Churchyard paths

Useful meeting at the Churchyard to discuss state of the paths and what can be done about it. My report to the parish council is below.

Churchyard site meeting

13 February 2010

Present: Sheila Ewen, Derek Jones, Hugh Symes-Thompson (Parochial Church Council), Peter Meadows, Laurence Pollock (Cranfield Parish Council)

Those present examined the condition of churchyard pathways at a variety of locations with a view to establishing need and priorities.

This report will be forwarded to Cranfield Parish Council

Areas of particular concern

• The Church Walk-Court Road public footpath is subject to water entering from the churchyard. The PCC is exploring the possibility of a soakaway to deal with this. The path is choked with leaves that block the drain and cars churn the surface when turning at the top of Church Walk. Wooden posts that once protected the path have disappeared. This might be a suitable project for Probation Service community work. The PCC has contacted the land registry but it has been unable to establish ownership. Advice from Anglian Water on the soakway would be useful.

• The north west path is probably unsuited to pea shingle as this is the vehicle entrance. PCC members also pointed out the benefits of some hard standing adjacent to the path for vehicles to use when parking on site.

• The northern path is also of concern and some has been dressed with pea shingle. Hugh reports that the shingle is not the correct colour but could not give a view on whether this renders it entirely unsuitable. Part of the path has little shingle and is muddy while the section near the lych gate shows hard core coming through. As an interim measure I believe the path should be dressed with shingle as soon as possible.

The back paths (east and south east) while a cause of concern might benefit from the following:

• Spraying out moss.

• Reseeding: it transpires that the existing paths are far wider than the original as the edges have eroded

• Permitting grass beside the path to grow longer in order to strengthen the sides.