May 2023

5 Buckden Roundabout May 2023 From your District Councillor From your District Councillor Homes for Ukraine First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude and thanks to all those who have contributed to the Homes for Ukraine support. It is heartwarming to see Buckden Towers become a focal point across the district, and I was delighted to hear that our volunteers were highly commended at a recent HDC Overview and Scrutiny meeting that I attended. However, as the conflict in Ukraine continues, there is a growing con- cern that the number of people willing to share their homes with Ukrainian refugees is decreasing. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who is interested in volunteering for this scheme to get in touch. Your help could make a significant difference in the lives of those who are affected by this crisis. Local Plan A Local Plan sets out a plan for future sustainable development in the district. It performs two specific roles: • It identifies key areas of land for development to deliver the homes, jobs and services needed in the district, and; • Includes policies against which all planning applications are considered. The Local Plan is the document by which all development in the dis- trict is judged, it provides the basis for what can happen, where it can happen and when it can happen. The Local Plan website is now live at https://tinyurl.com/5ye5wze9 . HDC encourages all towns, parishes, residents, and businesses to participate in the various consultations. Please take the time to visit the website. The consultations are genu- ine, and feedback from individuals and organisations on the docu- ments is welcomed. HDC officers are producing shorter and easy - to - read documents to make it easier for you. Parish councils will be briefed at the Towns and Parishes meeting in April, and there will be dedicated meetings after that. Place Strategy The future of Huntingdonshire is in your hands. What are you going to do about it? Huntingdonshire Futures is a new strategy that will shape a vision for the future of the area by incorporating People, Place, the Economy and Environment – this is a space for you to share your ideas and con- tribute to the future of Huntingdonshire. Over recent months we have been out and about at pop - up events, resident focus groups, schools, community groups and dedicated stakeholder workshops to capture the views of people and organisa- tions across the District. From Huntingdonshire ’ s greatest opportunities and big ideas and aspi- rations for the future, to the greatest challenges the District faces, we now want your opinions on what people have said so far. What are you waiting for? Join the conversation to have your say on what you want the future to look like in Huntingdonshire. The Place Strategy website https://huntingdonshirefutures.net/ re- mains open, and we will update it as we move forward. We encourage you to visit it, as there will be more engagement opportunities in the coming weeks and months. Corporate Plan The Corporate Plan will have a series of short videos released soon to help our staff and the public understand HDC ’ s goals. A428 Improvements Transport Action Network (TAN) submitted an application to the High Court for permission for a judicial review of the Secretary of State ’ s decision to grant the A428 Development Consent Order. They chal- lenged the Secretary of State ’ s decision on three grounds - biodiversi- ty, need for the scheme and climate change. The high court decision A judge at the High Court has now reviewed the application and has refused permission for a judicial review on all three grounds. While this is positive news, from a National Highways perspective, the legal process is not complete as Transport Action Network has now re- quested that its application for permission for a judicial review be heard at a High Court oral hearing. What ’ s next? The High Court does not publish timescales and National Highways are awaiting a date for the oral hearing. The website is a good source for those who have a direct interest in this scheme: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our - roads/a428 - black - cat - to - caxton - gibbet/latest - news/ . Wishing you well, Martin Martin Hassall District Councillor for Buckden, Diddington and Southoe Executive Councillor for Corporate & Shared Services - Phone: 07480 798 342 Friends of Buckden Towers Chairman ’ s Annual Report It is my pleasure as Chairman of the Friends of Buckden Towers to report on what has once again been a busy and successful year. Our primary purpose in life as a registered charity supporting the owners of Buckden Towers is to raise and donate funds towards the conservation of the nationally important historic buildings of Buckden Towers. I am very pleased to report as follows: Net funds raised in financial year April 22 - 23 £6344 Conservation grants to The Claretians 22 - 23 £8556 Estimated future conservation grants 23 - 24 £12000 Clearly we are currently utilising funds from reserves, which we are able to do thanks to the successful fund raising of our pre- decessors, and which we will continue to do whilst we have funds available. But raising of new funds remains critical to our objectives. Our new funds come from a variety of sources, all of which are very important. These are: Membership Subscriptions; Grants received; Revenue from Tours; and the largest element, Revenue from our Events in- volving members of the public. Our annual Plant Sale Day is the most important of these events, and last year raised net proceeds towards our funds of just over£2000. The second most important event in terms of fund raising was our Open Day, combined with an Artisans ’ Market, which generated net proceeds of £1500. Our Plant Sale Day this year will be held on Saturday 20 th May. Please come along and support us. We need you! Tours of the Towers have also done well. The guides have been busy since the 1 st March following our “ closed ” winter season, and a healthy number of new enquiries are being received. The essential work in the Friends Rectory commenced at the beginning of March and is scheduled for completion by late May. Inevitably, as with old buildings, there have been some unexpected problems, but these are being resolved and will not have significantly affected the programme. However the recent cold and damp weather is slowing the drying process of the lime plaster and this is introducing risk of delay. We hope for an improvement to the weather conditions so that any dry- (Continued on page 18)