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View from the Chair

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The View from the Chair – October 2026

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​I hope that you have enjoyed your summer and coped in the heat and drought, but it seems we are heading firmly into Autumn now.  Despite having a break from our monthly meetings in August, the Parish Council has continued to progress several key matters and I will provide my usual update to you all.  As you will see some of the “long-running” items have little news to report and I will update on all of them below, but let’s start with some more immediate news.


Parish Resident of the Year
I was pleased to announce at the recent Village Show that the recipient of the Rose-Stimpson Cup for Parish Resident of the year for 2026 was Carol Langham for her work on the Parish Magazine.  She had a hard act to follow after taking over from Lesley Gilbert, but Carol has brought her professional expertise as a former editor to bear, and evolved the magazine, both in terms of look and content. I have had many comments of appreciation and thanks for her taking on the role and keeping this much-loved publication going strong.


As was done last year, nominations for the award were sought from you all via this magazine and online and we had many great nominees put forward.  The Parish Councillors (minus Carol) discussed them all and unanimously felt that Carol was the deserving winner.  We also thank Gill Callow for presenting the cup so kindly donated by her parents several years ago.


Nominations for next year’s award will open in the middle of 2027 and we hope there will again be a number of our “unsung heroes” put forward. 
 

Little Linford Bridge Repairs
As I am sure you will have all seen by now, the work to repair the bridge over the river on Little Linford Lane was finally completed and the route reopened on 22 August.  I know that this has been a long wait of around 10 months, but the process undertaken by MKCC of insurance claims, structural surveys, scheme design, contractor tendering and permit application, all takes time, and it seems that much of this has to be done a step at a time rather than in parallel.  I have certainly seen the level of interest from whenever we have posted updates on Facebook!


The good thing is that the bridge is back and for that we should be grateful.  Hopefully it will now be safe and secure for many years to come.
 

Community Book Exchange
We know how popular our Community Book Exchange was until we had to remove it due to damage last year.  The Parish Council has been keen to replace it and has spent some time investigating options and a better, more visible location.


We have identified a possible solution from MK Charity, ‘Men in Sheds’ who have produced a number of units installed in various places around the city – you can see the one in Tattenhoe in the picture.  As you can see it is a robust unit installed on strong steel pillars and we feel this would be a great solution for us.

The next challenge is location, as this needs to be installed on land we own, not Highways land, plus of course it needs to be accessible as well as secure.  As previously mentioned, it is our plan to install a replacement unit on the north west corner of The Crescent Green closest to the school, which we think is the best location where accessibility is good and it is well lit and overlooked.

The final challenge is funding this, so we have applied for a 50% grant from the MKCC Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF) as well as budgeting for some of our own monies as a contribution.  Thanks to those of you who completed our online survey to provide the required evidence of resident support within that application – it overwhelmingly showed that this would be a great addition (replacement) to our parish assets.

We will not hear about the grant until the new year and the funds will not be available until April but we hope to be successful so we can relaunch the CBE in the spring of 2027
 

Highways and Road Safety
Aside from the bridge repairs already mentioned, there are several highways updates as always.


Turning first to the road safety schemes, we expect the 30mph limit on Haversham Hill to be installed during October as well as the reduction in the Haversham Road on the way to Wolverton becoming a 40mph limit.
Some additional signage and markings are planned for the 40mph heading towards and past Little Linford next month – the eagle eyed may have noticed the signage errors!

We continue discussions with MKCC about how to improve the informal crossing on Wolverton Road and make it more visible.  Interestingly if a footbridge was installed it would need a ramp each side of around 60m length –that is clearly not an option either!

We are also looking at solutions around Broadacre Hill to hopefully mitigate speeding concerns and make the occasional drivers who do not know the area realise that they are about to enter a village.


On the maintenance side, we continue to press for fixes to streetlight problems, the odd road defect like the loose gully on the High Street and resolutions to the long-standing flooding issues before they come back when we get the autumn and winter heavy rainfall.
 

One bit of hopefully positive news is that the east side pavement on Wolverton Road has been scheduled for repair prior to the 1st of April 2027 – this is not guaranteed to happen, but let’s keep our finger crossed that is does.
 

Just to remind you that 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  If you let me know of the report and the reference number I can also chase as part of my regular conversations with Highways.


New Town for MK North
There is little news to report here.  After the consultation and the public meeting with our MP Chris Curtis, I had the opportunity to reinforce the feelings of many of you privately to Chris in terms of the opposition to this proposal on our doorstep.  


We await further news on whether the consultation will be reopened, or what the decisions from the government post the consultation may be.  With the change of leadership in Government, I am sure this will cause some further delays so we will all need to remain both vigilant and patient.
 

As and when there is news, we will update the information on our website at www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk/newtown
 

Other Planning Matters
No significant new news to report here. The MK City Plan 2050 is still with the planning inspectorate under examination, and no planning application has yet been submitted by Gade Homes for the Neighbourhood Plan site in the old village.  
 

I have asked Gade to come along to a Parish Council meeting around the time their application is submitted so they can present it to both the PC and any members of the public who attend.  If this happens, it will be on our published agenda and also posted on Facebook.
 

When any updates emerge, we will share information on the city plan at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy/mk-city-plan-2050  and on the local development at www.havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk/npsitenews.
 

Household Waste Recycling Centre
Again, little news since my update in the last magazine on the new Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) on Colts Holm Road, Old Wolverton.  Construction is progressing and as far as we are aware the site is still expected to open around the turn of the year.


The next meeting of the Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) HWRC Community Liaison Group (CLG) is scheduled for 1 October where we would hope to hear updates on the various concerns we have raised related to noise, light and odour pollution and the possible traffic issue that I updated you on last time.

I expect to be able to update more fully in the December/January magazine and if there is more urgent news it will be shared on Facebook and our website news page.
 

Other News
Haversham Social and Community Centre:  

Whilst the HSCC update is elsewhere along with all the details of the Village Show winners, I wanted to share how much I enjoyed this year’s village show.  As mentioned above it was a great pleasure to announce the Resident of the Year and also to judge the Best Novice Entry on behalf of the PC.  On a personal note, I was both surprised and chuffed to have won first prize in the Domestic Classes this year.  I have been told I am the first man to win that prize (I will stand corrected if that is wrong) but based on feedback I fully expect there to be a strong challenge next year and we would love to see more entries across these classes!
 

It is also great to see that the Social Centre now has Wi-Fi installed and I know that their plans for further improvements are well underway.  We should all cherish this local facility and support the charity by both hiring the hall for our own celebrations and attending their growing number of exciting events each year.
 

Allotments:

I know it has been a challenging year for the allotment tenants, but despite that we are filling up the individual community allotment beds with new growers.  If you fancy joining them, just email the clerk for more information – it’s only £5 per year.  When I have visited the site, I have been impressed to see how productive the plots are, despite the heat and lack of rain.
 

Neighbourhood Watch:  

After installing all the new signage in July, we have seen a few new members join the NHW schemes across the new village.  Given a few incidents lately, not just the one on the Allotments and Brookfield Road, please do consider signing up.  To join the scheme for your street go to www.ourwatch.org.uk/joinNW and we still wish to find for coordinators for the old village and Little Linford to enable us to expand there as well.
 

Parish Magazine Content and Advertising:

Our magazine thrives on having a wide variety of voices and topics. We would love to receive local interest stories, charity updates, eye-catching photos from around the Parish, and contributions from our younger residents. Please submit your content to our editor, at carol.langham@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk for inclusion in a future issue.
 

We also offer excellent advertising opportunities for local businesses, so if you run a small business, or have used a local service that you think would benefit other residents, consider placing an advert or suggesting to the supplier that they do. We offer quarter, half, and full-page advertising spaces at highly competitive rates. To discuss your advertising needs, please get in touch with me directly at richard.pryor@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk.
 

Parish Councillor Vacancy:

We still have one vacancy on the Parish Council to fill.  We would ideally like to increase representation from across the Parish, particularly from the old village and Little Linford. If you are interested in joining the team, please contact the Clerk at clerk@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk. Alternatively, if you would like an informal chat before deciding to apply, please feel free to email me directly.

Contacting Us and Helping Out
Getting news to our residents is something we try to do by supporting diverse communication methods. First and foremost, if you want to raise an issue or volunteer for any of our initiatives, please contact the Parish Clerk directly at clerk@havershamlittlelinfordpc.gov.uk.  We are always on the lookout for new people to join the Community Speedwatch Team of the Community Litter Pick team.
 

We also share regular updates across our digital platforms:

 

Whichever method you choose, we always do our best to respond promptly, and we hope this new WhatsApp solution proves useful to many of you.


Thanks for reading! I hope this update keeps you well-informed on what’s happening across the Parish. I look forward to sharing more news in a couple of months and hope to see many of you either around the villages or at upcoming HSCC events.
 

Cllr Richard Pryor
Chair​​

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