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