Written 09/02/06

As you will already know if you're a milton-chat subscriber, or if you listen to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire or watched BBC TV local news today was going to be crunch day for the Country Park. SCDC's cabinet was due to vote on the portfolio holder, Cllr Deb Roberts, recommendations for the park. These consisted of introducing car parking charges, dropping Cambridge Mencap's kiosk operation and replacing it with a cafe run by SCDC themselves based on the upper floor and also using the veranda. Then later possibly considering other options including outsourcing management.

Your parish council had agreed at their meeting on Monday to write to all cabinet members expressing our unhappiness about the car parking proposal (which had been pretty much universally opposed at the public meeting), the loss of work experience opportunities for Cambridge Mencap, and the failure of SCDC to carry out its original plan of trying to outsource management of the park. They all had copies before the meeting.

Reporters from the BBC were in the park yesterday recording interviews and vox pops and representatives from the parish council were on breakfast TV news and Look East at lunchtime today and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this morning.

At the cabinet meeting it was clear from the outset that Cllr Roberts was going to face some opposition as Cllr Spink intervened even before she started to comment adversely on the consultant's report that had been used to justify the recommendations.

Cllr Roberts then outlined her case and the need for car parking charges which she estimated would produce an income of £35,000 a year and also for the cafe. She said that most country parks were now introducing car parking charges.

One of our councillors Hazel Smith, then started the ball rolling highlighting the same issues the parish council had raised and also concerns expressed to her by an art group who use the visitor centre now who will lose the facility if a cafe is created.

Our other councillor Richard Summerfield, who actually is a cabinet member, followed up making similar points and explaining that our country park is not like others in that there is alternative parking in the village. He also asked why the option to outsource management of the park to a third party had been dropped when it had been one of the recommendations of the council previously.

A series of other councillors, both cabinet members and not, followed these two. Pretty much all opposed the proposals. In particular the lack of any detailed costings or a business plan for the cafe and also the feeling that this was putting the cart before the horse and the outsourcing issue should be resolved one way or another first.

Several councillors commented that although this was an SCDC facility it wasn't of any great benefit to most SCDC residents, only to those local to Milton. One councillor suggested Milton parish council might help fund it.

In the end after all of this the decision was deferred at Cllr Roberts request. Richard Summerfield asked for and got an amendment to her proposal for deferral saying that officers should complete the exercise of going out to tender for outsourcing management of the park.

In the short term this is good news for the village as it seems to be pretty universally the view that car parking charges will cause people to park elsewhere in the village next to one of the five other entrances causing conflict with villagers. Deferring it and getting SCDC to consider other options at least delays the fateful day and may mean we could avoid ending up with charges under any new regime.

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