Hilton residents invited to learn about flood resilience at free community event

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Residents of Hilton and the surrounding areas are being invited to a special Flood Resilience Day on Saturday 23 July.

The event is being hosted by Cambridgeshire County Council, offering expert advice to households and businesses in the area which have previously experienced flooding. A special ‘Floodmobile’ vehicle, which contains samples of over 50 practical flood protection measures, will be on site for visitors to explore.

The event is an opportunity for people to come and learn what can be done to help make their properties resilient against flooding. The event is taking place on Saturday 23 July at Hilton Village Hall Car Park (Grove End, Hilton, Huntingdon, PE28 9PF) from 10am to 4pm.

The event will be attended by Fola Ogunyoye CEng CWEM FCIWEM, Director of TJAY Consultancy Ltd who has more than 30 years’ of expertise in providing flood risk, water and environmental management consultancy services and Mary Dhonau, a flood resilience campaigner who has spent 20 years supporting communities at risk of flooding.

The Flood Resilience days are part of the Community Flood Action Programme (CFAP), which was set up in April 2021 by Cambridgeshire County Council, following severe flooding in December 2020 and the increasing risk of flooding posed by climate change. Since then, council officers have worked with communities to develop and train flood groups and build local resilience.

Councillor Lorna Dupré, Chair of the Environment and Green Investment Committee, Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “Many areas of our region are unfortunately at increased risk of flooding due to climate change and projected increases in extreme rainfall.

“Our Flood Resilience Days are an opportunity to talk to flood resilience experts and learn what we can do as individuals and communities to make our properties more flood resilient. The events are free and I would urge local residents to please come and join us.”

The council has committed to invest £75,000 to ensure that the scheme can continue for 2022/23 and build on the positive work already achieved. It is hoped that the scheme can continue beyond next year.

To discuss the potential of running a Property Flood Resilience Day event in your area, please email the Community Flood Action Programme team: 

For more information on Cambridgeshire County Council’s community flood action programme, visit https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/planning-and-development/flood-and-water/community-flood-action-programme

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Transport and Connectivity Plan Consultation

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It is now your chance to take part in the full public consultation for the developing Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP) for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough.

The LTCP will set the strategy for making transport better in the region and we want as many people as possible to have a say.

The Combined Authority has today launched a 12-week public consultation, running until the end of the day August 4.

The LTCP will update the current local transport plan adopted by the Combined Authority in January 2020.

The draft LTCP is guided by a vision and key goals and objectives, helping to make our transport better, faster, safer and more reliable. It will address the big issues like climate change, pollution, inequality, and public health.

Whether you use public transport, a car, cycle, walk or wheel, your feedback will help improve the final LTCP. Once the feedback has been analysed, a final LTCP is expected to be put to the Combined Authority’s Board later in 2022.

It’s easy to take part and you can provide feedback in a number of ways.

Here’s how:

  • The website: More information and a simple survey form is available via www.yourltcp.co.uk.
  • Drop in consultation events.
  • Hard copy consultation brochure and survey form pick up points.
    Survey forms include a freepost address.  

A list of consultation events and consultation brochure pick up points is available here.

Local Highway Improvement Initiative for Hilton

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Local Highway Improvement Initiatives (LHIs) are proposals which are put forward to make improvements to the roads in local areas. Hilton Parish Council can identify an area of concern and the County Council will contribute up to £15,000, with the Parish Council also contributing at least 10% of the cost of the scheme from the precept.

In 2021-22, we bid for the 24hr 7.5t weight limit for the B1040. The total cost will be £10,600, of which the Parish Council contributed £9,000 to ensure the scheme’s success. It has successfully passed through all the approvals; the signs have now been commissioned and installation scheduled for w/c 4th July 2022.

In 2022-23, we bid for a speed reduction from 40mph to 30mph across The Green. This was approved in April 2022, and will cost £4,454, with the Parish Council contributing £757. The scheme will now go out for consultation, feasibility studies etc and if all goes well it may be in place by the end of 2023.

There are a range of successful schemes which you can view on www.hiltonparishcouncil.com/notice-board/highways-information/lhi-bid and they include buffer zones, speed reductions, road painting, speed humps and cushions, chicanes, signs and gates. There is also a document detailing the possible highway improvements and their costs.

In addition to this, hopefully at their Highways meeting in July, Cambridgeshire County Council may discuss a different scheme to enable parishes to bid for a 20mph limit or zone in their area, and there will be details outlining how applications for 20mph schemes will be prioritised after that.

The Potton Road may be re-surfaced by the A14 team, and road markings there will be re-painted as part of the A14 completion works. The Clerk is following up on this. The previous proposal of a Non-Motorised User path (NMU) from Hilton to Fenstanton is under consideration by the County Council.

Hilton Parish Council would like to know which local road safety issues you would like to see addressed through the next LHI bid.

LHI survey 2022 to HPC

Please reply by 24th July indicating where you would like to see a change by email to the Clerk ().

Please return paper copies to 10 Church End or the box in the village shop.

Every member of a household can respond separately.

Once your replies have been analysed, the Parish Council can seek professional advice on solutions and report back.

Notice of Electors Rights

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The unaudited accounts have been published on this website – you can view the documents here – Financial Documents & Audited Accounts

The period of electors rights is when any interested person has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested.

For the year ended 31 March 2022, these documents will be available on reasonable notice by application to the Clerk – and will be available from Monday 13th June to Friday 22nd July.

A full copy of the notice can be viewed here: 2021-22 HPC Notice of Public Rights – website

Update regarding the 24hr HGV Ban on the B1040

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Hilton Parish Council has been advised by Cambridgeshire County Council that the sign manufacturer is in the process of making the signs and that the work to install them has been programmed for week commencing 4th July.

Beacon Poster showing event at 8pm on Thursday 2nd June on the Green

Jubilee Beacon Lighting Event

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Hilton Parish Council invite you to the lighting of Hilton’s Beacon on Thursday 2nd June

Bar from 8:00pm in The Pavilion

Beacon lit at 9:45pm on The Green

With music from the Rotary Voices Choir from 8.00pm

No tickets required

Please contact the Clerk for any more information.

Ukraine

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Hilton Parish Council has received a request to donate money to Ukraine.

As we are all aware the situation in the Ukraine is very upsetting and concerning. Our thoughts and sympathy are with everyone who is affected.

The Parish Council has decided not to donate parishioners’ money to Ukraine as Parish donations are normally for benefit of parishioners. However, we can help by signposting how parishioners can help:

By donating to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, you’ll help DEC charities provide food, water, shelter and healthcare to refugees and displaced families.  DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal | Disasters Emergency Committee.

Road Closure

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There has been an application for a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) to close Fenstanton Road outside Hampden House on 21/06/22 between 9:30am and 3:30pm. The diversion route can be viewed on the map:

Road Closure Diversion Map 21/06/22

Wildlife Ponds – Funding Available!

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Ponds are a cherished part of the parish landscape; familiar historic features found at the heart of most village centres and in the wider countryside. Sadly, due to changes in land use and agricultural practices, the UK has lost around 50% of ponds in the 20th Century. Those remaining are often threatened by pollution. This means the many species of plant and animal that rely on them are also under threat.

Excitingly, funding is now available in certain parts of Cambridgeshire for the restoration and creation of clean water wildlife ponds capable of supporting great crested newts. The funding is part of Natural England’s District Level Licencing scheme (DLL), a new strategy for compensating the loss of newt habitats, which seeks to provide new ponds and bigger, better, more joined-up habitat for this orange-bellied amphibian at a landscape scale.

In Cambridgeshire there is a high demand for such wildlife ponds through the DLL scheme. Most of the 150 or so pond projects we have delivered to date have been fully funded under the scheme. You can view some of these projects at: www.fwageast.org.uk/ponds.

We are seeking local farmers, smallholders, large rural garden owners, and land-based businesses to create and restore more such ponds. If you have a location in mind in your parish, please email to receive further information or arrange an informal chat. Let’s do something brilliant for wildlife!

Full Fibre Broadband

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As you may be aware, Hilton has been earmarked to get full-fibre broadband built in our community. This is being provided by County Broadband who are funded by Aviva Investors and the Government’s’ gigabit voucher scheme. You can find out more about County Broadband in the following article – https://countybroadband.co.uk/100m-investment-aviva-investors-2022/?fbclid=IwAR0fd0LO4-xCACDXz6osMXGY5dYHkIm8ICVfhqKIYsHbvP8XNLRLpfYqtQA

 

Hilton is one of 21 villages included in the next phase of their rollout – https://countybroadband.co.uk/cambs-rollout-announced-hunts-stneots/  This fibre-to-the-premises technology will allow internet speeds of up to 1000Mbps, with matching download and upload speeds.

 

The next step is for County Broadband to gauge the level of interest in the installation of this infrastructure. Matthew Briggs of County Broadband will be visiting all of the properties in the village to establish how many people are interested in receiving further information regarding this project. You can also contact him directly on 07538399740 or . In order for this project to proceed to the next stage, 40% of the village needs to express an interest. There will also be an online meeting for those that have registered interest on 25th May, and there may be an in-person meeting if there is a need.

 

Following this, 25% of the village (which is approximately 114 properties) need to pre-order the broadband service with County Broadband in order for them to be able to install the infrastructure. Matthew will be able to provide further details, but packages range from 50Mbps to 900 Mbps.

 

If you require any further information or would like to express an interest in this project, please contact Matthew.