impressive presentation left Councillors with much to think about - more on this in the next Roundabout. Crime and Disorder Act 1998 The Council passed a resolution acknowledging its statutory responsibility under section 17 of the Act to pay due regard to the likely effect of its decisions on, and the need to do all that it rea­sonably can to prevent, crime and disorder in the parish. Freedom of Information Act 2000  The Act requires parish and other councils to submit publication schemes to the Information Commissioner by 31 December. Through these schemes the government aims to encourage local councils to em­brace its own commitment to publishing full, open and accurate informa­tion. Buckden expects to adopt the model scheme drawn up by the National Association of Local Councils. General Pur­poses The Council voiced its support for attempts to get Buckden linked to Broadband. Members agreed to buy more dog waste bins. Four of these would be for the Memorial Playing Field where dog-fouling remains a potentially serious health problem. Road Safety  Councillor Penny was exploring whether Buckden could obtain funding under the ‘Safe Routes to School’ scheme. Village Hall Trust  Councillors welcomed Nigel Wright, who attended to give his first report as Trust Chairman.  Emergency planning  Councillors agreed that it was time to update the long mothballed Parish Emergency Plan and instructed the Clerk to start gathering the necessary information on resources and contacts.  

 

The Parish Council haS CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING APPLICATIONS:

3 Bishops Way  erection of conservatory (0212830/FUL)  No objections

Land between Tin Lid and Station House, Brampton Road petroleum distribution depot with landscaping, car parking and alterations to access arrangements (0212862FUL)  Members were pleased to see from this revised version of an earlier scheme (02/00957/FUL) that the storage tanks would be smaller and the site better screened, but some of their concerns (about, e.g., road safety) remained as before.

Recent decisions by the District Council:

APPROVED: 3 Bishops Way  erection of conservatory (0212830/FUL)

 

Miscellaneous News

 

NEVER ON A MONDAY

Well, not for some time anyway. By now, all residents whose household rubbish is collected on a Monday should know that they will not be included in the wheelie bin trial starting in January but will continue to have  a weekly bag collection.  Almost everyone else will have been notified by the District Council that contrary to earlier newspaper reports most of Buckden and Stirtloe is to be part of the trial.  For more information call the District Council Helpline on Freephone 0800 3896613 or look on the District Council website (www.huntsdc.gov.uk).

CRIMEWATCH

Despite Buckden’s array of fine old houses and inns (see entry in the Huntingdonshire District Guide) the television crew, cameras and vehicles that filled the south end of the High Street recently weren’t here to film the latest Jane Austen serial. Nor (heaven forbid) were they scouting the suitability of Ivelbury Close as the replacement Brookside. They were from BBC Crimewatch and were recon­structing the very unpleasant burglary that took place near the roundabout a few weeks ago.  The programme was due to go out on Wednesday 18 December.  If it did you may have missed it.  If so, try to find someone who videoed it: does the reconstruction jog your memory?  There are some very nasty people out there who need to be caught.

 

Keen readers of the Roundabout will have come across several references to

Broadband in recent months, and know that it provides very fast access to the internet. This brings benefits to all the community: schools, libraries, surgeries, home-workers, businesses, indeed every­one who uses e-mail or the net. It isn’t easy for rural communities to get on to it: BT, for example, says that it requires 500 residents in an area to register an interest before it will consider making a connection.  The East of England Development Agency has now been given £3,000,000 to help overcome this problem.  Communities can apply for the money through a competition - “Demand Broad­band!”. There are fringe benefits for all communities who enter, even if they are unsuccessful, but the main com­petition has two rounds. The first requires the submission of a fairly informal (but enthusiastic and well-supported!) entry. The communities successful in this round will then have to draw up a second entry containing a “more robust” business case (consultants will be available to help with this stage).  The eventual winners will be announced next spring.  As a preliminary step, each community needs someone pre­pared to organise its competition entry.  In Buckden, Paul McLoughlin of Hunts End has offered to do this.  You can contact him on 811586 (phone), 07968 568524 (mobile) or info@maclanduk.com.