An election candidate wants to split his parish in two.
The seat on Northill Parish Council was left vacant when Councillor Peter Maudlin sadly passed away earlier this year.
There are two candidates, Jason Henegan of Pound Close in Upper Caldecote and Richard Maudlin of Hatch Farm in Hatch, who is one of Peter’s sons.
Jason said that if he is elected he will propose a motion to separate Upper and Lower Caldecote from the rest of Northill Parish, creating a new parish council.
He said: “The villages of Upper and Lower Caldecote are diverging from the rest of the parish, particularly Ickwell which has very distinct houses with thatched roofs and that kind of thing. It’s a very idyllic looking place to live and Caldecote doesn’t quite have the edge on that aesthetic appeal.
“However I think Caldecote is a more modern and progressive village.”
A new parish council would be able to focus its money entirely on the Caldecotes. Jason said that as the councillors will all be from these villages they will be more in tune with people’s needs.
He added: “I think people would go for it and it will be hugely popular and for the benefit of everybody.”
By contrast Richard Maudlin, who grew up in Upper Caldecote, believes that Northill Parish Council is functioning well as it is.
He said: “All the villages sit quite nicely together. There’s always been a thing about Ickwell and Northill being posher than Caldecote but you get that whatever.
“It’s ridiculous to split the council when most parish councils are merging. It’s going backwards in time.”
Richard said that he would look at the parish matters as they arise, discuss them with the other councillors and make level-headed decisions , which are within the parish council’s remit.
He is not looking for major changes but will put his decades of parish knowledge to good use, Richard said.
The poll is on Thursday (September 12)from 7am to 10pm.