From Sawston Scene April–May 2016

Ann Redshaw investigates those parts of the village that we’d all like something done about…

When a reader sent us an article (see box) they had researched about the tannery drying shed, it got me thinking that a review of several village eyesores would be of interest. So, starting with the drying shed, I contacted Hutchings & Harding to get an update of the situation from their point of view.

The Drying Sheds

I last wrote about the sheds in Sawston Scene in June–July 2013. At that point John Ettling of Hutchings & Harding felt he had run out of options, having had several applications for adapting the shed to provide a practical use turned down. At the time the proposals were apparently ‘not deemed appropriate’.

Since then, English Heritage has been reorganised and ‘Historic England’ has replaced it.’ Historic England is now anxious to preserve the building because although there are other drying sheds in the country none are as large as ours. They have a ring-fenced pot of money for projects such as ours to enable them to look into alternative solutions for buildings they now deem important. It is this pot which has provided the funds for Historic England to put up emergency scaffolding and covering for the shed while a solution is sought.

Tom Ettling, who took over the business from his father last summer, explained that as always they have been keen to find an affordable and appropriate future for the building and continue to hold an ‘open door’ to South Cambs District Council (the Parish Council has absolutely no jurisdiction in these matters) and Heritage England, who together have taken over the management of the project.

Juliette Wilson, Historic Buildings Officer for South Cambridgeshire District Council, explained to me that the shed will be surveyed soon to ensure that the building is stabilised further while future plans are formulated. One suggestion might be to find a charitable trust which could then apply for grants to carry out work from, for example, the Heritage Lottery fund.

This reappraisal of the situation is in the very early stages of development so no one was able to express any opinion of what might happen to the building. Juliette Wilson indicated a timescale of up to three years to find a charitable trust, and if that is successful perhaps another two years to identify a new use and draw up plans; the implementation of the new use may take longer. So we have a few years yet to look and wonder while warning off our curious youngsters from exploring the tantalising site.

Moules Garage Site
I am pleased to see that the site has been tidied up considerably and hope that this will be maintained over the summer. However, legal issues remain and it is not known how long they might take to resolve.

Barclays Bank Site

The site was bought by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands in 2007 and was leased out from that date. Sainsburys took on the site and applied for an alcohol licence as long ago as August 2014. Their head of property communication recently made the following statement to the Parish Council: “As you know the site was formerly occupied by Barclays Bank and over the past couple of years we have been developing plans for a new shop. Our building contractors recently carried out an assessment of the site and the construction works are more extensive that we first thought. For instance, we will have to carry out significant structural and ground works before any fit out and shop works can begin. As a result we are reviewing our plans to make sure that the development is viable, meets local shopping needs and ultimately returns value to our shareholders. We are going through this process at the moment and considering a number of future options for a store on the site. I know local people want to see the development happen and as soon as we are in a position to do so, we will be back in touch with local residents.”

This site has also been cleaned up a bit, but it looks as if we will have to be patient here too.

Traffic Island
My own personal gripe is the semi-tarmacked triangle at the junction of Mill Lane and New Road. It really spoils that entry point into the village.

The Scene production team have been wondering whether we could sponsor some landscaping of the area, but we’ll have to get permission from the Highways team at the County Council. We’ll keep you informed.

Ploughed Furrows

The furrows on the rough grassland at the other entrances to the village were ploughed up in the autumn and left looking unsightly. However, this was done to prevent the much more unsightly parking of vehicles. The furrows are to be left in place but they are already greening up and will soon be home to wildflowers and insects. Litter We can however all do something about litter by not dropping it and by teaching our children environmental awareness. The Parish Council has now managed to appoint someone to clean up after us, and I would very much like to thank that person for taking on the job. [See page 19 for details.] To finish on a positive note, the group Greener Sawston recently cleared the slippiest parts of the Whittlesford cycle path and I believe there is cleaning for the Queen going on; many thanks to all you volunteers! SS