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.

Councillors are subject to re-election every four years: the next election will be in May 2030.

Chair

Samantha Abbasi
Hatley St George
cllr-abbasi@hatley-pc.gov.uk

Vice-Chair

Micky Astor
Hatley St George
cllr-astor@hatley-pc.gov.uk.

Members of the Parish Council

Harold Nickerson
Hatley St George
cllr-nickerson@hatley-pc.gov.uk

Al Smith
East Hatley
cllr-smith@hatley-pc.gov.uk

The council has only four councillors (instead of five) – go to this page (or click on the graphic, right) for details of how you can ‘step up to the plate’ and become a councillor.

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

Meetings

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 four scheduled ‘Ordinary’ meetings a year on the third Tuesday of January, 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.

The council’s next meeting is on Tuesday, 20th October 2026 at 7.00 pm in Hatley village hall – an Ordinary Meeting.

• Do go!  It is an opportunity to see the council in action, ask questions and meet your councillors – Samantha Abbasi (chair), Micky Astor (vice-chair), Harold Nickerson, Al Smith, our newest councillor, and its clerk, Kim Wilde.
• Sunday, 25th October – 10.30 am / litter pick. Collect gloves, pickers, bags and a hi-vis vest from the village shop.
• Any requests or suggestions for an item to go on the agenda should be submitted to the parish clerk at least one week before the meeting.
• Minutes of the Council’s meetings since 2002.

The council’s origins

The modern day 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. In addition, it is 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 are discussed at its meetings whenever a new application is announced or updated by the Greater Cambridge Shared Plannings Service.

The council also organises litter picks along the verges of the Croydon to Gamlingay road within the parish and is keen on making sensible enhancements for the village.

Operating under the auspices of the Parish Council, but run by village volunteers, are the Speedwatch Group and the Hatley Website Group – as is the currently defunct Hatley Village Association (HVA), which raised funds for Hatley community projects, including the village hall, Hatley St George church and the playing field in Hatley St George.

Reports about Hatley St George church, St Denis’ church and St Denis’ Churchyard Task Group (formerly the St Denis’ church Local Nature Reserve Management Group), the Gamlingay and Hatley’s Climate Action Group and the Gamlingay & Hatley Neighbourhood Watch are also provided to the council on a ‘for information’ basis – many of their reports can be found on our ‘Reports‘ page (along with reports from our county and district councillors).

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.

Some of these tiers are likely to change in 2027 or 2028 with the formation of unitary authorities combining city, county and district councils as well as the possibility of an urban development corporation for Greater Cambridge – highlighted in our webmaster’s post ‘Do they listen?’.

Hatley Parish Council diary

2026

All formal parish council meetings are in Hatley village hall.

Tuesday, 20th October – 7.00 pm / Ordinary Meeting.
Sunday, 25th October – 10.30 am / litter pick. Collect gloves, pickers, bags and a hi-vis vest from the village shop.

2027

Tuesday, 19th January – 7.00 pm / Ordinary Meeting.
Sunday, 21st March – 10.30 am / litter pick. Collect gloves, pickers, bags and a hi-vis vest from the village shop.
Tuesday, 18th May – 7.00 pm / the Annual Parish Meeting followed by the Annual General Meeting.

NB  Any requests or suggestions for an item to go on the agenda should be submitted to the parish clerk at least one week before the meeting.

Please do come to the meetings to meet and see your Parish Council in action.

Agendas and minutes

Hatley Parish Council produces comprehensive agendas in good time before its meetings, followed by detailed minutes, usually as soon as is practical after a meeting.

• Agendas
• Copies of the Parish Council’s agendas for its Ordinary and AGM Meetings (going back to 2003) can be downloaded from the agendas pages.

For the agendas of Extraordinary Meetings (which are usually concerned with planning issues cropping up between Ordinary Meetings), please use this link: Extraordinary Meetings – Agendas.

• Minutes
• Copies of the Parish Council’s minutes for its Ordinary and AGM Meetings (going back to 2002) can be downloaded from the Minutes pages.

For the minutes of Extraordinary Meetings (which are usually concerned with planning issues cropping up between Ordinary Meetings), please use this link: Extraordinary Meetings – Minutes.

More information? Please contact the clerk – clerk@hatley-pc.gov.uk.

Contacting Hatley Parish Council

Clerk to Hatley Parish Council

Kim Wilde
36 Fairfield
Gamlingay
Cambridgeshire
SG19 3LG

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

_{Page created 19th July 2018; updated 6th August 2026}