Parish Council consultation - have your say
Introduction
Stapleford Parish Council has £233,538.71 of “Section 106” money available to invest in the Parish. Under S106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as amended, contributions can be sought from developers towards the costs of providing community and social infrastructure, the need for which has arisen as a result of a new development taking place. This funding is commonly known as 'Section 106’, and for Stapleford has largely come from the Welch site development.
Depending on grants and other sources of funding available such as public works loans, the S106 monies could fund projects in excess of £1,000,000. Therefore the opportunities to the village are significant.
S106 funding is available for capital projects only. Revenue funding towards on-going running costs is not available.
There is a stipulation that £25,000 must be reserved for Community Art initiatives. There are several initiatives underway in the Village at various stages of development, and in order to ensure that the funds are allocated appropriately, the Parish Council seeks the views of Stapleford Parishioners on the best use of S106 funds in such a way that the needs of as many parishioners as possible can be met - whilst also delivering “landmark development” for the village.
The process followed will be an initial consultation survey to gather initial feedback and high level views. The output of the survey will feed into a public meeting, at which further support will be sought for the projects identified. Projects selected will then be subject to further detailed business case and feasibility work prior to final approval by the Parish Council subject to guidelines by South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Background
Local demographics - or who are we
Your Council believes that any initiatives should serve as much of the Village as possible - therefore understanding the demographics might be useful. The 2011 census defined the population of The Shelfords and Stapleford as 7,322 - approximately 1,900 of whom lived in the village of Stapleford. The population comprised 51% females and 49% males; average age of 44, with a higher proportion of over 65 year olds than the rest of South Cambridgeshire. 84.1% of people living in The Shelfords and Stapleford were born in England, with no other place of birth scoring higher than 2%. 56.4% of people were married, 9.3% cohabited with a member of the opposite sex, 1.0% lived with a partner of the same sex, 18.0% were single, 6.6% were separated or divorced.
The top occupations listed by people in The Shelfords and Stapleford were Professional 35.8%, Managers, directors and senior officials 13.8%, Associate professional and technical 11.5%,Administrative and secretarial 10.5%, Science, research, engineering and technology professionals 10.3%, Corporate managers and directors 9.2%, Business, media and public service professionals9.0%, Teaching and educational professionals 8.4%, Teaching and Educational Professionals 8.4%, Health professionals 8.0%.
The Survey is available via the link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/T2B36M6 which can also be accessed via the Stapleford Online website. Should you not have internet access, a paper version of the questionnaire is available from the Parish Clerk on telephone 07840 668048.
Initiatives Identified
Initiatives the Parish Council is aware of follow below. It is envisaged that more potential projects will be identified as a result of the public consultation rounds. Note that none of the initiatives have been costed - but a best estimate order of magnitude has been suggested below, of which S106 monies would form a part but not necessarily the whole.
1) Extending the Jubilee Pavilion - Significant Cost
The Jubilee Pavilion has been very successful in its first 8 years of operation and has the potential for expanding sporting and social activities for all parishioners throughout the day and evening. Feedback from users has indicated the potential for it to become an active Community Hub, especially with the proposed transportation improvements planned. Improvements envisaged include an enlarged kitchen; on-site cafe and community centre; meeting rooms and enhanced changing facilities; indoor multi-use netball/basketball facilities; archive for the History Society..
2) Replace the rec “shed” with an all weather sporting facility –
Large Cost Along a similar line to that above, the current brick shed on the recreation ground is in poor condition, and Council has been approached with an offer of private shared funding to convert this into an all weather sports facility - cricket and basketball has been suggested - along with a smaller facility to house grounds equipment.
3) Developing the Slaughterhouse and Villedomer Gardens - Significant Cost
The slaughterhouse is deemed to be a heritage building of import to the village, however it is used as a storage facility. The History Society has suggested it could be an appropriate location to house the village archives, serve as a village museum or a permanent office for the village clerk, and also that the gardens should be developed into a high quality “peaceful garden”. It has also been suggested that the historic significance is minor and the Parish would be better served by selling the site, including Villedomer Gardens, for development.
4) Developing The Tree Pub Community Social Hub - Large Cost
The Group looking to Save The Tree Pub have identified a need in the Village for a more active Community Hub to serve all parishioners throughout the day and evening with a communal centre at which to meet, eat and socialise. The Hub would be run as a not for profit entity. This was also a significant factor in obtaining an Asset of Community Value status for The Tree - the village’s only ACV.
5) Converting Village Assets to sustainable energy - Median Cost
There are government grants available to encourage councils to convert to sustainable energy. In our case this would largely mean converting the Pavilion to a mixture of heat exchange, solar and wind based solutions. Such a capital investment should reduce operating costs as well as the Parish’s carbon footprint.
6) Develop Basil’s Piece - Median Cost
Develop Basil’s piece into a high quality garden with an associated element for the Villedomer twinning.
7) Redesigned Recreation Ground Children’s Safe area - Small/Median Cost
Combine the two children’s area on the recreation ground into a redesigned safe area.
Posted Oct 11 2019