Cllr Aves reported the completion of the playing field and its opening on the 6th September, followed by a rounders match. A small amount of money is still owing but otherwise finances are up-to-date. The PC had purchased a mower, Cllr Aves thanked the volunteers who cut the grass. The verges in The Hythe have been eroded by lorries, they have now been re-instated and hopefully residents will now find alternative parking. A lorry from the Swan Lake grain store had knocked down a street light and demolished a wall - Cllr Aves said the general situation of lorries going through the village must be monitored; County are to erect a sign at Barston Bridge to try to step this happening again. The Sports Club was reformed and a committee formed to or anise the Millennium celebrations, consisting of parish councillors, village hall committee members, the Vicar and interested members of the public. Parish councillors had tidied up the cemetery and purchased a notice board (although the design of this caused problems for the Clerk) The pub had applied for change of use to be changed back into a house. PC opposed the application and spoke at the ECDC planning meeting where permission for the change of use was refused. Hopefully the pub will soon reopen. It had been agreed to adopt ECDC's policy of allowing applicants and opposition to put their case to the Parish Council regarding planning applications. PC agreed with the Village Hall to accept a minimum of 25% of the profit from Reach Fair to be used for the benefit of the village; it is not to be used for things usually provided under the PC precept. John Reed and Gareth Davies retired at the end of their term of office. As there were only two new applicants at the time of the election in May no election was needed. Cllr Aves thanked County Councillor James Fitch and District Councillor Charlotte Cane for their hard work and support, the Parish Councillors and the Clerk.

County Council report

C/Cllr James Fitch began by saying he was amazed at how much went on in Reach. It had been a challenging year as CCC was short of money. Cambridge is one of the fastest growing cities in Britain and the County Council actually needs £12-13m more than the government thinks it needs. Waste disposal was an increasingly expensive problem -it now costs £53 ton to dispose of waste. Given a choice of whether to have a 10% increase in council tax plus cuts or a 14% increase and no cuts the CCC have opted for the former (Cllr Fitch said he had voted for the latter). Education had suffered - teachers had received inflation-related salary increases and there had been cuts, particularly in community education. At secondary level Bottisham Village College had been held up as a leader and had been picked as one of the out standing 60 schools in the country. Their swimming pool had been closed following a serious fire, the first £250,000 of which would be met by CCC. Social services cov red from 'the cradle to the grave' and care of the elderly had been severely cut back. 'Meals on Wheels' had been replaced by 'Choices' and several old people's homes had been sold. It had been a rocky year for social services, especially in children's services; progress had been made but there was much more to do.