April 2019

Buckden Roundabout

April 2019

From Your Councillors

FROM YOUR DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

Huntingdonshire District Council

Council Tax levels for HDC residents will remain one of the

lowest in the country, with an increase of just 2.6% for

2019/20. The Council’s portion of the total Council Tax charge

is only 7.7%. The remainder is clawed back by Government.

Offords Crossing

The Offords Crossing is a major traffic concern, and Network

Rail once again confirmed that there never was a plan to pro-

vide any amendments to the Offords Crossing following com-

pletion of the A14, nor is this included in 2019-2024 Capital

Allocations or the 2024-2029 plans. This is very disappointing

but means that our focus must to be on some form of traffic

light control for the approach road. This will need to be priori-

tised by the Cambridgeshire County Council who are responsi-

ble for this road.

Pollution

HDC Environmental team confirmed that they are not re-

quired to have NO

monitors on the A1, and their monitors on

the High Street measure well below statutory intervention

levels. This means that it is more difficult to challenge plan-

ning applications based on health dangers. We need to be

aware of this in our planning strategies.

Transport Mobility Conference

The recent HDC Conference on the future of Traffic and Gen-

eral Mobility discussed local issues that will arise following the

completion of the A14 and the space vacated by the old A14.

This plus the use of Uber-type small buses could have signifi-

cant impact in the Southoe and Buckden areas, and the con-

cept of Green Belts linking our towns and villages was possi-

ble. Action is needed to get this onto local and regional agen-

das. Green belts centred on Huntingdon could extend to

Southoe.

Councillor HDC Buckden Ward

(

Hamish.Masson@Huntingdonshire.gov.uk

)

FROM YOUR COUNTY COUNCILLOR

By the time you read this edition of the magazine, we may

know if and how we are leaving the European Union. What,

you may say, has that got to do with local councils and our

everyday life? I cannot predict because everything depends

on how ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ the Brexit is, or, indeed, if we leave

with no deal at all.

Top of the list of concerns is that the County Council may not

be able to recruit and retain those many employees from the

EU on whom we depend for our care services, our road

maintenance and many of the lowest paid jobs in the econo-

my. Those who want to see us leave the EU claim that these

jobs will be filled by UK nationals, but they won’t because

usually the pay is too low and in any case, unemployment is at

an all-time low.

Council finances could be affected if costs go up and national

income goes down. Given that our councils are already strug-

gling to meet expectations, this can only make things worse.

Moreover, we have no idea to what extent key supplies and

services, such as medicines and fuel, will be adversely affect-

ed.

So we enter a very unsettled period.

Against that backcloth, the day-to-day problems of local gov-

ernment pale into insignificance. If only we had known in June

2016 what the practical implications of leaving the EU could

be, perhaps we would have voted differently. Who knows?

What is becoming clear is that local communities are going to

have to take on more responsibility and more activity than

previously. I have been discussing this with all the parish

councils in my county division (Brampton, Buckden, Southoe,

The Offords and Grafham). All these communities are differ-

ent in size and existing networks so there is no ‘one size fits

all’ solution but we can be sure that the next couple of years

are going to be very challenging for local communities and

parish councillors. I will do what I can to keep you all well

informed about the problems and possible solutions.

Local issues for Buckden residents

I scarcely need to labour the point about traffic pressures and

the negative impact of possible housing developments. Many

people in the village have been very active in campaigning

about that. If the developments do go ahead, we will need to

be quite explicit and determined in demanding road changes

to keep our residents safe and to minimise inconvenience.

Same topic, but slightly further away, I am militating in the

best interests of Buckden residents who travel to Huntingdon,

take children to and from Hinchingbrooke School, work at the

hospital or visit friends and relatives there. My alternative

proposals for the road layout have so far been rejected by

Highways England but I have more meetings with them in the

coming fortnight.

I am suspending my ‘surgery’ prior to the parish council

meeting on the 2

Tuesday in the month. Very few people

have turned up so booking and paying for a room seems su-

perfluous. Most people with important issues ring me on

07765 833 486 or write to me at

peter.downes@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Peter Downes