The latest correspondence from the Harlequin Group to the Mast Action Group:
At present Cornerstone are going through the change process to look at nominating an alternative option, however this will take some time. As soon as I have some further information I will advise the action group and the Parish Council, however in the meantime no further action will be taken in respect of the originally proposed option.
Kind regards
Carolyn
Carolyn Wilson MRTPI
Head of Town Planning
The Harlequin Group
Latest mast update:
1. Letter sent to Caroline Wilson at the Harlequin Group on behalf of the Great Gidding Action Group.
2. Questions put forward at the Parish Council meeting on 20.8.19 and also sent to Caroline Wilson at the Harlequin Group on behalf of the Great Gidding Action Group.
3. Leaflet produced by the Action Group sent out to all residences in Great Gidding
Joules, HKM, Champion, Equine America, NAF, Rhinogold, Bengle, Allan & Page, Baillie Haylage and more.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9-5pm, and Saturday 9-1pm. Closed Wednesdays and Sundays.
Somersby House, Main Street, Great Gidding PE28 5NU
Tel: 01832 293426 or mobile/whatsapp 07787 867625
The latest letter from the Parish Council to Carolyn Wilson at Harlequin. Keep checking the website.
Please find attached the latest letter that I have sent to Harlequin regarding our engagement with them and the alternative options we have suggested.
Nicholas Hill, Chairman, Great and Little Gidding Parish Council.
I have received a response from Carolyn Wilson at Harlequin to the Parish Council’s Objection to the O2 Base Station and Mast proposal. We fully intend to engage with Harlequin and Cornerstone over the coming weeks to offer less intrusive options for the siting of the mast. As the situation evolves we will ensure that the Community is kept fully informed.
“ Thank you for the attached objection on behalf of the Parish Council, the points are noted and have been sent Cornerstone for their consideration. I understand the concern regarding the timing of our consultation at the start of the school summer break, however the operators are unable to put their project on hold for a 6/7 week period to accommodate this, we did try to get our consultation letters issued before the school broke up and have received an objection from the School Governors, which has also been passed to Cornerstone along with those individual objections received from residents to date.
I note the Parish Council’s desire to engage with us and Cornerstone to try to find a more suitable location for the mast and this offer is appreciated and I shall be recommending this offer is accepted and the alternative options are reconsidered. Of the alternative options listed in our letter would the Parish Council consider any of these locations suitable and we could reassess them, or would you have any other suggested locations we could look at?
I look forward to your response on behalf of the Parish Council at your earliest convenience.”
Nick Hill
Chairman
Great & Little Gidding Parish Council
Please be aware that the Parish Council received notification on 18 July 2019 of a proposal for the potential siting of a Mobile Communications Mast and Base Station situated in the grass verge on Highways land close to the Old Chapel and close to the School.
This is part of a pre-planning process where the Harlequin Group are acting as agents for Cornerstone and Telefonica and have offered the Parish Council the opportunity to comment on the proposal. The Parish Council have responded on 31 July and a copy of our response is available to view by downloading the file ‘Harlequin-31-Jul-19‘. We acknowledge that there is an ever increasing requirement for better communications, but our considered response aims to get Harlequin and the Communications companies to engage with us so that we can collectively achieve a better environmental solution for the siting of this mast and equipment.
Obviously all of our residents are free to lodge an objection or opinion if they so wish and this can be achieved by replying directly to Carolyn Wilson at the Harlequin Group email: c.wilson@harlequin-group.com or make your opinions known through our Parish Council email account GGparishcouncil@outlook.com. We anticipate this pre-planning process may take some time, possibly even several months or longer, but we will ensure that all Great Gidding residents are kept fully informed as this issue evolves.
Nick Hill, Chairman, Great and Little Gidding Parish Council
What a joy it is seeing Himesh Patel as the lead in Danny Boyle’s latest film ‘Yesterday’.
If you just happen to have been wearing blinkers for the past few weeks you won’t know that Himesh plays Jack Malik, a struggling singer/musician/songwriter who, after an accident with a bus during a 12 second world power outage, is seemingly the only person in the world who remembers the Beatles. The rest is history…sort of.
Written by Richard Curtis, the film was released last Friday 28th June and it’s a really enjoyable film featuring some big names in the acting world. Himesh sings quite wonderfully (download the soundtrack at https://www.what-song.com).
Himesh, the village community is dead proud of you! You must be feeling on top of the world and deservedly so.
(News item approved by J&A).
21st June 2019
GREAT & LITTLE GIDDING PARISH COUNCIL
NOTICE OF PUBLIC RIGHTS AND PUBLICATION OF UNAUDITED ANNUAL GOVERNANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY RETURN
ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2019
Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 Sections 26 and 27
The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234)
NOTICE
1. Date of announcement – Friday 21 June
2. Each year the smaller authority’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) needs to be reviewed by an external auditor appointed by Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd. The unaudited AGAR has been published with this notice. As it has yet to be reviewed by the appointed auditor, it is subject to change as a result of that review.
Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested. For the year ended 31 March 2019, these documents will be available on reasonable notice by application to:
The Parish Clerk,
Great & Little Gidding Parish Council,
The Parish Office at the Village Hall,
Main Street,
Great Gidding,
Huntingdon, PE28 5NU
TEL: 01832 293068
Email: ggparishcouncil@outlook.com
commencing on Friday 21 June 2019
and ending on Monday 5 August 2019
3. Local government electors and their representatives also have:
The appointed auditor can be contacted at the address in paragraph 4 below for this purpose between the above dates only.
4. The smaller authority’s AGAR is subject to review by the appointed auditor under the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and the NAO’s Code of Audit Practice 2015. The appointed auditor is:
PKF Littlejohn LLP (Ref: SBA Team)
1 Westferry Circus
Canary Wharf
London E14 4HD
5. This announcement is made by Mrs Julie Trolove, Parish Clerk to Great & Little Gidding Parish Council
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.