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````` Ashdon Parish Plan Ashdon Parish Plan April 2007 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashdon Parish Plan Page 1 9 May 2007 Ashdon Parish Plan Table of Contents 1. What is a Parish Plan? 3 7.10.2 Refuse and Recycling 22 7.10.3 Noise Pollution 23 2. A Brief History of Ashdon 5 7.10.4 What should be done to protect & enhance the environment? 23 3. Who Lives in Ashdon? 7 8. Planning Guidance 24 4. Businesses and Services in Ashdon 8 9. So, what happens next? 25 5. Farming in Ashdon 8 10. Acknowledgements 29 6. Young People in Ashdon 9 10.1 Who’s been involved in this? 29 7. Ashdon Matters 10 10.2 Sources of Funding 29 7.1 Information 10 11. Appendices 29 7.2 Leisure and Recreation 11 12. Abbreviations 29 7.3 The Shop, the Pub and the Garage 13 7.4 Education 14 7.5 Utilities 15 7.6 Community Support 16 7.7 Development and Land Use 17 7.8 Traffic, Transport and Roads 19 7.8.1 Parking 19 7.8.2 Heavy lorries, high volume of traffic and inadequate pavements 19 7.8.3 Speeding 20 7.9 Safety 21 7.10 The Environment 22 7.10.1 The Rural Landscape 22 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashdon Parish Plan Page 2 9 May 2007 Ashdon Parish Plan process typically takes three years, and at its core is the production and analysis of questionnaires to identify views and opinions. Three 1. What is a Parish Plan? questionnaires were produced: Parish Plans were introduced in the 2000 “Rural White Paper” which set out - A youth questionnaire for 11-15 year olds. the Government’s plans for the countryside. They are intended to build upon - A business questionnaire for employers and individuals working previous schemes such as village appraisals and village design statements from home. and set a framework for communities to plan their own futures. - An adult questionnaire (incorporating a ‘household’ section) for individuals aged 16 and over, seeking to identify the main issues So what is a Parish Plan? A Parish Plan is a facing the village. document that attempts to capture the views of the wider community, and set out ideas and As part of the pack a map was produced, and people were asked to specify plans for the future of the parish. During our the area the response came from. This was not to trace specific individuals time delivering and collecting questionnaires in and their views, but to ensure that points related to one area (e.g. speeding early 2006 many contributors commented that or a particular problem) could be identified by location. people largely didn’t want change - we should protect what we have. Whilst this is probably a The questionnaires were hand delivered during February 2006, and hand very laudable goal, the world continues to collected by March 2006. A decision was taken to collect the documents change around Ashdon, and it is not realistic personally to encourage people to complete the questionnaires, and to to expect nothing to change. A glance at provide the residents with an opportunity to discuss their views with the section 2 of this document (a brief history of team. It wasn’t unusual for people collecting the documents to spend up to Ashdon) shows how much change there has an hour talking about them, and invaluable pieces of information were been in a relatively short period of time. gained during these conversations. Although some of the group have lived in the village for over 50 years, many have lived here for less than 15 years Many local villages have undertaken statements and Parish Plans. and it was helpful to gain this further Radwinter, Wimbish and Helions Bumpstead have completed theirs, and insight. Questionnaires typically have others being prepared include Bartlow and Hadstock. When an entirely new a return rate of approximately 20% - Parish Council was elected in Ashdon in May 2003 it was agreed it would be by personally delivering and collecting helpful to gain a more detailed view of the parish. Whilst Parish Councillors the documents a return rate of might believe they have a good knowledge of the views of a wide proportion approximately 89% of households of the parish, no one really knew if this was the case. Given relatively few receiving the questionnaire and 80% members of the public attend Parish Council meetings this was a good of households in total was achieved, opportunity to develop an objective view of the community. ensuring the responses collected were representative. In October 2004 the Parish Council held an Open Morning in the Village Hall There is an important point to make regarding the response rate and the to determine whether people would generally be in favour of a Parish Plan. analysis in this document. 89% is of course an extremely good return, but Over 150 people attended, and spent the morning writing over 400 we can’t hide from the fact that it isn’t 100% (on average most Parish Plans comments covering a range of views about services, features, ‘wants’ and response rates are below 70%). Unless stated otherwise all percentages in ‘don’t-wants’. All this suggested that a Parish Plan might be something the this report refer to the number of households and people that responded. If community was interested in, and would provide an opportunity to make this figure is misleading then a note will be made to that effect. comments and express views. A group of volunteers set about the process. Once the documents had been collected the information needed to be The project was formally set in motion in April 2005, involving a group of 10 analysed. With 64 questions in the adult document alone there were over volunteers. One member of the Parish Council was included as this project 40,000 pieces of information to consider. A company was retained to is to be managed by the Parish Council but, in order to retain an undertake some data analysis for us, and this was funded by RCCE. independent perspective, not entirely undertaken by councillors. The _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashdon Parish Plan Page 3 9 May 2007 Ashdon Parish Plan The data was finally available in August 2006, and the team set about reviewing the information, from environment to education, and services to speeding. Another open day was held in October 2006, and we took the opportunity to display all of the data received, including comments and opinions of what people liked or disliked in the parish. Finally the analysis is complete, and you have in your hands the fruits of our labours. Whilst this represents a ‘snap-shot in time’ of views in February 2006 (prior to the final development and occupation of All Saints Close for example), it should provide the current Parish Council, and Parish Councils to come, with a useful document expressing views and opinions of the community. We hope you find it interesting. Parish Plan Steering Group – April 2007 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashdon Parish Plan Page 4 9 May 2007 Ashdon Parish Plan sited to the south of the church. This event caused the remaining population to migrate into the Bourne valley with Crown Hill becoming the new village 2. A Brief History of Ashdon centre. In the 14th century All Saints Church was built on the remains of the Saxon church and in the 15th century the Guildhall of St. Mary was erected The Ashdon landscape was created during the last ice age, from materials to the south of the church. deposited at the southern extremities of glaciers. The parish is bisected north to south by the valley of the River Bourne, a tributary of the River During the Civil War the area was predominantly pro-Parliament supporting Granta, which it enters at Bartlow. The village of Ashdon lies partially within Cromwell. It is reputed that the then recently constructed inn, the Rose & the valley formed by the Bourne whilst areas of newer development lie on a Crown, was used to imprison some of the monks attached to the Abbey at moraine above the valley. Bury St. Edmunds; they are reputed to have painted the walls of their prison with simulated panelling and religious texts. At the time of the Roman occupation the land, a mixture of woodland and cleared arable land, was already settled by the Britons. The Romans During the Tudor and Stuart periods the village grew and by the time of established wealthy communities in the area in the 1st to 4th centuries with a George I, when the Living of All Saints was in the gift of Gonville and Caius large military camp at what is now “The Camps”. A series of seven College, Cambridge, it was a prosperous place, evidenced by the size of the Romano–British burial mounds were constructed at Bartlow with four now Rectory that was constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries. remaining. (one on private land, the others being referred to as The Three Hills). An excavation in the 19th century found high-grade burial offerings and In the 1841 Census Ashdon had a population of 948 and occupied 4,045 an altar in the largest of the mounds. acres of land. The population was, to some extent, self-sufficient having two working windmills to grind locally-grown wheat. There were two butchers, a Ashdon probably remained a relatively untroubled place during the Dark baker, three blacksmiths and farriers, a boot and shoemaker, four Ages and Christianity came some time in the 7th or 8th century with the shopkeepers, two brick makers, a carpenter and a wheelwright as well as a construction of a Saxon church.

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