Parish, District or County Responsibilites
Roles of the Parish Council
The Parish Council is responsible for the upkeep of many village facilities, including the playing fields, the main children's play area and paddling pool, playing field, village hall, footpath lighting, bus shelters, the churchyard and cemetery, dog bins, most litter bins, public seating, notice-boards, grit bins, and the village flagpole. The Council also monitors items that are the responsibility of the County Council, including roads, pavements, street lighting, verge cutting and public footpaths. Small grants are also made by the parish council to village organisation for items that the council does not normally have the power to fund.
The Parish Council is consulted on all planning applications made to the District and County Councils which affect the parish. However, while comments made by the Parish Council are taken into consideration, all planning decisions are made by the referring authority. The Council may also be asked to express the views of the village on other new proposals (e.g. the A14 upgrade) and on local planning policy (e.g. the potential use of the Papworth Hospital site after the hospital’s move to Cambridge in 2015).
The parish council receives the funds that it uses to fulfil its role in the village in the form of an annual precept, which is collected by the District Council on its behalf as part of the Council Tax charge; thereby all householders in the village make a contribution. During the early months of the year the Parish Council agrees the total of the precept that will be collected. In addition, the parish council is fortunate to have benefited from a sum of money that a developer was obliged (under a planning agreement) to contribute toward new community facilities in the village; however, this money may only be used for capital projects.
The Parish Council may also apply for funding from a variety of grant-giving bodies and local authorities.
The Parish Council maintains the playing field, the main children’s play area on Ermine Street North, the cemetery and St Peter’s churchyard; but it is not responsible for the open spaces or play areas on the Varrier-Jones Drive, Hayman's Way, North Lodge Drive or South Park Drive developments, or on any of the land owned by the Varrier-Jones Foundation, the Papworth Trust or the Papworth Hospital NHS Trust.
The parish council now pays for electricity and the upkeep of street lights on several residential side roads in the village.
Village Play Area (Ermine Street North)
Since the 1950s the village has had a well-equipped children’s play area, which has always included the paddling pool. In 2010 Papworth Everard Parish Council redeveloped and modernised the main equipment. It was assisted in this by a grant of £50,000 from a scheme administered by Cambridgeshire County Council. The new pay area was opened in May 2010.
The Parish Council is responsible for the maintenance of the main village children’s play area, by the playing field. Other equipped play parks in the village, are the responsibility of the Varrier-Jones Foundation, the Papworth Trust, and the construction companies that that have built new houses in parts of the village.