A Councillor's Comments - June 2005

The May 2005 meeting of Soham Town Council as well as the "Annual" meeting at which the Chairman for the ensuing year is elected and all being on the same night always seems to be very busy, but not much that is new is discussed.

Rosemary Aitchison was elected as Chairman and Fiona Ross as Vice Chairman, I am sure that they will represent you, the town's people of Soham very well for the next year as they have done last year.

The main item of the Council meeting, as it was at the Annual meeting, was the misuse of the Commons. Very little can be said, expect that not too much notice should be taken of the sensationalised version of these events which has appeared in the local press. You can be sure that your Council will do everything in its power to correct the situation and is at the moment seeking legal advice as to what action to take. The Lord of the Manor and East Cambridgeshire District Council have both said that they will also take what action they can. The matters are very legally complicated and your Council, to succeed, must do everything correctly. We await the outcome. It must be remembered that the Commons are there for the benefit of all townspeople and not for the benefit of any one person or section of the community.

A delegation from your Council and others from the town has visited Andrézieux-Bouthéon to further investigate twinning. Their findings were that Andrézieux-Bouthéon could not be more different from Soham. This is not surprising, as that region of France has always been a fairly rich and industrial and of course the organisation of local government in France is totally different to England with, until very recent times, not much in the way of local democracy. Whether it is an appropriate place for Soham to twin with will be discussed at a meeting to be held on Thursday 16th June 2005. The formation of a twinning association will also be considered. Your correspondent is strongly in favour of twinning, but has reservations as to whether Andrézieux-Bouthéon is the right partner.

The developers of the new estate off Townsend need names for the half a dozen or so new roads needed and East Cambridgeshire District Council has asked for suggestions for a theme. Your Council was strongly in favour of names which relate to Soham's history and the traditional tracks and fields. Please pass on your ideas to the Clerk or a Councillor.

Kindest Regards

Tony Hinsley
Soham Town Councilor