A Councillor's Comments - January/February 2000

It was a sombre start to our last meeting as we stood in silence to remember Mrs. Ennion with our own special memories of her, our pride in the way she had been chairman with dignity, fairness and sympathy and also to think about the many activities in which she had been involved in the town and the years she had spent at Soham Village College. Because of the longer holiday period the actual agenda for the meeting was thinner than usual but there were two items which attracted attention. Normally planning applications go to the planning committee which meets after the meeting but this time we did have the application from Budgens to supersede the earlier Coop plan and we felt it was sufficiently important to put this on the main agenda and we did indeed have four members of the public who came to hear the debate and were indeed allowed to make comments. To summarize the situation the Coop had been given outline planning permission to develop an extended site for a larger store with filling station and refreshment facilities. They have decided to not pursue this and Budgens now have an option on the land without asking for a filling station. it would be a smaller development. The problem comes about access from Clay Street. Both schemes would have involved entry from Clay street.  In the end the general feeling of the council was that the town needed a store to keep shoppers in the town to help the smaller businesses also increase their usage. However there were problems to be resolved and these will in due course be handled at the next stage of the planning consideration at District Council level.

The District Audit has approved our accounts for 1998/89, with favourable comments, as being well kept.

In between there was good news that our crime figures have fallen again and I must say that although during our Late Night Shopping evening there was some mischief, it was not aimed at anyone in particular except the youngsters themselves. However, it really was one of the more enjoyable evenings we have had. Also, New Year's Eve paid off very well.
The other item that attracted attention was the item on our excellent on-line facility about bringing trains back to a Soham station or halt. Since this is something which should form part of our community transport policy it was passed to the Town Forum Group for their consideration in the community feasibility study. What are your feelings? If we had a train service would it be used - and how is it to be financed? Send your views to Lodestar, we'd be glad to print them. 

Lionel Hart
Soham Town Council - Chairman