St Ives - August 3rd 2008

From your St Ives Focus Team

Thorndown School path- Good news

During canvassing in March residents of Little How drew our attention to the deplorable state of the path on the western side of Thorndown Schools. Early investigation revealed that attempts had been made in the past by a Conservative district councillor to get the path repaired. They were unsuccessful because the County Council had never adopted the path. We prepared a petition for parents of the school pupils which both head teachers kindly made available for signature.The Town Crier gave us excellent coverage. The county council passed the petition on to HDC but indicated that they would adopt the path once it had been brought up to standard. At this stage it seems the Conservatives suddenly renewed interest in the problem of the path and ensured that funding was found to do the work. Work on the path started on 28th July. It is to be hoped that the local Conservatives will support other initiatives of ours in future. Sadly at the county council a recent Lib Dem initiative on help for post offices selected for closure was rejected.

Fenstanton: Roads

Low Road is now a lot safer thanks to our initiatives in 2007. We dug out the ditch on the dangerous bend in March 2007. Finally this year the work was completed by contractors after they finished the new bridge near Crystal Lakes. They have also reduced the risk of flooding on the road opposite the entrance to Crystal Lakes. Sadly the pipes that were damaged by contractors in the summer of 2007 have not yet been replaced. The faulty pipes were the cause of flooding in January this year. We will continue our efforts to persuade the county council to deal with the problem

In April 2007 the District Council approved proposals to build 155 new homes - including 62 for social housing - on the former Jewson's site on London Road. This land was previously scheduled for commercial use and approval is now needed from the East of England Development Authority which should be forthcoming. Fenstanton residents will be concerned at the extra traffic but would be less worried if it leads to improvements at Galley Hill that would reduce rat-running through the village.

Fenstanton: Drains

Colin turned his attention to the problems of serious erosion in Hall Green Brook and a fallen tree over West Brook. When the local office of the Environment Agency declined to deal with the erosion problem he went straight to the head person. Baroness Young visited St Ives to open the Inland Waterways Festival. At a suitable moment she was presented with a photograph which clearly indicates the erosion under a very large concrete slab. Consultations took place in November between the agencies for Highways and Environment about the responsibility for correcting the erosion problem. After being shunted between the Environment and Highways Agencies and then Anglian Water Colin was able to establish that Cambridge Water was responsible for the cause of the erosion. In late April they agreed to rectify matters.

Colin with Baroness Young at I.W.A.Festival

Erosion of the bank in Hall Green Brook

St Ives and Fenstanton: Boundaries

Residents in Greenfields, Maytrees and Elizabeth Court rejected their potential move from Fenstanton Ward into St Ives. Colin made sure everyone was aware of this and of the likely increase in Council Tax and severance of village ties. THE NO'S HAVE IT. On 5th December district councillors voted to accept the proposal that only houses in Bridge Terrace and London Road as far as Hemingford Road be incorporated into St Ives. The bad news for those residents is an increase in their council tax of at least £50.