October 2021

4 Buckden Roundabout October 2021 Buckden Parish Council Buckden Parish Council News... Council Website For more information, please visit the Buckden Parish Council (BPC) web site at www.buckdenpc.org.uk. You can automati- cally find out what is going on by subscribing to our News- letter service using your email address. Silver Street Development At the time of writing all ‘ holds ’ had been removed from the application and it was due to be recommended for approval by Huntingdon District Council (HDC) Planning, at a meeting on 20 th September. BPC has requested a deferral for at least a month to allow a key meeting with Highways England (HE) to take place. (See next item.) We have submitted final objections to be viewed by the Com- mittee before the meeting. These include concerns about: • The safety of the proposed changes to the roundabout • Safe access to the site from Silver Street • The impact of extra traffic on local roads, in particular Sil- ver Street, Church Street, the High Street and the Offord Crossing • The increased potential for groundwater flooding, both on the site itself, (we have referenced the problems currently being experienced at Lucks Lane), and by exacerbating existing issues in the village. • The capacity of the sewage system to take on the extra houses. We will also be speaking at the meeting. We very much hope that even at this late stage HDC will listen to these concerns. Buckden Roundabout BPC have raised a formal complaint with HE about the pro- posals at the roundabout. We are due to meet with HE, Cambs. County Council and HDC on 7 th October to discuss the response to our complaint. Luton Airport - planned changes to approach route and stacking. BPC was made aware of the proposals to change the location of where planes landing at Luton Airport will be stacking on their approach to the airport. We have investigated the pro- posals and have taken advice on what the latest plans could mean for Buckden & Diddington residents. This is what we currently know: • The nationally - agreed plan means that flights into Luton airport will routinely pass over Buckden and Diddington • The impact of this change may be lessened by recent large reductions in air travel and slow recovery to pre - pandemic levels • Aircraft using the planned hold- ing stack will be at 9,000ft • That is one and three - quarter miles above the village and 1,000 ft higher than previously pro- posed • At 9,000ft the main issue is Carbon Dioxide emissions • At that distance the largest aircraft types that use Luton will appear to a person on the ground to be between 0.5 and 1cm across • The noise levels quoted in the latest consultation are around 10dB below the trigger in law for health concerns, and that level is the same for aircraft as for road noise. • Even if the number of flights doubled, the change would only be about 3dB louder, so still below the legal threshold for effects on health • Weather conditions will affect the noise levels, in exactly the same way that it does for road traffic noise from the A1 and A14 • Based on latest figures for Luton Airport (pre - pandemic) the volume of traffic into Luton Airport between 11pm and 7am is less than 10% of all aircraft movements and there is a quota that limits night flights • The rationale for the change in flight paths and stacking locations is safety Hunts End We have had several complaints about cars parking across the ‘ dropped kerb ’ entrance to the car park outside NISA in Hunts End. Please avoid parking across any dropped kerb as it makes it very difficult for those residents using mobility scooters. Silver Street Vegetation Clearance We are looking for volunteers to clear the area at the corner of Silver Street and the A1. If you can help, please contact the clerk. Council Meetings The next Council meeting will be at 7.30pm on Tuesday 12 th October. The meeting will include a 15 - minute open forum. If you want to speak at the meeting, please let us know what you want to say, by contacting the Parish Clerk. You will get a three - minute slot. The Council Planning Committee will also meet if required. Agendas for these meetings are posted on the Parish notice boards no later than the Saturday preceding the meeting. Office opening hours The Clerk is operating flexibly between the office and home. If you wish to meet with the Clerk, please call on 01480 819407. All of the papers and reports for Council Meetings are available on the Thursday before meetings on Council website www.buckdenpc.org.uk .This provides the opportunity to see the agenda, reports of work carried out by the Council as well as reports from out County and District Councillors. Any questions or comments on this report should be addressed to the Parish Clerk at: Buckden Parish Council, Buckden Village Hall, Burberry Rd, Buckden, PE19 5UY. Telephone 01480 819407 Email: clerk@buckdenpc.org.uk.