October 2023

4 Buckden Roundabout October 2023 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. To automatically find out what is going on subscribe to our Newsletter service using your email address. Silver Street Development Our Planning team have had initial discussions with Morris Homes the developer for this site. The plans are available on our website. Whilst the discussion was constructive, we have serious concerns about the development. These include: • Poor access to and from the site via Silver Street • The significant proportion of 4 and 5 bed properties proposed • Lack of any retirement housing • Lack of environmental sustainability features. No progress appears to have been made in relation to the A1 roundabout. Houses cannot be occupied until a solution has been approved by National Highways and implemented. Dis- cussions will continue. Introduction of a Charge for the Green Bin The introduction of a charge for the Green Bin service has been approved by HDC and will be implemented in April 2024. We are discussing how the impact of this can best be man- aged with our District Councillor and will provide further up- dates. Weed Killing We have received many complaints about the failure of Cambs County Council to deal with roadside weeds. This ser- vice was stopped without local consultation. CCC will be re- viewing the impact of the change and discussing this with Par- ish Councils so please let us know your views. More infor- mation is available on our web site. Christmas Lights The Christmas lights in the High Street and Hunts End will be switched on at 4pm on Sunday 26 th November. Plans for a road closure and market were under discussion at the time of writing and a further update will be provided. Buckden Speedwatch Volunteer Team We took a break from holding sessions over August. However we are ready to resume our bi - monthly sessions within the village once more. The data from the six MVAS units placed around the entry and exit points to the village shows that most drivers are very con- scientious about adhering to the given speed limit. However, there is still a small percentage of drivers who vastly exceed the speed limit - shockingly, speeds of over a 100mph have been recorded on the units on Mill road - which is within a 50mph speed limit zone - and speeds of over 90mph on Perry road - which is with- in a 30mph speed limit zone. During Speedwatch sessions we have also recorded several drivers exceeding the given speed limit within both the 20mph and 30mph zones. This data is sent to the local con- stabulary who act accordingly in response to the submitted data. It is important to highlight that the 20mph zone within the central part of the village - since it encloses the primary school and immediate area - is placed there to protect the safety and wellbeing of all residents. The comparison of the impact of being hit by a car at different speeds is very clearly demonstrated in the Infograph below: This is sobering data. We want everyone in the village to feel as confident and safe as possible as we go about the business of our daily lives. One way to ensure this is to always drive safely within the designated speed limits in our beautiful vil- lage - so that potential and unnecessary fatalities can be avoided. Waste Minimisation Hunts Waste Busters is a voluntary group set up in 2021 to share ideas and develop projects to help spread the waste minimization word. Based upon the principles of the three “ Rs ”, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, the group have produced a number of useful resources which can be found at https:// www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/bins - waste/waste - minimisation/ Their current campaign is a “ pledge to fight food waste ”. We are all being told that reducing food waste is a relatively sim- ple way of saving money and reducing our carbon footprint. But just how much difference can it make? Some interesting “ facts ” from the website suggest that we throw away as much as 6.6 million tonnes of food and drink each year, much of (Continued on page 17) 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 our 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.