I've just witnessed a man lead two horses onto the gree area near the entrance to Graham Rd. He hss then attempted to put a fence around the grass. It looks to me like he's dumped these animals there. I have their pictures and van details.

Do i report this the the RSPCA?

I've just spoken to the RSPCA. They told me that travellers often do this, and that the owner should look after the animals daily unitl they move on. If it appears that the animals have been abandoned, then the RSPCA can be contacted on 0300 1234 999.

If the horses should escape onto the road, the police should be called.

I've had the following response from the City Council - if anyone has more info about the vehicle, please can they pass it on directly to Dave Prinsep.

Thanks, Nick

========================================= 
  Mr Warren

 We have visited site a couple of times but not when anyone has been present with the horses. I read on the Forum that somebody had details of a vehicle visiting the horses and it would be helpful if this information could be provided to see if we can track down the owners. We will also leave some notices on site for the owners. They do not have our permission to be there.

 Please let me know if you have any further details that may assist.

 Thank you.

 Dave Prinsep
 Head of Property & Building Services
 Cambridge City Council
 The Guildhall, Cambridge, CB2 3QJ
 Tel: 01223 457431  
 

The registration number of the van was ???????, a silver ford transit.

(registration mark obscured by administrator)

The two horses are a very welcome sight. They brighten the place up and stop arbury park looking like such a xxxx-hole.

(message edited by administrator)

have you been to arbury park lately? I live on arbury park and all I see is wasteland and builders rubbish.

I live on Orchard Park and we are working on clearing it up, I went for a walk recently in the sun and am pleased with how it's shaping up. You should have seen it when we moved in 2 years ago!

I have been here a year and I have to say I have noticed an improvement. There is still a long way to go though and I cant help feeling shortchanged somehow as regards to community facilitys, roads, pavements, sports center, post box, shops etc..

When the site is finished it will probably be all good but when will this be?

I posted a reply to this last night, but the web site ate it as it occasionally does for me (anyone else have that problem?) - one of the several reasons why I'm changing this to www.insideorchardpark.com!!

Anyhooo, the gist of what I said was something like...we will have to live with construction and some builders materials etc for a a couple of years yet - anyone who has moved here without knowing this has been mis-led.

But that doesn't mean we should allow them to be untidy - Impington Parish Council (who we came under until 1 April) has pressed South Cambs and Gallagher to tidy the site and force the builders to keep it tidy. Orchard Park Community Council have continued this pressure since the start of April, and as a councillor from 8 June (as will be Chipmunk!!), I can state that I and a number of other councillors will be continuing to make this a priority.

There have been huge improvements, particularly after the wind-down in building progress, but now that is picking up again, we must ensure they don't fall back in to bad habits.

Resident involvement in this is important - if you see something that you don't like, report it to the council, or to me, or on this (or www.insideorchardpark.com or IOP for short) web site...preferably with a picture and as much detail as possible...don't just let it go and assume there's nothing that can be done!!!

The more people that let bad behaviour, criminal behaviour, anti-social behaviour, negligence, lack of care, etc pass them by without commenting or reacting, then the more those activities will be accepted as the standard and the norm, and we will end up living in a ghetto.

We have the opportunity to set the standards for our new development and new community, and that is what I've been fighting for over the last 2+ years...

From 8 June, we will have a local government council (Orchard Park Community Council as it is called, or OPCC for short!!) that is comprised of 9 people of whom 8 are Orchard Park residents - these are people who strongly want to support their community and are willing giving their time (voluntarily!!) to establish, direct and support the process of managing Orchard Park. Over the next 10 years or so, OPCC will be spending something like £120-150k of money each year on managing and maintaining pretty much all of the facilities across the development, including the community centre, parks, play areas, sports facilities etc. It's really important that the council understand the priorities and concerns of the residents, and will (I hope!!) be making every effort to canvas these regularly, but it also needs residents to engage with the council and tell them (us!!) what is happening, when their are issues.

I believe we have an opportunity with OPCC to set a new standard for local council...this forum thread is probably not the best place to outline my ideas, so perhaps I'll blog it on IOP in the next week or two...keep an eye out!!

Every resident can play their part in making OP a lovely community...it REALLY, REALLY is wihtin our power at this time, but failure to make our mark now, failure to draw lines, set boundaries and standards at this time, will leave us more and more impotent as time goes by...

Thanks, Nick

ps that's considerably more than I said last night...but I got on one of my pet subjects...sorry!!!

This isn't about being green. The horse owners do not have permission to use this land (which belongs to Cambridge City Council) so it is trespass. How would you feel if people started camping on these undeveloped land parcels? Or someone started storing other things there? So this is also about ensuring that people aren't allowed to do whatever they please without due regard to those whose land it is, and those who live in the neighbourhood. There must be some consideration shown.

It may well be lovely to have them there, but unless they are properly enclosed and the land has been properly prepared (waste building materials removed for example), it may well be unsafe for the horses to be homed there, and unsafe for people living or walking in the area, if the horses were to become scared and bolt out of their inadequate fencing - I have no idea what constitutes caring for them either - do they have adequate water for example? At the very least someone should have contact details for the owners in case of an incident.

I'm all for making use of the undeveloped land, but I am utterly against people abusing situations and selfishness - there is far too much of this demonstrated all over our lovely development, by the developers, the builders as well as residents, and I'd be keen to tackle all examples - "letting things go" is the thin end of the wedge, and before we know it we will all be very unhappy.

Nick