The Liberal Democrats have opened up this election and we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reform our political system to one that is fair and representative of the British people – and the people of South Cambridgeshire.  Vote for what you believe in!

The Independent writes today:

The surge in support for the Liberal Democrats has unlocked something precious: a feeling among the public that, for the first time in a generation, a radical overhaul of our political settlement could be possible. 

Despite the drama of recent weeks, there remains a considerable risk that Britain could wake up on Friday morning to discover that we are in for four or five more years of ‘business as usual’ politics under a Conservative government.

The Liberal Democrats are longstanding and convincing champions of civil liberties, sound economics, international co-operation on the great global challenges, and of course, fundamental electoral reform.  That is why we argue that there is a strong case  for progressively minded voters to lend their support to the Liberal Democrats whereever there is a clear opportunity for that party to win.

It is time to use our rotten voting system (for what we fervently hope will be the last occasion) to change the system – and deliver a new politics.

Bridget has met with the police, the Parish Council and the Managers of the Coop to try to find a way of resolving the problems associated with delivery lorries parking on the pavement outside of the Coop. The police have agreed to liaise with the County Council to look at the possibility of restricting parking opposite the Coop and the Coop have agreed not to accept deliveries when children are travelling to and from school. The Coop has also agreed to salt the sloping pavement outside the shop when it is icy as a number of people fell during the bad weather. We also highlighted the need for a more permanent solution to the sloping pavement which is being looked into.

Longstowe’s Playground It was lovely to help cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony of Longstowe’s beautiful new playground. There are very big aspirations and a formidable group of people willing to work very hard to make things happen in Longstowe and we all look forward to helping where we can to deliver exciting ideas for further play opportunities for their children.

Youth ParticipationSouth Cambs currently has a Youth participation Strategy on its website for you to look at and comment on. Youth Participation aims to involve young people in decision making on issues that affect them. Please do have a look at this document and if possible encourage any young people you have to do likewise and add their comments.

Gamling-Aid Very many congratulations to Gamlingay Records who raised well over £1000 for Haiti through 4 different performances during March. The Jam Night in The Cock involved a huge number of people of all ages performing a very wide range of music. The Servicemen’s Club hosted a fabulous and very noisy evening of rock and roll provided by some of the bands signed to the record label and St Mary’s Church rang to the sounds of stunningly high quality classical performances from adults and children.

Further Safety measures in Gamlingay We are delighted that the South Cambs Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership has made a grant to help install some extra security lighting added to the front and rear of homes in Blythe Way which should mean it’s safer for residents and easier to detect the presence of people who have no business there.

Gamlingay Library

I recently attended a meeting at the Gamlingay Library with the Manager and Parish Council to meet the relevant portfolio holder from the County Council and show him what a great facility we have in the village. He seemed very impressed both with the facility and the enthusiasm. We know cuts have to be made to the Library Service this year but hopefully not at ours!!

Pot Holes

No apology for more on potholes (in my case, two tyres and counting….). Recent extreme weather has caused untold damage to our highway network. The County Council has had to divert all available staff to pot hole and patching work and we now have 22 gangs in the county trying to get on top of the problem. The sheer quantity means that we are not meeting our targets in terms of repair times.What, you may wonder, is our policy? Pot holes are repaired on a risk basis where we look at how deep they are and where they are on the road. The most dangerous ones we aim to repair within 24 hours but others might be repaired in 7 or 28 days. We are seeking to do permanent repairs where we can, but in many areas we are going to have to go back and do patching works. Temperatures have caused us a problem and had a detrimental affect on the quality and durability of the repairs we have been undertaking. No kidding…FYI The cost of a single repair is about £50 but if we can work in a more planned way we can reduce that cost to about £30. Road SafetyIt’s really sobering to read the casualty figures for Cambridgeshire’s roads. Provisional data for the calendar year 2009 (2008 data in brackets) is 19 killed (47), 364 serious (325), and 2214 Slight casualties (2299)There was a large reduction in the number of people who died on our roads in 2009, down to 19 from 47 in 2008 and 62 in 2007. This large decrease is very welcome, but the total does fluctuate from one year to the next and the 2009 total is unusually low. Figures are one thing but these are people’s lives we’re talking about and so it makes us really angry that one road – the B1042 Arrington to Tadlow through Croydon – is taking a lot of these lives. Despite numerous petitions, letters, accidents and pressure the County Council really has not grasped that this road needs to be improved and it needs serious accident remedial measures to prevent further loss of life. We fight on!

Hatley Litter PickCongratulations and thanks to all the local volunteers who picked bags and bags of rubbish from Hatley’s verges. It really makes an amazing difference. Thank you!

Cambridge East

What do I care about Cambridge East, I hear you cry? The news that Marshalls will not be moving from Cambridge Airport and that therefore that site will not be delivering over 12,000 homes by 2021 has sent a cold chill across South Cambridgeshire.We still need to build these homes. There are 6,000 families waiting for housing in South Cambridgeshire and presumably a similar number in Cambridge City. We cannot simply ignore this urgent housing need. It strikes me as perverse that Cambridge Airport is regarded as an unsustainable site for development but in any case we are all anxious to know where these 12,000 homes are to go. Another new town added onto the 8,000 homes to be built at Northstowe perhaps? A massive expansion of Cambourne? Hanley Grange at Hinxton?The impact of Cambourne on the local Parishes has been substantial – more traffic, problems with access to education, less buses in the rural parts of the area and so on. Imagine if the owners of Bourn Airfield, for example, wanted to put the housing shortfall of 12,000 homes caused by the failure of Cambridge East to come forward on their land – the impact would be catastrophic – and that’s why we should all care about Cambridge East.Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

Your Councillors are always ready to help. If you have any questions about these – or indeed any other – matters, please do not hesitate to contact County Councillor Sebastian Kindersley on 01767 651982 or skindersley@hotmail.com or write to the Manor Barn, East Hatley, SG19 3JA. District Councillor Bridget Smith is on 01767 650510 or bridget@glockling.com and District Councillor Liz Heazell is at 01223 870289 or on liz.heazell@btinternet.com

Pot Holes & Road Repairs – everywhere!

There is no parish that has not been suffering greatly from pot holes since the onset of the bad weather and we have had numerous conversations with Parish Councils and residents on the subject.  The ones in Cinques Road, Gamlingay became so awful that they began to form a trench. Pot hole repair is the responsibility of the County Council but Sebastian proposed a Motion at South Cambs District Council asking it to communicate all our concerns to the County in the hope that it would highlight what an important issue this is to every one living in the district.  The gangs have been out and are doing their very best to get through the enormous work load.  To give you some idea – in late February 1592 potholes had been reported as opposed to 300 last year.

Cinques Road Gamlingay (and all the other roads too, really…)

What a sorry state this road continues to be in. Sebastian has asked the County Council (again) about the plans for a rebuild. The response so far is “We are reviewing and amending our Capital programme at this moment following the untold damage this Winter has caused to our roads.

We are looking to do a programme of major repairs on a lot of roads across the county and one we have submitted is Cinques Road. I will hopefully know more in the next couple of weeks.”

There is a further issue with flooding actually in the Cinques; mostly recently highlighted by the constant rain at the end of February. If you have to drive this way when the road is flooded please drive slowly!

Police Surgery in Gamlingay & Wimpole

There is now a weekly police surgery in Gamlingay held on a Friday from  3pm to 5pm in the Fire Station in Stocks Lane.  Business has been a bit slack for them so please do go along to voice your concerns, ask advice about home security or just for a chat. They will be pleased to see you! Likewise in Wimpole you can meet Police Community Support officers at the car park at Wimpole Hall every Friday from 3. p.m. till 5. p.m.

Gamling-Aid

Gamlingay Records are holding a number of events to raise funds for Haiti.  The young (and not so young) people involved are working very hard on this so please do go along to support them.

Gamlingay Records Night – March 6^th 8pm The Old Kings Arms, Hemel Hempstead

Electric Night – March 20^th 8pm Social Club Gamlingay, Waresley Rd

Classical Night- March 21^st 3pm St Marys Church, Gamlingay

Entry is free to all these fabulous events but do expect to be asked for a generous donation!!

County Council Children’s Centre

As you know the Children’s Centre serving most parishes in the Gamlingay ward is being put in Bassingbourn despite our concerted efforts to have it located in Gamlingay. The County’s reason for doing this was based upon their assessment of the relative levels of need in Bassingbourn compared to Gamlingay and also their assurance that a new building could be delivered in Bassingbourn by Summer 2010. Of no surprise to us is the result of some new research that clearly shows high levels of deprivation in Gamlingay but not in Bassingbourn. On top of this it is now very unlikely that the new, and very expensive building in Bassingbourn, is going to be finished this year.  It is too late to change things now but we are always interested to hear from anyone who is having difficulty in accessing support from the Children’s Centre. Bridget has been asked to sit on the management group so should be in a position to do something as and when.

Children’s Trust

As member champion for children and young people Bridget now sits on the Children’s Trust. She writes “I was concerned about how influential my role on this very important committee would be but am now quite reassured since they have agreed to put some issues about which I am very concerned on their future work programme.  This includes:-

·         access to mental health services for children and young people

·         and the very thorny issue of public transport for young people”

If you have any experience of either of these issues that you would like to tell her about please do get in touch either by phone or e mail.

Buses

We have had some correspondence recently with Longstowe Parish Council about buses which fail to turn up when they are meant to.  On one occasion this has resulted in a young person standing alone in the dark for a considerable amount of time.  This is obviously completely unacceptable and Bridge has been in contact with the responsible person at the County who has in turn been talking to Stagecoach.  If you have any similar experiences we would very much like to hear about them.  Our bus service is poor enough as it is without the few buses we are meant to have not showing up.

For your information please note that from April 4^th the Stagecoach 18 service at 16.25 from Long Road via Comberton/Cambourne is amended so that it leaves at 1615.

Recycling Bins

Following our recent articles about the new recycling service from South Cambs we have had quite a few conversations with residents who are concerned as to where they are going to put a third recycling bin.  We are currently trying to find out if you can refuse this 3^rd bin and keep your green curb side bins if you do have space limitations. Needless to say, a member of the public asking this question at Council received an incoherent answer so we still don’t know. We do know however that the new service will start in October this year.

Council Tax & Rent increases..

South Cambs has agreed a 2.995% increase, the County Council 2.9% and the Fire & Police authorities a similar figure – and sadly we will all be receiving our bills shortly. Council tenants will see an average increase in their rent of 2.7%; and a number of new charges are to be introduced for those living in flats with communal areas.

Supporting our elderly residents

It has been a year of uncertainty for Sheltered Housing tenants following South Cambs District Council’s failed Housing Stock transfer vote last June.  That ‘consultation’ exercise’ which drew so much criticism from South Cambs residents for its one-sided slant and wasteful output of leaflets, DVDs, home visits, and other materials and activities, cost a staggering £1.4 million!!!! Perhaps as damaging as the financial cost has been the reputation of ‘consultation.’

Now, savings in housing services have had to be found in this year’s budget, and in the past several months there has been a question mark over the future of services to the elderly. We have vigorously protested the administration’s proposal to cut £10,000 to Age Concern, which supports many of the Village Warden schemes in South Cambs villages; and we have pushed for a fair and sensible budget package on sheltered housing services generally.  The coming year now sees the warden services staying in place across South Cambs villages due to a one-off windfall, but Councillors will have to be vigilant in watching future plans as these difficult decisions must be faced.

Occupational Therapy Services

Please contact us if you have run into issues with OT services. These continue to cause concern – not least because some people can wait up to 45 weeks to be seen. Sadly this is likely to get worse after April as the budget cuts bite.

Climate Change

South Cambs’ Climate Change Working Group has met to consider how we should build global warming into SCDC’s planning. After all the jokes about our weather recently there remains the grim reality and it is interesting that a Mini-Stern report undertaken for Manchester by Deloitte reckons that without input now, poor planning could cost that one city up to £21 billion over the next 12 years, which is roughly £8000 per person in Greater Manchester. Read about it at
http://www.en4m.org.uk/?q=node/576
 
At present in our risk register climate change is a C3 level risk (ie likelihood: possible; impact: medium), glossed with: “9. Climate change adaptation The Council does not develop measures to safeguard its services against climate change, leading to unacceptable vulnerability to the impact of
climate shifts and other weather-related events, resulting in a degradation or breakdown of service delivery and damage to property, increasing costs and impact on the Council’s reputation.” Which is a long-winded way of saying we need to get on and do something about it.

All change…..

There must have been something in the spring air…both the Chief Executive of South Cambs and the Chief Constable have announced their retirements to take effect in 6 months time.  Both have been excellent servants to the people of South Cambridgeshire and will be much missed.

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

Honestly,  it is not funny. Stagecoach may have repainted all the slogans on their buses from “I’ll be on the Busway soon – will you?” to “Will I be on the Busway soon?” but the sorry truth is that this project is failing at a cost of an extra £41 million. Yes – a project costing £116 million has a £41 million overrun and counting. Despite assurances from the County Council’s Cabinet that this extra cash will be recouped in the future there is frankly no way we amongst many others believe this. The whole issue will end up in court and another key pledge by the County Council – that not a single penny of the cost of the Guided Busway will fall on the Cambridgeshire taxpayer – will be shown to be a hollow and inaccurate assurance.

Meanwhile, there are no buses at all running on the 100,000 tons of concrete/cement that Cambridgeshire County Council has sunk into the Fens. We’ve all seen first hand recently how they manage the failing roads so I tremble for the future of the guideway. If it ever gets used, that is. Some good news however – the cycle track part of the Busway is excellent – at least those parts of it that have been properly surfaced and which are not flooded.

Cemex at Barrington

Residents have contacted me about future developments at the Quarry in Barrington. By the time you read this a road show will have taken place but information so far is that the proposal depends on Cemex winning a large infrastructure contract. If they do, it will mean bring up to 4 trainloads of clay a day for up to 4 years to backfill a large part of the quarry and restore it to agricultural use. In addition, up to 100,000 tons of non-hazardous insert waste form the construction industry will be included – brick, stone, earth and subsoils essentially.

The railhead is protected like all other ones in Cambridgeshire as key infrastructure rather than for a specific purpose. Cemex do propose extending the railink into the quarry to reduce the need for lorrying the clay off the trains. They think it will create up to 20 jobs if it goes ahead.

Road Repairs

To report problems with the highway you can either ring 0345 0455212 or e mail street.scene@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.  For problems with streetlights phone 0800 253529.

Congestion Charging & TIF -  is it dead then?

As you’ll recall the County bid into a £500 million fund for transport improvements which would have required the introduction of congestion charging in Cambridge. The Minister has dodged this by cancelling TIF and introducing (drum roll!) “a new Urban Challenge Fund”. Very very early days but this is what we can expect: (and here I am quoting the Minister…)

 “clear and measurable benefits for urban areas in terms of:

enhanced mobility through offering people wider choices for their journeys; reduced congestion and increased journey time reliability; better health as a result of improved safety and much greater levels of walking and cycling; streets and public spaces which are enjoyable places to be, where exposure to harmful emissions is reduced  and where quality of life is transformed, improved safety; and reduced level of carbon emission from transport.

The Fund will support packages of measures designed to deliver all of these benefits. The packages are likely to include a combination of sustainable travel measures, investment to encourage modal shift and better bus services alongside demand management measures, better and city-wide traffic management and improved street design. Acting together, these measures will deliver a step change in the local economy, the health of urban residents and the environment they enjoy.

The new Fund will replace the Transport Innovation Fund. Work by a number of authorities showed that a combination of measures was necessary to tackle the problem of congestion and could deliver wider benefits to local communities, the urban economy and environment. TIF also encouraged new thinking in a number of areas, for example on a phased and incremental approach to demand management. Its weaknesses lay in its too narrow a focus on the issue of congestion, the failure to win public acceptance for the more challenging proposals and inability to transform governance at the same time as delivering radical change. The new Fund will draw on the lessons from TIF and the new ideas that have come forward.” End of quote……..

So this government-babble says to us that there will be no recognition of the rural issues facing us. Typical. If you were hoping for improvements to our bus services in any meaningful sense I fear that your hopes are to be dashed. This in particular will impact on rural communities such as Barrington, Gamlingay and the Eversdens as the bus services reduce because of the focus placed on Cambourne. Needless to say we will carry on campaigning for a proper rural bus service. Onwards!!

What is the current state of play?

15 Members of South Cambridgeshire District Council have signed a Motion of No Confidence; asking for the removal of Cllr Manning as Leader and for the removal Cllr Edwards from the Cabinet. It will be debated on June 18th at an Extraordinary Meeting of the entire Council.

Why?

The Conservative administration have forced through a ballot on the future of Council Housing in a project known as Housing Futures. Tenants of the Council were asked, in simple terms, if they wished to stay with the Council as Landlord or if they wished to transfer to a new Housing Association known as South Cambridgeshire Village Homes.

What happened?

Despite spending upwards of £800,000 on consultation documents the tenant vote – with a very high turnout – went overwhelmingly against transferring from the Council. The vote result was announced on June 4th.

Didn’t the Council have a view on this itself?

Yes it did – or rather it should have done. An opinion testing exercise only three years ago indicated a substantial number of tenants would not support moving to a third party organisation.

So why was a new ballot needed?

It wasn’t. However, Conservative Party policy is to move Council housing out of the control of local government and into the hands of Housing Associations. As a policy there is nothing wrong with this in itself, as long as the tenants agree. For that agreement the Government has set out a series of requirements which effectively require full consultation followed by a ballot.

Seems sensible. What’s the problem with that?

The problem was that the consultation was, in many people’s opinion, fatally flawed in that it was very much in favour of transfer and it should have been entirely balanced. In fact, the Conservatives defeated a Motion to Council actually asking for a balanced view to be put to tenants. In other words Cllr Manning and Cllr Edwards (who was spearheading the Housing Futures project as the relevant portfolio holder) not only knew the process was not presenting a balanced picture but actually prevented one from being put.

Worse things have happened….

Indeed. However, because Cllrs Manning and Edwards were hell-bent on ditching Council Housing the process itself became the subject of a series of embarrassing and widely publicised blunders – not least of which was mailing out over 500 letters to tenants who had departed from their homes one way or another. And this question of balance is important because the key argument in favour of disposal was that 50% of Council rents are remitted to the Government (to fund Housing Benefit elsewhere) whereas if the Council transferred that rent would remain available for housing improvements and so on. What was not ever highlighted very much was that in fact a great deal of it would go to service the debt incurred raising the huge sum required to buy the Housing stock by South Cambs Village Homes.

Oh dear…

Well, that would have been bad enough but as the process proceeded it then became clear that finance was playing a large part in the Project in several other different ways. Firstly, although the money the Council would have got for transfer was along the derisory lines of £8000 per property it would have provided a healthy sum in the coffers. That itself could only be used by the Council to provide Housing but the interest from it could be used to fill the hole in the Council’s medium term financial strategy.

Secondly the costs of all the other departments of the Council would significantly increase if Housing disappeared. This is because central costs (South Cambs Hall, for example) are apportioned across all departments at the moment. Given that they still have to be paid regardless of how many departments there are this could have really created a difficult financial position. Sadly we have no idea of what it might have been because neither did anyone else – the Council would have finalised the financial position AFTER a decision to transfer Housing.

Well, ok, not so good so far. What did the tenants think?

Despite a considerable amount of pressure on tenants (every tenant had a personal visit, for example, to ask if they had got the Prospectus, whether they would vote and if so how they intended to vote) it was clear from complaints to local Councillors that there was considerable resentment and concern in the Parishes.

And officers?

Officers of the Council, from the Chief Executive downwards, are the servants of the Administration. They were given an impossible job to do by their Conservative masters and they did it excellently given the difficult circumstances and the speed required of them. No blame should be attached to professional men and women who did their best.

So what did Councillors do?

Conservative Councillors followed the lead of Cllrs Manning and Edwards and never expressed any dissenting opinion. Despite repeatedly hearing how flawed the process was Conservative councillors quite literally sat on their hands. Independent Councillors were generally against with some actually joining the Anti Transfer pressure group. The Liberal Democrat position was to support tenants in whatever way they voted because – ultimately – the Council Housing is made up of 6000 homes – not just bricks and mortar. This support did presuppose a balanced view was put to tenants. On a number of occasions Liberal Democrat and Independent Councillors sponsored motions for debate asking for the Housing Futures project to be slowed down or suspended – for example for a more exact financial picture to be made available to Council. Indeed on one occasion Cllr Kindersley, Leader of the Lib Dems literally begged Cllrs Manning and Edwards to bring a six month delay to the process.

To no avail?

Indeed to no avail. Hence this motion of no confidence. Cllr Edwards and Cllr Manning rode roughshod over the legitimate concerns raised by others. They were determined to blindly implement Conservative party policy without a concern for the financial realities for the South Cambridgeshire taxpayer. South Cambridgeshire citizens – whether tenants or not – have now lost a considerable amount of money.

Well ok, but ultimately so what?

Housing Futures was the single major issue for the Conservative administration and it has backfired on a massive scale – they completely misjudged the mood of our citizens. What is worse is that it has wasted nearly £800,000 of our money on a project that was doomed from the start due to Cllr Manning and Cllr Edward’s refusal to make a balanced and transparent presentation of information to tenants.

This so-called consultation exercise patronized tenants and was a flagrant waste of precious financial resource, spent on forcefully promoting a simplistic message. We cannot and should not accept this arrogant, high-handed and wilful negligence from our Leaders. Is this what South Cambridgeshire citizens want? The answer is no – and hence our call for Cllrs Manning and Edwards to resign. The integrity of the democratic process and of the political leadership of South Cambridgeshire District Council have been badly damaged.

And what of the way forward?

Well, the reality is that again – blindly – the Conservative Group will support Cllrs Manning and Edwards and no doubt the Motion will fail. But we will also be calling on the council to set up a Housing Management Board along the lines of Cambridge City Council with properly elected tenant reps that would discuss all major housing issues before council/portfolio holder made a decision. We also support joining ARCH (Association of Retained Council Housing Authorities) which lobbies government for better funding for council housing.