While some villages are crying out for such limits, they are useless on their own.

There is no point putting up speeding signs if there are speed cameras or traffic calming measures such as speed humps put in place.
As a former driving instructor, I know motorists will generally drive at what they consider to be a safe speed. Very few people stick to the actual speed limit.

It is all very well the Government saying put these limits up, but nobody will pay them any heed if they can get away with it.
I just hope the council now look seriously at the villages that need lower limits and put in traffic calming measures where appropriate.
B. Lloyd,
via email

Playground was justified
>> As a member of Little Paxton Playground Group, I should like to set the record straight on a couple of points.

The group is a voluntary body independent of the parish council. It is not a decision making body, but has been instrumental in delivering improvements to play facilities in Little Paxton.

Consultation has been extensive and well publicised. Public meetings have been held and a questionnaire was distributed to 1,390 households. 

The 18.3 per cent return of these questionnaires was, by all accounts, pretty respectable.

What we can't do is start second guessing the opinions of those that didn't respond. That would just be wrong, not to mention misleading.
Just under 80 per cent of the forms returned support the proposal which the parish council has now approved.   

Since the playground group has been in place and work started on playing areas in Little Paxton, we have attained a facility which should have cost £70,338.03. But thanks to BIFFA and WREN grants, fundraising and Section 106 funding from Kingfisher Close, the parish council has only had to contribute £971.80. That's 39p per elector.

Given that £70,000 has been spent on under 12s equipment, it doesn't seem disproportionate to spend £60,000 on the over 12s.

The cost of the multi-use games arena will not come out of the village precept.

The developer of The Island site has given the parish council £150,000 for provision and maintenance of children, youth/adult open space, play equipment and recreational facilities.

From this, £45 000 is earmarked for the multi-use games arena.
Any shortfall will be made up from grant funding.

I met a large number of the village's teenage population at last year's Paxfest, when we had pictures of games arenas on display. They were very excited indeed that something may soon be provided for them.

So, please support our fundraising events in the coming months and help us deliver our promise….more facilities for young people.
Mrs M. Rhodes-Elson
Little Paxton Playground Group

Parish council followed rules>>
In light of recent publicity, I would like to make the following statement.

All parish councils have elections every four years – this is mandatory.

In 2004 ten candidates stood for the Little Paxton Parish Council election and as there were 15 vacancies, all were elected.
In the last 12 months, the parish council has had several vacancies for councillors.

On each occasion, Huntingdonshire District Council has been notified and it has provided the parish council with special notices which were duly displayed on parish notice boards advertising for a poll.
On three occasions a poll has been requested – on March 15, 2007, two candidates stood for election and as there were two vacancies, they were both elected uncontested.

On April 19, 2007, one candidate stood for election to fill one vacancy and was elected and finally on June 28, 2007, a further candidate was elected to fill one vacancy. Again the election was uncontested.

An election is contested when there are more candidates than vacancies.
There is no physical poll if the number of candidates standing equates to or is less than the number of council vacancies.

On November 1, 2007, two new members were co-opted onto the parish council.

This means that no member of the electorate requested a poll and the parish council were able to co-opt new members to fill the vacancies.
On each occasion, that there have been vacancies, these have been advertised by the council in the village magazines.
Jennifer Gellatly
Parish Clerk,
Little Paxton Parish Council

Corn Exchange
>>To put the word Conservative and St Ives Corn Exchange side by side in election advertisements (Town Crier, April 17, page 19) and leaflets in any context resembling achievement is to insult the intelligence of already angry voters. 

Conserving the Corn Exchange could not have been further from the minds of St Ives Conservatives. It was they who let it deteriorate and decay.
Then early in 2006 when they were fed up with it, with Cllr Ablewhite at the helm as mayor, they started the moves to sell our Corn Exchange, little doubt so that their problem would be well out of the way before this year's election. Or so they thought.

Even when last summer Mike Purchas threw them a lifeline, still they were hell bent on selling the community's prime town centre asset without any idea of a replacement community building or how to spend all that money.  They had to be forced  by a combination of Mr Purchas himself and Action Corn Exchange and its imminent threat of judicial review to give him a hearing.

For any Conservative town council hopeful, especially Cllr Ablewhite, to pretend any different is a total reversal of the truth.
Ian Dobson
Independent for St Ives candidate
Rookery Close
St Ives

Candidates are independent
>> As someone working closely with the Independent candidates in St Ives, I offer the following comments to the letter from Mr Davey.

I will leave the candidates to comment if they wish on whether it is possible to remain independent on a town council, although the Local Government Association thinks so, with a section dedicated to supporting over 2,000 independent local councillors in England and Wales.

I would, though, like to correct the inference that the invitations to the 'Meet the Candidate' event on April 17 which appeared in two local papers were free publicity by the press.

The advertisements were paid for with the candidates' own money to give the electors the chance to meet the candidates and find out what they stand for.

In fact we had a very good turnout as a result and enjoyed the afternoon immensely.

The election boards and election leaflets for the independents, which will have been delivered three times to over 7,000 homes in St Ives in the next weeks, are also at the candidates' expense, not produced and paid for from party funds.

Therefore we already know the financial 'cost' of independence.
As Mr Davey lives in Bluntisham he probably won't be voting in May, but I can tell him that so far I have not received one election leaflet.

I know nothing about what any of the new party candidates stand for other than the fact that they are standing on a party ticket.

By contrast, any publicity for the Independents is down to enthusiasm and hard work by the candidates themselves, who have created their own opportunities with no party back up. And after all, independents standing in St Ives is news, which is what papers are there to report.

Therefore instead of implying 'partiality' by the press, perhaps Mr Davey should aim his complaints about being ill-informed at those who deserve it, namely the leaders of the local party machines who have become all too smug and complacent over the years.
Janice Dobson
Independent candidate
St Ives Town Council

What do you mean by democracy?
>> Responding to former parish councillor Ian Rhodes-Elson's letter (Town Crier, April 17), I am confused by his views on what democracy is.

Does he mean that a parish council, which has stood unopposed and recruited through co-option, is democratic and standing for council whilst offering a choice of candidates is not? I thought that democracy was about choice and freedom of speech.

Is he implying that we do not have a right to stand? Is he suggesting that we may have upset the cosy world of the existing parish council? Is that really what democracy is?

Is he implying that of all the people who live in Little Paxton, only the 12 candidates from the existing parish council can deliver what Little Paxton needs and wants?

The existing parish council seems to be doing exactly what former councillor Rhodes-Elson is accusing us of doing, forming "an allegiance to one another".

Would they have put out any literature if we were not standing?
It seems to me that they have been taken by surprise by the number of people standing against them.

Did they really want to be returned again unopposed and then co-opt at their discretion to fill any vacancies?

Is this their idea of democracy?

They say that they are independent, yet in the parish council minutes (online on the parish council website) time after time groups of them are declaring the same interest in agenda items. 

The only thing I do agree with him on is, 'whatever your views, Little Paxton, use your vote".
Chrissy Ellarby
Listening for Democratic Change
Little Paxton