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Cambridgeshire County Council have put together a toolkit which focuses on activities and ideas that people can do to the run up to Christmas whilst staying Covid-safe. There is also a special video from Father Christmas – See below and have fun.

Covid-safe Winter Toolkit – Phase 2.pdf

I am getting in touch to let you know about some upcoming work in your local area.

We have work to do at Over Water Recycling Centre

We are investing £380,000 in a project to upgrade the existing water recycling centre off Furtherford Rd. To do this, we will be creating a new and above ground underground storm tank within our site boundary; allowing a larger volume of water to be stored in the event of heavy rain fall.

This means our engineers will be working in your area starting January 2021 for approximately 10 weeks.

Things you need to know

How will this impact me during site set up?	Before we start work, we will set up a temporary compound within our site boundary. During this time, you may notice a minimal increase of vehicle movements while we get equipment to and from site.
How will this impact me during construction?	Vehicle movements typically decrease after the first few weeks, but you can expect deliveries throughout our work. As this work is taking place within our existing site, we expect disruption to you and your neighbours to be minimal. During our work we will need to use large machinery and equipment. Due to the width of the roads in the area, clear signage will be in place to notify road users that our site is active.
What hours will your team be working?	Our working hours will vary. You may see us in the area from 07:00am, but we won’t start before 07: 30am.We will always aim to be finished by 17:30pm. There may be occasional weekend working between the hours of 08:00 and 13:00.
How will this affect my water/ sewerage services?	There are no planned interruptions to your services during our works.

Why are we doing this work?

We are required by the environment agency to meet a standard level of overflow water for all our sites. This is just one of many projects that demonstrates our commitment to reducing flooding and being environmental custodians.

Because we invest millions in used water treatment processes such as this one, our river water is the cleanest it’s been since the industrial revolution. Nearly 90% of our region’s bathing water beaches have ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ water quality.

Want to know more?

To find out more about this project and to keep up to date, please go to anglianwater.co.uk/yourarea or scan the below QR code.

Please ensure once you have typed your location in the top right search bar, that you click Maintenance and Improvements on the Key; this will bring up the post.

Revised bin collection dates during the Christmas period

Usual day                            Revised day

Thu 24 Dec                          Thu 24 Dec

Fri 25 Dec                            Tue 29 Dec

Mon 28 Dec                        Wed 30 Dec

Tue 29 Dec                          Thu 31 Dec

Wed 30 Dec                        Sat 2 Jan

Thu 31 Dec                          Mon 4 Jan

Fri 1 Jan                                Tue 5 Jan

Mon 4 Jan                           Wed 6 Jan

Tue 5 Jan                             Thu 7 Jan

Wed 6 Jan                           Fri 8 Jan

Thu 7 Jan                             Sat 9 Jan

Fri 8 Jan                                Mon 11 Jan

Mon 11 Jan                         Tue 12 Jan

Tue 12 Jan                           Wed 13 Jan

Wed 13 Jan                         Thu 14 Jan

Thu 14 Jan                           Fri 15 Jan

Fri 15 Jan                             Sat 16 Jan

Mon 18 Jan Back to normal

Contact: Waste.Enquiries@scambs.gov.uk

From the Parish Council

The Willingham Parish Plan was created in October 2008 by the Willingham Parish Plan Committee. This enthusiastic group of volunteers worked for over a year, writing and distributing a questionnaire to each household, collecting and collating the results and finally producing the Plan and a Summary Report. The report is still available on the Parish Council website (under Documents>Policies and Procedures).

The Plan helped map out existing services and identify gaps for future development. Some of the issues identified have been addressed in the intervening years, but others remain. Special thanks are due to the Willingham Action Group, formed after the Plan was published, which has been a major force for change and improvement in the village.

It is now time for the Plan to be updated, to identify priorities for both the Parish Council and other organisations in the years ahead. The Parish Plan is not a Parish Council plan. It is produced by and for the community. The Parish Council will co-ordinate the initial recruitment of volunteers and will assist wherever possible. South Cambridgeshire District Council also provide support for what they call Community-Led Plans: see https://www.scambs.gov.uk/your-council-and-democracy/parish-councils/community-led-plans/ for details and plans which have been produced by other villages.

Contact the Council Office to volunteer and help guide Willingham into the future.

Derek Law, Parish Chair

Tel: 01954 261027
Email: clerk@willinghamparishcouncil.gov.uk

Please note from the 27^th to 29^th November the Planning Public Access System will be unavailable due to an upgrade as part of a Planning service wide project. This project will deliver improvements to resilience, ensure continued compliance with Public Sector security standards, will ensure ongoing support from the system suppliers and will bring new features to our staff and members of the public. 

This is a three phased staged project of which this upgrade is part two. The 3^rd and final phase is schedule for the 22^nd – 25^th January and further communications will be sent near to that time. 

There are several new features included in the latest public access system.  

Mapping enhancements include: 

• New look and feel to the base map 

• Quick and easy tool to limit the display of applications within a selected time period  
• New measurement tool allowing to measure area, distance and show longitude/latitude of point 
• A new button to allow a large map to be available on the screen 

• Saved searches function allows users to save an extent search or circular search based on a set radius 

Other enhancements to Public Access include:  

• Filter searches by Local Authority on simple, advanced and weekly/monthly lists 

• When a comment is successfully submitted to the Council the comments page clears down ready for selecting the next application.   
• Title field now set as optional 

To compensate for this interruption to introduce the upgraded system, the consultation dates on applications that are open for comment during this downtime have been extended by 5 days.  

We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.  

A small set of keys has been found at the QEII Field play park.

Please contact the Willingham Parish Council office on 01954 261027.

13 November 2020 Bird keepers required to take action to reduce bird flu risk

Bird keepers across Cambridgeshire are being urged to follow strict national measures put in place by the Government to help keep their own birds and the wild bird population safe. Following confirmation of a number of cases of Avian Influenza (also known as bird flu) in England, an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) has been declared across the whole of England to help stop the disease spreading. This means that bird keepers are now legally required to take a number of precautions, whether they run commercial poultry businesses or have a small flock in their back garden. Keepers with more than 500 birds must restrict access for non-essential people on their sites, workers will need to change clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures and site vehicles will need to be cleaned and disinfected regularly. Backyard owners with smaller numbers of poultry including chickens, ducks and geese are also urged to strengthen the measures put in place to protect their birds. This includes making sure the birds’ living area is clean, avoiding keeping ducks and geese with other poultry species where possible, putting fencing around any outdoor areas which wild birds can access and keeping a close watch on birds for any signs of disease, and reporting any very sick birds or unexplained deaths to a vet. The prevention zone means that all bird keepers must: Ensure the areas where birds are kept are unattractive to wild birds, for example by netting ponds, and by removing wild bird food sources;Feed and water their birds in enclosed areas to discourage wild birds;Minimise movement in and out of bird enclosures;Clean and disinfect footwear and keep areas where birds live clean and tidy;Reduce any existing contamination by cleansing and disinfecting concrete areas, and fencing off wet or boggy areas.  Councillor Steve Criswell, chairman of the communities and partnership committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “Although there haven’t been any confirmed cases of bird flu locally as yet, it is really important that bird keepers across the county follow the measures put in place by the Government, whether you just have a few chickens in your back garden or keep poultry commercially on a farm.  “It’s really important for us to help protect bird keepers and the wild bird population, so we are asking everyone who looks after poultry to keep a close eye on them for any signs of disease and stay on top of their cleaning and working practices.  “I would like to stress that the risk to public health is very low, and properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are still safe to eat according to the Food Standards Agency.” Bird keepers should see the AIPZ declaration on GOV.UK for full details of which measures apply in the AIPZ. Updated guidance for all bird keepers is also available on GOV.UK.   All bird keepers are encouraged to register their poultry, even if only kept as pets, so the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) can contact them during an outbreak. This is a legal requirement if you have 50 or more birds.   Poultry keepers and members of the public should report dead waterfowl (swans, geese or ducks) or other dead wild birds, such as gulls or birds of prey, to the Defra helpline (03459 33 55 77) and keepers should report suspicion of disease to APHA on 03000 200 301. APHA runs a free disease alerts service for bird keepers. You can sign up at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apha-alert-subscription-service.  For more information about bird flu, including the best practice advice, please visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu#biosecurity-advice    ENDS For further information: Please contact Cambridgeshire County Council communications team on: 01223 699281 or email: communications@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.   For further/alternative political comment contact:   Cllr Steve Criswell, Chairman of the Communities and Partnership Committee (Cons) (01480 740745)   Cllr Lina Nieto – Vice-chairman of the Communities and Partnership Committee (07402 351821)   Cllr Barbara Ashwood – Lead Member of the Liberal Democrat Group for the Communities and Partnership Committee (01223 842629)   Cllr Elisa Meschini – Lead Member of the Labour Group for the Communities and Partnership Committee (01223 438195)   Cllr Simone Taylor – Lead Member of the Independent Group for the Communities and Partnership Committee (07858 032076)   In an emergency or serious incident Cambridgeshire County Council communications team can be contacted out of hours on: 07833 480 348   Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/CambridgeshireCC, Twitter www.twitter.com/CambsCC or Instagram www.instagram.com/cambridgeshirecountycouncil or visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk