The current challenges

New houses may be needed, but they need to be built to a higher standard to ensure they are fit for the future. All housing should be built to passive Housing standards (triple glazing, properly insulated). They should also have solar fitted to ensure better energy security and heat pumps rather than gas boilers. Failure to meet these standards should lead to a rejected planning application, as failure to meet these standards will mean retrofitting in the next couple of decades, which is wasteful and unsustainable in the long run.
As others have said there needs to be better active travel infrastructure. There needs to be more done to encourage people out of their cars. I do not believe free parking is the option as this would encourage more people to drive.
All levels of those in charge, but in this instance HDC, need to act like we are in the climate emergency we are in. It will cost a lot more to adapt, than it will to mitigate the changes that are coming, and the faster we change, the less will need changing.

Environment - Cycle lanes, the cycle routes need to be more joined e.g., getting from Grafham to Huntingdon; this involves cycling on busy rural roads and is not suitable to do in the winter or with children at any time. More new cycle paths should be built but not at the expense of decreased road or pedestrian space. This would not necessarily stop car use as many of us with jobs just need a car as we can’t get to work otherwise plus the weather is so unpredictable. There should also only be a move to 'environmentally friendly' things if it doesn't make us the citizens poorer. At the minute all members of the community are seeing a decline in standard of living by the push to Net Zero.
Housing - the infrastructure has not been increased in line with the number of new houses so roads are busier and deteriorating quicker, the roads are also too small on the new housing estates and the house’s too close together. The lack of space contributes to feeling like you have no privacy. Additionally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the existing roads in such a poor state. The increase in housing also means I can't get to see a doctor or hospital appointment.
High street - parking should be free! There are many times when I and my friends and colleagues just need to 'nip in to town' but decide not too as we have to pay for parking. We just use the internet or go to an out-of-town place where we don't need to worry about going over the time on our ticket or feeling like we are being ripped off by paying an ever-increasing amount of money for a 10-minute stop. The fear of getting a fine from the nameless parking organisations stops the 'oh I'll just stop and get a coffee' moments too.
Overall though it feels like we pay more and more council tax and see less and less for the money spent.

I recognise there is a problem with car dependency in rural areas but the cost of providing public transport where potential numbers are small is such that it is difficult to improve the level of service. Encouraging the building of small numbers of houses in villages has exacerbated the problem with up to four cars per house, adding to congestion in the urban areas. When the District Council was encouraged to provide more sites, greater consideration should have been given to provide them in larger sites which would have encouraged the provision of effective public transport.

As a Parish Councillor I agree with all of the above.
Another great point of concern is the planning including communication, effectiveness, sensitivity to the heritage but also the practical day to day needs of the rural residents needing to make small changes to make their home habitable e.g. Belle Vue in Washingley