January 2023

4 Buckden Roundabout January 2023 Buckden Parish Council Buckden Parish Council News... Council Website For more information, please visit the Buckden Parish Council (BPC) web site at www.buckdenpc.org.uk . To automatically find out what is going on subscribe to our Newsletter service using your email address. Christmas Market and Light switch on This was a great success. A big thank you on behalf of the Par- ish Council to the Christmas Committee for all the work they put in to make it such a successful event. We would also like to wish all residents a very Happy Christ- mas. Silver Street Development and the Roundabout By the time this is published we will have met with National Highways on 12 th December. They have promised us an up- date on the long - awaited plans for the Roundabout. If pro- gress has been made, we will publish an update on the web- site. We will also be discussing the plans to upgrade the Shell Garage and the safety of vehicles exiting the garage onto the Roundabout. Speed Watch and Speed Monitoring Units You will be aware that we have speed monitoring cameras on both Mill Lane (4 cameras) and Perry Road (2 cameras). These record the speed of every vehicle which passes. The data is analysed and can be reported to the police to help them de- cide where to locate their mobile camera units. It also enables us to determine at what time of day speeding is most preva- lent. The evidence gained so far suggests that in many cases the cameras do result in a reduction in speed by many motor- ists, but there are still some going too fast, in a few cases alarmingly so. We are therefore proposing to undertake another round of Speed Watch which enables us to report individual drivers who break the speed limits to the police. It is proposed that the first Speed Watch session is held on Perry Road. Despite the traffic calming gates and graduated speed limit vehicles still regularly exceed the 30mph speed limit. It is also a loca- tion where we already have Police authorisation to operate Speed Watch. We are still awaiting authorisation of some of the additional locations identified by our Highways group as a priority for monitoring. We have 14 volunteers who have completed the required Police - provided training. Christmas and New Year Bin Collec- tions There are many changes to collec- tion dates this year. The revised schedule is available on our web site. Parish Council bin col- lections have also been amended to ensure a full service. Security of Parish Council Funds Given the current volatility of interest rates please be assured that BPC are keeping rates under review and moving money to secure better rates if appropriate. Floating Island in the Valley Lake In September BPC purchased an established floating island which was installed in the Valley Lake to help mitigate the effects of the very hot weather which had caused the stream which feeds the lake to dry up. Buckden Village Hall Trust (BVHT) has subsequently raised money to support this floating island ’ s maintenance, with ongoing benefits for fish, insects and birds and BPC plans to pass ownership of the floating island to BVHT as it owns and manages the Valley and the lake, as well as the playing fields. Councillors We have two vacancies for Parish Councillors. We still need more capacity on the council to take forward a variety of initi- atives to improve the village. Please join us. If you are inter- ested, please contact the Clerk for further details. Council Meetings The next Council meeting will be at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 10 th January. The meeting will include a 15 - minute open forum. If you want to speak at the meeting, please let us know what you want to say, by contacting the Parish Clerk. You will get a three - minute slot. The Council Planning Committee will also meet if required. Agendas for these meetings are posted on the Parish notice boards no later than the Saturday preceding the meeting. Office opening hours The Clerk is operating flexibly between the office and home. If you wish to meet with the Clerk, please call on. 07483 033357. All of the papers and reports for Council Meetings are available on the Thursday before meetings on Council website www.buckdenpc.org.uk .This provides the opportunity to see the agenda, reports of work carried out by the Council as well as reports from our County and District Councillors. Any questions or comments on this report should be addressed to the Parish Clerk at: Buckden Parish Council, Buckden Village Hall, Burberry Rd, Buckden, PE19 5UY. Telephone 01480 819407 Email: clerk@buckdenpc.org.uk.