Local News

The June issue is now available online in the ‘Newspaper’ section in our menu at the top of the page.
There you can look at back issues as well.

Or you can click the image below for this month’s HI Courier:

Open publication - Free publishing - More june 2010

Sunday 13 June at 11 am.  Join us for a open air service at Histon & Impington Receeation Ground to give thanks for & celebrate the new play area! Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy afterwards! Then, stay all day for the other activities

- Histon & Impington Council Of Churches

Click for image larger version

Don’t miss it … this Sunday 13 June starting at 11 am:  The 2010 Rec FUN DAY and the Official Opening of the New Playarea.  [ For email subscribers: Check the HI Courier website for a complete programme listing of activities.]  There will be plenty of sports activities:  archery, tennis, tri-golf, croquet, fencing, cricket, and netball.  There will be attractions: Laser tag, Electric go carts, roundabout, colour maze, tug of war, demolition ball, assault course bouncy castle and a cross bar challenge.  There will be a brass band, food and drink all day and even a circus skills workshop.  Plus much more!  And the main event: the official opening of the new play area. 

Be there!  It all starts at 11 am this Sunday.

Cambridge Climate Change Charter is inviting all business’ and organisations to a special Carbon Footprint Workshop tomorrow Thursday 10 June at IVC from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.  Bring along your energy bills and they will help you work out your carbon footprint and give advice on next steps.

No reservations needed.  See you there.

The following changes to the Citi 7 service have been announced:  read more ...

Cambridgeshire Trading Standards Service is carrying out a survey amongst the residents of Cambridgeshire to identify what they would like Trading Standards to focus on in their local area and to identify any particular trading issues affecting residents.  read more ...

The more you look at a subject, the more complex it is – the more questions and challenges that arise …

A trip to the MBT plant run by Donarbon was fascinating.

140,000 tons of “black bin” rubbish will be sorted, metals, paper, glass and plastics removed, and the remainder “composted”. The output compost like material though, cant be used as compost – it varies too much from week to week, and is typically contaminated. The “obvious” thing to do with it is to burn it and try to offset the vast (£1M+ per year) electricity bill for actually running the plant.

But why not more kerbside recycling? Getting people to sort their rubbish (as, for example, Germany). The answer is that most people won’t – and the more you ask them to do the more likely they are to put everything in the black bin. Whilst “comingled” waste (eg the City’s blue bin) is slightly less valuable when recycled there’s so much more of it that this is the way to go.

Prices for recycled materials vary – and quality/contamination affect that – but can explain, for example, why cable thefts are not uncommon. That, of course, explains why the costs of materials made from recycled plastics (for example) are what they are.

Trees are a hot topic in the village at the moment – people care about them for all sorts of reasons – environmental (capturing CO2), environmental (cutting some noise), their contribution to the “street scene” and more. For some reason we really care about them – and want them protected.

Impington is richly blessed with trees – not only in gardens, “spare” bits of land (eg the triangles of land at The Crescent/Cambridge Road and also that near where Cambridge Road joins the B1049) but also the Copse, Coppice, Homefield Park and Clay Close Lane. The trees at the Green are some of the largest (and oldest) and certainly make a real difference to the scene! Do we have more trees than any other Parish?

Many of our trees are protected by Tree Preservation Orders – these are managed by South Cambridgeshire District Council – and those orders require owners to get permission for any works (and that includes the Parish Council as well). That permission is, of course, not unreasonably withheld when works are essential for safety reasons or to maintain the health of the tree.

There are some readable guides on line from central government, including what happens  if  a tree is removed in contravention of the TPO. Paragraph 11.3 gives the duty on the landowner is: (1) to plant another tree, (2) of an appropriate size and species, (3) at the same place, (4) as soon as he or she reasonably can.

Tony Juniper meeting
Thursday, 18th February
Main Hall, Impington Village College
7:30pm, Free admission

It is an enormous privilege to have Tony come and speak to our villages and I hope as many of us as can make it will turn out to hear him speak about his thoughts on politics after Copenhagen, his time at Friends of the Earth and his hopes as potential Green MP.

Tony Juniper is a campaigner, writer, sustainability adviser and one of the UK’s best known environmentalists. For the last 25 years he has worked for change toward a more sustainable society at local, national and international levels. From providing ecology and conservation experiences for primary school children, to making the case for new recycling laws, to orchestrating international campaigns for action on rainforests and climate change, his work has sought change at many levels.

Should be a great opportunity to meet Tony and question him on current environmental/climate change issues.

News to the Cambridge News is that BAM Nuttalls are being charged £14,000 a day for late delivery. This was published on 29th January – but the same information was in a BBC Cambridgeshire interview with Brian Smith, Director at Cambridgeshire County Council,  on 4th January.

That’s £4.7M – but Nuttalls aren’t yet paying that, they’re merely being charged – and the council will deduct the amount from the sum it pays BAM Nuttall once the busway has been finished and handed over.

Meanwhile, the Hunts Post takes a different tack – in the article Cambridge to St Ives guided bus disagreements will affect council’s cash flow – highlights from this appear to be such gems as Talks over the costs of building the busway remain unresolved and “this resolution process is likely to be protracted, having cash flow implications for the council” and The project was to cost £118m, including buying land, but The Hunts Post understands that costs have increased by about £40m

And, courtesy District Councillor Mike Mason, SCDC appear to have lost patience as well – they passed a motion that formally requests the County Council to issue a comprehensive public statement concerning the future operation and likely cost of the Cambridgeshire Guided Bus Scheme.

Who gets there first with the news, and whether the £40m figure is right will be interesting to see!