The Mills Matters

5.00.00pm GMT Sat 23rd Jan 2010

Your Focus Team knocked on many doors in Chatteris Mills ward during the County Council elections last June and asked your views.

The team found that they were correct in their belief that top of the agenda were the absence of adequate leisure provision, and that another great concern was the lack of shopping facilities to equal those enjoyed by other local towns.

Highway and traffic issues gave rise to many concerns,and the team has set about tackling these over the past months.

We are pleased that dog-fouling problems are now improving and the Police are now giving further attention to the speeding and inconsiderate parking issues from which The Mills suffers.

Particularly, the Police have now agreed to deal with those inconsiderate motorists who block paths, forcing anyone with a pushchair or walking aid into the road.

The team is also setting about looking at 'yellow markings' issues that residents have brought up, to see that the local authority deals properly with allowing reasonable parking whilst keeping our roads safe.

Play equipment in The Mills continues to be improved, thanks to your local Liberal Democrats.

Readers of Focus and the local press will know that it is as a result of pressure from your local Liberal Democrats that Fenland District Council is now charging and collecting 'Section 106' monies from developers to help improve our community.

Pictured are Diane Baldry and Chris Howes at Huntingdon Road Rec. where a new multi-purpose games area has been installed thanks to Liberal Democrat efforts. A shelter has also been installed by Fenland District Council (though sadly it sits in a low area which collects water - a problem that the team will have remedied as soon as possible).

And due for an upgrade shortly is the seven year old skate park - which we would mention was provided not by Fenland District Council, but as a result of a separate fundraising scheme in which Diane was involved, as a member of CAFY (Chatteris Action for Youth).

Your Liberal Democrats will keep up the pressure to make sure that monies are collected from developers and spent wisely. High on our agenda for improvements is the public open space near the Sportsman, which currently benefits only from a pair of goal posts and two very battered-looking rubbish bins!

Your Liberal Democrats also feel that the football ground off West Street is an under-played local resource. With imaginative help and funds from Fenland District Council, how much could that facility be improved?