BEAR and Covanta

Bedford's out of the BEAR incinerator project so where does that leave the economics for Central Beds and Luton? Are they going to say it would be more cost effective to go in with Covanta?

War Memorial

New promises from QSS about the lettering on the war memorial and fresh explanations why the last promise wasn't kept. By October committees they'll either have done it or we will be seeking compensation for the poor work last year and appointing someone else to do it on an emergency basis.

They won't be told

The grey revolution spilt onto the public highway on Friday when Lodge Road, Villa Park and other residents made their voices heard. Cranfield's shock troops symbolically blocked the road for five minutes to send a message to housing giant Persimmon that Lodge Road is NO THROUGH ROAD for either construction traffic or hundreds of daily car movements. They are also writing to top Persimmon Executive Andrew Hammond asking why the company said two years ago that the access could be changed but has now gone very quiet. These people clearly do not plan to be quiet themselves. Lodge Road residents want as many Cranfield people as possible to write to Persimmon raising their concerns about access and the impact on Lodge road – regardless of whether they live near it or not. You should write to: Andrew Hammond, Managing Director, Persimmon Homes Midlands, 3 Waterside Way, Bedford Road, Northampton NN4 7XD. If you are on email could you send a copy of your letter to royphillips1@mypostoffice.co.uk

Home Farm

Persimmon visiting on Wednesday October 21st. Lodge Road and Villa Park residents are currently running a writing campaign to Persimmon reminding the company of its negotiations two years to change the access. I think their message is 'We haven't gone away!'

War Memorial?

Any word from QSS re re-lettering? I don't think so. Getting a little bit fed up.

Building your community

There many factors that affect our quality of life – health facilities, schools, roads, policing and housing developments to name a few.

The Parish Council is usually the first port of call when developers, planners and service providers are making decisions that impact on the village. Its planning committee, for instance, is always busy assessing proposed developments, large or small and forwarding views of villagers to Central Beds Council.

The Parish Council is made up of ordinary people who are prepared to give up a couple of evenings month to get involved in influencing these sort of proposals. They also help run our own ‘frontline services’ such as children’s play equipment, open spaces and the cemetery. They are currently working closely with the Highways Agency Amey to develop proposals for traffic calming in Cranfield.

New faces are always important to ensure that there is fresh thinking. The Parish Council would like to invite individuals to consider seeking co-option to the council and to play a part in making Cranfield a stronger, more attractive community.

The ‘person spec’, to use modern jargon, is as follows:

• Attendance: regular, conscientious

• Interests: community spirited, enthusiastic about local quality of life.

• Patience: Lots of it! Ability to accept decisions you disagree with and understand that decision making and implementation can be a slow process. Committees can be a bit cumbersome but they ensure that all voices are heard.

• Knowledge: Nothing specialist required. Prepared to learn on the job. But curiousity helps.

The current council finishes in April 2011 so those who do join it now are only committing for 18 months. But there is no need to take a decision immediately. You can seek co-option by emailing the clerk on cranfieldpc@btconnect.com or tel 05601 534542. For an informal chat about how the parish council works and the co-option process, ring Laurence Pollock on 01234 757689

Waste disposal

BEAR project people came to see us on Wednesday evening. Our preferred options are:

No incinerators

One incinerator run by Bedfordshire (BEAR)

On incinerator run by Covanta processing waste on behalf of people in Slough.

But we might end up with two incinerators

Traffic calming

Bedfordshire Highways, working with Central Bedfordshire Council and Cranfield Parish Council will be holding an exhibition of proposals designed to look at traffic calming measures and improvements along the High Street, Mill Road and Broad Green in Cranfield.

The exhibition will take place at the Methodist Church, High Street, Cranfield on 10 October between 10am and 4pm where plans will be on display, together with questionnaire/comment forms and staff will be on hand to answer any questions that you may have.

Please take this opportunity to come along and see for yourself, and have your say on the future of Cranfield.

Big Big Thankyou

Phil Bates, former chairman has resigned from the parish council. The Blog speaks for everyone in saying a big big thank you for all your hard work and how. 11 years as chair and 14 on the council was quite a stretch (and no parole for good behaviour either) while holding down a tough day job and doing all that good family stuff. Snot surprising, really, that you needed to get half way up a mountain to get your head cleared.

Phil has been made an honorary life member of the Parish Council refreshment sub-committee which meets as often as it can at a variety of venues after normal business has been concluded. We hope to see him whenever he is able to join us.

Persimmon

Persimmon have written to us accepting our invitation to visit. We are currently dusting the best china and checking who is making the cucumber sandwiches, angel cakes etc. They are going to be visiting us a lot in the next few years so it makes sense to say hello in advance.

War Memorial

It's a job getting the right ink for your memorial! The clerk has launched increased pester power (we are up to P3 with a max of P5) regarding the relettering of the war memorial. The latest response from the lettermen states:

The latest on the special ink is that it should arrive this week, but unfortunately our resident "artist" is away on vacation till the 14th Sept, but given we have the ink by then, I promise it will the first job upon returning, it will only take a couple of days to complete. I'm sorry this is dragging on a bit but we must be sure we have the correct ink - this time!

So the parishmatters blog will come back to this on the week beginning 21 September