Infographic of contact details during the Coronavirus pandemic distributed by Huntingdon District Council through the Parish Council.
The links are:
http://www.wearehuntingdonshire.org
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/coronavirus
Key points for the 2018/19 Council Year from Tim Alban, District Councillor for Stilton, Folksworth & Washingley Ward
New Council Year – New Council Ward
In May 2018 I was elected as one of two District Councillors to represent the new Stilton, Folksworth & Washingley ward and I have been busier during the past twelve months than at any time in the preceding 3 years. The ward is about 11 miles from Wansford in the north to Little Gidding in the south and even with my fellow ward councillor, Marge Beuttell and I splitting the ward in half, I am still the first point of contact for residents in 6 villages and 3 hamlets.
Getting to all the Parish Councils continues to be a challenge, especially as a number of them meet on the same evening but I have visited them all and enjoy working with the various Parish Councillors and Parish Clerks.
Marge and I also work well with our County Councillor Simon Bywater, especially when our areas of responsibility overlap.
I am fortunate to be the Chairman of the Council’s Customers & Partnerships – Overview & Scrutiny Panel, which covers some of the areas I am most interested in such as leisure and the environment.
Planning
The most time-consuming issue this year has been planning – something I had very little to do with in my first 3 years as a District Councillor. Although there hasn’t been much for me to be involved with in the Giddings with regards to planning, applications in Stilton and Holme have involved significant amount of work.
Other Issues
Over the last year I’ve worked to tackle fly-posting, dog fouling, dangerous and illegal parking, faulty and damaged signs, fly-tipping, pot holes, litter as well as issues for individual residents. Sometimes I’ve worked on my own, other times I have worked with Marge, Simon and some of our excellent Parish Councillors. The most unusual issue I have dealt with this year (if not ever) was the wayward portaloo and damaged signs at the junction of Milking Slade and Chapel end.
District Wide
This year the District Council part of the Council Tax went up by 2.66%, a new parking regime has been introduced so that charges better reflect the time used and changes were made to way the Council handles enquiries from residents who prefer to access more information online.
If you need to contact me please call me on 07193 101145 or email tim.alban@huntingdonshire.gov.uk you can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.
Notice of the
2019 Annual Parish Meeting of
Great and Little Gidding Parish Council
This meeting will take place on Tuesday 21st May
Starting at 7.30PM prompt in the Village Hall
This is not a formal Parish Council meeting. It is an opportunity for residents of Great and Little Gidding to find out more about the work that the Parish Council are doing, to raise any issues they wish regarding the village and comment on plans for the coming year.
All are welcome.
AGENDA:
- Chairman’s welcome
- To review the Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 15th May 2018
- Matters arising
- The Chairman’s Annual Report from the Parish Council
- Vice Chairman’s update on the Recreation Ground Project.
- Competition for up to £250 of funding for your group or project – see Clarion and website for details
- For members of the public to present, discuss and resolve any other matters related to Great and Little Gidding Parish (or post your ideas in the Parish Council box).
Refreshments will be served.
Applications are invited for the
Rental of the Parish Field, Situated on the B660, between Great Gidding and Winwick.
This is a grass field of approximately 4.03 acres. This land is solely grazing land for the use of
horses and ponies, and is not to be used in connection with any trade or business.
There is a supply of water to the field, usage will be invoiced direct to the user from the water company.
The area is fully fenced.
This licence is for a period of 1 year, commencing 1st April
Sealed bids are invited, to be submitted by Tuesday 12th March 2019,
delivered to the Parish Council Office, please mark the envelope “Parish Field”.
The successful applicant will be notified within 7 days of the closure.
If you require further information please contact the Parish Council office.
E-mail: ggparishcouncil@outlook.com. TEL: 01832 293068
The Clarion was delivered just before Christmas but, if you have misplaced your copy, here is one to refer to.
GREAT AND LITTLE GIDDING PARISH COUNCIL
CLARION – Winter 2018
Winter Gritting Team – We would like to organise a team of people to help with gritting around Great Gidding during periods of cold weather. If you would be interested in helping please contact the Parish Clerk (details below) by the end of December- training and equipment will be provided.
Dog waste bins – the Parish Council have now installed a dog waste bin and bag disposal unit at Little Gidding and we hope that dog owners will make use of this facility. It has been noticed in recent weeks that bags of dog waste are being dropped on the ground, rather than placed in the bin – PLEASE put filled bags in the bins that are provided.
11th November 2018 – end of World War 1 commemoration event
The Parish Councillors would like to express their thanks to all those who were involved in the “Battle’s Over” Commemoration evening – it was really good to see so many villagers joining this successful event.
Refuse Collection – Huntingdon District Council have advised us that there will be a change to bin collection days in Great Gidding during December:
-
- The GREY bin will be collected on Monday 17th and Monday 24th December
- The BLUE bin will be collected on Monday 10th and then Saturday 22nd December
- The GREEN bin will be collected on Tuesday 11th and then Monday 24th December
Jubilee Wood Maintenance
There was a good number of helpers who turned up for the Jubilee Wood maintenance session – the hedge was cut between the allotments and the wood, the bullrushes were pulled from the pond and there is an ongoing winter maintenance programme – check thegiddings.org.uk for updates.
Recreation Ground Equipment Upgrade
Exciting news! The Parish Council made an application to the National Lottery Fund for a grant to provide new and/or replacement equipment on the Recreation Ground. We have heard that our application was successful, and that our bid for National Lottery funding to improve the facilities on the Recreation Ground has been approved. We have recently received a substantial Grant to purchase new equipment so, in Spring 2019, the project will commence to update the equipment. We would like to invite parishioners to get involved in the plans to improve and enhance the Recreation Ground and so we will publish more information early next year to invite participation. In the meantime, if you wish to get involved in the plans from the beginning, please contact the Parish Clerk for more details.
Cambridge County Council – Local Highways Initiative Programme
The Parish Council have submitted a bid through the Cambridgeshire County Council Local Highways Initiative (LHI) Programme for funding to make improvements to the roads in the Parish. A high proportion of responses from our 2018 Community Survey highlighted residents’ concerns about traffic speed on the B660 through the village. Our initial plans for improved signage and improved speed monitoring measures along the B660, including new 40 MPH “buffer zones” at each end of the village, have been provisionally approved and a Parish Council representative presented our case for funding to the LHI Adjudication Panel in Huntingdon on 13 December. We must now wait until Spring 2019 to find out if we have been successful. We will keep you informed via a future issue of the Clarion.
Parish Council Vacancies – We need YOU
We still have several vacancies on the Parish Council, so if you have been
thinking about getting involved and perhaps “just haven’t got round to it
yet”, why not contact Julie Trolove our Parish Clerk to find out more.
You would be very welcome.
The Parish Council send you their best wishes for the festive season
Contact details for the Parish Council:
Village Hall, Main Street, Great Gidding, Huntingdon, PE28 5NU
TEL: 01832 293068 – leave an answermachine message
e-mail: ggparishcouncil@outlook.com
Great & Little Gidding Parish Council Accounts |
||||
| Year Ending 31/3/18 | ||||
Income |
||||
| Precept Received | 11052 | |||
| HMRC VAT Refund | 269.4 | |||
| Recycling credit | 147 | |||
| Other income & Donations | 0 | |||
| Interest | 30.37 | |||
| 11498.77 | ||||
Expenditure |
||||
| Wages | 3164.52 | Reduced as no full time clerk for 3 months | ||
| Insurance | 520.46 | |||
| SLCC subs | 0 | Not debited in this year may have to pay double next year | ||
| Internal Audit | 90 | |||
| External Audit | 120 | |||
| Village Hall rent | 1100 | No invoice for previous year, so paid double this year | ||
| Training | 352 | |||
| Office Expenses | 307.96 | |||
| Internet & Telephone | 470.63 | |||
| Website maint | 127.64 | |||
| Election Exps | 0 | |||
| Clarion Delivery | 50 | |||
| 6303.21 | ||||
| Misc village maint | 776.64 | |||
| Trees | 888 | |||
| Pond Maint | 0 | |||
| Recreation Ground | 1737.82 | |||
| Rec AWA | 140.94 | |||
| Section 137 | 150 | |||
| 3693.4 | ||||
| Total Expenditure | £9,996.61 | |||
| Surplus/deficit | £1,502.16 | |||
| Surplus | £1,502.16 | |||
| C/F | 23,215.94 | |||
| Balance | £24,718.10 | |||
Please note that there is a change to the date of the August Parish Council meeting. This meeting will now be held on Tuesday 28th August 2018. The start time remains the same – 7.30PM, at the Village Hall.
Many local residents will know that Sawtry Byway 33 – the Bullock Road that links Milking Slade Lane, Great Gidding with Gidding Road, Sawtry, is usually open during the drier months from April until October every year.
The gates controlling access to Byway 33 have only very recently been opened to the public, but may be closed at short notice at any time. Please note that access to all local Byways are solely controlled by Cambridgeshire County Council and the “Rights of Way” officers will make the decisions regarding when the Byway gates are open to the public.
Clearly, right of way access to historic Byways is very important to many in our local communities, and if there are any queries regarding Byway access, then please contact the Rights of Way Officer for Huntingdonshire directly.
Email: highways@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
The results from the Community Survey were presented at the Annual Parish Meeting on 15 May 2018.
This Survey was the first “test“ of community opinion in Great & Little Gidding since 2003. The focus of the questions was on life in the Parish, community services, roads and transport and also asked about any future development in the Parish.
View a copy of the Community Survey Presentation 15 May 18 (Final)
School children’s ‘Parliament’
With the approval of the Head Teacher at Great Gidding primary school, we also conducted a separate survey with “child-friendly” questions and held a meeting with the school children’s ‘Parliament’. The children were asked for their opinions about the village recreation and play park facilities and about the natural local heritage including the Nature Trails and Jubilee Wood.
Village life and sense of community
Respondents of the main survey really liked the village life and sense of community and having access to a village shop and pub. Conversely, lack of suitable public transport, the absence of a permanent Post Office were negative factors. Additionally, there is a perception that an aging Parish population and a degree of apathy towards getting involved in the community detracted from the quality of village life.
Regarding roads in the Parish: most people thought the roads were safe and adequate for current traffic; however, speeding on the B660 was a significant concern, as were road maintenance issues: especially potholes, subsidence of the road edges and poor road markings. Long term surface water and drainage issues persist in Gains Lane and Chapel End.
There was almost an even split of opinion regarding any concerns about future developments, but significantly all respondents agreed that any future development should be sympathetic to the existing village environment. Most people objected to any large-scale developments but were happy to encourage smaller ‘infill’ projects.
Accurate ‘snapshot’
In summary, we are very grateful to those who participated in the 2018 Community Survey and we believe that it provided an accurate ‘snapshot’ of opinion that will enable the Parish Council to focus on those issues that are of greatest concern to the residents of Great & Little Gidding.
Any questions please ask. Many thanks.
Nick Hill (Parish Councillor)
Notice of the 2018 Annual Parish Meeting of Great and Little Gidding Parish Council
This meeting will take place on Tuesday 15th May
Starting at 7.00PM in the Village Hall
This is not a formal Parish Council meeting. It is an opportunity for residents of Great and Little Gidding to find out more about the work that the Parish Council are doing, to raise any issues they wish regarding the village and comment on plans for the coming year.
All are welcome.
AGENDA:
- Chairman’s welcome
- To review the Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 16th May 2017
- Matters arising
- The Chairman’s Annual Report from the Parish Council
- Presentation and Slide Show – based on the results of the recent Parish Survey
- Update on the Jubilee Wood
- For members of the public to present, discuss and resolve any other matters related to Great and Little Gidding Parish.
Refreshments will be served.