Heydon issues

What Heydon issues would you like raised?

Please contact Susan at susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk, or T 01763-261833.  She would be delighted to hear from you.

Susan makes regular reports to parish council, which are included in the minutes.

Village groups

If you run a village group and would like help advertising an event or recruiting volunteer helpers, please let Susan know and she would be glad to include a few lines in her monthly community e-newsletter.

31 Bus

The list of bus subsidy cuts, county-wide by tranche, came out Friday night. Subsidies for the 31 are due for withdrawal in September 2013.  I’ll provide a report for the next parish council meeting, but for now:
The county council says it will work with each community where it intends to remove bus subsidies to come up with an alternative transport proposal, though of course the 31 covers a long stretch.  At the moment all the county’s efforts are focused on tranche 1 (Sept 2012), and they say they will start working on tranche 2 in the summer of this year.  The amount of subsidy that will go into the alternative provision is considerably less than what has gone into bus subsidies until now: £2.7 million out, £1.5 million in (over three years, across five county districts).  There was a massive error in one of the local papers which reported that £15 million is going into Dial-a-Ride.   That was probably a misunderstanding of the £1.5.
I’ve been getting calls mainly from people who absolutely depend on the bus for work and school. The difficulty for some school-bound passengers is that while the county has a commitment to help get sixth formers to Long, Hills, Netherhall or Impington Sixth Forms (these are ‘designated post-16 education centres for Chishill and Heydon), there is no obligation to get children to independent schools or colleges outside that designated list, or to training or apprenticeships.
I’ve been liaising with Royston and District Community Transport for months on this and other prospective bus cuts in the area and they simply don’t have the capacity to pick up lost bus services. The next step will be to find out from county officers what their thinking is on the 31 now that they have set out their budgets and cuts tranches.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to get them answered.


Heydon Grange Wind Farm discussions

Councillors must remain neutral and not express an opinion prior to the the culmination of the planning application  process; otherwise they are caught by ‘bias and predetermination’ rules and cannot take part in decision making.  However, they should become informed about pertinent issues.  Please feel free to contact Susan any time with your views or any relevant information.

Library Service

The closest library service to Heydon is the Melbourn Library Access Point, located in the portacabin adjacent to the Village College in The Moor, off the High Street.  You can order books and other materials on line and ask to collect them at Melbourn, which is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:30-4:30, Thursday 5-7, and Saturday 10-12.  An Under Fives Story time takes place every Thursday from 10-10:45 and is free – older siblings welcome too. The library is staffed entirely by volunteers – and is always looking for new helpers!  Please get in touch with Susan (tel 261833 or susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk) if you have any questions.

Royston and District Community Transport scheme

If you are elderly or mobility impaired, and need lifts to the doctor’s or to get shopping done, you could benefit from the Royston and District Community Transport scheme.

A fleet of volunteer drivers donate their time free of charge.  Passengers contribute 45 pence per mile; the minimum charge is £4 per journey of up to nine miles.  The scheme also operates a wheelchair-accessible 12/16 seat minibus and a four-six seat Multi-Purpose Vehicle.

The service can be used for health care appointments, day centres, special needs clubs, social purposes and shopping.

If you require a lift – or would like to volunteer as a driver – please text or phone 01763-245228 between 9AM and 3PM Monday to Friday;  an answer phone will take a message if the phone is unmanned.  (Please don’t be put off by the answer phone – it does get checked regularly!) You can also email the service at rct1@totalise.co.uk.