Community matters

from Issue 86 Summer 2016

Education

Community IMPORTANT NUMBERS Orchard Surgery matters Appointments & Dispensary 260220 For repeat prescriptions send email: prescriptions.orchardsurgery@nhs.net Hospitals From the Parish Clerk – Sarah Adam Addenbrooke’s Royston 01223 245151 01763 242134 As I write this article in April, the village has survived another mild winter and spring is very much in the air. NHS111 – Urgent Care 24hr helpline 111 Firstly, I’d like to welcome our newly appointed Parish Councillors Sally Ann

Medical help when not a 999 emergency Hart and Siegmar Parton who joined us at the end of March. Sally Ann Hart lives Police Non Emergency number 101 in Melbourn and this is the base for her National Training Partnership. Siegmar

Help when not a 999 emergency Parton is a resident of Meldreth and is also the new Melbourn Community Hub Fire & Rescue Service 01223 376201 Centre Manager. Crimestoppers 0800 555111 Back in December 2015 we said farewell to Barbara McKellar who for many Neighbourhood Watch 260959 years ensured the garden area at 83 High Street looked amazing. Melbourn Parish Maureen Townsend maureentownsend1@aol.com Council would like to say a huge thank you to Anita Cook who has kindly agreed Telephone Preference Service to take over this role and is doing a fabulous job. www.tsponline.org.uk 0345 070 0707 The proposed development of 199 houses off of New Road is still on-going and For information on Parish Councillors see page 35 the appeal will be considered by South Cambridgeshire District Council in July 2016. An important part of the Parish Council funding is intended for Community Grants. Any organisation (businesses excluded), charity or group is eligible to apply for a grant to fund activities and projects that benefit the community and meet identified needs. Grant applications will now be considered twice yearly, the first round takes place in April and the next call for applications will be published in October 2016 to be considered in November 2016. Applications can be made using either the application form available on the Parish Council Website/Policies/ Community Grant Policy or in paper copy from the Parish Council Office. Dog fouling allowed by irresponsible dog owners continues to frustrate the village. There have also been reports on the recreation ground of dogs biting other dogs and a dog biting a person whilst a football match was being played. Melbourn Parish Council strenuously endorses the Melbourn Village College policy that all dogs must be kept on a lead at all times whilst students are active during lessons and whilst matches are being played. Melbourn Parish Council continues to stress that all dog foul must be picked up and disposed of in the correct bins provided. The Melbourn Area Youth Development (MAYD) Youth Club is held on a Tuesday evening at Melbourn Pavilion from 7pm – 9pm. This is for Melbourn Village College students aged between eleven and sixteen years. The club is looking for help so if you would be interested in becoming a volunteer, are over the age of eighteen, enthusiastic and willing to actively engage with the pupils please do contact me. If you have concerns about any areas of the village or any other matter connected to village life, please do get in touch. The Parish Office is open Monday

Available at the and Thursday 9am–1pm and 2pm–4pm. Tuesday and Wednesday 9am – 1pm and 2pm – 3pm. The office is closed Friday. Community HUB continued on page 16 Email: parishclerk@melbournpc.co.uk or Telephone: 01763 263303 option 3 for the Parish Office.

Report from the Chairman of the Parish Council

In my previous reports I wrote about the many enhancements the Parish Council has made to our village. The refurbished pavilion, the Hub, New Road Cemetery, the rebuilt car park are the more visible among many. Currently, a working party of the Parish Council, under the chairmanship of Peter Cleminson CBE has been working to improve another prominent feature of our village, the War Memorial.

Three years after the end of World War I, the people of Melbourn erected a beautiful monument in Portland stone to the 46 men who gave their lives in the conflict. Little changed until after the Second World War when another 17 names of villagers who fell in combat.

Over time, the War Memorial which is made from the same stone as the Cenotaph in London, acquired a patina which dulled its appearance. The Parish Council decided to restore the memorial to its former state and make additional improvements in time for the Remembrance Ceremony in 2018, one hundred years after the Armistice in 1918.

So far, the working party which comprises both Parish Councillors and members of the public has made significant improvements and plans. Firstly, the memorial has been professionally restored to its original appearance and given a protective finish to keep it pristine.

Plans have been drawn up to resurface and widen the path, allowing wheelchair access. The boundary fence will be replaced, the seat refurbished and the area will be landscaped.

A key feature of the Remembrance Service is the recitation of the Kohima address after the minutes’ silence. These moving words, which are set out below, will be incorporated into area of the War Memorial.

When you go home

Tell them of us and say

For your tomorrow

We gave our to-day

It is planned to have all the work completed in the first quarter of 2017. After the landscaping has had a year’s growth, the War Memorial will be rededicated in a multi-faith ceremony lead by the Bishop of Ely in the summer of 2018. The current Lord Lieutenant of Cambridge is also fully behind the project and will ensure his successor also attends the rededication service.

My thanks go to all the members of the working party who have achieved much under the leadership of Peter Cleminson. Until 2010 Peter was the National Chairman of the Royal British Legion and is extremely well qualified to lead this project.

On a lighter note, we will be holding some fun events to commemorate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. On Friday 10th June at 7.30pm, we will be staging corgi racing (not real ones!) in the Hub, there will be drinks and nibbles – cash bar. A fun evening for all. Two days later on Sunday 12th at 2.30pm there will a Queen’s birthday tea party, again for adults and children, in the Hub. Tickets available at the Hub for donation of £4–£5pp. Not free, but a gesture. Bob Tulloch

We can make life a little easier

Local Community Services delivered from Moorlands Court

Homecare : our fully trained carers visit you in your home.

Sitting service : a visit from our experienced sta gives family carers time for themselves.

Day Centre : based at Moorlands Court with a friendly and sociable atmosphere and includes a tasty 2 course lunch.

Meals service : nutritious, hot lunchtime meal delivered to you.

Housekeeping : we do those jobs which you can no longer manage, from cleaning and ironing, to bed changing and shopping.

To nd out more, just call us at Moorlands Court on 01763 260564, or email : denise.taylor@chsgroup.org.uk

When South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Planning Committee turned down the planning application for 199 homes and Care Home on the site to the east of New Road, we knew that this was only the first round in the battle. Any developer has the right to ask for an appeal. Endurance Estates has had its request for an appeal granted.

The Appeal will be heard by a Planning Inspector from 12 to 14 July in the Council Chamber at Cambourne. A decision will be given some time after that. An Appeal for a proposed development at Foxton was heard in February and at the time of writing (mid April) had still not been decided. What we know from the Foxton Appeal is that the developers will argue their case very, very hard.

The Parish Council will again be represented by the Planning lawyer who did such a good job for us last June. We will be submitting updated evidence to take into account developments (such as the impact of the homes which have been given approval at Barrington on our GP surgery) since June 2016.

One new piece of evidence concerns the ability of the sewage treatment works to cope with 199 homes and a 75-bed Care Home. Residents had expressed concern. The Melbourn Futures Committee has liaised with Anglian Water to carry out a proper study to assess the impact. Our concerns were justified – if there is to be further development in Melbourn, there will need to be upgrades to our village’s sewage treatment capacity. However, this is not something which will mean that planning permission should be refused.

Melbourn and other nearby villages has been left vulnerable to these speculative planning applications because of the problems with South Cambridgeshire’s Local Plan submission to the planning Inspectorate. The inspection of the plan was halted late last year and after requirements for further evidence and some reworking of the submission, were asked for by the inspector. That work has now been done and has resulted in an additional of 500 extra homes to be built and a small alteration to Green Belt areas. The Plan has been resubmitted by Cambourne to the inspector, Ms Laura Graham who is due to continue with her deliberations in late June.

Until the Local Plan is approved all villages across South Cambs are vulnerable to speculative developments such as the 199 here in Melbourn. The final decision is not expected to until mid to late summer 2017. Melbourn Futures Committee

Update on the neighbourhood plan

Many thanks to those of you who dropped in at the Hub on 13th March. It was lovely to see a cross section of Melbourn there and to hear your views on how Melbourn should develop over the next 15 years. Congratulations to Bethany Beddow (below) of Melbourn Village College who won the Logo Competition. Here is the winning entry:

We had over 40 entries and the judges had a very hard time making a decision. All of the entries can be seen on the new Neighbourhood Plan website.

A picture is beginning to emerge on what people want and don’t want. We want: • Small-scale, organic development with an emphasis on affordable homes for all ages, with the infrastructure put in place to support the growth. • More open spaces with increased facilities for young people and exercise. • Solutions to the issues with traffic, congestion and poor parking behaviour in the centre of the village. • Improvements to road and pavement surfaces to make life easier for the elderly, disabled and those with young children. We don’t want to have large-scale development forced on our community and we want to see improvements in the cleanliness of our streets, with dog poo being a big concern.

We have also been talking to businesses about what Melbourn should provide in future. Office space is the most-mentioned lack so the Steering Group will be investigating how to maintain the current business areas and identify where in the Parish there is potential for offices.

Our vision for the Neighbourhood Plan based on what you have told us so far is that:

“We will develop a Neighbourhood Plan to make the Parish of Melbourn a desirable place to live, work and play, now and for the future, whilst protecting and enhancing its rural characteristics.”

Let us know what you think of this aspiration.

We will be at the Fete on 18 June so please come and visit us to find out about progress and give us your views on the future of Melbourn.

Contact the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group by e-mailing melbournplan@gmail.com or writing to us via c/o The Parish Office at The Hub.

From Your County Councillor

Representing our community at the County Council is always a matter of trying to get the best out of local and national government. Local government doesn’t have the freedom to determine its own direction: it’s a matter of what the government of the day thinks is best. We’re at a crossroads in the way finance is organized, with big changes that are having a huge and often detrimental impact on our area. The matter of getting pavements repaired is probably the most frequent concern coming my way, and distressingly, this is one of

Street fouling by dogs

Once again there have been complaints about irresponsible dog owners in the village who allow their dogs to foul in public places, particularly around the Primary School. Under the Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act, this is an offence and carries a fine of up to £1,000, or a fixed penalty up to the maximum.

In 2013 at a children’s playground in Manchester, a 2-year-old girl called Amiee tripped into a pile of dog mess and then wiped her face. Unfortunately, some of the dog mess ended up in Amiee’s left eye. Amiee’s mother took her home and cleaned the eye, but within 48 hours

Amiee’s eye became infected, it was badly swollen, she was in pain and she a had a fever. Amiee was taken to hospital and was treated for toxocariasis. Although potentially lethal, in Amiee’s case, she was left bind in her left eye.

At the age of 24 a young mother’s eye became infected from toxocariasis. The infection became extremely severe and for ten years she was in constant pain as her sight deteriorated. The only way to stop the pain she suffered, was to remove the infected eye. In 2012 Nadine then aged 34 had her eye removed and replaced with a prosthetic one. It is believed that the toxic infection was caused by dog faeces she came into contact with when she was just four years old. “Dog owners are responsible for their dog’s mess and the potential damage it can cause. They have to realise that it can be devastating and wreck lives or even kill.” What is toxocariasis

Toxocariasis is an infection caused by roundworm parasites found in dogs and cats. The roundworm infection is spread by the parasitic eggs in the faeces. The dog owner is unlikely to notice any signs of the infection. However, the Toxocariasis eggs, once on the ground and in the soil, are invisible and are quickly spread by earthworms and insects. The eggs can remain active for many years, long after the dog mess has weathered away.

Anyone can become infected, but young children are at greater risk because they play outside and tend to place contaminated objects and dirt in their mouths. If the eggs are swallowed by a child, through hand to mouth contact, the worms hatch out and burrow through the gut wall, spreading into the blood stream. They may then enter body tissues. Symptoms of an infection include stomach upsets, sore throats, dizziness, nausea, asthma and epileptic fits. If they enter the eye they can cause permanent blindness, a condition, which affects 100–200 people each year in the UK. See your GP as soon as possible if you think your child has symptoms that may be caused by toxocariasis. If the eyes are affected, there’s a risk of permanent damage.

Immediate clearance of any dog faeces will avoid the eggs being spread. There are 20 bins throughout the village and dog owners are asked to use these dog bins to deposit the excrement. If a bin is not available, the dog faeces should be taken home and disposed of in a hygienic manner. Do not put dog mess in the green or blue rubbish bins. Remember to wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. casualties of the current state of local government finance. If you would like to know the gory details, please see my annual report to Melbourn Parish Council, which you can find on my website, or contact me by phone and I’ll be happy to drop a copy round.

Ironically, Greater Cambridge is the fastest growing region in the country, with enormous wealth. However, the greatest wealth/poverty gap in South Cambridgeshire is within the Melbourn county division. That means we have an opportunity to help solve problems, in creative ways. There are some great things going on, all due to local people stepping forward and determined to make a difference.

‘Melbourn Community Edible Gardening’: The Community Rail Partnership has successfully applied for a grant for this project to take place at Melbourn Primary. Initially this is taking the form of after-school gardening activity, but with serious intent to grow food and learn about nutrition and plant biology. This will be a year-round activity. A small polytunnel will be erected on school grounds. Two very experienced volunteers have come forward and we will be able to hire someone to fundraise and network to make the project sustainable in the longer term.

Edible Gardeners from Melbourn Primary are linking up with Melbourn Village College’s STEM Club, which is

continued on page 20

Wouldn’t it be great if dogs cleared up after them? But it’s up to you. Please clean up after your dog. Available at the Community HUB

taking part in astronaut Tim Peake’s ‘Rocket Science’ – experimenting with seeds that have travelled in space. Not bad fun! Transport: increasing frequency of A10 gridlock congestion makes rail and cycle transport options increasingly important. The Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group, and its umbrella Community Rail Partnership, are helping to fight our corner. From Meldreth Station, post-16 students can still access a 50% discount for travel within Cambridgeshire, which is unique in the country. We’ve persuaded our train operating company GTR to keep Meldreth Station Booking office open, and a new permanent member of staff should be in place soon (though will have big shoes to fill after David Piggott’s retirement). Please come along to Foxton Village Hall on June 15, 7 for 7:30, for the Rail User Group’s next jolly meeting.

The A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign is persisting with efforts to create a safe, off-road link between Cambridge-Royston and villages between, enabling cheap and healthy transport to work, etc. In March we had a great meeting hosted by TTP in their lovely surroundings, for which many thanks, and are also working productively with AstraZeneca at Melbourn Science Park. And for the fourth year running, Phillimore is hosting the annual A10 Awareness Ride tea, with cakes baked by the Tea Pot.

The cycle campaign has made its case to the Department for Transport and is continuing to access strategic infrastructure funding which central government has ring-fenced for cycling and walking. Cycle/walking paths are far cheaper than roads to build and maintain. More cycling and walking means fewer cars on the road, plus enormous physical and mental health benefits. At the time of writing we’re hopeful that the rudimentary path along Cambridge Road, between the garden centres and Melbourn Science Park, will be significantly upgraded as early as this summer. Anticipating that improvement, TTP is looking to create a separate cyclist entrance to the Melbourn Science Park site. Mental Health support: This very popular (and free) wellbeing drop-in service at the Melbourn Hub is run by Mind in Cambridgeshire, with County Council support. The Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group is working with the Mind Stop Suicide campaign. If you’d like any information about these efforts please contact Mind on 01223 311320. Young People: Melbourn and four other parish councils continue to club together to support Melbourn Area Youth Development, running a very popular area youth club, sponsoring the Bike Bank bicycle maintenance course for employable skills, and supporting other opportunities that come our way. The Rail User Group supports Duke of Edinburgh volunteers, and we’re delighted to have four Melbourn Village College boys on their Bronze Award, helping with litter picking and keeping station flower tubs watered.

The Melbourn Division Oil Club helps access lowest prices for household heating oil, and receives an annual rebate which is donated to a local community group – this year’s rebate was donated to Cam Sight’s Melbourn support group, in early anticipation of their annual Christmas get-together costs.

Melbourn Hub offers a café with free Wi-Fi, a library access point and meeting rooms which can be used for leisure or business. We also offer a range of key community support services and aim to be a focus point for assistance and advice. Opening Hours Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm Saturday 9am to 3pm

30 High Street Melbourn SG8 6DZ Telephone 01763 263303 reception@melbournhub.com

The Hub is run by the community, for the community, it is a centre with a difference. It is yours.

Melbourn

Community Hall

Melbourn Community Hall is in the centre of the village behind All Saints Church If you would like to hire the hall contact Sandie Springall Telephone: 01763 223320 or email: hallbookings@live.co.uk

Community Hub colouring competition

The Melbourn Community Hub held a colouring competition recently with outline drawings produced by Peter Simmonett.

The prizes were £10 first place in both categories and £5 second place in both categories. The winners also received chocolate Easter eggs.

The prizes (kindly donated by Melbourn Business Association) were presented by Peter Simmonett (Melbourn magazine) and Siegmar Parton (Centre Co-Ordinator) for the Melbourn Community Hub. The winning entries will all be framed and displayed in the Melbourn Community Hub.

Well done and thank you to everyone who entered the competition. The winners of the adult competition are: 2nd Prize Mrs Freda Cert with Siegmar Parton