Councillor profiles

Cllr Paul Kent- Chairman

Paul has lived in Fenstanton for 28 years and has been Chairman of the Parish Council for the last three years; he was re-elected as Chairman for the current year. During his career Paul lived in Kenya for five years as an ex pat in the role of Financial Services Director for a major high street bank. After running his own company for eight years, Paul retired from business in 2012. Since then he has been serving his community as a Parish Councillor. He has also become involved in a variety of voluntary organisations and has been a Church Treasurer for many years. Paul’s main objective on the Parish Council is to ensure that local residents’ views are represented at Parish, District and County Council levels. His personal interests include visiting English Heritage and National Trust sites, international travel, walking and spending time with family in Southport and Liverpool from where he originates. Paul has two daughters, two grandsons and a granddaughter.

Cllr Nigel Ferrier

Nigel moved to Fenstanton just over 18 years ago. His company develops and delivers branding and marketing campaigns for a series of blue chip companies and some of you may know him from Fringe in the Fen which he and his wife, Lynda, established and delivered with a local committee. Nigel has extensive experience of many kinds of committee work and decided he would like to contribute to the work of the Parish Council after seeing that it has taken a change in direction with evidence of real and appropriate change. Nigel recognises the challenges the Parish will face with the enlargement of the village after the new housing developments are complete.

Cllr Geoffrey Pryke

Geoff has lived in Fenstanton for over 47 years, with his wife and two children (now flown the nest) both of whom attended local schools. Geoff is a former Government Servant and spent 28 years as a leader with the local Scout Group. Currently he runs his own Tax Consultancy business with a view to assisting clients with their self-assessment problems. As a long-standing member of the General Purposes Committee of the Council, Geoff was involved in the new Pitfield Close Play Area and has various other projects coming up. When he gets the time Geoff enjoys gardening and fishing.

Cllr Simon King

Simon’s family associations with Fenstanton date back over 6 generations; his Great Grandfathers were a farmer in Chequer Street and the village postmaster, his Great Uncle was George Burgess, one of Fenstanton’s very first Parish Councillors. His Grandfather owned the village shop (now Ash’s), his father the fish and chip shop. His uncle taught at Fenstanton school, his aunty is the famous ‘Mrs Collison’ of school secretary fame. Born in the village, Simon grew up in Hilton and attended Fenstanton & Hilton Primary School before moving on to St Ivo. Simon first returned to Fenstanton 32 years ago, his children attended the school before progressing on to Swavesey Village College. For many years Simon managed Vindis’ garage in St Ives (well, technically Fenstanton!) before moving on to careers in IT, property, and recruitment. He sits on the Board of Directors for a national Estate Agency and has a specialised recruitment company. Recently, whilst serving on the Residents Association, Simon worked closely with both Fenstanton Parish Council and Cambridge County Council in delivering The Fen bridleway. Simon says “I believe that a living village such as Fenstanton, one of the few villages that still has industry and commerce at the heart of its High Street, isn’t just about the here and now; it’s also a nod to those that came before, that created our community, and respecting the children of today who will create our community of tomorrow.  I’m relishing serving on Fenstanton Parish Council, working with, and delivering to the people of Fenstanton.” Simon and his family live in The Fen, have 3 dogs, 2 ponies and numerous chickens who’ve each become local celebrities, particularly Stanley the hound.

Cllr Peter Hayes

Peter has lived in the village since 1982 and was formerly employed as an industrial pneumatics machine engineer for approx. 50 years travelling extensively throughout UK. Peter trained in Scotland, Holland, USA and Japan. He is particularly interested in the traffic and parking problems in the High Street and throughout the village but looks forward to working on any Parish Council projects for the benefit of residents

Cllr Susannah Collison

Susannah has lived in the village since 2007 with her husband, their two children and dog. She worked as a History teacher at schools in Bedfordshire before having children and now works as a Teaching Assistant at a local school. She is keen to work with the Parish Council as the village continues to grow and is particularly interested in supporting opportunities for young people in the parish

Cllr Roy Mcgee – Vice Chairman

Roy has lived in the village for more than 20 years, is serving his second term as a parish councillor and is currently vice chairman of the council. In his time as a councillor Roy has been involved in various projects, together with other councillors and parishioners. These include, tree planting, litter picking, managing the village’s growing maintenance programme, and 20’s Plenty, your parish council’s drive to implement 20 mile per hour speed limits throughout the village. Roy is co-coordinator of Fenstanton Litter teams, a growing group of volunteers that regularly tidy up our village, he also helps organise the bi-annual Village Clean-up. As a wheelchair user Roy is acutely interested in accessibility, and whilst he has been involved with some improvements in the village, he acknowledges there is much more to be done and will continue to work with district and county councils to drive this agenda forward.

Cllr Martin Hewitt

Martin moved to Fenstanton in 1997. He is married to wife Cherry and they have four Children, two of which work locally, another at University and a fourth that attends Fenstanton and Hilton primary school. Martin has worked in the construction industry for thirty years, the last sixteen as an estimator. Martin has seen many changes. Some of these changes he feels have benefitted the Village and others he feels have not. This has led to his decision to join your Parish Council, as he wants to help the community and hopes he can  make a difference.

Cllr Callum Pitt

Callum has developed skills and knowledge from being on other committees and this, along with his event organisation and fundraising skills help make him a great fit for your Parish Council.

Cllr Amit Puntambekar

Amit’s family have been a fixture in the Fenstanton since 1988, running the local village shop. Originally, Amit had planned to study a PhD at Cambridge, and was writing up his application whilst helping out part time in the Shop. Gradually he fell in love with the village, and put his plans on hold to take over the business. Keen on supporting the local community, he would like to see a bringing together of generations and more communal areas where this could happen.

Cllr Tina Yates

Tina served as a Parish Councillor in the early 2000’s for some 8 years. She stepped down due to time pressures from work and looking after her mother-in-law, as this meant that she was no longer able to contribute as she thought she should. Tina is now better able to contribute her time again. Tina has been a resident in the village for nearly 40 years, and realised at the last PC meeting, when she attended as a member of the public, that she thought there seemed to be a shortage of “old” experience of the village, which can sometimes be useful. Tina has experience of dealing with Cambs County Council as Chair of the Swavesey and District Bridleways Association, and has a good working knowledge of rights of way legislation. In her working life  Tina carried out environmental research (based at Monks Wood) for 24 years, and then was a government advisor on environmental issues and research needs, for a further 9. Tina feels that being a Councillor at any level is about what the person can contribute, and she can contribute an active brain, a questioning mind, and her knowledge and experience. 

Cllr Anne Mustill

Anne has lived in Fenstanton with her husband for nearly 50 years and has always been keen to help others live life to the full within the local community.  Whilst their children were attending school and preschool in Fenstanton Anne spent about two years as Parish Clerk. As the children grew up, she taught English at what was then Huntingdon Regional College to people from all over the world coming to live in this area. Anne learned the importance of local councils and has experience of other organisations offering advice and practical help in this area. Over the last few years Anne has felt that there seems much less a sense of community in Fenstanton than there was when her children were young.  If it is possible, she would love to play a part in improving this. 


Register of Councillor interests