Author: HPC

Wildlife Trust Walks – Hardwick Wood and surrounding

Dear residents,

There are some interesting walks, planned by Wildlife Trusts, happening in our surroundings. All will be a sociable walk in small groups, looking at common wildlife. The Cambourne session is suitable for wheelchairs/pushchairs.

For more information, please visit: https://www.wildlifebcn.org/events

Millenium Way Permissive Path maintenance

The permissive path of Hardwick Millenium Way has undergone a bit of maintenance recently – where the start and end of the permissive section has been marked as well as ongoing directional markers. Hopefully, this will benefit avid and new walkers…see recent photos and a map showing approximately the permissive path

More information about the Millenium Way is here: https://www.hardwick-cambs.org.uk/footpaths-walks/

SCDC: A new community safety toolkit

Free toolkit to keep caring for your community 
The South Cambs Community Safety Partnership – a partnership between South 
Cambridgeshire District and Cambridgeshire County councils; the Police, Fire and 
Rescue Services; the Probation Service; and the NHS – has created a toolkit to help 
local people keep caring for their community as the pressures of the pandemic ease. 
As we approach the final stage of restrictions easing, many volunteers are thinkingabout putting in place longer-term structures to build community cohesion, and to tackle some of the other concerns that residents have. 
 
The six packs within the toolkit cover: Combating loneliness and isolation; Reaching your community; Making the local environment safer and greener; Crime prevention in your community; Preventing antisocial behaviour; Tackling road-related concerns. 
The toolkit also provides advice on how to encourage fellow residents to join in, as 
well as how to find out what the community thinks about the issues in question, and offers case studies from community groups which have successfully taken similar action before. 
 
The toolkit is funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), 
which awarded the funding to the South Cambs Community Safety Partnership of 
which South Cambridgeshire District Council is a partner. 
 
Find out more about the toolkit or share the toolkit in your communities by taking a look at South Cambridgeshire District Council’s video on Facebook or Twitter, or visit their press release online.  

Government Restart Grants for businesses: Deadline 30th June

South Cambridgeshire District Council has around £1.4m of central Government money waiting to be claimed by local businesses, by Wednesday 30 June.  
Restart Grants support rate-paying businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors with a one-off grant. Businesses have less than a month to apply for the one-off grant to help with costs of reopening safely.  
 Eligible businesses may be entitled to a one-off cash grant of up to £6,000 or £18,000 (sector dependant). The eligibility criteria and application form for businesses is on South Cambridgeshire’s website: Restart Grants – South Cambs District Council (scambs.gov.uk)
 The council also have a dedicated email set-up and managed by their business support team: BusinessGrants@scambs.gov.uk  

New covered cycle rack

There is a new covered cycle rack, opposite the “Eyesore” building, on St Neot’s Road. This is provided free to the village by Hills as a Condition of the Meridian Fields development off Main Street.

Residents are encouraged to use it as much as possible. Any feedback, please feel free to email the Clerk.

Give-Way Traffic Calming on Cambridge Road

As a result of The 2018 Village Plan survey, one of residents’ top fears for safety in Hardwick was from traffic speeding through the village.  89% of those who responded (371) “think this should be tackled in some way”. The Parish Council used the village Speed Displays to verify the excess speed being measured and consulted County Highways as to the best solution to reduce it.

The result is the /Priority /Give Way scheme shown below. Option 2 was selected as this provides better access from Egremont Road at peak times.

This type of solution is used by many neighbouring villages and we expect it will improve respect for the village safety and disregard of the legal limits.  The Parish Council will monitor the effectiveness of the scheme and review the results in 12 months’ time.

Installation should follow the current Footpath Upgrade which still around 2 to 3 weeks from completion.