Fen Ditton Parish Council
Chairman’s Report, APM, May 2026
Chairman: Vince Farrar
Housing growth at Marleigh continues apace, with approximately 550 homes now occupied. Marleigh now also has an active residents’ association.
Some residents may have noticed that the parish council element of council tax has fallen for two years in a row as the number of new residents has increased the size and efficiency of the parish. In real terms, this has given us around a 10% reduction in the parish element of council tax.
The village green spaces maintenance contractor has been doing a great job over the past year, and we expect this to continue. Councillors have received numerous compliments from residents.
A new Defib was installed outside the Hanger Community Building bringing the number across the parish to 3.
A warm welcome to our temporary Clerk, Maximilian Huber, who is covering maternity leave. Max is also a local resident, making commuting times very short.
There have also been some changes in Councillors, Mandy, Nick, Graham and Carla are not standing going forward. They have all been a fantastic councillors and we all thank them for their service to the community.
We have continued upgrading our IT system with another mini-server for online document editing. As well as increasing efficiency, this will allow us to keep more documents on a closed system, improving security in a way broadly similar to the District Council’s approach. Better still, all the software used is open source and therefore available at no cost.
We are still waiting to hear the outcome of our 20 mph speed limit application for Church Street, Green End, and High Ditch Road.
The Council applied for and received a Zero Carbon grant from SCDC for conservation upgrades to the pavilion. This work has been delayed following damage to the roof, when repairs revealed significant deterioration in the roof’s condition. Further repairs will be needed before we can proceed.
We are still waiting for a decision on the right of way path from High Ditch Road to the cycleway to Marleigh. Although we are number one on the County Council’s list, this is taking longer than envisaged.
Finally, many thanks to all our long-suffering councillors, who listen to me droning on every month, and for all their efforts in pushing our many projects forward.