	Autumn 1998 Number 9 Page 2
	Impington News

Parish Council news

Safer Villages Initiative

The Safer Villages Initiative is being organised by Councillor Anne Muncey, working with PC Soni, and will cover both Impington and Histon. As part of the initiative you should, by now, have received, and hopefully returned, a questionnaire giving you the chance to make your views known about crime, policing etc. If you haven't had one, please contact 232769 and one will be delivered.

This consultation is important as it will identify the problems that need attention, and will help to put them in priority order for action. The Parish Council is committed to support this work, and will do all it can to support the action plans.

Elections

Impington's Southern boundary lies well beyond the A14. Now residents living south of the A14 have a Councillor on the Parish Council. Harry Sparks (telephone 563267), was co-opted earlier this year following the resignation of Bill Easy.

There was some confusion for residents living south of the A14 at last year's election. The District Council is hoping to simplify this by establishing a new polling district, OA3, for these residents. They will vote at a Polling Station at the Meadows Centre, whilst all other residents will continue to vote at the Baptist Church Hall.

In May there will be an election for the District Council, and possibly the Parish Council. This may seem a long time away, but if you are interested in standing, please contact the Clerk. Later, there will be elections to the European Parliament (Robert Sturdy is our current, Conservative, MEP).

Bus Passes

In July Council decided in principle to look further at assisting with the cost of bus passes, any provision to be made from next year. Combined with the Government proposals (Integrated Transport White Paper) that such bus passes should cost no more than £5.00, this is good news for our senior citizen bus users.

Environment

From mid-September, litter clearance by the District Council will be augmented by local paid staff. Shops and other commercial premises are required to keep their own areas clear, but if you see litter which requires attention, please let the Clerk know.

The Parish Council has agreed to establish an Environment Committee, to oversee matters such as litter clearance, tree planting etc. If you have any suggestions for this committee, please pass them to the Clerk.

The real Lambeth

Every ten years Anglican Bishops from across the world gather in England to live, work and worship together. This year the Lambeth Conference was held at the University of Kent, Canterbury where, in addition to the 1500 Bishops and their spouses, a further 500 people provided the necessary back-up support - chaplaincy, music, translation, stewarding, technical support etc. Jan Payne, a professional musician and resident of Impington, was one of the four-strong music team. She writes for Impington News about some of the messages from the Conference:

"Lambeth was a lifetime of experiences encapsulated into three weeks. Each day started at 5.30 am (at least for some, me included) and ended when you felt like it but not much earlier than midnight. It was hard work but enormous fun. Here was an international community, vibrant and alive but struggling to come to terms with a diversity of culture, churchmanship and social needs.

The Press had a field-day with issues of human sexuality - if you only read the national papers you might be forgiven for thinking that was all that the Bishops spent three weeks discussing. However, the "real" Lambeth was devoted to much more - to stories of appalling poverty, of violence, of reconciliation and love, of holiness and spirituality and of a genuine desire amongst all the delegates to get a little closer to God and discern the way forward for the Christian faith.

If anyone wants to know more, please do contact me on 01223 233577. Meanwhile, please remember our brothers and sisters across the world - I came back from Lambeth to a nice house, loving family, enough to eat and some money in the bank. Many delegates from overseas would not be that lucky on their return home."

South Road Recreation Ground

The Parish Council has just completed a consultation exercise of nearby residents regarding how best to maintain the ground. The land was donated by Chivers to commemorate the Queen's coronation, as a play area, and the Council is committed to maintain it as such.

Out of nearly 400 questionnaires put out, some 26 were returned by the due date. These responses, together with other input from the Council's stall at the Feast Market, and elsewhere, were discussed at September's Council meeting.

As a first stage, Council decided to bring the grass up to a reasonable standard so that the ground is usable. The possible replacement of the ageing play equipment will be discussed in the light of the other costs that need to be incurred. No budget was set for any of this work at the beginning of the year, and therefore some work may need to be delayed until next financial year.

A report will be issued to all residents who responded and gave their address.

Contact your Council

You can contact the Clerk to Impington Parish Council on 235906 (telephone, answering machine and fax). If you wish to write, the address is 21 Clay Street, Histon, CB4 9EY