MELBOURN PARISH COUNCIL 28 Station Road Melbourn Cambs SG8 6DX Telephone 262494 e-mail: parishclerk@melbournpc.co.uk Chairman Donald Mowatt 23, High Street SG8 6AL
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Vice-Chairman Maureen Townsend 32 New Road SG8 6ER
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Clerk & Office Avril Mellor, 28 Station Road, SG8 6DX
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E-mail parishclerk@melbournpc.co.uk Website www.melbourncambridge.co.uk Councillors Val Barrett 2 Station Road, SG8 6DX 261227 Frank Benfield 2-4 Little Lane, SG8 6DX, 261227 Irene Bloomfield 78 Russet Way, SG8 6HF 222558 Alan Brett 44 High Street, SG8 6DXBB 260306 Rosemary Gatward 94 High Street, SG8 6AL 261225 Jose Hales 23 Elm Way, SG8 6UH 262651 Dean Hardingham 1 Portway, SG8 6EU 232757 Michael Linnette 11 Chapel Lane, SG8 6BN 262534 Donald Mowatt White Walls, 23 High Street 268388 Clive Purbrook Glebe House, High St, SG8 6DZ 260899 Jocelyn Robson 91 High Street 261633 Mike Sherwen 3 Hale Close, SG8 6ET 260070 Christopher Stead 70 Russet Way 260743 pm only Maureen Townsend 32 New Rd, SG8 6BY 260959 Richard Wakerley 32 Chalkhill Barrow, SG8 6EQ 262247 Employees Handyman and Caretaker Peter Andrews Emergency mobile. 07778-682245
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Village Ranger Keith Rudge, 4 Dolphin La, SG8 6AF
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Internal Auditor Peter Chilvers, 68A High Street, SG8 6AJ
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County Councillor Susan van de Ven 95 North End, Meldreth susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk.
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District Councillors Janice Guest, 1 Mortlock Street, SG8 6DB Val Barrett, 2 Station Road
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South Cambs M.P. Andrew Lansley
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South Cambs M.E.P. Robert Sturdy
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The Parish Office at 28 Station Road, is entered by the door at the front of the building directly opposite Sheene Mill. The Parish Office is now open on Mondays from 9 am to 1 pm, on Tuesdays from 2 pm from 4 pm, and on Thursday from 9 am to 1 pm. The office is not normally open on Wednesdays or Fridays. As the Clerk is sometimes out on Parish business it is better to ring 262494 to ensure that she is in the office. Meetings of the Planning Committee are normally held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month commencing at 7.15 pm. Council Meetings are normally held on the fourth Monday of each month at 7.15 pm at All Saints’ Community Hall. The Press Royston & Buntingford Mercury Tom Ship, Media Centre 40 Ware Road, Hertford, SG13 7HU 01992 526639 Royston Crow Heath House, Princes Mews, Royston, SG8 6RT 245241 Fax 242231 Cambridge News David Williams, 3 Melbourn Street, Royston, SG8 7BP 249144 Fax 244502 BBC Radio Cambridge Reception Newsroom
01223 259696 01223 358510
www.melbourncambridge.co.uk/council/
From the Parish Clerk – Avril Mellor How nice to be greeting spring after such a long hard winter. I hope that most of you managed to stay on your feet during the very icy and slippery periods, which seemed to go on for weeks. I was one of those that succumbed to the pull of gravity but fortunately I was only a little shaken up and had no broken bones. In December Dr Frank Benfield was co-opted to the Council. I would like to welcome Cllr. Benfield and hope that he will find his involvement with the Council rewarding. There are now 15 Councillors, which is the full quota for Melbourn. This year is election year for the Council. Parish Council elections take place every four years and are usually held in the first week in May. If this coincides with the date chosen for the General Election, the Council’s election date will be postponed, by law, for three weeks. Anyone who wishes to be considered for election to the Parish Council should contact South Cambridgeshire District Council Monitoring Officer and request election papers. An election will only take place if more then 15 residents apply for nomination to the Council. At time of writing the precept for 2010/11 is being worked on and at the beginning of February the final figure will be submitted to South Cambridgeshire District Council for inclusion in the Council Tax calculations. This precept provides the money that the Council has to work with for the coming year. The process of preparing a lease for the village car park is in the hands of the solicitors and as usual these things take time, due to the complexity of the content. In December some of the Councillors attended a meeting with the Council’s Solicitor to discuss various aspect of the proposed lease. The police have now moved out of the centre of the village, a site which they have occupied for fifty years as a police station and homes for police officers. Planning permission has been granted enabling work to commence on an office in the grounds of Melbourn Village College. In the meantime the police will operate from a Mobile Office at the college. The gates for New Road cemetery have been ordered and it is hoped to have them in place by summer. Some of the trees have died due to lack of rainfall in the summer months. These will be replaced and additional planting will take place as soon as the weather conditions allow. The trees and hedges are now beginning to mature and in another couple of years we shall have a very attractive rural cemetery rather than the corner of a field we had when the cemetery was opened. The gates from All Saints’ churchyard were removed in January for restoration and have now been replaced. The removal of the gates was carried out by Sam Bowden Countryside Services, a difficult and lengthy task due to the depth that one of the iron gate posts was buried. The restoration work was undertaken by Matthew Lane Sanderson who is also making the gates for New Road Cemetery. Work in the churchyard has also included the reduction in height and reshaping of a yew tree and the removal of a diseased elm. Under section 215 of the Local Government Act 1972, the Parish Council is responsible for the maintenance and repair of this churchyard, as it is a closed churchyard. melbournmagazine
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