Dry Drayton Village Plan
Exciting times in Dry Drayton. A Parish Plan is being prepared for the Village, to be called The Dry Drayton Village Plan.
What is a Parish Plan?
We asked South Cambridgeshire District Council this question. Alison Talkington, their Senior Planning Policy Officer said,
"A Parish Plan is a community led consultation document that helps communities to indicate how they would like their village to develop, to identify key facilities and services, to set out the problems that need to be tackled and demonstrate how its distinctive character and features can be preserved.
In the new planning system where local authorities have to produce a Local Development Framework for their district there is great emphasis in devising policies that have a good evidence base and if a village has a parish plan this can provide some of this evidence base especially if there has been great involvement by the local community in preparing the plan.
The Parish Plan can also provide bottom up information to inform other local authority strategies such as the Community Strategy. Those plans that have already been prepared include topics that go beyond the scope of planning matters."
Who is Preparing the Plan?
The idea of a Parish Plan appealed to the Parish Council after it was promoted by Cambridgeshire ACRE, (Action with Communities in Rural England) who also offer guidance and some funding support for these projects. The Parish Council organised a public meeting back in October 2007 (see August 2007 Village Newsletter) and the following people became the steering group for the project.
Neil Harris
Nick Irish
Roger Swain
What is the timescale?
The project plan for producing the Village Plan appears, from the Village Newsletter March 2008, to be as follows:
- October 2007 - early spring 2008, comments are being solicited directly by the steering group from some quarters, and all are invited to contribute ideas, especially in relation to possible future development.
- End April 2008, first draft of the Village Plan written.
- Late Spring 2008, draft plan circulated for full consultation with individuals and village organisations.
Will the Plan make any difference for the Future?
Neil Harris states in the March 2008 Newsletter that the Village Plan "will be useful in itself as a source of information and views for ourselves and for the Parish Council and will increase the chances of getting funding for any developments such as play areas or sports grounds."
Cambridgeshire ACRE state:
"It is envisaged that a "Parish Plan" will "help all rural communities. to indicate how they would like their town or village to develop, to identify key facilities and services, to set out the problems that need to be tackled and demonstrate how its distinctive character and features can be preserved".
How you can contribute your ideas
If the drafting group have not solicited your comments directly, then you are equally welcome to make your views and thoughts known to the drafters by sending them to Neil Harris, 69 Park Street, Dry Drayton, or E-mail neil.harris@ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk
If this is to be a lasting document to which the Parish and District Councils will refer in future for informed local opinion, then it is important that as many residents as possible contribute their ideas and views, and get involved in the consultation process.
Want to promote or share your ideas via DryDrayton.net?
If you want to generate discussion, then e-mail webmaster@drydrayton.net and this page can be expanded to widen the debate.
What areas might the Village Plan include?
Have your say on any of the following topics and any others that come to mind. These examples are merely illustrative, not necessarily representing anyone's current opinions. Why not let the drafters have your views before someone actually proposes any of these.
Development
- How big should Dry Drayton become? The population in the village, around 600 at the last census, is ageing - shouldn't more be done to encourage the economically active to come here and expand the community, or should Dry Drayton continue to decline into a community of grumpy old folks, trapped here through lack of effective public transport?
- How big should the village become? 800, 1000, 1200, 2000 population or more? What is the ideal size for our community and why? Over what timescale should expansion take place?
- If the village isn't expanded, how long can a small ageing community justify keeping its own school? Or do we simply let that wither on the vine?
- If Dry Drayton is to be allowed to expand, do we continue with just the current "garden development" version of infill? Should greater infill be encouraged? Should it be possible for infill to take place generally within the envelope of the existing village, for example within a line connecting Oakington Road to Pettitts Lane, or or should bits of the old Cambridge Green Belt protruding into the village be kept free of development? Should development down one side of a road be matched with development on the other side - for example, Scotland Road and Oakington Road both have suffered from ribbon development in the past, but only on one side of the road - why not permit matching development on the other side? Should residents be allowed to stock pile infill building land to effectively block the growth of the village?
- What about the provision of affordable housing in Dry Drayton? What about sheltered accommodation for all those senior citizens here?
- If we had to accommodate a small travelers' site, where might it best be situated?
Amenities
- Should there be a sports or recreation ground provided for use by local residents still young enough to do so - where might it go and who should fund it?
- What about a daily free cyber cafe in the village hall so that older residents can widen their horizons using the internet. Who should provide this? Should the Parish Council be exploring setting up a local wide area broadband wireless network in the village?
- Should a care call scheme be introduced for the village so that anyone requiring assistance can summons this at the press of a button?
- Should the village grass be cut more often? More bulbs and shrubs be planted to bring colour to public places? Do we need imaginative new ways of getting the grass cut with local agreements with residents to cut small areas rather than hiring in a contractor to do everything?
- What about all the hideous overhead cables around the village - in the 21st century shouldn't the village insist that BT and the utility companies clean up their act if they are going to continue to supply to this community.
- What should we be doing about the litter in the village? Is it sufficient to rely on the splendid efforts of volunteers to clean up behind the selfish motorists who disgorge their litter as they pass through the village - should we have a zero tolerance policy and take effective action against the litterers and fly tippers?
- What about a village green? In days of yore cricket was played on the old Park in the centre of the village. This was ruined by the re-aligning of the main road through the village, leaving a couple of unusable long-grassed wide verges with traffic through the centre and the rest of the park is now an horses' paddock. Shouldn't there be a proper village green somewhere in the middle of the village where village events and sport can take place? Somewhere a maypole might be erected, morris dancing could take place and the S and VA tent be erected. What could be done about this? If the village expands, perhaps the centre of the village will shift and a village green could be provided as planning gain. Or, when the village school eventually closes, could the parish take over the school field as a village green?
- What about village allotments - there has been a waiting list for years - shouldn't more allotments be provided somewhere - and the sort of allotments that allow the erection of little sheds, where the old folks can sit and contemplate their crops?
Transport
- Present public transport in the village is little short of a joke - shouldn't there be more effective provision? If the bus companies are not interested then shouldn't the Parish Council lay on a couple of mini-bus trips into and out of Cambridge daily?
- Cyclists enjoy no special treatment and are clearly not welcome here. Shouldn't there be a green lane policy introduced giving cyclists and walkers priority over motor vehicles on the Dry Drayton to Madingley Road and through Madingley to the bottom of Madingley Hill where cyclists could pick up the facilities leading into Cambridge.
- How is Dry Drayton to link to the misguided bus providing access from Spring 2009 from Oakington to Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon. Waiting until the bus is in place is too late. Shouldn't the transport section of the new Village Plan demand not just improved verges, but a safe tarmac cycle track from Dry Drayton to Oakington.
- What about more footpaths for the village, especially something leading from Dry Drayton to Madingley?
- Speeding through the village still occurs - should the policy for the future be to take some action against speeders and those who insist they can just get through the chicanes in the village in front of the far less important vehicle coming the other way with a so called right of way? Should the flashing speed signs be replaced by something with teeth? Should the speed bumps be raised higher so as to actually slow down vehicles.
- Should toilets and a wash room be provided beside the A14, near Hackers Fruit Farm, for the benefit of our transient population of overnighting lorry drivers who prefer sleeping in Dry Drayton to using the Cambridge Services.
Green Issues
- Shouldn't every business in the village be required to publish details of its carbon footprint. Shouldn't the village specify the extent of pollution and greenhouse gasses permitted by businesses allowed in the village?
- Should the Parish be taking some sort of collective action to supplement the inadequate rubbish collection facilities provided by the District Council? More communal recycling facilities perhaps, and communal composting facilities.
- Should there be a total ban on bonfires in Dry Drayton?
- Shouldn't all vehicles over 1 tonne be banned from the village completely and there be a ban on 4 x 4 vehicles entering the residential areas of the village or any vehicle parking within 400 metres of the school.
- There should be a village nature reserve where the great crested newt and the water vole could be protected. Should some of our grass verges be designated as nature reserves - it might save on the grass cutting, but could increase the litter problem.
- A Dry Drayton flood plan is needed to prevent the regular flooding of the Madingley Road and Park Lane by Callow Brook. Could this be linked with the need for a village nature reserve through providing some sort of balancing pond for Callow Brook.
Community Safety
- Should there be a policy to improve street lighting in the village and to hold the parish council accountable for unlit lamps.
- To combat antisocial behavior shouldn't Dry Drayton join one of the many CCTV schemes to ensure our streets are properly watched. This could be supplemented by a number of publicly accessible webcams linked to the village.
- Should Dry Drayton become a "No Cold Callers" zone.
- Shouldn't there be a requirement for horse riders to clear up the excreta left by their animals in public places in the same way as dogwalkers in the village always do?
Governance, Representation and Isolation
- Is such a small community as Dry Drayton likely to be effective standing alone - isn't greater power and influence possible through sharing power. Shouldn't our representatives be entering into a series of bilateral strategic alliances with other parishes to jointly manage certain strategies - for example there could be a joint cycle commuting project/ strategy between the parishes of Bar Hill, Madingley, Oakington and Girton - four times the power to get the planners and highways people in other tiers of government to listen to what is really required by our communities.
- How can we hold our elected representatives to account? Couldn't the S and VA organise surgeries every month in the village pub which our county, district and parish representatives have to attend to give an account of what they have done for Dry Drayton.
- Should Dry Drayton be promoting the concept of a Greater Cambridge. Build on the outdated green belt and let the necklace villages round Cambridge naturally coalesce into Greater Cambridge, a bright new Milton Keynes of the Fens, large enough to support proper public transport and decent infrastructure for decades ahead.