The ‘mulch-o-meter’ is back and ready for action in time for the second Community Tree Care Day on Saturday 26 April.
2024’s mulch-o-meter set to return for 2025. Photo Dan Mace.
From 10am-3pm in the Chivers field near the Holiday Inn and B1049, local residents and their family and friends, as well as groups of people from local clubs, churches, committees and businesses, are encouraged to join in this community effort to stop the 1,400 young trees planted on that site being choked by weeds. Last year the ‘mulch o’meter’ logged 671 trees that were cared for and this year the team hope to do even better.
Community care
Talking to HI HUB, HI Trees volunteer Dan Mace said: “Next time you’re driving, cycling or walking along the B1049 towards the A14, take a look at the newly planted woods in the field between the road and the Holiday Inn. (Although, if you’re driving, please do focus on the road ahead!)
This year’s giant mulch pile! Mulch donated by Tates Trees. Photo Dan Mace.
“1400 trees were planted in 2021 and 2022, and they’re doing pretty well. Some are now several metres tall. This is partly thanks to the love and attention that the community has given them, both when the trees were originally planted, and at the first ever HI Trees Care Day in April last year. On that day we had about 100 people turn up to weed the trees, mulch around them and help give them the best start possible. This year, we want to do even better. The mulch-o-meter will be back, and we have an even bigger pile of mulch to spread around the trees.
“And finally… we need to name this area. If you have any suggestions, the HI Trees team wants to hear them. We can’t keep calling it ‘the Woods between the B1049 and the Holiday Inn’ forever!”
What/when/where?
When: Saturday 26 April 10am – 3pm. Go along for as long or as little as you like. Even 10 minutes will help! Where: Chivers’ field next to Holiday Inn, first right off the A14 (please note that note there’s no parking on site). What: Give our young trees the best chance of thriving – we will show you how on the day. Some equipment will be provided, and if you can, please bring your gloves, spades, trowels, wheelbarrows, buckets, a drink. Please watch out for rabbit holes on the field; the ground is uneven, so please wear suitable shoes. Who: Everyone welcome including children under the supervision of their adult companions.
Two large fridges and a pile of other waste were dumped on the road leading up to the B1049 some time around 18 March, causing a potential hazard to drivers as well as an environmental health concern for locals.
Residents living at the southern stretch of Cambridge Road took to social media to comment on what they say is one of the worst incidents of fly tipping in their locality yet.
One described increased incidents of fly tipping in the area recently, saying: “Cambridge Road feels like it is probably the fly tipping capital of Impington and it’s really frustrating.
“We’re used to people just driving into our street and either throwing their rubbish out the window as they drive by, or opening the door and emptying out the contents of their footwell onto the street, just metres from the nearest bin. Also people urinating here is a regular sight.”
The same resident went on to detail how “large lumps of concrete and metal” and “an office chair with a bucket on top” had been dumped there recently, in addition to the “large quantities of general litter” which they say are common place.
The team from SCDC clear the fly tipped waste on Friday 21 March.
Following the evidence
White goods such as fridges and freezers need to be disposed of properly as they contain harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) gases. Correct disposal of such items can cost up to £50, leading to many being fly tipped to avoid the fee.
SCDC defines fly tipping as the illegal dumping of items and says anyone caught doing so could face a fixed penalty notice of up to £700.
They say: “all instances of fly tipping should be reported to us using an online web form, whether you witnessed it take place or not. People can be prosecuted even if waste is fly tipped by someone else on their behalf.”
They also urge residents to: “… always use a registered waste carrier to provide a skip and collect your rubbish; and check the register of waste carriers on the Environment Agency website”.
The Council’s environmental crimes officers will act on reports and follow up. If there is any information among the rubbish, such as bills or addresses, they can follow the evidence.
For the upcoming financial year, the Council will be purchasing an extra vehicle and employing another member of staff to support its enviro-crime team as it tackles fly tipping.
Enthusiastic to do their bit for our local environment, last October village residents Jean and Roger Venables grasped the grabbers to lead our local litter pickers. Amanda Borrill finds out how it’s all been going.
Founded by Histon ‘super volunteer’, Cedric Foster, Histon & Impington Litter Pickers (HILP) have been ‘wombling free‘ across our community for around 15 years now. Things began small, with just a few helpers taking part on occasional weekends, but now it takes a huge spreadsheet to contain the 150+ long list of volunteers. These days the tidy-ups possess their own regular schedule; with streets assigned and the additional option for ‘tidy uppers’ to get out there with a grabber pretty much whenever works best for them!
In October last year, local couple and long-time members of HILP, Roger and Jean Venables, took over the coordination of this vital village service – telling HI HUB at the time “please forgive us if we do not meet Cedric’s high standards until we have been ‘through the loop’ at least a couple of times.”
Making the communications work
Six months down the litter picking road, I ask them have things gone better – or more rubbish than expected?
Litter picking kit.
“It’s been going well, mostly”, they tell me. “We are greatly enjoying meeting new HILP’ers. Can’t say we have enjoyed creating a new email list for (almost all) the volunteers, working out why multi-addressed emails sometimes selectively fail to deliver to Gmail-ers, and learning Facebook for the first time”, they laugh. “But there is satisfaction in making the communications work”.
Jean and Roger have lived here in H&I since 2017. Both of them retired civil engineers, they ran their own consultancy company for around 35 years. “Our focus”, they explain, “was almost entirely on civil engineering projects with an overall beneficial impact on society, on research to improve the quality, reliability or positive impact of civil engineering. Much of this work addressed the environment & sustainability agendas, minimising adverse impact and maximising the gains. Volunteering has been a major part of our lives professionally and in our local community”.
And, it would appear, volunteering continues to be a big part of their lives in retirement. The co-ordination of HILP is no small task and I’m curious to know more about their future plans for the group. “We are working towards all roads, paths and green spaces having a least one picker”, they respond. “Many already have more than one. The next step will be to secure multiple pickers for more of the most-affected streets and to ask them to work in rotation to ‘keep on top’ of the problem as best they can. We would also like to make ‘Big Tidy Up’ events into more than mega-litterpicks and include major clear-ups of selected areas – for example accumulated leaves and twigs”.
A true community affair
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme pupils in May 2023. Left-right: Sam, Henry, Zedie and Sammy.
One thing seems certain – HILP continues to go from strength to strength. The group regularly gets approached by local businesses and schools; with students from Impington Village College (IVC) joining the crew a couple of years ago as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award and frequent collaborations with the Keep Britain Tidy Spring Clean campaigns. In true community spirit, the HILP kit is also loaned out after the annual village fireworks event – making the onerous clean up of the IVC field faster and considerably easier.
Jean and Roger are clearly delighted to be leading HILP and when asked what they enjoy most about being involved in a community initiative like this one, without hesitation, they respond: “having a beneficial impact on the community’s environment”. And, I am in absolutely no doubt that Great Uncle Bulgaria and his fellow forward-thinking, environment loving, inhabitants of 1970’s Wimbledon Common would be 100% in agreement!
The next HILP village litter pick is on Saturday 7 June. Full contact details for HILP can be found here in the HI HUB Directory. Email Jean and Roger on rogerandjean@rjvenables.uk.
Village wellbeing charity, HI Friends, is one of nine organisations across South Cambs set to receive a grant award under the South Cambs District Council (SCDC) Net Zero Villages Scheme.
A total of £360,000 has been made available through the scheme, from which HI Friends has been granted £55,000 towards the purchase of an electric community minibus.
Other recipients include Shepreth, Oakington and Horningsea Parish Councils, a community pub in Ickleton and, in nearby villages, Over and Cottenham Community Centres. Full details of all awards can be found on the SCDC website.
Funding for the scheme was provided by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, with supplementary funds contributed by the District Council.
Tackling climate change
In a press release, SCDC writes that the scheme empowers voluntary groups, parish councils and community-minded businesses to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions from community assets, such as village halls, and using nature-based solutions to adapt these buildings for a future with more extreme weather patterns. The grant also welcomed proposals for low carbon transport schemes, such as e-bikes or community shuttle buses.
Launched in December last year, Histon & Impington was originally excluded from the scheme because the village was deemed to be part of the ‘Cambridge built-up area’. But, HI HUB enquires with the Office of National Statistics revealed that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority – who set the rules for the scheme – had based it on out-of-date information, rather than the 2021 census, leading to SCDC admitting they had wrongly excluded Histon & Impington and six other South Cambs villages from the scheme.
Talking to HI HUB, chair of HI Friends, Neil Davies, said: “HI Friends is thrilled with news of the award of a £55,000 grant award from the SCDC Net Zero Villages Grant Scheme towards the purchase of a new electric powered Community Minibus for Histon and Impington.
HI Friends existing diesel powered Community minibus.
“This will have a dual benefit for our two villages in helping to secure the future of the much valued community minibus and in a small way contributing towards the local Net Zero target and less polluted air”.
The community minibus provides transport to residents across the community who might otherwise find travel difficult; offering lifts to attend groups, shopping and outings. The minibus is also available for use by community groups serving all ages.
‘Immensely grateful’
Sharing his thanks to those behind the expansion of this grant scheme to our village, Neil added, “the charity is immensely grateful to Liz Hill of HI HUB for her successful campaign to ensure communities like ours could apply to the grant scheme, and to District Councillor James Rixon for pro-actively suggesting HI Friends make a grant application.
“There is much work still to be done to progress and deliver the project including the procurement of a suitable vehicle and its conversion, as well as the need for new driver volunteers coming forward”.
Read more about the work of HI Friends on their website.
South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) have admitted that they wrongly excluded Histon & Impington and six other South Cambs villages from a funding scheme to support Net Zero initiatives across the District.
But HI HUB enquires with the ONS as to why that definition was applied revealed that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority – who set the rules for the scheme – had based it on out-of-date information, rather than the 2021 census.
An ONS spokesperson told HI HUB: “It appears that the data… is from the 2011 Built Up Area (BUA) geography. Looking at both the 2022 and the 2024 version of the BUA classification, the village of Histon and Impington is a separate BUA. Please see the most recent version of the BUA classification which can be found here.”
Extended deadline
SCDC is responsible for managing the grant scheme for the Combined Authority. HI HUB challenged them with the ONS response, and this has resulted in Histon & Impington, Milton, Girton, Great and Little Shelford, Fen Ditton, Fulbourn and Teversham all being eligible to apply for the Net Zero Villages Grant – but not Orchard Park.
To correct the record, SCDC is now contacting these communities to invite them to apply for the grant.
Community groups, businesses and the Histon & Impington Parish council are now all able to submit applications for grants ranging from £20,000 to £100,000 to support “transformative, community-led projects” and help villages become low carbon, more sustainable and more resilient to the effects of climate change.
SCDC is also extending the window for applications until 2 February 2025.
They say: “To confirm a project’s eligibility, applicants should open the map, select Cambridge in the ‘Settlements’ table and confirm the community asset or project site is outside of the yellow shaded area. This area represents the Cambridge built-up area, as classified by the ONS using the 2021 Census figures.
“Potential applicants should email climateandenvironment@scambs.gov.uk to have any questions answered, or to arrange a time to discuss their application 1-2-1 with an officer.”
Cambridgeshire County Council is holding a Flood Resilience awareness event on Saturday 25th March from 10am to 3pm from a ‘Floodmobile’ vehicle in Tesco Express car park.
The purpose is to provide information to residents on flood resilience measures that can be incorporated into properties. There will be members of the Flood Risk team on site to answers questions and advice on over 50 practical flood protection measures.
An Impington home is taking part in ‘Open Eco Homes’, 5 weeks of tours and talks from Cambridge Carbon Footprint, on Saturday 24th September.
The owners have retrofitted and thoroughly insulated their 1920s home, adding on a large extension which nearly doubled the footprint of their home. Despite the extra space they’ve managed to reduce their heating bills significantly.
Buckingham Stanley on the High Street is holding an event from 9.30am to 2pm on Saturday 26th March to give an informal introduction to electric cars.
There will be a selection of electric cars and motorcycles to look at and drive, as well as people on hand to answer any questions you may have about range, charging, pricing or anything else you are curious about the world of EV driving.
Climate change will be in the national news as the Glasgow COP26 summit approaches, but local efforts will be vital if zero-carbon targets are to be met. Liz Hill reports on how the village is getting involved.
The global UN climate summit known as COP26, taking place in Glasgow in early November, will hopefully see world leaders make new commitments to actions that their countries will take to reduce greenhouse gases and prevent catastrophic increases in global temperatures. But if they are to be delivered, those commitments will rely on the actions of all citizens, and every community has its part to play – Histon & Impington included.
What is COP26?
‘COP26’ is shorthand for ‘the 26th Climate Change Conference of the Parties’. This year’s event is being hosted by the UK, which is also setting the agenda. It will see international delegations come together to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.
The aim of COP26 is to make better progress towards meeting the commitments made in an international treaty on climate change that was adopted in 2015 – known as ‘the Paris Agreement.’ The summit will culminate with the countries agreeing to targets for reaching the ‘net zero’ carbon emissions needed to stop the devastating advance of global warming.
The conference will be delivered in two ‘Zones’. The Green Zone will be where the general public, youth groups, civil society, academics, artists and businesses will run talks, events, exhibitions and workshops that aim to help the UK’s communities build awareness and make commitments around the climate change agenda.
The Blue Zone is where the governments will negotiate the targets that they will buy into, and is exclusively for heads of state and expert climate delegates from 197 countries who will be sharing their information, advice and stories.
Local champion
Among those involved in these world-changing conversations will be Histon & Impington resident and South Cambs Councillor Pippa Heylings. Her career has seen her working both locally and internationally to encourage sustainable development, biodiversity conservation and a low carbon, climate resilient world. It is therefore no surprise that, in recognition of her extensive knowledge and influence over environmental agendas across the world, she has been given a coveted space in the ‘Blue Zone’ at the conference.
Pippa Heylings
Among Pippa’s aims is to reinforce the message that action at local level is as important as national policy in halting climate change, because change will only happen if individuals and communities do their bit. She is Chair of South Cambs District Council’s Climate and Environment Advisory Committee, national Lead Lib Dem for the Environment, Economy, Housing and Transport Board, and leads on the cross-party Climate Change Task Force set up by the Local Government Association in the run-up to the conference. The task force members have been meeting regularly with all the Ministers nominated as COP26 Champions for key sectors across Government.
The aim of the group is to get local and regional governments across the world recognised as a vital part of national efforts to reach climate change targets. They are asking for a whole day of the conference agenda to be dedicated to ‘sub-national’ government activity – which in the UK means County, District and Parish Councils. They also want the final COP26 agreement reached by national governments to commit to giving the financial and political support that councils will need to bring about change in their communities.
Off the starting blocks
Here in Histon & Impington, the community isn’t sitting waiting for the outcome of COP26 before taking action. The Neighbourhood Plan came into force earlier this year, supporting the Parish Council to look for opportunities to reduce carbon emissions in the community and to develop community energy schemes. Some community groups are already in action too, not least HITrees and its community planting events, and the new charity H&I Green Spaces, which is securing the future of Abbey Fields and preventing their use as development land.
South Cambs District Council is fully behind community efforts. Together with around 2,000 local councils across the world, it has declared a climate and ecological emergency. Its business plan priority is ‘being green to our core’ and earlier this year its green efforts were commended in the Public Sector Transformation Awards as being “exemplary”.
As part of its efforts, South Cambs has adopted a Zero Carbon Strategy to bring down its own emissions, as well as a Doubling Nature Strategy aiming to increase the tree canopy to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere. Last year Histon & Impington was able to take advantage of the three free trees it offered to every parish council in the district, and that offer has been doubled this year, with six free trees available.
To support businesses and communities to do their bit to reduce their carbon emissions, South Cambs has prepared a Climate Emergency toolkit, and earlier this year it ran a Climate and Environment Fortnight which presented activities aimed at helping residents think about how to live more sustainably.
There is no doubt that the building blocks are being put in place to encourage and support our village to step up to the enormous challenge of climate change. It’s up to each of us now to engage with the process and take our own steps towards the zero carbon future we so urgently need.
Community organisations in Histon & Impington can do their bit to inspire action on climate change by joining in with the Great Big Green Week, a national week of events from 18 to 26 September. Thousands of events will celebrate how communities are taking action to tackle climate change and protect green spaces. Event organisers can sign up to take part.
We invite you to join us for our annual wassail at the Community
Orchard. We will be singing traditional wassail songs lead by the
Impingtones, lighting a beacon and toasting the trees to help raise them
from their winter slumber.
Refreshments will be available, please bring a cup or mug to help us
reduce waste. Contributions of cakes would be gratefully received.
Consider bringing musical instruments (drums, whistles, rattles etc)
or pots and pans to make noise to help wake the sleeping trees.
It is recommended that you dress appropriately for the conditions and
weather, as it may be muddy. Do bring a torch or a lantern to light the
way and ribbons to tie onto the trees.
If the weather is very poor the event may be postponed or cancelled.
Geoff Moore
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