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Clerk's Piece
Pavilion Latest
Welcome to the Stapleford Parish Website.
As well as information about forthcoming events in Stapleford or planned by Stapleford organisations, the website aims to describe the many aspects and facilities of our village. It also includes details of public facilities not to be found in Stapleford, but available elsewhere.
News of corrections and additions are always welcome.
Stapleford Parish Plan
November 2009
Many thanks to everyone who completed the Love It / Hate It survey, which was distributed to each household recently. An extract from the article published in the November issue of the Stapleford Messenger is given below.
‘Around 100 people took the trouble to complete a survey form which is very encouraging. Our initial review has shown that 'Community Spirit', including things like neighbourliness, friendship, community support, comes up top of what you like about living in Stapleford. The Stapleford Messenger is clearly a well loved and important tool for communication. Proximity to Cambridge with its resources and transport links, are an important factor though paradoxically, so are green spaces, Green Belt, the nearby countryside and the tranquillity of the village. What you don’t like is traffic speeding through the village, the poor state of pavements and overhanging vegetation and inconsiderate parking.
The information you have given us will be very useful in formulating questions for a more comprehensive survey, which will come out next year. A fuller report, giving a more extensive analysis, will appear in the Stapleford Messenger next month.’
The Parish Plan Steering Committee has been preparing a ‘Community Profile’ which provides a portrait of the village as it currently is. This is a starting point for identifying the improvements that residents want to see over the next few years. The document is still under development so any corrections, additions etc. are very welcome. It is available in either MS Word or Adobe PDF format. We would welcome any responses at this stage to two main questions:
- Do you think this is an accurate picture of Stapleford? If not, what aspects do you think we have missed, or misunderstood?
- What do you think are the main issues that are revealed, and what improvements should the community pursue, looking five years or so into the future?
We are intending to develop a dedicated webpage(s) for the Parish Plan over the next few weeks. So please visit the Stapleford village website again shortly for an update.
The latest minutes from the Parish Plan Steering Committee can be found here.
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
Geoff Hale, Chairman, Parish Plan Steering Committee
(e-mail - geoffrey.hale@ntlworld.com)
Minutes of the Parish Plan Steering Committee
STAPLEFORD CHRONICLE
The second volume of the Stapleford Chronicle, covering the years 1939-97, has now been published. The first volume, covering 1900-1939, is still available.
Volume 2 can be ordered from Wendy Elsbury, 7 Anvil Close, Stapleford, Cambridge CB22 5SS for £7. An extra £1 will purchase the first volume in addition. Cheques should be made payable to "Stapleford Parish Council".
For Parish Council reports see the "Parish Council" link in the menu at the top.
Parish Council attendances and Expenses in 2008-2009 Report available in MS Word format.
PUBLIC SPIRITED VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT!!
Stapleford Parish Council has identified several sites in the village, which could benefit from some rigorous tidying up. We hope that after an overhaul, maintenance will be easier.The Slaughter House land and Clerk's Piece have already been tackled. Plans for work on further areas will be publicised here.
Affordable Housing
Granta Housing Society Ltd. has built 14 houses and four flats on the site of derelict buildings at Hill Farm, Gog Magog Way. In addition Hill Residential Ltd. has built four affordable dwellings among an estate of 13 dwellings on the site of the former Greenhedges Special School in Bar Lane.
Clerk's Piece
Clerk's Piece lies on the north side of the River Granta in Stapleford, though before a boundary change in 1985 it lay in Sawston. Access is from a cyclepath to Sawston, which crosses the river and the line of the old railway to Haverhill (closed 1967). It was bought by the Parish Council in 1979 from the Trustees of the Clerk's Piece Charity, and consists mostly of rough amenity grassland. The grass is occasionally mown. It contains a number of semi-mature trees and is bounded by a hedgerow on the south and west sides. It lies in the floodplain of the river, and there is a gauging station for monitoring river levels beside a weir towards a corner of the site.
The Parish Council propose to manage the grass, the trees and the hedgerow to make it an area for quiet enjoyment. It has been suggested that boxes for birds and bats should be attached to larger trees, that grass and flower seed be sown, and that attractive aquatic plants, such as purple loosestrife, marsh marigold, water forget-me-not and yellow flag be planted on the river bank. Consideration will also be given, in consultation with the Environment Agency, to cutting a step in the river bank to allow safer and easier access to the water. Damper areas may be seeded with such plants as ragged robin, meadow sweet, hemp agrimony and fleabane.
Some pictures of the site and a sketch map of the area, compiled by Rob Mungovan of the South Cambs District Council, show how the area could be developed.
What do you think of the idea? Tell the village your views by sending e-mail to michael.farrar@virgin.net.
Pavilion latest
The proposed new pavilion
Click to see a larger image.
District Council "appalled"
The present pavilion was built in 1971, enclosing a toilet block which had been built in 1962. An officer of the District Council was recently appalled at its state.
It was decided in February 2002 that a new pavilion must be built. The Council decided in favour of a building on a fresh site and plans were prepared by our architect, Keith Warth, to build it in the far corner of the recreation ground, where it would least restrict the cricket pitch.
The new pavilion will contain substantially more space for changing rooms, toilets, a meeting room and a kitchen. It will include storage for Parish Council records as well as for the equipment stored in the present cricket shed, which could then be demolished. The skateboard ramp would have to be resited.
Detailed plans have been approved by the various sports clubs that use the ground. A planning application was submitted to District Council in January 2003 and has been approved.
Some of the site of the present pavilion can be used for much needed extra car parking space. Unfortunately several trees will have to be removed, but replacement trees will be planted as part of the project.
An estimate of the cost of the building has been obtained as a first step towards applying for grant funding. A quantity surveyor's estimate amounts to £350,000. Many grants are restricted to charities and the Parish Council would not therefore be eligible to apply. The District Council may, however, be prepared to give a substantial grant towards the cost.
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Diary
Stapleford Twinning Association
Annual General Meeting
7.45pm, Wednesday 18 November
Johnson Hall
Everyone welcome
Self-Defence Seminar
Stapleford Shotokan Karate Association
9.45am-2pm, Saturday 21 November
Stapleford Community School
£15 per person
open to all from age of eight years
Information: Tel: 07984 754450 or 07815 512264
Coffee Morning
10.30-noon, Thursday 26 November
27 London Road
Mothers' Union
including bring-and-buy and raffle
Everyone welcome
Barn Art Society
Exhibition
1-6pm, Saturday 28 November
& 10am-4pm, Sunday 29 November
Johnson Hall
In aid of Scotsdale's Charitable Foundation/
Cancer Help Centre
Preview at 12 noon
Wine Tasting
New World compared with Old World
Friday 4 December
Venue to be announced
Stapleford Twinning Association
Tickets £5 from Jackie Bow Tel: 01223-841982
Christmas Fair
Saint Andrew’s Church, Stapleford
9.30am-noon, Saturday 5 December
Great Shelford Memorial Hall
All profits for Food Aid
Christmas Concert POSTPONED
Saturday 5 December
Stapleford church
Cambridge Chord Company
Close-harmony men's chorus
Christmas Fair
Saturday 5 December
Gt. Shelford Memorial Hall
in aid of Nachingwea in Tanzania
Christmas Concert
Stapleford Singers
8pm, Sunday 6 December
Stapleford church
Annual Parish Meeting
7.30pm, Thursday 29 April 2010
Community Lounge, Cox's Cose
Annual meeting of Stapleford electors
Parish Council Meetings
7.30pm 2nd Wednesday of every month, except August
Johnson Hall.
Agenda on noticeboards.
Open to the public.
Walking for health
10am, Thursday mornings
meet at Education Centre, Wandlebury
Walks last 30-60 minutes
No charge
Email Michael
Farrar <michael.farrar@virgin.net> to propose a listing |
