We would normally have a village meeting every year, but last year’s was cancelled for
obvious reasons. I will be talking about the last two years, so think of this as a kind of bogof -
buy one, get one free - address.
Little Shelford has been fortunate to have a lower impact from Covid-19 than many other
communities. At the same time we have maintained a cohesiveness which I would attribute
to the efforts of many people in the village. I will mention a few now, but there are plenty of
others. The Kingdons very quickly established the support network for the vulnerable and
those shielding; Libby Ahluwalia edited a stimulating weekly magazine; Barry Smith
organised groceries from the Navigator; Judy Boothroyd and Christine Ruffles got the cake
round going and David Martin kept us all informed. A big thank you to all of them.
I’d also remind the village that the parish council has established a hardship fund, with some
very generous personal donations, and that fund is still available for those residents who are
struggling – whether because of the virus or for other reasons.
Several years ago, the Parish Council established the award of “Villager of The Year”, which
earns you the pleasure of holding this shield. I’m delighted to say that this year the award
goes jointly to Caroline and Charles Kingdon for their leadership and work through the
pandemic.
Let us hope that the coming year will see the resumption of some familiar Little Shelford
events such as pavilion teas, the village weekend, the panto and the big breakfast.
Looking to the great outdoors, one of the things we’ve seen in the past year is that demand
for allotments has increased to the extent that we now have a waiting list for the first time
in many years. It’s great to see that part of Blennie’s Patch in such productive use. The other
change there is the establishment of the community orchard, an initiative led by Mike
Darsley. He and his fellow SCOWPers have accomplished a tremendous amount in less than
18 months. I think it is fantastic that we are using another amenity area in the village. Our
main such resource is, of course, the Rec. Obviously there are day to day maintenance
activities in looking after the grounds and facilities and we are indebted to the wildlife group
for their contribution to this. We also need to think ahead to ensure that the Rec is as
valuable for future generations as it is for ours. I’m glad to say that, when he is back on his
feet, David Jones will be setting up a group of interested parties to start addressing this.
You will all have your opinions about the state of the roads and pavements in the village and
the amount of traffic that passes through. These issues have proved to be the most
intractable in recent years. We have put in applications for two local highway initiatives
(one being to address the junction between Church St, Bridge Lane & Whittlesford Road, the
other to reduce speeding on traffic entering the village along Newton Road) and both have
been rejected. Richard Patterson, being a glutton for punishment, is engaging with highways
to discuss these and other measures that might have the effect of slowing or even reducing
through traffic – for example extending the 20mph limit on Bridge Lane. Please contact him
if you would like to get involved.
The county council have made two starts at doing repair work on the High Street and
completely failed on both occasions. The view is now that things have got so bad that High
Street will have to be planed out and relaid, rather than patched – a decision taken in
February but still without a schedule. Church Street and Hauxton Road are also in very poor
condition. We look to our new county councillors to improve on this record in the coming
year. In the meantime, please report any potholes to
https://highwaysreporting.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Little Shelford has the status of being an in-fill only village. The occasional developments
that we have are almost all large and expensive. In 2019 the parish council commissioned a
housing needs survey by Cambridgeshire ACRE and many of you will have completed it. The
primary objective was to establish whether there is a need for affordable housing amongst
Little Shelford residents. We received the report just over a year ago. It is fair to say that
there was insufficient demand to justify such a project. What the report did reveal was the
lack of market housing within the village for people wishing to downsize or startup. The
development pattern tends to mitigate against that.
In general the parish can only give opinions on planning decisions. We have been seeking to
improve that by the development of a Village Design Guide. Those of you who have been
following this know that it has been quite a saga and absorbed a tremendous amount of
time and energy from Neil Ruffles and Collette Patterson. Just at the point when it seemed
the document was ready to be adopted South Cambs advised us that they did not have the
resource to complete the process. This is more than disappointing and we shall continue to
press the district. In the meantime, the “oven-ready” guide will be published on our own
website in the near future.
Eleven years ago the parish council surveyed the whole village on a range of needs and
published a village plan with a series of actions and priorities. Sarah Penn has reviewed the
plan to see where we have got to. There have been some obvious successes such as the
pavilion and the playground and recurring themes like roads and traffic. Sarah’s review is on
the website. Take a look and tell us what you think.
We are also thinking about the ways we communicate with the village. For many people,
the website or facebook, and the monthly newsletter meet their needs. We are also mindful
of those who are not regular users of social media and planning to reinstate “Meet the
parish council” when we can get back into the village hall. Do give us your thoughts on the
matter.
I would like to thank my fellow councillors for their efforts and support. Unfortunately, we
have lost two members – Bridget Sumsion has moved away. David Martin had been a
councillor for a long time and then chair for seven years. During that time he achieved a
great deal for the village and we are very sorry to have lost him. Fortunately, we have
gained Jenny Moon who is already making a great contribution. However, we were already
one down so we are still looking for two new members to join us. You have heard about the
range of activities we are involved in, and at times we simply do not have the resource to do
as good a job for the village as we would like. So, please seriously consider stepping forward
– you do not have to be an expert, just willing to spend time advancing the interests of the
village.
Finally, where would be without Penny Tanna, the clerk, who keeps the plates spinning and
deals with all issues with aplomb, while keeping us in order.