Longstanton Village

South Cambridgeshire District Council

There are 5 District Councils in the County of Cambridgeshire:   District Councils are the second-tier of our local authorities. They are:

What is SCDC responsible for? 

South Cambridgeshire District Council's main responsibilities are:

What is the role of a District Councillor?

Democratically elected by the local people, a member of the District Council plans, manages, monitors and develops Council business to improve the quality of life of the local community.

The main role of a District Councillor is to represent the people living in the ward  in dealing  with their concerns, campaigning on their behalf on local issues, supporting local partnerships and organisations, explaining Council policy and decisions and informing constituents about services in the area. In doing so, a councillor needs to balance the interests of the constituents, of his or her political party and of the Council.

Longstanton District Councillor

Councillor Alex Riley (Independent Group) has been re-elected to represent the Ward of Longstanton on the 1st May 2008, for four years.

Tel: 01954 208000
Fax: 01954 208003
Bus. Mobile: 07775 500737 
Bus. e-mail: alex [at] alexrileywines [dot] co [dot] uk 

Councillor Riley is appointed on the following committees:

• Council
• Council - Local Development Framework (LDF) Special Meeting
• Licensing Committee
• Licensing Committee (2003 Act)
• Licensing Committee (2005 Gambling Act)
• Northstowe Joint Development Control Committee
• Standards Committee

Longstanton Annual Parish Meeting : District Council Report 2007 / 2008

This year I have continued to represent the village within South Cambs, have continued to ensure that Longstanton is not ignored by the local media and have kept the village informed via my list of 200 village email addresses. This year I have served on the South Cambs Licensing and Standards Committees. I am the Convenor of the group of Independent councillors.
In the interests of what is called “efficiency” the number of Council meetings has been reduced to five. Personally, I find this not nearly enough since it means that those of us not on the Council’s Cabinet feel very out of touch.
One of the big issues within South Cambs at the moment is the desire of the controlling Conservative group to transfer all its council housing to a housing association. The case was initially made that this was a completely straightforward decision and that all tenants would want to transfer. The longer the debate has continued, however, the weaker the case for transfer looks. My advice to any council tenants would be to vote against transfer.
I would like to talk about Northstowe, our sewage problems, Home Farm and the Immigration Centre.
This year I have been a member of the Northstowe Joint Development Control Committee which consists of six District Councillors and four County Councillors. In a few months time this is the committee which will determine the Northstowe planning application. The committee has met a few times, but has not yet got to grips with the planning application.
The County Council Cabinet met recently and agreed no fewer than 70 objections to the Northstowe planning application. I understand that 693 other representations have been received.
One of the most important aspects of the Northstowe application is its master plan. This plan should contain the long-term vision for the whole town and the intention was that it should be developed by a team from South Cambs, the County, Gallaghers (the developer) and English Partnerships (the principal land owner). In fact what has happened is that Gallaghers and EP have commissioned ARUP, a well-known engineering consultancy, to draw up the master plan based on input from Gallaghers and EP, without regard to input from County and District. In effect, the whole master planning exercise has been hijacked. Furthermore, the land west of the B1050 that the Inspectors earmarked for potential expansion has been excluded from the master planning process. What this means is that Northstowe is not being designed from the outset to use its eventual land area.
Several areas of the village receive very little separation from Northstowe according to this application. The St Michael’s fields are scheduled as Conservation Area but their medium-term future is not specified. The initial development is scheduled to take place at Crabtree Corner and on the land opposite Crabtree Corner. Given that the B1050 is such a busy road that a bypass was considered essential for the village, I do not understand why they should make both sides of this road a built-up area. They are talking about adding traffic lights at Crabtree Corner. So on this short stretch of a very busy road we will have the Guided Bus intersection, traffic lights for the GB Park and Ride and these Northstowe traffic lights.
When I joined the Parish Council in 2002 Northstowe was due to have 600 houses completed every year starting in 2006. The most recent figure I have heard is that the first occupation is due to happen in October 2009 which is a slippage of about four years. We are now facing a considerable downturn in the housing market and this is likely to delay the roll-out of Northstowe considerably. I’m afraid the village could find itself on the edge of a building site for twenty or more years.
Until six years ago the village did not have serious problems with sewage. The village at that time consisted of roughly only 500 houses. This was because effluent from the 300 homes on the military estates at Rampton Drift, Magdalene Close and Thornhill Place was all treated at a small sewage works on the barracks site. When these ex-military homes were sold off that sewage works was closed down and the effluent from these 300 homes was simply added into the village sewer. Since the village sewer along the High Street was particularly in need of being modernised, the result was that several houses and gardens in the village were subject to sewage outflows. This problem was eventually corrected when Anglian Water relaid a length of sewer. When the Home Farm development was started we got a statement from AW that they believed that there was sufficient capacity for the 90 Phase 1 homes to be connected. However, we now have a situation in which over 200 homes have been built on Home Farm. So the village sewers, originally dealing with 500 homes, are now dealing with 500 + 300 + 200 homes – twice the original amount. The other part of the problem is that this effluent is pumped along the High Street, along Station Road, right the way to the Black Bull in Willingham from where it is pumped to Over for treatment. The system is unable to handle this volume and the “weak points” which are in Station Road near Willingham and the High Street near our Black Bull are reporting sewage outflows.
There is no doubt in my mind that AW have let us down badly. I think they should have started planning for 500 homes on Home Farm years ago. I have had meetings and correspondence with Anglian Water this year and I’m delighted to be able to tell you that they have committed to a major upgrade to our sewage system which will cause the village’s effluent to be pumped direct to Over, not via Willingham. This work is due to happen in September. I am disappointed that it has taken so long to get this work done, but delighted that a proper solution is about to happen.
Given AW’s slowness in catering for the requirements of the Home Farm development, we are right to be apprehensive about what they will do about Northstowe. Those of us involved in Northstowe on South Cambs are well aware of this problem and will endeavour to get appropriate commitments in advance from Anglian Water.
Construction continues at Home Farm and the last report I received from Tim Tucker indicates that there have been 223 completed sales. The legal agreement for this development makes clear that the bypass must be completed before occupation of the 251st home and the South Cambs Planning Committee has instructed officers to enforce this condition. Two weeks ago I heard that this work on the bypass was due to start around now. The interim bypass has removed B1050 traffic from Hattons Road and part of the High Street but the village will be delighted when Over Road and the rest of the High Street lose their through traffic. The other significant Home Farm benefit that the village is waiting for is the extension to the Recreation Ground. I gather that a meeting is due to take place shortly between the landowner and the Parish Council which I trust will clarify this issue.
The Home Office is going to keep the Immigration Centre open until June 2010. They applied to have a 17 foot high fence erected right next to Rampton Drift as part of a proposal to keep foreign ex-prisoners there prior to their deportation. I successfully opposed this application since it would have been another move away from the Immigration Reception Centre we were promised and towards turning it into a prison. South Cambs made it a condition of the extension until 2010 that there must be annual public meetings here in Longstanton. The first of these is on the 28th of April. I have worked hard for the village over the past four years. I am standing for re-election next week.

Alex Riley  22 April 2008