Central Beds

The Parish Council is writing to Central Beds Unitary councillors, Alan Bastable, Ken Matthews and Sue Clarke asking the following questions about Home Farm:

1.     Reports: 

1.1.   PCllr L Pollock reported upon correspondence regarding the standing of the Home Farm Development application; and proposed that Cranfield Parish Council writes to all unitary councillors in addition to Ken Matthews as executive lead asking:

1.1.1.  Firstly about the authority's resolution in the face of any appeal by Persimmon against non-determination.

1.1.2.  Secondly at what point it became clear that Persimmon were on Home Farm unlawfully and why no action was taken.

1.1.3.  Thirdly how the design brief and the S106 agreement can be delivered if Persimmon cannot take control of the land in question. 

Cemetery

I'm off on my bike tour to see how the weeds are coming  along in the cemetery 

Cuts to policing

BBC - Police 'plan to cut 14% of jobs by 2015

Continue reading the main story

There will be 34,000 fewer police jobs in England and Wales in March 2015 than in March 2010, research by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary suggests.

It estimated that the overall cut of 14% will include losing 16,200 officers and 16,100 civilian staff.The HMIC added there was "relatively strong evidence" falling staff numbers might lead to a rise in some offences.Home Office figures showed there are 139,110 officers in England and Wales - 4,625 fewer than March last year.The annual decrease recorded by March this year was 3.2%. The number of police staff stood at 74,010, a decrease of 7% or 5,586 compared with a year earler.

Well it's happening locally already in Cranfield  'Project 2011' will bring changes in October and former beat managers will be doing more of a 'section role'. So we will not be seeing much of them. 

The PCSOs will have additional powers to give out tickets etc but they will be covering a huge area. The government says there is no relationship between crime figures and police numbers but that is flatly contradicted by HMIC (the inspectorate). 

HMIC published research  suggesting that a 10 per cent cut in officer numbers would lead to a three per cent increase in crime.

Village Hall

Members of the "veeaitchemcee" (village hall management committee) are confident that the hall will be reopened by christmas. Work going ahead on the roof. The full works obviously still dependent on a house sale in the near future. 

Round in circles

It wasn’t long after the new Lodge Road roundabout was unveiled that the worried emails started piling in. Basically you couldn’t see the traffic on the main road when you were coming out of Lodge Road. A meeting was held on site last month with CBC councillors, parish councillors and residents’ representatives. Amey held discussions with road safety auditors and Bedfordshire Police who also felt the layout was unacceptable.

They have now redesigned the road markings, moving the centre of the roundabout away from Lodge Road and plan to discuss this with the Police and safety team.

Village hall

Village hall management committee.  Its the hall's centenary year but uts been closed for 27 months. Work on the roof and toilets is going ahead however - encouraging news. Marjorie Cotton the chair did a a good presentation at the Parish Council last week. PC chairwoman Delise Ball, did urge her though to get the hall open even on an interim basis.

I agree, especially on the centenary. The danger is the that the hall's regular users will never come back. The 'Big Bang' approach, everything done at once is attractive but buildings need to be used. 

Activity on Home Farm

OK it took a  bit of digging (rather like that excavator of Home Farm) but I eventually got some answers. On the question of an Amey compound the answer came back:

Although (the) Amey Highways representative, when visiting the site at Home Farm, parks his vehicle (private car) within the site compound there is no Amey Highways compound on the site, nor have we given any instruction to create one.

Therefore there is no reason that we know off that would entail the excavation of soil and the use of tippers on the Home Farm site. However excavation is taking place on Lodge Road and the material is being deposited on to the site to enable the construction of the Section 278 works.

So - back to Central Beds to check out the 'compound' issue. They refer Parish Matters to Persimmon who write:

As already explained to you by a great deal of people it seems, the works on the site relate either to the S278 or the off-site drainage provision.  This happens from Monday to Friday and will involve Persimmons contractors, utilising their compound on our site.  As also kindly specified by the Highways engineer, this will also involve some earth movement across the site from the S278 works.   All other site works ceased quite some time ago and will remain that way until the planning authority are happy for us to proceed.

It is true that S278 works have been going on for some time (I get regularly reports of the impact from residents) but I'm not sure what digging a large hole in the ground in the middle of Home Farm has to do with it. And let's not forget that Persimmon went on the site when they did  not have permission. So credibility levels are not good.  

However, the best way to stop people gossiping and the Parish Matters blogsgoing on about it is to resume the stakeholder meetings (second one has now been cancelled) and for a free flow of information. 

The last bus to Wootton

The last bus to Wootton will run on August 20. After that you can only get there from Cranfield by taking a bus to Bedford and out again.

But don’t try it on a Sunday as Bedford services in future will only run Monday to Saturday.

There has been no warning of the shock changes. Stagecoach is replacing the V1 (Monday to Saturday) and V2 (Sunday) services with two new services, 52 and 53.

The 52 will run hourly from Bedford via Kempston to Marston Moretaine and Cranfield between 06.30 and 18.30 on Monday to Saturdays only. The 53 will run from Bedford, via Hillgrounds and Kempston to Wootton every 30 minutes between 06.45 and 18.45 from Monday to Saturdays. There is an additional departure Monday to Friday at 06.15.  There will also be an hourly Sunday service from 08.45 until 16.45

This means that there is no longer a direct bus link between Cranfield and Wootton at any time.  Students whose timetable or after-school activities make it impossible to use the standard school buses will be hit. They will have to rely on the Mumndad Transport Company – if available.

Cranfield Parish Council and Cranfield University fought a joint campaign to save Sunday buses to Bedford, in April. But the reprieve was only temporary.  They are jointly contributing part of the cost of the Milton Keynes to Cranfield evening services for a temporary period. They will then talk to Milton Keynes council about finding a long-term solution from April onwards, next year. Discussions will be held in September.

Two years ago, the village and Wharley End lost evening services to and from Bedford. As the village continues to grow its transport infrastructure is threatened.  The new services separate a route that can be supported on a Sunday by Bedford Borough from one that will receive no contribution from Central Bedfordshire.

New timetables can be found at http://www.stagecoachbus.com/PdfUploads/Timetable_13908_Venus%20V1.pdf

and http://www.stagecoachbus.com/PdfUploads/Timetable_13909_Venus%20V1.pdf

If these changes will affect you in any way, you are welcome to contact me tel 01234 757689 email broadgreen68@btinternet.com or contact Cranfield Express at letters@cranfieldexpress.co.uk with comments.

A Stagecoach bus at the Wharley End 'terminus'

Activity on Home Farm

Activity on Home Farm this morning. I'm checking to make sure this really is the compound for the highways work as Persimmon advise. 

Home Farm

Persimmon states in response to my earlier enquiry:

I can confirm that the only works that are continuing in Cranfield are the County Council Works (Section 278) to High Street and Lodge Road. The contractors compound for these works is located on our site which I guess may be causing the confusion?

Buses on Sunday

I have received the details of new bus services agreed between Stagecoach and Bedford Borough. The V1 and V2 will disappear. The 52 will run from Cranfield to Marston and Shelton bypassing Wootton and the 53 will run to Wootton only. 

The Cranfield service will not run on Sundays so as things stand we have lost our Sunday buses to Bedford. I will be alerting the University and asking that the parish council, through the clerk , contacts Marston PC which will also lose Sunday bus links. We have a shared interest here. 

Home farm open for business?

Home Farm seems to be busy these days, whether lawful or not. Cycling up Lodge Road on Monday and today I've spotted the mesh gates open and action inside.


I've emailed CBC planning officer Hannah Pattinson as follows on Monday






I note that despite your letter to Persimmon in May the Home Farm site accesses are open (on Court Road and Lodge Road)  and there was a generator running this morning. Perhaps this has been authorised. I'd be grateful if you could confirm one way or the other.






and today


Following  my email on Monday I again note that Home Farm site is open with tipper trucks active on site. As before, I am requesting information on whether this presence is now lawful and if not what action Central Bedfordshire will take.


So far, no response.