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Speedwatch comes to Hatley
The equipment was funded by Cambridgeshire County Council and is on loan from the police, who also trained the Hatley team. The monitoring has the full support of Hatley Parish Council and is part of a county-wide initiative to make drivers aware of local speed limits. The volunteers record the speed, registration, make and colour of all vehicles doing more than 40 mph. This information is passed to the police who send an 'advisory letter' (usually) to the registered owner of the vehicle as a reminder of the need to observe all speed limits. Although no prosecutions for speeding will result, the very fact that the police have a record of individual registrations can trigger a check on insurance, MOT and vehicle tax – and if the same vehicle is recorded speeding on a number of occasions, not necessarily in Hatley, the owner could well receive a visit from the police.
"There is a 40 mph limit along this length of road for a good reason – to help protect pedestrians and all road users. There are children in Hatley St George who like to play outside, a lot of house drives with cars backing out and a poor view of on-coming traffic from the end of the East Hatley road. They are all danger points made much worse by speeding traffic." Since the first Speedwatch session on 17 August 2009, nearly a third of the vehicles checked have exceeded the 40 mph limit through Hatley St George and East Hatley. A detailed analysis of all the sessions to date (20 August 2010) is on our Hatley Speedwatch statistics PDF file – those who exceed 46 mph can expect to receive a letter from the police. The Cambridge First free newspaper published an article about Speedwatch on 12 August 2010. You may also wish to download a copy of the note about Speedwatch given to those who stop and ask what we are doing. The next Hatley Speedwatch will be during an evening rush hour. Bill Richardson kindly took the photographs. Broadband in Hatley The quality of most Hatley residents' broadband reception is far from good. BT says this is because of our distance from the phone exchange in Gamlingay – even for Hatley St George residents who are a mile closer to Gamlingay than those at the far end of East Hatley. This was proved by research carried out by Allen Miller, of 43 East Hatley, in January 2009 when he undertook a survey in the two villages to check the levels of service – he reported that it was no better in Hatley St George than East Hatley. He championed our cause by taking up our case with BT – right up to Chairman level, who said that it's a community problem, best taken up with our MP, Andrew Lansley, who has been receiving similar complaints from residents in other South Cambridgeshire villages and had already started a 'Better broadband' campaign. Allen asked Hatley Parish Council to write to Andrew on behalf of parishioners and although it didn't, Sebastian Kindersley, our District and County Councillor, did contact Andrew, as did Allen directly. Allen recently received a letter from Andrew outlining his actions to date – there is still a long way to go, but at least our cause has been taken up in earnest. His letter suggests two actions that we can take: signing up to the EREBUS (Eastern REgion Broadband Uplift Scheme) and asking BT for a Broadband Accelerator (I-Plate), a self-install device designed to increase your broadband speed, which is free (other than postage) to BT customers. There are a number of websites that enable one to check one's broadband speed – a nice simple one is mybroadbandspeed. Carole's hour on the Fourth Plinth – see it here!
You can see a recording of her as she struggled with the wind to erect her display while her companions on the ground made some helpful suggestions. One of the rules of being on the plinth "It was a wonderful experience
and I'm glad I did it," she said
afterwards. "And it wasn't nearly as scary as I expected – but It was a shame that the wind blew away Carole was on the famous Fourth Carole was chosen out of the 34,341 people who have so far applied. "Carole used her hour to promote Small Families, our business," said Allen. "While she was on the plinth, the rest of us offered balloons, sweets and literature to the watching audience – and despite the gusty wind, at least it didn't rain and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves." Help James help himself and other children
For four weeks over Easter I wasn't able to eat any food at all and wasn't able to drink anything but boiled water and an amino-acid liquid formula (which tastes really gross by the way!) because the doctors think that the illness I have may be caused by an allergy in my gut. At the end of four weeks with no food, I was allowed to eat plain chicken and rice, but unfortunately still have to drink the formula. The idea is to introduce foods slowly and try to find out which one(s) I'm allergic to. So far I've not got past the chicken and rice, as I tried potato and then got ill again. I had the idea of getting people to sponsor me and giving the money to charity. The Dream Factory grants wishes for children with life-limiting illnesses and I thought it might be a good idea to give the money to them! Knowing that people have sponsored me has really helped me to keep going when the going has got tough and I am surrounded by people eating things – like all that yummy chocolate at Easter! It's not too late to sponsor me if you'd like to. And if you want to read more about The Dream Factory, just go to their website. A piece on James also appeared in the Cambridge News on 28 April 2009. NATS' – National Air Traffic Services – proposal to stack aeroplanes landing at Luton and Stansted airports over Hatley on hold for a time yet National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has put off making a decision about its idea of stacking Stansted and Luton-bound planes over Hatley and other nearby villages. The good news – for the moment – is that it will not be holding a second round of consultation until at least September 2010. We have, according to a letter from NATS to Simon Keith, Chairman of Hatley Parish Council, to thank the recession for this. This follows consultation with local councils in the spring of 2008 – Hatley Parish Council submitted its response in June 2008 to the original proposals. On 22 April 2009, the Prime Minister's Office responded to the petition "say No to the proposed flightpath changes to Luton and Stansted airports." – you can read this response. South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Biodiversity Strategy A vision for the conservation of South Cambridgeshire’s biodiversity, 2006 to 2009 Biodiversity is a term used to describe the richness of the living environment around us. South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Biodiversity Strategy, written by Rob Mungovan, its Ecology Officer, outlines how the Council will promote biodiversity, conservation and enhancement throughout its daily functions, both regulatory and advisory, in order to produce an ecologically diverse and sustainable local environment for the district. The Strategy identifies the biodiversity resource considered as typical of our district and specific actions are proposed within the Strategy’s action plan. It was approved by the Council on 28 September 2006 and is now Council Policy in support of the current Local Plan. The intention is that the Biodiversity Strategy will eventually be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document in support of the new Local Development Framework. Among the priority species are the water vole, great crested newt, house sparrow and barn owl, which are known to be within the parish of Hatley. Other priority species in South Cambridgeshire are the otter, white-clawed crayfish and native black poplar tree. Priority habitats are: rivers and streams; woodland; scrub; old orchards; hedgerows; farmland (arable); ponds; churchyards and cemeteries; parks, shelter beds and open spaces; lowland calcareous grassland; roadside verges; and meadows and pastures. The parish of Hatley is in the ‘Natural area’ of the West Anglian Plain. St Denis’ Church, East Hatley is one of the sites proposed for consideration as a ‘Local site’, an area within a village that provides local biodiversity and also people’s enjoyment of local biodiversity. A PDF of the Biodiversity Strategy document can be downloaded in full (4.3 MB) or in sections. It can also be seen at local libraries or purchased from South Cambridgeshire District Council at a cost of £13.00 for a paper copy or £5.88 for a copy on CD-ROM. Please make cheques payable to South Cambridgeshire District Council. Local Development Framework for South Cambridgeshire – draft The Local Development Framework (LDF) will replace the existing Local Plan for South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC), which was adopted in February 2004. It is being prepared under new government legislation for development plans. The LDF will set out policies and proposals for the development and use of land in the District for the period to 2016. The Local Development Scheme sets out the documents that SCDC intends to prepare and the timetable leading to their adoption. You can follow progress of the consultations on the LDF website. Public consultation on the The gypsy and traveller development plan document (GTDPD) which forms part of the LDF, closed on 24 November 2006. Hatley Parish Council submitted comments. Independent examinations are being made by inspectors appointed by the Planning Inspectorate to consider the ‘soundness’ of the submission draft plans, including the objection sites, and will produce reports which may include changes to the plans to meet objections and other matters. These changes will be binding on SCDC – it can then proceed to statutory adoption, in 2007, of the six development plan documents:
Hatley Parish Council has a set of these reports and supporting information. Please contact Sebastian Kindersley, Clerk to Hatley Parish Council, (tel 01767 651 982 or e-mail skindersley@hotmail.com or cllr.kindersley@scambs.gov.uk if you would like to see them. Copies can also be seen at Gamlingay Resource Centre, other Cambridgeshire libraries and South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council offices. Hatley is too small to feature significantly in the reports (population of 205 in the 2001 census). It has been selected as an ‘Infill-only village’. The result of the audit of outdoor sport and children's play space provision is that 'Hatley has a cricket field in excellent condition; there is no evidence for further need.' Gamlingay has been selected as a ‘Minor rural centre’. The reports mention a 1.3 ha housing allocation in Gamlingay, a 1 ha site for an additional graveyard west of St Mary's Church and the need for additional sports pitches in Gamlingay (tennis, senior football, mini soccer and a multi-use games area). A 4.05 ha site in Station Road is mentioned for 'employment commitment' rather than housing. Page updated 20 August 2010 |
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Doing something about those who speed along the 40 mph stretch through Hatley is being tackled by four Hatley Speedwatch volunteers – using a highly visible, calibrated radar sensor (right) which displays traffic speeds between 33 and 60 mph (the minimum and maximum the system registers).
The four volunteers, Peter Mann, Mick Marshall, Allen Miller and Chris Brett (left to right with Vic Nickson, the Speedwatch co-ordinator from Bassingbourn) are not alone with their concerns about the speed of many drivers going though Cambridgeshire villages – it has been the number one topic at all the quarterly Neighbourhood Police Panel meetings since the first one held in Gamlingay in 2006.
"Our particular concern is with traffic going through Hatley St George and the 'main' road past the East Hatley turn," said Peter Mann, who has been asking Hatley Parish Council to 'do something' for over 10 years. "Speedwatch shows the parish council, the police, the local authority and those who speed that villagers are very concerned about this matter.
On 2nd October 2009, East Hatley resident Carole Cooper (right with her partner Allen Miller), was the star on the empty plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.
is that only one person at a time is
allowed on – not even the driver of the mobile lift (right, taking Carole up) is allowed on.
half of my signs! Still, it was a fantastic opportunity to promote
our business of providing holidays
for single parents with their children."
name for themselves, charity or organisation – all part of the One & Other live artwork by sculptor Antony Gormley. By the end of the show on 14 October, 2400 people will have stood on it during the 24 hours a day,100 days of the event.
Hi, I'm James. I'm 14 and I live in East Hatley.