Wednesday 4 November 2009

Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot is probably more productive than waiting for an early morning bus in Caldecote or Hardwick at the moment! It used to be that you waited for a bus and two came along at once. If only that were still true.

My current Councillor workload is almost entirely built around infrastructure – or lack of it. We are continuing to build more and more houses locally for families – but the infrastructure required for our existing inhabitants and the ever-increasing number coming to live in our villages is just not keeping pace.

The Citi 4 regularly leaves 6th form children at bus stops in Caldecote and Hardwick (and people on their way to work) because it’s full before it gets there. Some local Children are bussed in to Secondary Schools in the City because the local one is full. Our Village Primary School has a few places left, but next week Caldecote will consider an application for another 97 houses. If we don’t extend the Primary School what will we do with the children these new houses bring to the village?

Whilst we need to build houses I think we’re in danger of throwing the baby out with the bath water at the moment. We can’t keep building more housing developments without the necessary infrastructure in place to service them. And as some villages are finding out at the moment, what the bus company giveth, the bus company can oh so easily take away again!