The Parish Council has been working on our budget for the year 2025/26. This year we
are faced with large increases in two areas - one in respect of our village grass cutting
services and the other being expenditure for the maintenance of trees, ditches and
open spaces including the playground. We believe there are quite a few trees in The
Orchard that require attention on health and safety grounds as several are growing
towards the electrical power lines.
We have however worked hard to reduce costs in other areas to try and offset the
effect of these increases. After careful consideration of our expenditure, we have
managed to restrict the total overall budget increase for the year to £1377.00. This is
helped partly by reduced expenditure on our clerk’s salary as Sue Dalgleish has been
performing the work of the clerk without pay for most of the current year while we
advertised for a new clerk. She has now been appointed formally to the role but will
continue to work without pay for the next 12 months. Street lighting costs have been
reduced following a change in supplier. We have also received an increase in interest
payments from our deposit account. We are hoping the cost of the tree works in The
Orchard will be lower in future years once we have addressed the issue this year.
The final precept budget figure for the year 2025/26 for a Band D property will be
£94.21 which reflects an increase of £9.72. Although higher than the rate of inflation,
we feel that this increase is unfortunately unavoidable in view of the considerable
challenges we face in respect of grass cutting and other village maintenance costs.
Kingston Parish Council
The audit of Kingston Parish Council's accounts for the financial year 2023-24 has been completed and no issues of concern were noted. A copy of the Annual Return including the audit report and supporting documents is now available on this website on our Publication Scheme page (click to open in a new tab/window). Details of public rights of access and how to arrange to view the books and records are given above as well as on thie Publication Scheme page.
The documents for previous years are available to download in pdf format:
The goal nets at the playground are replaced from time to time by the Parish Council at some expense. It is disappointing to find the nets with large holes in them that cannot have happened in normal use. We can only conclude that the damage has occurred through abuse or vandalism. Please keep your eyes open for any such behaviour at the playground and if possible discourage it. If you are aware of misbehaviour and know the culprits, please let the Parish Clerk know.
Fortunately major flooding is not a major problem in the village, but there are some documents available from the County Council everyone should be aware of:
South Cambs District Council has changed its guidance regarding what to do with blue bin overflow. They now advise as follows:
If the blue bin is full, excess recyclable material will be collected if placed in one transparent sack next to the blue bin. Please put any glass in your blue bin, not in the sack for safety reasons. One bundle of cardboard may be left next to your bin if it is of a size which would fit inside the bin if there were space. Please tape or tie into a bundle to assist collection. Please do not use other colour wheeled bins for your excess recycling. You can get an additional blue bin free of charge. Contact: email refuse@scambs.gov.uk, tel 03450 450 063.
If noise from your neighbours becomes a regular nuisance, you should first approach the neighbours to try and reach a reasonable solution. If this fails, you need to contact South Cambs District Council Environmental Health department. There is some useful information on this page: www.scambs.gov.uk/environment/pollution/noise-nuisance/
They have a statutory duty to take action where appropriate, but will expect you to have approached the offending party first, and to keep a log of occurrences for a period of time.
We have had several complaints about inconsiderate parking in the village. We know that parking space is at a premium, but please consider your neighbours when you or your guests park. In particular we ask that vehicles are not parked on village greens, which are a pleasant visual feature of our village, intended as a public amenity. If you do not have space on your own premises, the village hall car park can be used as a temporary parking place.
For more parking advice, and an advisory map: click here
To download a copy of the plan in pdf format: click here
There have been complaints from time to time about long grass at this junction resulting in poor visibility for drivers turning towards Cambridge. The Highways Department is responsible for cutting grass verges, and has a programme to cut them. Unfortunately weather variations can result in growth of the grass between scheduled cuts.
The Highways people can carry out additional cuts, but they need to be requested to do so. Please therefore report to the Parish Clerk any problems in this area, so that a request can be passed on to the Highways Department.
These are the expected dates for meetings of Kingston Parish Council in 2025, but are subject to confirmation nearer the time:
14th January, 20th February (extraordinary), 11th March, 22nd April (extraodinary), 13th May, 8th July, 9th September, 11th November
Kingston Parish Clerk Susan Dalgleish
Contact the Webmaster: webmaster@kingstonvillage.org.uk