I would like to provide an overview of what the town council has been doing over the past twelve months and look at some of the issues coming down the pike for the future.
A lot of the decisions are made and scrutiny carried out by the committees, so I will leave that to the committee chairs to go over, and I will look more at the civic side of things that it has been my great fortune to cover.
Civic
The first big event of the year was the Platinum Jubilee, marking Queen Elizabeth II’s seventy years of service to our country and beyond. I will admit that I did not expect that I would be standing on top of Castle Hill with a deputy lieutenant, struggling to light the beacon with what was essentially a four metre long match while avoiding the occasional drop of burning paraffin.
This was my first realisation that being mayor could be surprisingly dangerous, and I soon met Lady Scarlet. Lady Scarlet has a fearsome reputation for biting the unwary, and I was advised to bring a mouse to satiate her – she promptly gobbled up the mouse. I should say that Lady Scarlet is a bateleur eagle who lives at the Raptor Foundation, where I was very pleased to open their fundraising in support of the endangered Philippine eagle.
After my encounter with Lady Scarlet, things started getting really dicey. I had to judge the best front garden competition.
Just about every office I have ever worked in has a series of files for health and safety, work policies, fire, and so on. Huntingdon Town Council is the only one I’ve worked in that has one marked ‘Operation London Bridge’
Operation London Bridge was the codename for all the long-rehearsed plans for what to do in the event of the death of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. As we all know, we had to put those plans into action on 8th September last year.
I think the highest praise I can give is that, after coming in to see if there was anything to do, I went home because everything was either in hand or had already been done. Indeed, other councils in the area approached us for support. Everything ran as it was meant to run, down to Hayley, complete with two clocks, sending the proclamation party onto the balcony at exactly twelve seconds before we were due to start.
I was proud – really proud – to see how well both the town and the town council acquitted themselves over the mourning period. Having the honour of proclaiming the new king won’t, I think, be beaten by anything else I do as mayor, or possibly anything else I do.
As Mayor, I’ve been lucky to attend all manner of events across Huntingdon and beyond – from beer festivals to opening businesses to voluntary sector events, and marking the fortieth anniversary of our twinning with Wertheim am Main. The best part about Huntingdon is how much is going on and how much people do for the good of the town, without expecting any reward or recognition, and the best part about being mayor has been meeting many of those people. Rob Bradshaw, organising the accessible Dance Ability disco at the Montagu Club; Steph James, setting up Wild About Huntingdon; Roger Hickling, helping his 500th client at Huntingdon Area Money Advice; and so many more.
Council
One of the mayor’s functions is to be the chair of council. I’ve not had to use the gavel once, which must be a good thing, and I have been heartened to see more people attending town council meetings – not just when they want to raise a particular issue, but also because they want to know what’s going on – and to keep an eye on councillors! I would very much like to see more people coming along to observe what we’re doing.
Activities
Much of the work of the council is done by the staff behind the scenes, not least here in the town hall. I can’t cover them all, but I would like to mention a few.
To my mind, one of the key functions of a town council – as opposed to a district or county council – is to help make a town more than a collection of houses and businesses, but to make it a community by bringing people together.
One of the highlights of the year for me, and certainly something that brought the community together, was the Christmas market and lights switch-on by Jake Jarman. We had a whole range of free attractions, as well as the traditional stalls, that brought loads of people into town to enjoy themselves. It’s a huge effort for the team, and there’s a gap of about three weeks between the Christmas market ending and planning for the next one starting, but there are few things as rewarding as seeing young people – and some not so young people – dancing in the snow being blown out of the town hall.
Huntingdon is a market town. Having a market is an important part of life here – not just for commerce, but as a social event as much as anything else and to give that sense of community I think is so important by sharing the space of the town. In support of that aim, and working with Huntingdonshire District Council and Huntingdon First, we have set up the monthly Fayre on the Square. This expands the normal offering of the market, adding in crafts and other local produce, as well as free entertainment. The success of the Fayre on the Square has been obvious in the numbers of people coming into town, even on a particularly bleak January day. I think it has also contributed to there being more stalls coming to the regular, weekly market. Getting stalls to come to the market requires footfall, but footfall requires market stalls. Fayre on the Square has been a big part of breaking out of a vicious circle into what I hope will be a virtuous circle.
It does also mean that we do have a market on the market square in a market town.
We have also recruited an excellent communications officer, SJ Gaule. Our output on social media has improved significantly, our website is in the process of being updated, we’re looking at options for developing the magazine, and more. Most importantly, having a dedicated communications officer means we can better communicate in both directions. We are running consultations, for instance, so that the people of Huntingdon can give their voice on more high-profile issues.
Coneygear Centre
The Coneygear Centre hosts a huge range of activities – the community cafe, homework club, children’s storytime, seniors’ club, boxing, bingo, weight loss, church groups, library access, and more.
More important, I think, than the specific activities is what the Coneygear Centre represents – a space for people to come together. That can be for social activities, but, particularly as it is in one of the most deprived parts of Huntingdonshire, it offers invaluable support. Through Shilpa Desai-Sakaldip, we are a trusted partner of Cambridgeshire County Council, which means we can more easily refer people to support when they need it.
Although the Coneygear Centre hasn’t been here for long, and although it was closed through lockdown, it already feels to me to be well on the way to becoming a worthy replacement for the old Medway Centre.
Grounds
The value of parks and open spaces was brought home to us all during lockdown. We are fortunate indeed to have our grounds team. The remarkable quality of what we do in Huntingdon was shown when the town won nine awards at Anglia in Bloom last year. As well as making the town more pleasant to live in, our open spaces bring people to Huntingdon. The town council is responsible for various open spaces in town, from play areas at Stukeley Meadows to the new dog park coming near Sallowbush Road to Bloomfield Park to Coneygear Park.
One of the frustrations I have is that some parks and play areas in Huntingdon are run by the town council and some by the district council. I do not think that is the most efficient use of taxpayers’ money. We are in discussions with Huntingdonshire District Council about taking on some of their open spaces, starting with some play areas. Money is, of course, a key issue, and we need to avoid residents of Huntingdon effectively being taxed twice, but I am sure that these are issues that can be resolved.
This is not in any way to disparage HDC’s grounds team and rangers. It is simply that Huntingdon will always be more important to Huntingdon Town Council than it is to Huntingdonshire District Council.
Of course, beyond play areas and parks, the grounds team also look after the ever-popular allotments, and the cemeteries, including the new burial grounds that are now in use at the crematorium. The crematorium itself is working well after an unavoidably delayed start. As well as providing a valuable service to Huntingdon and beyond, the new crem is a green facility that will also return money to the town council.
External relations
Huntingdon Town Council works with lots of other bodies to deliver services for Huntingdon, but I’d like to highlight two: Huntingdonshire District Council and Huntingdon First.
We coöperate with District on lots of day to day issues, not least the Fayre on the Square. That joining working seems to be going well, and both councillors and officers are open to our ideas. There are a couple of particular areas where I’m sure that District will be particularly interested in our ongoing input, but where I’d also encourage everyone to follow what’s going on and to have their say because they will have real impacts on the future of our town. These are the Huntingdon masterplan and the new local plan.
The town council responded to the draft masterplan, and HDC have made it clear that they are in listening mode on the project. While there are specifics of the plan that we have concerns about, it is the right broad direction of travel.
The other is the new local plan, which will shape the growth of the district and of Huntingdon for decades to come. Huntingdon is going to grow. By engaging at very early stages, we can make sure that growth is sustainable and to the benefit of the town as a whole.
There’s a proverb in software engineering – with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow. The more people who look at these documents, the better the chance we have of finding that brilliant idea that will solve a particular problem.
The other group we’ve been working very closely with is Huntingdon First, on a whole range of different projects in the town centre. I wish I could take credit for Dino Day and Hallowe’en, but those are both down to Paul and Mags. I think, though, it does underline that no one body can do everything, but we can do a surprising amount working together.
Challenges
We do face real challenges at the moment. The very high rate of inflation, and particularly energy inflation, has hit the town council hard. We are staying on top of costs. We’ve found the best deals we can for electricity. We are continuing to find efficiencies while delaying some projects. We’re holding off hiring staff, and we’re going to keep making as many savings as we can, both in the rest of the 2022/23 financial year and in 2023/24.
Those challenges don’t just affect Huntingdon Town Council, of course. They affect everyone. That means there is more demand for, for instance, the support we provide at the Coneygear Centre. That is replicated across all parts of public service. There is more demand, but there are less resources. There are more problems, but less solutions.
These problems manifest themselves in the town centre, with the condition of 111 High Street and the problems with anti-social behaviour we have had. I am delighted that the police are having success in dealing with the ASB, and I welcome Inspector Norden here this evening to tell us more about that.
However, those issues are not just in the town centre – they are right the way across our town – roads, buses, hospitals, schools. I wish I could offer a set of solutions, but I can’t. Better coöperation between various agencies is part of the answer. A big part of the answer is, I think, citizen involvement – join your local neighbourhood watch. If there isn’t one, the Huntingdonshire Neighborhood Watch Association can help you start one. Volunteer if you can. Check on your neighbours. Report the pothole.
Conclusion
The chairs will give more information on what their respective committees have been doing. I hope that, taken together, our reports will give you a good view of what Huntingdon Town Council is doing and why it is doing it.
I appreciate that not everyone agrees with the decisions that the Town Council makes. I hope that people will see that we do take care over the decisions we do make, even if we don’t always get it right. We are doing our best to tell people what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.
If I may borrow our town’s motto – a bonis ad meliora – we are going from good to better.