At their meeting on Tuesday 13^th July Cheveley Parish Councillors were delighted to welcome Kath Seller from Duchess Park onto the Council as a representative of the North Ward of the Parish.

It was reported that the inaugural issue of the Parish Council Newsletter had been delivered throughout both wards and had been well received with many favourable comments.  As a result of this some residents had contacted the Clerk and the Chairman to voice their concern over local issues.   Amongst these was the anomaly that although the majority of households fall into the school catchment area for Cheveley School and Bottisham Village College others, sometimes in the same road, were included in the Suffolk system even though both wards were situated in Cambridgeshire.  Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Mathew Shuter, kindly attended the meeting to explain the situation.  It was decided that the Parish Council would do as much as possible to address the problem which was extremely worrying to many parents.   The South Neighbourhood Panel which had met on 29^th June were also treating the matter as a top priority.

Some parishioners had commented that, although the War Memorial had been restored following the arson attack on it, a darker mark remained where the fire had been started.   Unfortunately the only way to completely remedy this would be to replace the stone which would be extremely costly and it was felt that it should become less noticeable as the monument weathered.

Following a request that the “Give Way” junction where Cheveley High Street meets the B1063 be replaced by a “Stop” sign the meeting was informed that Cambridgeshire County Council were unable to sanction this at County level.

Members of the Parish Council and a representative of East Cambridgeshire County Council had attended the official opening ceremony of the Big Lottery funded play equipment on 30^th June and this had been reported in some areas of the local press.

The Clerk had looked into the options available for the Parish Council to be involved in the proposed Affordable Housing scheme for the village of Cheveley.   Details of a Community Land Trust seminar were to be forwarded as soon as they were available and it was hoped that as many Councillors as possible would attend.

A diseased Horse Chestnut tree in the cemetery had been felled on the advice of tree specialists.   Friends of Cheveley Cemetery would be meeting again on Saturday 31^st July at 9 am and anyone interested would be very welcome.

Two vacancies in the South Ward and one in the North Ward remain for Parish Councillors.   Anyone interested should contact the Clerk, Elaine Taylor, on 01440 821088.   Previous Parish Councillors are welcome to apply.