Haversham-cum-Little Linford Parish
View from the Chair
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The View from the Chair – April 2026
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Another two months has flown by, but at least we may be starting to see some better weather. As always, I have a number of actions that the Parish Council has been progressing to update you on.
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Parish Councillor Vacancies
I want to start by welcoming Steve Parsons to the Parish Council. Steve applied for one of the two vacancies on the Council, was co-opted at the February meeting and formally joined us at the March meeting. Having lived in the parish for many years he brings some great local experience to the team, as well as a passion for the community and making the area a better place for everyone.
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It is great that we now have six Parish Councillors, but we remain one short of the ideal complement of seven and ideally would like to increase representation from across the Parish, in particular the old village and Little Linford. If you are interested in joining the team please do contact the Clerk at clerk@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk, or if you would like an informal chat with me before deciding to make an application then please email me.
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Outside of the monthly meetings, this voluntary role is very flexible, so you can decide how much time and effort you wish to put in. We all find it very rewarding and hopefully you can see the positive changes we have made across the Parish.
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Recreation Ground Works Update
We are very close to completing the Playground Project with all the associated works we had planned. Most significantly the new accessible (and flat) path from Manor Drive and the resurfacing of the train platform and the basketball court are done! Despite the wet weather, our contractor was able to complete these works in early February and we are very pleased to now have a wider and much safer path into the Rec and joining onto the play area, as well as some refreshed play surfaces.
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The final small bit of work is to get the basketball court lined plus a net installed, and when that is done, it will complete our major works on the Rec for now. Of course, we will continue to maintain equipment as needed, and make further improvements and renewals as and when funds allow.
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Annual Parish Meeting
Just to remind you all that this year’s Annual Parish meeting will be on Wednesday 6 May 2026 at 7:30pm in the Social and Community Centre. We hope that a number of community groups will be sharing their news, as well as the usual update from the Parish Council. In addition to our local groups, we are hoping that The Parks Trust will join us to share their plans for the Wetland Arc that the Parish is a part of and that MKCC will be joining us to discuss the plans surrounding the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) at Old Wolverton. The final agenda will be published nearer the date.
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The Annual Meeting is not a Parish Council meeting, although I call it, as chair of the Parish Council. This meeting of residents is your chance to share your ideas for the community and to ask questions of those presenting. We hope to see many of you there.
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Highways and Road Safety
By the time you read this, the consultation for the reduction in the speed limit from 50mph to 40mph on the Haversham Road will have concluded. If supported, this will be implemented in due course, as well as a reduction to 30mph on Haversham Hill. These works will include replacement and new signage and road markings, all helping to make the Parish a safer place for everyone.
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We have not yet had the meeting with MKCC and Lime to explore options for the active travel (eScooter and eBike) network, but when we do, we will update you here as well as seek views from residents.
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MKCC continue to do some minor repairs of potholes across the parish although we are still chasing other surface repairs as well as answers to some of the other concerns such as flooding issues and completion of work to repair streetlamps.
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We have not had any update on the closure of Little Linford Lane due to bridge damage other than a confirmation that permits are being obtained and work is still expected to start once the risk of flooding has passed. We have seen that the end date of the closure has now been changed to 30 June 2026.
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The Parish Council have also now responded to the consultation for the Local Transport Plan 5 which can be found at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/consultations/local-transport-plan-5. The consultation closes on 31 March so you will only have a couple of days after receiving this magazine should you wish to respond.
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If you see a maintenance issue locally, don’t forget to use the ’Report It’ page on the MKCC website, https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/pay-report-and-apply/report-it.
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Allotment News
The Community Plot team continue to make great progress in getting the area ready for the new growing season. They have provided an update elsewhere in the magazine. To find out more or get involved please contact the clerk and we will pass on your details.
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For the full-size plots, we have largely completed the annual renewals. We do have a very small number of plots available for rent as an outcome of the renewals process, so if you are considering a plot, please do get in touch and we would be happy to show you round the site and show you the plots we have. We are hoping that, with the support of some of the tenants including the community plot team, there will be another Allotment Open Day this year – more news when we have it.
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Planning Matters
The MK City Plan 2050 has completed its Regulation 19 consultation phase, and the next step is for MKCC to submit it to the Planning Inspectorate for examination. It is likely that we will not hear any more until that stage is completed, at which point, subject to final changes requested by the examiner, the plan will be formally adopted as the new local plan.
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You can keep up to date with news at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy/mk-city-plan-2050.
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We understand that Gade Homes will be submitting their planning application in May or June for the development site in the old village that was allocated in the HcLL Neighbourhood Plan. In advance of submitting the application, they are holding a further public consultation event on 22nd April from 3:15pm to 8:30pm at the Haversham Social and Community Centre. We will share any further information we receive at www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk/npsitenews
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We have no further news on the proposal for a ‘new town’ as outlined in the report from the New Towns Taskforce although it would appear that MK North is a favoured option for substantial development. We have established a new page on our website at www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk/newtown and will continue to keep a close eye on this as matters develop as well as share information on the page when we have it.
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Giant Tree Circle Project
As mentioned in the last issue, the Parish Council has been approached by the Giant Tree Circle Project who are developing a growing circle of individually planted trees stretching across the UK and Ireland, with its centre on Anglesey in North Wales. Having followed up with them, we could potentially get a small number of fruit trees to be planted in a group on our land and this could include native fruit trees such as apple, pear and cherry.
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Our idea is to put these in a group on the Crescent Green at the end behind the bungalows, making a small community orchard and a place with some shade as the trees grow. We will also consider whether we could leave the grass around these trees as managed wild flower area – and have this looked after as part of our landscaping contract. Before we invest the time exploring this further, we would like views of the residents – especially those living on the Crescent and we have enclosed a letter in this magazine for those living there to seek your views – views from elsewhere in the Parish are also very welcome as this would be a facility for all. The letter will also be posted in the Parish News section of our website.
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For more information on the project see www.gianttreecircle.org.
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Other News
London Marathon: As you may be aware, towards the end of April is the 2026 TCS London Marathon. I know of three runners from the Parish – Holly, Shannon and John – and wish them, and anyone else from the Parish taking part, the very best of luck.
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Haversham Social and Community Centre: The Parish Council continues to work closely with the HSCC and is pleased to hear that events and bookings are going well. As a regular user of the hall, we can see the improvements as they are made. The HSCC annual report is elsewhere in the magazine as well as the agenda for their AGM and we encourage you to go along to their AGM to hear their news and plans.
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Local Elections 7 May: Just to remind you that there are ‘all-out’ elections for every ward councillor across MKCC taking place on 7 May. Due to boundary changes, from this election we will only have a single councillor representing us, alongside Castlethorpe and Hanslope, and rather than three elections in every four years we will now just have one every four years. As always, the polling station is at the Social Centre in Manor Drive.
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Grand Union Transfer Scheme Consultation: a scheme is being proposed to transfer water, in part through the canal network, as additional supply to the South East. The Grand Union Canal, which runs through the Parish, is part of the scheme, so there are a number of components to the plan that affect our Parish or places nearby.
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All the details can be found at https://guctransfer.co.uk/ where you can also respond to the consultation that closes on 2 April
Neighbourhood Watch: our usual reminder to sign-up to your local NHW scheme. These cover all of the new village so if you have not signed up yet, we encourage you to do so via www.ourwatch.org.uk/find-your-local-nw and build our community safety community further.
Parish Magazine Content: this magazine thrives on its variety of content, so we repeat the call out for local interest stories, charity news and of course the contributions from our younger residents. From time to time, we would like to showcase your eye-catching photos from around the Parish, so please send them in. We are also trying to build up a store of future content, so please feel free to send something in to our editor at carol.langham@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk for inclusion in the next or a future issue.
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Contacting Us and Helping Out
In today’s world, we know we have to support a number of methods of communication with residents. First and foremost, if you want to get in touch to raise an issue or volunteer for one of our initiatives please contact the Parish Clerk, at clerk@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk.
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We use our website www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk to share information as well and are starting on a plan to improve this site. We also use Facebook www.facebook.com/HcLLParishCouncil to post timely updates and you can also message us via Facebook messenger plus we are starting to use the recently introduced WhatsApp channel which you can join at www.tinyurl.com/HcLLPC-WA. Whichever method you use to contact us, we do our best to respond promptly and hopefully the new WhatsApp solution will appeal to many.
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Thank you all for reading what I hope is another informative article. There are always things to do across the Parish and we continue to do as much as we can to make our villages the best they can be. We look forward to seeing many of you at the Annual Parish Meeting in early May and I will update you again here in a couple of months.
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Cllr Richard Pryor
Chair​​​
