Trying to catch moles in The Hayling View riverside gardens today
Trying to catch moles in The Hayling View riverside gardens today

Today the morning mist dispersed to make a warm and sunny day and, after a morning dealing with the mail and reading the newspapers and the salad lunch I tried without success to find reasons to stop further infill development in Little Paxton. Then to reset the mole traps near the games lawn before mowing it and then this evening off to the St Neots Museum committee as the official Council representative.

A day that started a bit damp and misty, but ended up dry, warm and sunny. I read the papers this morning and then dealt with the mail and a few other matters. Lunch of prawn salad and then this afternoon I went over to Pathfinder House to talk to the Principal Planning Officer for this area, Neil Coleman, about infilling developments in Little Paxton. It seems that the government’s circular presumption, in favour of infilling, leaves little grounds for opposition if the development does not impact the street scene or overlook any neighbouring property. As Riversdale is not presently listed, or in a conservation area, all I could get him to do was to ask for detailed plan drawings to identify that the building could actually go within the boundaries and ensure whether the front holly and side leylandii would be retained.

Also asked about Redlands Road diversion and will try to organise a neighbourhood meeting with the company as and when. Home in time to watch England lose 3 goals to 1 to Holland and thus exit the European Nations Cup. It was a close game, but we lost, and the media will be pleased, as they have continually written up the incidents of our hooligans as the main story. Earlier, I reset the mole traps in some small disturbed areas near the games lawn and then mowed the games lawn. This is very uneven and hard, and I wonder how I will eventually get it flat and fine. At least the draining is good. This evening, none of my leaflets arrived and I went off to meetings of the St Neots Museum Committee, where I am now the official Hunts DC representative.