A Councillor's Comments - October/November 2005

I'm sorry I didn't make my comments on your Town Council's October 2005 meeting, but I couldn't attend the meeting - I was bringing our boat down from Northampton to March for the Winter.

There was a major change at the October 2005 meeting. We moved out of the Council Chamber into the main hall in the pavilion, the idea being to make more room for you, the public. Our meetings may seem pretty boring sometimes; but they are important for the community of Soham, mainly because your Council is a conduit for your views to be passed up to higher levels of government. You all are entitled and very welcome to attend the meetings. Now you also have the opportunity to make your opinion known. At the start of each meeting 15 minutes are set aside for your comments, however you should give the Clerk 24 hours notice of your wish to speak.

There has been some confusion about the obligations put on developers of housing in Soham. All large developments must make contributions to the community infrastructure in order that the development can be properly integrated. This infrastructure includes roads, drains, schools, health and every other sort of community facility. For example as well as everything else the developers of the Shade estate are providing a community open space in the form of a 5-a-side football pitch and changing rooms. The decision on what the developers must provide is made before Planning Permission is given, and of course the developers must agree to the conditions; and they won't get permission unless they agree. This means that your Town Council needs to have a number of various sized community projects all ready planned in outline and costed so that we can slot them in appropriately. Your Town Council is aware of some things the community needs, but we need more ideas from you. Pass things you think of to a Councillor or to the Clerk. However, all developments with planning permission have already agreed to provide the community with what they were asked, nothing can be promised, and these `Section 106' agreements are a matter of negotiation between East Cambridgeshire District Council and the developers.

Also on Planning, East Cambridgeshire District Council are preparing a 'Local Development Framework' to replace the Local Plan. Your Town Council has prepared a draft Town Plan to pass on to East Cambridgeshire District Council as the Soham community's opinion on how development should continue in Soham. In that this Town Plan is genuinely the community's view we need your input. Copies of the draft are available from the Town Council's office and on the web site. PLEASE let your Town Council have your opinions and ideas.

A couple of other matters were discussed at the November 2005 meeting: first, the Fountain Lane car park is now open 24/7, to see if this works better than just being open during the day and secondly, the police have decided that is better to be out on the streets than spending time at your Town Council meetings; instead they will be providing a monthly e-mailed report, the first of these was for October. It certainly gives a better idea of what is actually going on.

Kindest Regards

Tony Hinsley
Soham Town Councilor