Hatley Parish Council

Some history, who we are, what we do, when we meet and other useful information

Members

Hatley Parish Council comprises five members: a chair, vice-chair and three others plus a clerk; currently, there are only four members.

Councillors are subject to re-election every four years: the next election will be in May 2026.

Chair

Paul Kraus
12 East Hatley
Cambridgeshire
SG19 3JA

cllr-kraus@hatley-pc.gov.uk

Vice-Chair

Samantha Abbasi
Kingsland
Hatley St George
Cambridgeshire
SG19 3HW

cllr-abbasi@hatley-pc.gov.uk

Members of the Parish Council

Peter Hayward
22 East Hatley
Cambridgeshire
SG19 3JA

cllr-hayward@hatley-pc.gov.uk.

Harold Nickerson
20 Main Street
Hatley St George
Cambridgeshire
SG19 3HW

cllr-nickerson@hatley-pc.gov.uk

For our councillors’ Register of Interests, please use this link to the South Cambs District Council website.

Clerk to Hatley Parish Council

Kim Wilde
36 Fairfield
Gamlingay
Cambridgeshire
SG19 3LG

07591 346 835
clerk@hatley-pc.gov.uk

Hatley Parish Council is our most local authority: it is the first tier of local government – see ‘The tiers of local government’ below.

The council holds five scheduled ‘Ordinary’ meetings a year on the third Tuesday of January, March, May (the Annual Parish Meeting followed by the Annual General Meeting), July and October; other ‘extraordinary’ meetings (usually concerned with a planning application) are held as necessary.

Meetings begin at 7.00 pm and are held in Hatley village hall.

The council’s next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, 21st January 2025 at 7.00 pm in Hatley village hall.
Do go! It is an opportunity to see the council in action, ask questions and meet your councillors – Paul Kraus (chair), Samantha Abbasi (vice-chair), Peter Hayward and Harold Nickerson.
Minutes of the Council’s meetings since 2002.

The council’s origins

The modern day (2017) civil parish of Hatley, Cambridgeshire.

The modern day (2017) civil parish of Hatley. Click on the map for a larger version.

The parish of Hatley was formed in 1957 when the parishes of Hatley St George and East Hatley were united.

Hatley Parish Council was established on 5th July 1973 by a mandate drawn from the Local Government Act of 1933 which ‘provided that for every rural parish there shall be a Parish Meeting’… [and] a parish having a population of less than 200, the County Council may establish a Parish Council for that parish – which is how Hatley Parish Council came to be.

The mandate doesn’t give the population in 1973 – the 2021 census put it at 185 people in 79 households, East Hatley being the larger of the two.

In essence, this is what we do

The council is responsible for making decisions relevant to the parish and setting the annual precept. It is also responsible for the village hall, the village speed monitoring sign, the defibrillator and the playing area / equipment in Hatley St George.

It has the first official say in any Hatley planning applications, which will be discussed at its meetings.

In addition, the council organises litter picks along the verges of the Croydon / Gamlingay road within the parish and is keen on making sensible enhancements for the village.

The Hatley Village Association (HVA) operates under the auspices of the Parish Council to raise funds for Hatley community projects, including the village hall, Hatley St George church and the playing field in Hatley St George.

Also reporting to the council are the Speedwatch group and the Hatley Website Group; reports about Hatley St George church, St Denis’ church East Hatley and the St Denis’ church Local Nature Reserve Management Group are also provided to the council on a ‘for information’ basis.

The tiers of local government

Hatley Parish Council is the first tier of local government – the second tier is South Cambs District Council, the third is Cambridgeshire County Council (we elect councillors for both organisations) and, at the top, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (for which we elect the mayor). Our district and county councillors are expected to attend each parish council meeting.