Council backtracks on plans to run bin lorries on vegetable oil
Mark Inskip
Liberal Democrat District and Parish Councillor for Sutton Learn more
Urgent Action Needed at East Cambs Street Scene
Don't Rely On Volunteers To Solve Illegal Parking
Council backtracks on plans to run bin lorries on vegetable oil
Urgent Action Needed at East Cambs Street Scene
Don't Rely On Volunteers To Solve Illegal Parking
85% Oppose Crematorium Plans at Mepal Outdoor Centre
by markinskip on 20 August, 2021
East Cambs District Council have finally published the results of the public consultation on their crematorium plans. A massive 85.4% oppose the plans, with just 13% expressing support. The consultation was held in January this year with the results kept under wraps until today when they were published in the “Statement of Community Involvement” on the East Cambs Planning Portal, as the council pushes ahead with the plans regardless of the views of its residents.
The public first learnt of the secret plans to abandon the re-opening of Mepal Outdoor Centre and to instead re-develop the site for a crematorium days before an East Cambs District Council meeting held on 31 July last year. It was a leaked report in the Ely Standard that alerted residents to the secret plans which had been under development for more than 18 months. Opposition councillors had also been kept in the dark and were forced to discuss the proposals behind closed doors after the council’s administration voted to exclude the press and public from the crucial meeting last July.
Much has already been written about the way that the council has gone about the preparation of the planning application which is now available online (reference 21/01216/F3M). Nearly a quarter of a million pounds of public money has been spent preparing the crematorium plans with another £6.5 million estimated as needed to build the facility. Many have questioned the need with the Fenland Crematorium just 12 minutes drive away in March and a new crematorium opening in Huntingdon later this year. Others have questioned whether sufficient effort had been devoted to exploring ideas to reopen the Outdoor Centre, a facility that has been used by thousands of young people over several decades.
As part of the preparation for the planning application, a public consultation was commissioned in January of this year. It was an online questionnaire and many complained that the questions made it very difficult to express concern or opposition to the plans. However the survey had one last question “Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Are there any additional comments you would like to provide?”. People used their answers to express their views on the crematorium plans. The “Statement of Community Involvement” document which accompanies the Planning Application submission, and which was published today, reveals the views of East Cambs residents.
If there was any doubt of the public opposition to the crematorium plans, this consultation response puts that to bed. Councils exist to serve the residents, those residents that elect them and pay Council Tax to fund them. It’s time for the administration at East Cambs to start listening to residents and valuing their opinions.
8 Comments
THE ECDC HAS MADE ITS MIND UP ON THESEPLANS AND WHATEVER THE RATE PAYERS SAY WILL MAKE THE ECDC CHANGE ITS PLANS TO PASS THIS PLANNING APPLICATION .THEY ARE GETTING PAID TO APPROVE ANY PLANS NOT LIKED BY THE RATE PAYERS.
Why did it take so long to release the public consultation figures, did they think that the figures would change or they could spin them to look in their favour. When SMOC, yourself and lorna first brought it to the publics notice many great ideas were put forward but none were accepted by ECDC will they now listen to the public or railroad their self important ideas.
We the public now need to stop paying council tax see how long it takes them to listen to us then.. It is the same old story the powers that will be have no time for the people or their opinions.. They are only interested in one thing MONEY the greedy lot..
I was rather surprised that neither the traffic assessment or road safety audit made mention of the huge number of slow moving tractors which use the road periodically, principally to serve the anerobic digester.
The average speed during the traffic assessment undertaken last September was just shy of 50mph.
The conclusion was that the approx 204 two way trips, mainly off peak during weekdays, would not cause ‘significant impact on the safety or capacity of the surrounding transport network and infrastructure’ and may actually be less of an impact that the currently approved use as an outdoor centre.
I’m a bit nervous about what will happen when we have all the tractors being held up by slow moving hearses on the A142, but really, the one thing which disturbs me about this application is that East Cambs are both the applicant and the approver of it.
When our planning laws were put in place, was the situation of local planning authorities becoming developers and approving their own applications ever envisaged? And should it be allowed?
Presumably they will not take any notice of this survey as it appears to be a”done deal” already.
What a shocker. We pay for this and no one even wants it, this is a massive abuse of power on the council’s side. Like Julie said, we should stop paying and see if they start to listen to us then…
I don’t remember being given an opportunity to give my view on this issue. I would have said “yes”!
No one was given a opportunity to give their view on this issue, it was just announced that the decision have been made by the trading company and signed off behind closed doors.