Gamlingay Parish Council

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Gamlingay Parish Council

Wednesday April 24th, 2024

Annual Parish Meeting

Thank you to all of you who came along last night to the Annual Parish Meeting. The Chair Sam Martin, gave the following report on activities of the Parish Council over the past year.

Chair’s report on 2023-2024

Gamlingay Parish Council meets monthly, with various sub-committees meeting in between, such as Finance & General Purposes and Planning. We have regular attendance from Bridget and Sebastian at full council meetings and we’re grateful for their continued support in navigating and dealing with District and County matters impacting Gamlingay. We also meet with neighbouring councils in Potton and Everton on a quarterly basis to discuss shared issues and opportunities affecting our areas.

Our key responsibilities as a Parish Council include things like grass cutting, maintenance of cemeteries, play & recreation areas and community buildings. Last year felt like a particularly busy year for maintenance, with:

• a major refurbishment of the skatepark at the Eco, which involved replacing a number of the panels.
• the village sign being taken away to have a spring clean.
• experts consulted to assess badger activity near the Bowls club.
• a new Coronation bench purchased to celebrate King Charles’ coronation, which will be installed soon at the Pitt; and
• works to improve the energy efficiency of the Old Methodist Chapel, one of the community buildings that we’re responsible for. We’ll shortly be installing new LED lighting there as well as upgrading some of the electrics and investigating roof tile and insulation replacements. We’re also delighted to welcome the Children’s Montessori as a regular user of the building this year.

We make a proportion of our annual budget available for grants to local community groups. In 2023-24 this came to £12,762 and included continued support for the Youth Café and Youth Club run by Forward Gamlingay, which attracts large numbers of young people from the village and surrounding areas. We also made awards to local groups such as the WI, Connect Café, Carpet Bowls, Jelly Tots, Gamlingay Village Primary – for the kitchen garden and the choir, Gamlingay Schools Out Club and the Football Club, and other organisations such as the British Legion and the Wildlife Trust.

Our Neighbourhood Plan continues to have a positive impact in shaping future development within the village. We recently shared an article in the Gazette reflecting on the plan a year on, and how it has been referenced in a number of decisions on applications by South Cambridgeshire District Council, the Statutory Planning Authority, as well as by the Planning Inspectorate when an application has gone to appeal.

I know the Council as well as residents were particularly pleased when the application for ‘The Lupin Field’, along with a couple of others in the past year for self-builds, was refused as it was contrary to policy GAM3 which aims to protect the open countryside and landscape setting of the village. Although it is likely this decision may be challenged in the future, but we will be ready to fight it again.

We’re also starting to receive contributions thanks to policy GAM8 which requires developers to support enhanced footway/cycleway networks. Only £960 so far but the pot continues to build. And we’ve already applied to the County Council’s Local Highways Initiative for a new footpath to connect Park Lane to Dennis Green (The Clopton Way) – we’ll keep you posted if our application is successful.

Christmas lights last year were a success with good support from the village. Particular thanks to The Christmas Decorators for installing them, Peter Middlicott at All Growth for donating the trees and to Jill Compton and her group of volunteers for organising the event. I know it’s a little early to start thinking about Christmas this year, but we’ve been planning ahead and have ordered 21 new Christmas lights and 10 new lamppost sockets. The lights are shaped differently and will look like braids which wind round the top part of the posts. The display will also now extend out from the main crossroads, part way down Mill Street, Green End and Waresley Road.

The Parish Council continues to be supportive of action against climate change and supporting biodiversity and green initiatives in the village. The Pocket Forest is growing well, thanks to Emma Leaf Grimshaw looking after it, and our wildflower verges are also now established. Thanks also to other volunteers, including Duke of Edinburgh participants, who carry out regular litter picking in the village and sweeping the tennis courts.

The Climate Action Group hosted the village’s Repair Café and a big thanks to Gwyn Williams for setting up the Big Rake Off. We’ve also supported courses in scything and traditional hedge laying this year – which have been attended by volunteers as well as our groundsman and a sample area of hedge laid in the meadows.

We carried out our usual routine tree works, as well as a tree survey in St Mary’s Field Cemetery and have had maps produced to indicate where we can plant new trees, with a recent donation just added to the new cemetery.

Grass cutting is always a controversial topic but one that we take very seriously as a Parish Council. The grass cutting contract is particularly complex and a lot of time and thought goes into the different cuts for different parts of land, especially the meadows, to ensure a balance between ensuring leisure access and enhancing biodiversity. There is also a new rewilding scheme for grass cutting being trialled at St Mary’s churchyard from April, which has been set up by the church.

A fair bit of time this year has been spent by councillors, alongside other volunteers, planning for the 10-year anniversary of Millbridge Brook Meadows this May 2024. I’d like to acknowledge the work of Councillor John Evans in leading this, supported by councillors Wendy and Joe, and particular thanks to Gwyn Williams and Emma Leaf Grimshaw too. The festivities begin on Sunday 5 May with a picnic on the meadows, along with two birds of prey flying displays during the afternoon and an exhibition in the Eco Hub. Attendees will also notice fresh new signage in the meadows providing more information about trees, plants and animals. Other events taking place that month include:

• pupils from Gamlingay Village Primary burying a time capsule to show future generations what life was like in the 2020s
• a wildlife walk for adults and a nature trail for GVP pupils
• half term outdoor adventure for families
• visits to the community turbine

To find out more, do take a look at the new section on the meadows on the Parish Council’s website and check out our facebook event pages.

Ahead of the celebrations, we’ll shortly be carrying out repair works to the paths (now that everything is finally drying out!) and also to remove the rotten wooden uprights that sit around the brick maze. We welcome any ideas from residents on what we could put there instead as we know it’s a favourite place for children playing on the meadows.

We agreed our budget for 2024-25 at our December meeting, within which the precept requirement is £230,403. Per Band D household this represents a small increase of 3.89% on the Parish Council element of your Council Tax (£146.26 per annum per household).

Our most recent audited accounts for 22-23 are also available to view this evening.

Our Council is made up of 15 Parish Councillors and supported by two Clerks; you can find all our details on the website. During the course of the last year, we said goodbye to four councillors and welcomed another four. We still have five vacancies and would encourage you to consider whether you’d be interested in joining us. It’s not a big time commitment and it’s a positive way of giving back to the community. We’re keen to ensure the council fully represents everyone living in the Parish. Please do come along to a meeting to hear what it’s all about!

I’d like to end by saying thank you to all of the team supporting the Council – to our grounds person Keith, Library Manager Kate, Cleaner Karen, our brilliant and extremely knowledgeable Clerks Kirstin & Leanne, without whom we wouldn’t be able to do our roles, and lastly, to the team of councillors who donate their time, knowledge and good humour in supporting the council to carry out its work, thank you.

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Serving the people of Gamlingay | Serving the people of Gamlingay Parish

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Gamlingay Parish Council

Wednesday April 24th, 2024

Millbridge Brook Meadows - work ongoing

Friends of Millbridge Brook Meadows

Finally, this week there has been a short break in the wet weather and contractors have been able to come to do some works on the meadows. Areas of damaged path are being repaired, the wooden uprights on the maze are being removed as most of them were rotten at the base and becoming unsafe and a sleeper on the steps to the stepping stones is being replaced. The floor level brick maze will remain and our groundsman has been hard at work edging around the bricks. We hope to be able to get the bricks (many of which were donated and are inscribed) cleaned and possibly the lettering re done once the main works to remove the wood is complete. After that we do hope to install something to replace the upright maze sections - the jury is still out on what this might be. Also we would need to find funds to do it! ... See MoreSee Less

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Gamlingay Parish Council

Friday April 19th, 2024

Update from the Wildlife Trust

Thank goodness! Waresley and Gransden Woods Nature Reserve is now open! Please spread the word and thank people for their patience. It really is appreciated, and we understand it has been especially difficult this year as closures have extended into bluebell season.

As a reminder, the woods were closed to protect sensitive wildlife on the edges of the paths which are damaged by people walking around wet areas. Closures also help to protect the paths themselves which are de-vegetated and churned by people walking on them in wet conditions. Closures have been prolonged because of the unprecedented wet weather this year. We can expect more warm wet winters going forward, as a consequence of climate change. Some paths may still be muddy so please remind people to wear appropriate footwear, stick to the middle of the paths, and where possible, avoid the muddier areas.

FYI: Gamlingay Woods, Hayley Woods and other nature reserves nearby are still closed.

Information about which reserves are closed is collated on this page (It may take some time to be updated for Waresley and Gransden, but should be done today)
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Reserve updates | Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants

www.wildlifebcn.org

Latest updates on work, site conditions and disruptions from our reserves

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