Hares - the true story

Needless to say Cranfield University (or Cranfield Airport)  never intended to have the great bunny-cull slung round its neck. For the record, here is the press release it issued:

“Cranfield Airport is required by law to ensure that the airport is run safely in line with all airports in the UK.

"The airport has some areas of overgrown scrubland, which reduces visibility of airport safety areas and also harbours various wildlife that are a potential hazard to aircraft.  The airport has planned maintenance to clear areas of scrubland over the coming week.

"The University, as owner of the airport, recognises the threatened status of the brown hare and requested that the airport authorities avoid shooting any brown hares during this operation. The airport has confirmed there will not be any shooting during this operation.

"The University has also requested the airport to carry out a further study of the safety risks and population dynamics of brown hare at Cranfield Airport. The airport has confirmed that an independent study will be carried out and any appropriate action will be based on the recommendations of the report.”


PC reps met with university reps as part of a routine, twice yearly exchange of information and views. Although we talked about bus shelters and cycle track hares were the 'elephant in the room' and we did discuss the publi c controversy. We noted the problems they have with wildlife including rodents gnawing at lighting cables and, of course, deer running onto the runway and accepted the ‘duty of care’ to airfield users, which management and the university have. The airport manager stressed that they were taking advice from the Deer Initiative a “partnership of statutory, voluntary and private interests dedicated to ‘ensuring the delivery of a sustainable, well-managed wild deer population in England and Wales’.”

They were hoping to render the airfield "unfriendly to wildlife".  Dense vegetation on the south side was accessible to rabbits, hares and deer and attractive to them.  But there was no plan to ‘exterminate’ anything.


I understand scrub and vegetation clearing has gone ahead but there no plans to shoot any animals fleeing the big tidy up.

hares on the menu?

It was squeaky bum time for hares on Cranfield airfield up until yesterday afternoon. Read about the unfolding drama at local news and see local comment  on the Cranfield facebook page 
There was more up to date stuff on facebook becuase I can get on it easier from the iphone than I can with the blog. Techies are working on this.

PC reps meeting uni tonight for general chewing of fat. But I'm sure hares will be on the menu (not)

Hare today, gone tomorrow?

Forget the badgers, Cranfield Uni has got hares in its cross-hairs (sorry) because of a muntjac-aircraft collision? Sorry, I don't follow the logic either. We have a meeting with the uni this week and will seek a full explanation. In the meantime read about it here. See comments on the Cranfield facebook page

Uni threatens hare cull

Forever Cranfield

A little bit of Cranfield hast been commemorated in Silsoe according to the Bedford Times and Citizen. It reports that the former site of the National College of Agricultural Engineering was officially recognised in the unveiling of a plaque at Bloor Homes’ Silsoe Grange development last week. The site was an international centre for agricultural engineering and related disciplines subsequently becoming Silsoe College, part of Cranfield University running from 1963-2009. All teaching, research and consultancy work were transferred to the Cranfield Campus of the University in 2009, when the Silsoe site closed.

Bloor Homes welcomed the former staff members to the site, plus Professor Frank Inns the first member of staff after the Principal, to be appointed to the college in 1962, who officially unveiled the plaque on what is now a brand new development by Bloor Homes.


Vanessa Macnee, Sales Director of Bloor Homes said the plaque was a reminder and tribute to the college, preserving the key part of history that happened in Silsoe.

Cranfield is over the Moon

Could you make it on the moon?
 
Chance for youngsters to soar, thanks to Cranfield University

Read all about it at
Insider Media Ltd

Uni gets green accolade

Well done Cranfield University after being 'Highly Commended' in the ‘Continuous Improvement: Institutional Change’ category by EAUC at the prestigious Green Gown Awards Ceremony held in  Derby last month.

One of 53 universities to reach the final stage of this year’s Green Gown Awards, Cranfield was nominated for its application ‘Cranfield Green – practising what we teach’. The comprehensive campaign implemented over the last five years at Cranfield, involving both staff and students, focuses on reducing carbon emissions and environmental impact.

Gareth Ellis, Cranfield Energy and Environment Manager said: “We are delighted that we have been recognised for the very real progress we have made over the last five years. Our carbon reduction performance since 2008 has been excellent with a 24% reduction. This year we have set more comprehensive environmental targets, introduced a Fairtrade policy and developed a sustainable travel plan. We can now say we practise what we teach.”

Now in their 9th year, the Green Gown Awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK

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Hole in the wall

Visited the hole in the wall at the uni recently? Well, it's just got a lot bigger after a JCB driver stuck his bucket in instead of a piece of plastic.  He (she maybe?)  got away with the full box and the ATM is now, not surprisingly 'out of order'. Pic by David Moyes

The BBC reported: The wall of a university bank has partially collapsed after ram-raiders smashed into it to steal a cash machine.

A digger was used to pull the device from the NatWest branch at Cranfield University in College Road at about 03:00 GMT, Bedfordshire Police said.

A spokeswoman said the offenders left the scene in a blue pick-up style vehicle and a silver car.

She added that it was not yet known how much money had been taken.

Investigating officer, Det Con Claire Case, said it was possible the offenders had been in the area to plan the theft.

"I would urge anyone who has seen anyone in the area acting suspiciously to contact officers immediately," she said

Cranfield expert probes Toot's tomb mystery

Cranfield boffins were called in on a world famous cold case review. But cause of Tutankhamen's death is still unknown. Read the story in full in  Beds on Sunday

"one of the worst mummifications ever"

Modern day Egyptologist, Dr Chris Naunton, has researched why the young king's body was charred and he looked at the unanswered questions about his death. Seeking the help of Cranfield University’s Forensic Institute, they broadcast their findings on Channel 4 last Sunday .

“It’s one of the worst mummifications ever, it was botched,” says Dr Peter Zioupos, who works at the Institute.

Read more: http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/Features/A-kings-death-is-pieced-together-20131117090010.htm#ixzz2ktrA57tJ

Best suit - it wasn't pretty inside the sarcophagus

Cycling scientist

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10183719/Its-an-exciting-time-for-the-UK-space-industry.html

Wow Cranfield village and uni's Stephen Hobbs quoted in Daily Telegraph predicting strong future for UK space industry. Steve's feet are in the pedals ( of his racing bike) but his head is way up in the stratosphere

Famous last words

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Next Wednesday there will a presentation by Tom Ashley, Turnberry Planning Limited relating to 1 – 2 High Street, Cranfield, before the parish council meeting. 

The innocuously named "1 and 2" refer of course to two longstanding eye sores just as you enter the village from the south. These houses have been derelict for as long as I can remember and pleas to the university (the owner) to do something have always come to naught. At one point the PC offered to fund landscaping and tree screening if the uni wouldn't knock them down. 

Now they are to be demolished to make way for about 20 odd houses to be built as part of the site allocation programme. This is the same document that allocated 135 houses "and a school" to Central Motors at the other end of the village. 

Surely this housing development will be straightforward?  Famous last words

On the buses

We had a very productive and encouraging meeting with university environment officers, yesterday, about the Bedford and Milton  Keynes bus services which the University has recently commissioned and which are available for public use. They are drawing up a spec for a longer term contract and sought PC input. Roz Hatton from North Crawley Parish Council was also she present, concerned about the bus-less state of the village.

Gareth Ellis the Environment  manager noted the needs we reported for accessibility to North Crawley and for Sunday services to Bedford. He also was interested in ideas around services to Flitwick, a key local service area.

University buses

Have you noticed the new Souls Bus services stopping  in the village?These are available for use by the public but commissioned by the University for its students. Click on Route 62 which runs to Milton Keynes and has a late service back from MK at 8.10 pm  plus Saturday and Sunday services. 


You can download the Bedford timetable at Route 61 by going on the google page - I can't get through to Souls website itself. It is more limited - Monday to Friday and no late services. However it is all progress and the University has invited the Parish Council to engage with it about a long term spec. The current contract is short term. We will be talking to the university and we are keen to hear any views about experiences and needs of local bus users. Personally I think we need something on Sundays and another late bus to or from Bedford. But its all in the melting pot.

Looking back, looking ahead

Here's The Parish Matters highlights of the year plus my commentary.

You might have made different choices but you are welcome to scroll through the year's postings and comment on the big or lesser moments. I will be cranking up the blog again after the Christmas break and there will be regular Movers and Shakers bulletins for the less hard core internet users. LOL. You can contact me about content by emailing cranfield1985@gmail.com

Have a great 2013

January

It seems a long  time ago when we were going over the gritty detail of how Persimmon were conducting themselves on the fast-progressing Home Farm site. Now, of course, it is closed up and silent and Persimmon have been talking to Central Beds about a new  application 'Home Farm Lite' which parish council chair Delise Ball warned could create a 'housing island' cut off from the rest of the village. 

Minutes of the last Home Farm stakeholder meeting

Lodge Road Works: Almost all road works to Lodge Road now complete, some tidying up works to still be finished off.

Discussion with regard to the possibility of a “no left turn” on Lodge Road, concluded that the scheme makes it difficult to turn left, but not impossible especially for small vehicles. The road layout situation was judged better than previous situation.

Cllr  Bastable raised the issue of mud on the road. Martin Wright of Persimmon apologised on behalf of Persimmon, explained issues with regard to subcontractors not having regard of the road situation. Various discussions on the road situation followed, all agreed that the situation was improved after Persimmon hired a heavy duty road cleaning vehicle to clear back log of dirt.

Martin Wright outlined the method which will be used on site, from he believed today (28.11.11) which is a stoned area on the site for suitable drainage and a jet washer. Some concern was raised that this would not be a suitable solution, and that a purpose built wheel washer was required. There will also be once a day cleaning of the road, MW was not exactly sure of the timing of this, Cllr Matthews requested that the timing of the road cleaning by sent to members of the meeting once MW has confirmed. 

February
Central Beds let loose the dogs of verge trimming, exposing a mountain of roadside rubbish. It was truly disgusting and it took a while to get CBC out again to clear it all up. This is how it looked to the blog on 20 February

Rubbish rubbish everywhere

We complained about the state of the verges a few weeks ago and I was pleasantly surprised to see full rubbish bags lined up on the Salford Road running  down from Cranfield last week. I had a call from Mr Chambers checking which roads needed done and I pointed out that in addition  to the Salford Road, College, Crawley and Moulsoe Roads were all in desperate need of attention.

It may be the cut these verges had a month ago exposed stuff but there is paper, plastic and carrier bags everywhere in the grass, among the hedges, spreading into some of the fields. Two days later however, the iron maiden and I were speeding along the traditional route and none of the verges had been touched. I rang CBC and asked 'when the contractors were coming  back'.  Well, of course they weren't. Thankfully we have been promised they are now and the remaining  litter strewn verges will get some attention - Tuesday I believe. 

March 

We have been trying to buy land from the Church of England to ensure that ultimately we have enough cemetery space and to consider allotment creation. In March I blogged:

Land purchase

The St Albans Diocesan Glebe Committee met at the start of February. We were informed that they were considering our request to buy land adjacent to the cemetery with a view to creating allotments and expanding the cemetery in the future. Since then we have been awaiting their reply.  Watch the blog.   

If you did watch the blog there was no joy. Thanks but no thanks. The established church's land holdings date back to the Conquest when Duke William, the Normandy mafioso boss grabbed England. He took half himself, divided a quarter between his 200 knights and gave the church a quarter.  We still feel the effects of that today.

April

It took a while but they got there in the end. The reopening of the village hall in its new shiny refurbishment was extremely welcome. It just missed its centenary but heck, who's counting?

Reopening of the village hall

Reopening ceremony for Cranfield Village Hall. Chair and treasurer Marjorie Cotton and Trevor Dimmock who did the bulk of the work are pictured. Marjorie Cotton writes in the latest Cranfield Express: "We were supported by the Parish Council and given grants by WREN and Central Beds for the essential repairs. The dry rot was eradicated and a damp proof course installed, thanks to a grant from 'Grassroots'. 

"It was a slower process raising the money for the roof and other work. We were given another grant from WREN. This was backed up by grants from the Lottery, the Wixam tree Trust, Bernard Sunley, The Steel Trust and a generous donation in memory of Jeanette Nash. We pressed on with sales and coffee mornings but it has been the sale of the caretaker’s house which has given us the rest of the money for the whole project, with little in hand. We are grateful to all those who gave us donations and supported our fundraising events."

May

Statement of the blinking obvious that young people are the future. But who does something about that? Well, Thriftvale Scout Group for a start. I spent an excellent evening with them attending their AGM and making fire with flints. Ray Mears watch out.

Parish councillor makes fire

I got into the spirit of Thriftvale Scouts (that includes beavers and cubs) open evening last night leaning how to use flint to make sparks and therefore fire. Talk about getting in touch with your paleolithic side?

However there is nothing stone age about the levels of organisation and commitment shown by the adult volunteers and leaders in the group and their open evening, awards ceremony and AGM was a fun-filled showpiece. If you want to get involved in helping to build the local branch of an organisation doing great work with young people email scout leader Phillip Stothart at pstothart@jarviscontracting.co.uk

June

The big one. The Diamond Jube and Cranfield's Party in the Park (followed in July by Cranfest) plus street parties in Harter Avenue, Townsend Close and Bourne End. The village shook its fist at the weather fates and went ahead and partied.

Picture of the Party

I think Claire Jenkins's photograph of the PITP fireworks at their height ought to be in for an award. Unlike a lot of the firework pics it captures the audience and the gazebo "village" giving a sense of scale and drama. Well done Claire, top snapper

July

Well Covanta has been given the go ahead  and the cynics said it would always happen. But a lot of people including Cllr Sue Clark put a lot of effort into explore the potential obstacles that could be placed in it way. In July I recorded:

Covanta consutation

Here are the dates for the Covanta consultation. 

Yes, that's 6 August for four weeks. The traditional British holiday period. Strange that. 

CB Cllr Sue Clark is working to get the date delayed or the period extended.

Alasdair FitzSimons-McKellar, PPC/COMAH regulatory officer

at the environment agency writes to parish councils:

"With regard to the message below, we will be going to the first stage of public consultation on the 6^th of August for a four week period. Copies of the applications will be held at the following places, Central Bedfordshire Council, Technology House, 239 Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9BD and Environment Agency, The Public Register, Kingfisher House, Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough PE2 5ZR. 

"We are aware that these locations won’t be convenient for many people so I can make copies of the application available on CD for people who request them of me, also we intend to make a copy available at Stewartby Library (if they are happy to have a copy held there).

 

"We will be holding a drop in session on the 15^th August at Stewartby village hall for people to come and talk to us about the permitting process and our regulation, details to follow."

August

After many fits and starts it started. Traffic calming has been in the pipeline for years  but due to hold ups at CBC and Amey worthy of Dickens's Circumlocution Office (Little Dorrit), the money wasn't there, somebody couldn't remember where the piggy bank was or we'd miss our 'slot'. It took Amey an age and in the early days the buses were all over the place but it got done in the end. 

Traffic calming - just the start

Traffic calming is here. If you wiggled your backside while you were at the end of Crane Way you might miss it. But there is one "raised table" at the Bedford Road-Crane Way junction - the first piece of the village TC scheme to be completed. More delights to come in the High Street, Mill Road and at Coop corner etc.

 

September

You can pass laws about some things but unless we get a better standard of behaviour and human decency nothing will change. So no, I'm not talking about kids outside late shops and drinking in the park. I'm talking a few middle England dog walkers spoiling the pleasure of both dog ownership and the open air  for the vast majority.

More dog problems

Dogs are still high on the agenda after a parishioner last week reported troubling dog activity in the rec. We understand that a dog attacked someone who will not go to the police. This is very worrying as it means there is a danger of a repeat incident. The parish council contacted CBC but we have been told the dog warden would not be able to become involved.

"Our dog warden team only deal with issues of dog barking, fouling and stray dogs, and are not equipped to deal with issues of dangerous dogs, and the dog warden would be unable to make a visit to the resident for this reason. It would be best for the resident to contact the police, especially if they may feel intimidated or harassed."

October

Henry Chilver who died during the summer was the first vice chancellor of Cranfield University. He was successful according to his own terms and some others, well regarded by government and personally unfathomable. Here is my account of the memorial event held to reflect on his life. Please note that since the post below was written the current vice chancellor has announced he is leaving Cranfield.

Henry Chilver

On behalf of the Parish Council I attended the Memorial Event at the University for the former VC Lord Chilver. I heard a lot about Henry in my early days in Cranfield from a friend on the parish council and my other half who both worked at the uni. Opinions will vary about his style and legacy. I was struck however that there was only one brief mention from several speakers of Cranfield village - a reference by Henry's son John to Mrs Goodfellow who provided daily help at Cayley Lodge. Nice that. Oh and to Mrs Hatton from North Crawley who also lent support.

But apart from that nothing. The result was, I believe, a long period of estrangement  between the village and the Campus made worse by the very (at the time) busy airfield. 

Cllr Alan Bastable worked hard to build some bridges and he was responsible for setting up the airfield (now the university) liaison group between CU and the parish council. That helped.

But we are indebted to the present Vice Chancellor Sir John O'Reilly  who has been very pro-active in relations with the PC. He has presented to the PC, and personally given us a guided tour of the campus.

I bet not many people in Cranfield know that in the early 1950s the then principal of the College of Aeronautics was actually on the Parish Council.

November

Home Farm - we'll almost finish as we started, with Persimmon. This was from the planning committee minutes in November. Please note that despite the record below there was no sign, as far as I was aware of any public consultation 'before Christmas'.

Before the meeting started, representatives from Persimmon Homes, Pegasus Group and Woods Hardwick presented a proposed new planning application which would enable the Home Farm Development to move forward.  It was explained that the land upon which the footpath linking the village to the new development is not owned, nor is there an option to buy, on the land belonging to Denison Instruments.

The alternative scheme, which puts the community facility facing onto Court Road, and the footpath taking a long diversion around the Denison land, was put to members for consideration.  It was noted that the development is reduced by 20%, as the houses intended for the Denison land are not included in the new application; it follows that if the application was approved, the planning gain would also be reduced by 20%.  Further the allocation per house has since been reduced, thus this would bring down the planning gain further.

The proposed timeline for the new application is:  Public consultation before Christmas; submission of application in the New Year.

December 

We are not Dortmund or Birmingham but Cranfield did get its own Christmas Market held to raise funds for the Church of England Lower School Academy. Giant Snowman proved a No-Showman when he took his pump and went home but this very popular event plus mini-ice rink was lively and well attended. 

Christmas Market

Cranfield's Christmas Market went off on Friday in Court Road  with a selection  of stalls, a mini-ice rink and singing from Sounds Familiar.  There was tea and coffee in the village hall. A giant snowman welcomed visitors but alas he ran out of puff and deflated gracefully. Revelry continued, nonetheless, and the weather was kind. The only ice worth mentioning was in the rink set up outside the Swan. All photos courtesy of David Moyes

 

Vice chancellor

Its funny how the top guy or guy-ess at a university is called the "vice-chancellor". The chancellor is some worthy, wheeled on for ceremonial events. There are other titles like "pro vice-chancellor" which suggests the VC's cheerleaders. I can't image an anti-vice chancellor.

Well Cranfield is about the say goodbye to another VC Sir John O'Reilly who will leave in February to take up a position as Director General of Knowledge and Innovation in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The university  is in the process of identifying his successor as Vice-Chancellor.

The news comes just a few weeks after the memorial event for Cranfield's first VC Lord Chilver. This adds to the sense of change.



John O'Reilly has been here for just five years but he was a good friend to the Parish Council and the village and took a keen interest in local affairs. I spoke to him personally  about the University contributing towards the village's party in the park Jubilee celebration. He was extremely helpful.





Hopefully his successor will also show the same curiousity and responsiveness.

Lord Henry Chilver

There have been a  number of media obituaries of the former Vice Chancellor of Cranfield University Henry Chilver, who died last month.  The  Lord Henry Chilver obituary in the Guardian charts the life and achievements of the man who made Cranfield a national name in higher education and advanced research. One resident at the bloghouse  who worked at the uni from 1982 onwards remembers him as a very visible presence walking down Prince Philip Avenue from Cayley lodge every morning to the main campus. There will be a localised obituary in Cranfield Express, Petewilling,  at the end of this month. 

University liaison meeting

Parish Council-Cranfield University liaison meeting tonight. We'll be checking/encouraging the campus to make students as aware as possible of the impending traffic calming upheaval. And the, at present, unknown impact on the buses, which many of them depend on.

Cycleway to the Uni

We have just been told by Highways  that they have begun preparatory design works in order to provide a new shared footway/cycleway along the C75 Moulsoe Road from Cranfield Road/High Street to the roundabout at University Way, linking into the existing facility present on Cranfield Road to Lodge Road. 

The new path will run along the north side of the road alongside the boundary of Cranfield Airfield. Further details including a plan will be sent to the parish cvounciol at a later stage for further comment.

This is all out of the blue but not we are complaining if it all goes ahead.  Plenty of us have seen students hoofing it up Moulsoe Road and Crawley Road on dark winter nights and it's not good. Watch this space.

bus changes in Cranfield, Milton Keynes and North Crawley

Interesting meeting last night with  NCrawley parish councillors, transport officers from MK and CBC, the  local MK cllr  and Delise Ball, myself and Alan Morris from Cranfield Parish Council

The main headlines are

• Paul Dodge (CBC transport officer) says Grant Palmer announced out of the blue they wd run a commercial service while CBC was in discussion to put out a tender for a supported service to MK. GP originally planned a service that wd only run every 70 to 75 minutes but agreed to an hourly service. Later buses only run with CBC support. 
• Andrew Coleman (MK transport officer) said the borough cannot support services running outside its area and CBC was not willing/able to share costs. So the Arriva MK services stopped and the connection  between NC and Cranfield. 
• The university is still considering replacing its home grown shuttle service with a subsidy to a public service that would meet its students' needs and offer general public use. It is the only player with regards to resources.
• Cranfield Pcllrs asked for assurances that we would be consulted in any spec the university drew up regarding a new service. 
• All public representatives protested at not being alerted to the changes in advance.
• There is discouraging news that many transport operators are not actually interested in running subsidised evening services and quote silly prices. 
• There was also a hint that in some areas (no names mentioned) developers are challenging S106 housing agreements that make provision for public transport. Something we need to keep an eye on.

University graduation

Graduations at the uni yesterday and today. Well done.


Usual shoulder bags and jeans and tee shirts (designer tee shirts for the MBAs of course) replaced with finery and black gowns and funny hats. Proud parents, spouses, children etc are floating round toting cameras and holding up phones. 
Our household's grad was 1988 and we partied til dawn and walked back across the airfield. 

Full council February

Full council tomorrow night is at the university. We are grateful to Cran U for the facilities and we hope to hold one meeting a  year there to mark the fact that we represent both the village of Cranfield and Wharley End and its student population.

We will be looking again at street names for Home Farm and there is a speaker from CBC about the issue of broadband in the village.