News from St Ives 2

St Ives
Cambridgeshire




Click Oliver Cromwell (who once lived here) to go to contents list.


A personal view
by Philip Grosset




Bridge Street
ST IVES TRAFFIC SCHEME
Bridge Street back in January 2002, when cars were still allowed. This was the view looking up it from the bridge.
Bridge Street
Bridge Street in July 2002, looking down towards the bridge. Since then, no daytime parking has been allowed there, except for loading and by the disabled.
Car on bridge
No cars sign
This extra road sign at the bridge was added to make it absolutely clear in words (as previously suggested on this page) that cars must never be driven across the bridge. But why the capital"A" for "at"?
The car on the right was stopped by one of the new (and welcome) Community Support Officers in June 2005 - but many fewer cars now try to cross the bridge. It may seem odd, but heavy vehicles are still allowed to cross here, but that is because there is nowhere for them to turn.

Bridge St 1890s
This is what Bridge Street used to look like in the 1890s. No problems with cars then!


FARMERS' MARKET
Farmers' market
Eel Pie
Farmers' markets are held on the 1st and 3rd Saturday mornings of each month. This was the very first one on May 17th 2003, when Eel Pie provided a happy musical background. Ostrich burgers are still one of the attractions!


OLD COCKPIT
Before these new houses and apartments could be built on the old Permanex site at the corner of Ramsey Road and The Waits, an archaeological dig revealed the existence of the circular remains of an old cockpit, dating back to at least the 18th century. There is even a possibility that illegal cockfighting may have taken here in Cromwellian times. Not one of the attractions currently offered by the new development!
Old Permanex site
Kiosk
STIK IN THE SUN
STIK screen
Huntingdon Council's very first electronic tourist information kiosk (STIK, they call it, for St Ives Kiosk) was opened in St Ives in July 2004. You just touch the relevant part of the screen to bring up the information you want. Unfortunately, though, they didn't arrange any proper shade for the screen, and, as can be seen in the picture above, reflections (such as that of the road shown here) make it very difficult to read any of the informatiion if the sun is shining! But a consolation prize for trying ....

Clock
NEW CLOCK
The Civic Society provided St Ives with this fine new clock (top left of picture) in the town centre. The only problem was getting it to work. The cross on the right marks the site of the old market cross, and could do with a coat of paint.

ALCONBURY AIRFIELD
The USAF ceased flying from Alconbury in 1995. There was a proposal by ADL (Alconbury Developments Limited, a powerful consortium of the British Airports Authority, Ministry of Defence and Kingspark Developments) to make it into a large freight centre combining road, rail and air traffic. This aroused much local opposition - particularly because of possible increased congestion on the already overcrowded A14 road between Huntingdon and Cambridge, and to the proposed flights which might have ended up as a constant stream of aircraft throughout the day and night. This is the last thing anyone who lives near the flight path (that would go right over St Ives) wanted! The developers then temporarily (?) dropped the air freight part of their planning application (but there seemed nothing to stop them bringing it back later on).

Then on 17th December 1998, a special meeting of the Planning Committee of the Huntingdonshire District Council, attended by many protestors, reacted to public concern and rejected the development by 11 votes to 9, with 2 abstentions. However, a subsequent meeting couldn't agree on the reasons for rejection, so the whole issue had to come up yet again at a full meeting of the Council on February 17th 1999. The councillors then decisively rejected the proposal by 32 votes to 18. This was very much against the wishes of their own planners and their council leader, so was a magnificent example of an elected body actually heeding public opinion.

ADL appealed against this decision so a public enquiry, with an independent inspector, was held. However, before its decision was announced, the government issued a new plan in July 2002 suggesting a major expansion of airports, in which Alconbury would become the base for low-cost passenger airlines (handling 5 million passengers a year) as well as a million tonnes of freight a year. This idea was officially rejected in December 2003, but the government decided to allow the appeal from ADL for a major road/rail distribution centre, although not until various road improvements have been made and a rail link to the East Coast main line has been completed. However, the cost of these improvements would be prohibitive - so the future of Alconbury is still in doubt.

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Fireworks
ST IVES SUMMER FESTIVAL

August 2004. This, unfortunately, turned out be the last of the splendid open air concerts with classical music and fireworks, that used to be held as part of the St Ives Music and Arts festival, which has now been replaced by a more down-market Summer Festival.
Stick gum here
WHERE TO STICK YOUR GUM

This latest sophisticated little device to help clean up the streets can be found on some town centre lamp-posts.
DICKENSIAN CHRISTMAS MARKET, DECEMBER 2007

The 2006 Dickensian market had had to be cancelled at the last minute because of the appalling weather.
The 2007 market had driving rain in the morning, but the stall holders not only persevered but even managed to look cheerful.
Duck in Crown Street
THE LAST WORD
Peacock
Above: traffic control problem in Crown Street, March 2007. Ducks like wandering along from The Waits.

On left: a solitary peacock can often be seen strolling down the middle of Westwood Road and Church Street. It also ventures along The Waits. Nobody knows where it originally came from. This was January 2008.

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