News

12th January:

As part of our follow up to recent sewer issues on Rideaway, Anglia Water responded to HAPC’s continued concerns as follows: 

Access to the sewer mapping

This is normally only made available externally on an ‘as needs basis’ (e.g. to developers), but if HAPC writes to Development Services via the Anglian Water website, hard copies could be made available. (Note: our Chair or Parish Clerk will undertake this in the next seven days).

Further Work

No further work is planned for Rideaway. Contrary to the verbal report of the engineer in December, Anglian Water considers that the pipe is OK and any debris identified by the camera within the sewer pipe was just an outcome of the fracture and the integrity has not been affected.

HAPC commented on our concerns about the potential condition of the sewers across rest of the parish, after previous incidents on Common Lane and Rideaway Drive. However, a full survey will NOT be undertaken due to cost and lack of resources. Rather, local searches will be completed as and when potential incidents or elevated concerns arise.

Rideaway Drive: as part of general discussions around Rideaway, several residents reported repeated issues with blockages. These should be reported to Anglian Water and as provided that these relate to shared pipes, they will be investigated by Anglia Water.

Please do contact the Parish Clerk if you wish to discuss this matter further, or you need assistance in reporting any related issues.

Summary of discussions with the Anglia Water on-site manager at 11.30am on 6th December:

• The sink hole is approx.  5ft deep, 6ft across; sewer and gas pipes are visible in the void.
• A separate sewage system exists for Royal Oak Lane: the flooding there yesterday was due to excess rainwater being pushed into the drainage system, so it should not pose a serious health warning.
• Water and sewerage should not be affected for any residents.
• Anglia Water are working to reduce the number of tankers by installing appropriate piping and storage.
• Anglia Water are responsible for and have the authority to complete all repair work.
• Repairs should be completed by Xmas.
• We asked if Anglia Water can scan the remaining roads for any other voids (the Parish Council will submit this as a formal request).
• Best source for updates from Anglia Water is as follows:

https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/report-an-issue/

Please feel free to call us if you have any questions or concerns and we will try to help.

Marcus Whewell        Chair marcus.whewell@hemingford-abbots.org.uk

Maxine Blewett          Clerk parishclerk@hemingford-abbots.org.uk

From April 2024 Huntingdonshire District Council will be introducing a garden waste subscription service.  Residents will be able to start signing up for the service in December 2023 and there will be an Early Bird discount to residents who sign up before the end of January 2024. This discount will see residents pay £50 for the year instead of £57.50.  

Find out more here: Garden Waste Subscription Service – Huntingdonshire.gov.uk 

An intruder was seen in the garden at the back of a house on the High Street at 12.15am Monday night/Tuesday morning; the intruder left quickly when approached. 45 minutes later a nearby resident in Common Lane found an unknown car parked in the drive of their house. The car was driven off as soon as the resident went to investigate. Both incidents have been reported to the police.

Please let the police and/or the Chairman of the Parish Council Marcus Whewell know of any similar or suspicious incidents, in case these are not isolated events. In the meantime, be extra vigilant in checking that doors and windows are securely locked, check cameras and please support neighbours who may be vulnerable or appreciate support.

Click here to read the article.

The response from HDC can be viewed here.

Huntingdonshire District Council’s Cabinet Members agreed to introduce a fortnightly garden waste subscription service that will come into effect in April 2024.

Unlike household waste and recycling, there’s no legal requirement to collect garden waste so councils can charge for collections. Rather than remove the service, the council will keep the service for those that need and value it.

The optional service equates to under £5 per month at £57.50 for one garden waste bin to be collected fortnightly for the whole year. The council is also exploring incentives such as early bird offers and residents will also be able to share bins with neighbours.

Message from Huntingdon District Council’s Waste Minimisation Support Officer:

After some successful repair cafes and clothes swaps happening in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, we are looking at facilitating more of these events in new towns and villages. Would you or anyone you know be interested in helping us host one of these events? Here are some details on how it works:

REPAIR CAFÉ 

Huntingdon is hosting its first repair café on the 25th of August. There’s nothing like going to a repair café to see how they work and how brilliant they are at tackling waste, bringing communities together, sharing skills, and cutting carbon. There is also a Repair Café in St Ives on the 30th of September.

Attending this would be a brilliant foundation, and you can also attend: ‘How to organise a Repair Café in your community’ training sessions. They are on Zoom and are happening on Thurs 14th Sept , 7:30 – 8:30pm, and then Tues 26th Sept at the same time. They are free to attend and open to all. Once a village or town decides they’ll go for it, Cambridge Carbon Footprint can lend you their huge toolkit, and you can access to a register of nearly 100 Cambs-based repairers.

SWISHES

Swishes have taken off in the region, with an average of one event a week in Cambridgeshire. They range between swapping say 10kg of textiles (27kg of C02e saved per kg or textiles reused) and half a tonne! Any leftovers will get reused either via a charity or we could recycle them ourselves.

The Swish Kit is free to borrow from Cambridge Carbon Footprint. There’s a nice write-up in Varsity Magazine of the first Swish held by St John’s College https://www.varsity.co.uk/fashion/25252 earlier this year.

FIX FEST 

Cambridge Carbon Footprint and ourselves are looking at hosting a Fix Fest in October or November this year. A listing of past FixFest is here for an idea of what they are like.

Let us know if you would like to get involved!

If you would like to respond to this survey please do so before the 9^th July 2023 (https://tinyurl.com/hdcevc).  The results of the feedback will help shape future infrastructure planning in the council’s car parks and help promote the use of electric vehicles.

Communication from Moats Way Ltd:

Moats Way Ltd comprises a partnership between two companies, Endurance Estates and Markham & George – two well regarded local property companies, with a track record of delivering high quality new homes and communities that are sustainable, sensitive to their surroundings and great places to live, work and enjoy. We wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about our exciting plans for the The Lattenburys – a unique opportunity to deliver two new, sensitive and sustainable linked villages to the east of Godmanchester.

Our vision is for two villages, Great Lattenbury and South Lattenbury, but one community, with a shared sense of place and identity that will sit sensitively in the local landscape. At the heart of the proposal is a commitment to deliver an excellent quality of life for all generations, in a mix of homes ranging in size, style and affordability. As you will be aware, Huntingdonshire has a strong reputation as a place where people want to live, work, and stay. These new villages present an opportunity to strengthen this reputation and deliver high-quality homes within the District, while enhancing employment opportunities, creating a community which supports the needs of residents, and tackles climate change while caring for the environment.

These proposals respond directly to Huntingdonshire District Council’s recently launched ‘Call for Sites’ consultation as part of the second phase of the engagement on a full update to the Local Plan. Our proposals will be available on the Councils website in the next day or so, however, we were keen to contact you directly to let you know that our own dedicated website is now live. It provides a useful overview of our vision for the two new linked villages, a link to our response to the Call for Sites, and how members of the public can contact us. It can be viewed at http://www.thelattenburys.co.uk

Members of the public should ideally contact us via info@thelattenburys.co.uk

To read the update please use the link below:

Update on the Local Plan