Happy Christmas

Seasons Greetings from the King's Hedges Liberal Democrat team. We hope you have a great day!

Tories Block Liberal Democrat Move To Freeze Allowances

Lib Dem attempts to freeze councillors' allowances for the next 18 months have been blocked by Conservative Councillors.

A proposal put to a meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council by Lib Dem Peter Downes called for there to be no rises before April 2013 at the earliest.

But Conservative Councillors, who controversially voted themselves a 25 per cent pay rise last month, voted the Lib Dem proposal down

“We need to reassure the public that councillors won’t vote themselves a pay rise at a time when services are being cut and staff are being made redundant,” said Cllr Downes.

Lib Dem Leader Kilian Bourke said: "The Conservatives made a mistake in voting the increase through and it is a relief that it was scrapped, but another review will have to take place soon.  We wanted to commit in advance to not accepting any increase until 2013 at the earliest.

"Councillors should not be giving themselves pay rises at a time of wage freezes and redundancies."

A report about raising allowances will be coming to a council meeting in early 2012.

Liberal Democrats' Move To Attract New Councillors To Be Discussed Publicly

A move by Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats to attract councillors from a wide range of backgrounds is to be discussed publicly with a view to forming a county council policy.

The group has been invited by the Tory-led administration to produce a report increasing the diversity of elected members by holding a quarter of council meetings out of office hours and organising training in the evenings.

Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance, Steve Count agreed the idea was a positive one and promised that the report and its recommendations would be presented to a public forum.

Cllr Ian Manning, who proposed a motion setting out the idea, said “I'm pleased that the Conservatives have agreed our idea is a positive one and have invited us to form the policy.

“It is particularly important that the report and recommendations are presented to a public forum – meaning it will be transparent and open.”

Cllr Sue Gymer seconded the motion explaining her reasons for wanting training out of hours.

"After the allowances debate, I thought long and hard about what would make it easier to get working mums like myself to become councillors. I voted against because it was the wrong amount at the wrong time. In addition a small pay rise would make no difference to me personally but being able to get training outside of working hours would make it a lot easier to mix my council duties with my employment.

“I am pleased to see that a report would be coming back to a public meeting like Cabinet or council.

Christmas Bin Collections and City Council opening hours

The Christmas holidays always bring some disruption to bin collections owing to the cluster of bank holidays. This year is no exception and collections usually scheduled between Boxing Day and January 6th are all moved back one day.

This means if your bins are due to be collected on Thursdays, then they won't be collected on the 29th December and 5th January, but will instead be collected on Friday 30th and and Friday 6th January.

Collections should be back to normal on the week starting Monday 9th January.

On the subject of bins and Christmas, after the holidays real Christmas trees can be recycled by either taking them to Cherry Hinton Hall, or (more likely from this side of Cambridge) by cutting them up and placing in Green bins.

More details can be found on the Christmas Opening pages of the City Council website.

Cambridge City Council have also published details of opening hours for the Service Centre, City Homes and King's Hedges Learner pool (among others). These can all be found on that page.

Hopefully we won't have the same problems with snow as we had last year, but if we do then keep an eye on the City Council webpage for service updates.

If you have any problems or comments on the services, please let the team know.

Planning application on Abbots Close

It has been a while since we've had a planning application in King's Hedges ward, but this week we have been notified of one.

It is for a "Ground floor extensions to provide additional bedroom and shower room" to 7 Abbots Close. The case reference number is 11/1441/FUL and you can get more details from the City Council online planning service.

For more information on the application, including how to comment, check the Development Control pages of the City Council website.

In case of any difficulty contact the team.

Lib Dems Call For Evening Meetings To Attract New Councillors

In a bid to attract a diverse range of people to stand for election to Cambridgeshire County Council, the Liberal Democrats are calling for some meetings to be held in the evenings.

They want to see a shift away from meetings being held exclusively in the daytime which are often difficult to attend for those in full-time work. And they believe holding some in the early evening would give more people the chance to stand for election as councillors.

A motion calling for support for the idea will be proposed to Cambridgeshire County Council members on December 7 by Councillor Ian Manning, who represents East Chesterton in Cambridge.

It calls for two of the full council meetings and 25 per cent of each of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings to be held outside standard working hours which are defined as 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

And it says councillors should be given the opportunity to take part in training outside standard working hours.

Cllr Manning said: “At the moment, it can be extremely difficult for anyone with a full-time job or other daytime responsibilities to commit to attending meetings during the day. I have to take unpaid leave on occasion from my job to do so.

“This means that we can only attract those people who don’t have to work full-time or have commitments that are extremely flexible. By switching some meetings to the evening I think we will be able to attract a wider range of people and our councillors will be a better reflection of society generally.”

Cllr Sue Gymer, who represents Cottenham, Histon and Impington said: “Many of our present councillors run their own businesses or have part-time jobs or flexible commitments allowing them to work round council business. But this is not the norm for the majority of working people. How can working people be expected to participate if the first step is to take the day off work?

 “We want to encourage people from all ages and all backgrounds who have an interest in representing their communities to stand for election and that is not going to happen unless we hold our meetings at a time when they are able to attend.”

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrat Leader, Kilian Bourke said: "We fully accept the importance of attracting a wider range of people to stand to be councillors, but felt that the Conservative proposal to give councillors a 25 per cent pay rise was totally inappropriate at this time.

“We feel that the same could be achieved by shifting some of our daytime meetings to the evenings.  That is why we are putting forward this proposal and I hope the Conservatives will support it."

Drop in session at Arbury Community Centre

Second Saturday of the month means it is time for our monthly drop in session.

Do you have a local issue you'd like to discuss with your local Councillor? Maybe you have a view on a local problem, changes to the library services, or what you'd like to see your Council (either City or Council) doing in King's Hedges?

This Saturday (December 12th) from 10am until midday you can come and talk to us at the Arbury Community Centre.

No need for an appointment, just turn up!

Minor Highways issues within Kings Hedges

As you might have picked up from the minutes of the Cambridge Area Environment and Traffic Management Committee (no? It's a riveting read) Cambridgeshire Highways used to have a list of all the open highways issues in each division (split into unfunded and those with an identified means of funding) which would come to the AJC meeting, be discussed (usually added to) and then would be back in the hands of officers who would get done what they could, identifying new streams of funding if possible, and then report back to the next meeting of the AJC.

As you can see it's a fairly simple process but doesn't actually add a lot of value as a) most of the work is done by officers and (in my view more significantly) b) it encourages Councillors to get things added to the list that won't ever get done. Basically anything that doesn't have an obvious source of funding, isn't a legal requirement, or isn't part of some bigger project is just not going to happen.

The list, after a few years of b), is now pretty long and some of the the reasons why some of the items are sitting on the list have been lost in the mist of time.

Clearly it's time for a change and so the County Officers are now proposing that they spend some time in each Division with local members and prepare a list of highways issues relevant to that division.

In light of that I've been looking at the highways list we already have for Kings Hedges and the new items that people have already suggested (note that in some cases it is a problem that needs a solution rather than a solution!) and come up with the following list;

• 20mph speed limit on Northfield Avenue (outside KH Primary School), 
• Coach parking on Woodhead Drive, 
• Car parking on Lovell Road, 
• Arbury Road cycle path (specifically doing something around the Milton Road junction), 
• Verge parking on Milton Road, 
• Pavement parking across the division,
• Traffic improvements on Arbury Road outside the Manor,
• Verge parking on Hawkins Road, and 
• Cycle route on KH road (specifically around CRC junction)

That's just off the top of my head. What else do you think should be on this list?

St Kilda Road/ Campkin Road Potholes

This is just a quick blog post to let you know what we (your local Councillors) can do when things are brought to our attention. In this specific case a local wheelchair-bound resident had noticed significant potholes in the route they took to the local shops (Tesco on Campkin Road).

They raised this issue with the County Council (Highways) and were told that the specific road they were concerned about was not actually a part of the highway and that they, the County, had no idea who owned it but that the resident should try Tesco - this of course wasn't obvious immediately and a lot of frustrating back-and-forth went on before they managed to get to this point.

It was at this stage, feeling incredibly frustrated, the resident contacted me and I started looking into it.

The first thing to note is that the road in question is directly behind the row of shops on Campkin Road. It is where the shops have their "loading bays". When you look at the road itself it is pretty clear that it is not part of the highway, it's generally in a very poor condition and just doesn't (despite what you may think about the way Cambridgeshire County Council looks after their highways) look like a properly maintained road.

If you'd like to see the area in question it's available on Google Streetview here, and it's the un-named road in the centre of the map here.

The road itself is off St. Kilda Avenue and from what I know of the area a lot of the shops are owned by Cambridge City Council so I made them my first point of call (rather than Tesco). It actually took quite a number of contacts to identify the person at Cambridge City Council and get an answer to the question of who owned the land.

As you can see from the attached map (which is excellent by the way, produced by the City Council) the land in question was owned by the City Council.

Once it was clear that the potholes were the responsibility of the City Council it was just a matter of asking the correct officer, in this case the Area Housing Manager, to have the area inspected and see what the Council can do.

Within 24 hours of me contacting him the officer had had the area inspected and had concluded that a three square meter area of the road will be resurfaced. Excellent news all round.

Of course it shouldn't have taken this long to get to this stage, but at least it is now well on it's way to being resolved.

So what's the point of this blog post? Well basically it's to let people know that contacting your local Councillors *can* get problems solved. We are here to help you, we know it's not always 100% clear who you should be talking to (City, County, Police, etc) and we can help get to the bottom of local problems whoever they are with.

If you have an issue you'd like us to look into you can contact us via the links on the left.

And, just in case you were wondering, here is the before picture;

Bus Consultation: One Week To Go!

We're into the final week of the County Councils bus consultation which will officially end at 4pm on Friday the 9th December. The consultation is still accessible through the website;

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/around/buses/busconsultation.htm

Following on from the Conservative-controlled Councils disastrous decision to cut 100% of bus subsidies without any consultation this review was forced onto them as the only way of avoiding a Judicial Review.

Once the consultation has closed the results will be published and then Cabinet will propose what to do next. It's unlikely the entire cuts will be reversed, but hopefully some of the key subsidised routes across the County which are relied on by the most vulnerable in society will be saved.

Police at Arbury Court tomorrow

The police are holding their monthly drop in session at Arbury Court tomorrow morning. To quote from them...

Just a reminder that next Wednesday, 30th November some of your local officers from the team will be in Arbury Court between 11am – 1pm to hold a police surgery. If you have any concerns or issues, please do come and tell us.
Alternatively, if you cannot make our police surgery, you can always send us an Ecops message or phone our non-emergency number, 101.
Please do remain vigilant and let us know if you see anything suspicious. If you would like to do this anonymously, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

You can subscribe to email updates from the Police using the eCops service, follow the link to sign up.

North Area Committee: Update on Woodhead Drive/ Milton Road Junction Improvements

Update from Cllr Ward regarding Tree Works Application and other suggested improvements at the Milton Road junction of Woodhead Drive.

The improvements to Milton Road/ Woodhead Drive junction, relate to trees with a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) (38/1988). These are unusual circumstance in that ordinarily the Council would not TPO its owns trees, however, when the land was transferred to City Council ownership, this also transferred the TPOs.

As works were proposed, an application was considered on the basis that the City Council was an external applicant, and the Council therefore followed the established process for determining TPO decisions.

Attached below is a link, which shows the proposed works, neighbour letter and consultation drawings:

http://idox.cambridge.gov.uk/onlineapplications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LFQA7TDX03Q00

The application was also included on the planning application register that is circulated weekly.

As there where no objections, the application was determined at Officer level.

Lib Dems Act To Help Families Plagued By Speeding Drivers

Speeding drivers and inadequate traffic calming measures have made life a misery for families living on a Cambridge road.

For years residents of Fen Road, East Chesterton have been plagued by cars racing along the road and heavy lorries bouncing across the speed bumps.

Now the city’s Liberal Democrats have scrutinised the issue and come up with a number of ideas to solve the problem.

They are taking their findings to Cambridge City Council’s North Area Committee on Thursday (November 24) and again in January to give residents the chance to have their say.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Ian Manning, who represents East Chesterton and campaigner, Clare Blair who lives in the ward have set out their ideas in a document which will be presented to the committee.

And it has been endorsed by Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert, who represented East Chesterton on the county council for eight years.

Ian said: “This has been a blight on our ward for a long time. In order to fix the problem, we are asking the whole area committee and all parties to support our push for solutions.”

Julian said: “Families living in this road have been plagued by speeding drivers for many years and traffic calming measures have failed to address the problem.

“I applaud Ian and Clare on the work that has gone into this document. I hope residents will take this opportunity to make their views known so that a solution can be found quickly.”

A year ago, at Clare’s request Cambridgeshire County Council highways officers drew up a scheme to improve traffic calming measures and prevent cars mounting grass verges to avoid speed bumps.

The scheme could cost around £150,000 and it is hoped this could be funded from the Northern Area Corridor Transport Plan.

Clare said: “This is certainly the most important highways issue affecting East Chesterton.

“Yet despite raising this issue with officers and the county council Cabinet for many years, no solution has been acted upon.”

Other solutions suggested in the document prepared by Ian and Clare include:

• an alternative route out of Fen Road to remove lorry traffic;
• minor environmental improvements;
• a footpath over the railway crossing to allow children to walk to school rather than be driven.

PDF attachment with the plans is available here.

E-Cops - 101; Single Non-Emergency Number For Police

The following update has come from e-Cops;


"I wanted to let you know that you can now contact Cambridgeshire Constabulary on 101 for all non-emergency calls. The 0345 456 456 4 number will remain in use alongside 101 for several months to allow people time to get used to the new number.

The change comes part of a national programme to make 101 the single non-emergency number in England and Wales, giving residents an easy-to-remember number to contact local police wherever they are.

The call system is designed to recognise where you are calling from and connect you with the local police service. If you did not want to speak to your local force, or the force area you are in, you will be given the option to be connected to different one. 

The number change does not affect the way that calls are handled and we will continue to take non-emergency calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Please continue to call 999 when an immediate response is needed because a crime is happening, someone suspected of a crime is nearby, or someone is in danger.

Kind regards,
Superintendent Mike Brown
101

http://www.police.uk/101 - Details on 101 and the national roll-out"

Primary School Applications

The County Council is currently reminding parents across Cambridgeshire who have a child born between 1st September 2007 and 31st August 2008 that they need to apply to the school they wish their child to attend from September 2012.

The application process opened on the 14th November and parents have the choice of returning a paper form (which can be obtained from The Grove, King's Hedges Primary School, of in fact any Primary School) or applying online via the Counties website;

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions

The completed form needs to be received by the Admission Team before 15th January.

Applications received after that date will be dealt with last which could mean some children will not only not receive a place at one of their preferred schools but they might not even get a place in the school in the catchment area in which they live.

County Tories Making Money On Children’s Cycle Training

Cambridgeshire Tories have been accused of making money out of teaching youngsters to cycle even though the full cost of the courses are funded by the government.

The Conservative-run County Council has started charging schools £15 for each pupil taking part in its cycling schemes – Bikeability and Safer Cycling – despite receiving a government grant to pay for the training.

In the past, the cycling courses had been offered free of charge to Year 5 and 6 schoolchildren.

Susan van de Ven, Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport has questioned the county council on why it has suddenly decided to raise money on the back of the cycle training schemes.

She is worried that schools will not be able to afford the new charges and youngsters will no longer receive the training.

She said: “Bikeability, which is delivered by trained professionals, has full funding available from central government, so the steep county council admin charge makes no sense.

“Safer Cycling is delivered by volunteers, often school teachers and parents. Schools don’t understand why they are suddenly being charged this fee. The cost of £15 per head is prohibitive for many schools and there is a real concern that cycle training take-up will drop off.”

Cllr Sarah Whitebread, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Climate Change, added: “‘Habits taken up at an early age have a good chance of sticking, and walking and cycling bring so many benefits.

“I’m very keen for the council to find a way of making primary school cycle training more accessible. We want to encourage youngsters to see cycling as a viable means of transport so that they continue riding as adults.”

Huppert’s Victory As Government Gives Extra £10m For Schools

MP Julian Huppert is celebrating victory after today’s (Thursday, November 3) announcement by the government that it will be giving Cambridgeshire schools an extra £10.2 million.

Julian had been pushing for more money for the county’s schools which are among the lowest funded in the country.

He joined MPs from across the county to campaign for extra funding and raised the issue in the House of Commons.

In February, Education Minister, Michael Gove promised Julian a review the county’s grant allocation – and today he announced the county would be among 100 benefiting from an extra £500 million to provide more school places.

Julian said: “This is good news for Cambridge and Cambridgeshire as a whole.

“It goes some way to addressing the major shortfall in funding which puts the county’s schools near the bottom of the pile compared to other local authorities across the country. Even with this payment, however, the county is still £25 million short of the national average and we cannot afford to be complacent.  

“But in allocating this money, the Minister has recognised that our region is experiencing rapid growth and that we are facing a severe shortage of school places in the city and across the county. It’s a start in giving our children the education they so rightly deserve.

“The fight is far from over, however, and I will continue until Cambridgeshire is put on a par with the rest of the country and receives the money from government to which it is entitled.”

Liberal Democrat Peter Downes, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Education said: “I am pleased that Cambridgeshire’s plight has been recognised by the government and it has been chosen to receive this extra money.

“Our schools have suffered from years of under-funding by successive governments and finally steps are being taken to address that.

“I hope that the coalition will build on this and allocate Cambridgeshire schools the money they need to meet the growing demand for places across the county.”

Changes To Whippet Bus Service for Arbury

Whippet Coaches have informed the County Council that they will be making changes to services 14 and 21. The 14 is relevant to us in North Cambridge and will from the 5^th December have a revised route; currently this is via Bridge Street and Histon Road, and will switch to Victoria Avenue and Milton Road. It will also serve Howgate Road in Arbury.

Timetables are available from Whippet, although sadly when I checked their website to put together this post the 14 Service seems to be completely missing (and the only service that mentions Arbury is the T4 Free Bus to Bar Hill Tesco!).

Hopefully all will become clear before the changes happen on the 5th!

Whippet Coaches are contactable on 01954 230011.

Real-Time Passenger Information (on Milton Road)

The County Council is currently rolling out it's RTPI project across Cambridge. This is the system you see on bus stops with the electronic signs that tell you how many minutes till the next bus arrives; this information is either based on the busses actual location (via a tracker installed on it) or is just the repetition of timetabled information.

I have been asked to express a view on the order in which the bus stops along Milton Road should be upgraded with RTPI. The view I have expressed is that the Downham's Lane and Union Lane stops, based on north/south traffic, are the two I'd like to see upgraded next.

If you have a different view let me know and I'll pass it on.

Councillor’s Victory As Lords Back Campaign To Help Students

A Cambridgeshire County Councillor’s campaign to get a fairer deal for part-time university students under the government’s education loans scheme cleared another hurdle last night (Tuesday, November 1).

In the House of Lords, the government agreed with the Liberal Democrat amendment for the move, clearing the way for it to be written into the government’s Education Bill and become law. It was then also supported cross-party in the Lords.

Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon teamed up with former Cambridgeshire County Council Liberal Democrat leader, Baroness Sal Brinton, to make sure part-time students were not discriminated under the scheme.

From 2012 eligible part-time students will be able to borrow the full cost of their tuition fees for the first time. Students become eligible to start making repayments four years after they begin their studies instead of the three years originally planned by the government.

“I am absolutely delighted,” said Cllr Brooks-Gordon. “The Lords have supported this move which gives part-time students the same rights as enjoyed by their full-time counterparts.

“This will make such a huge difference to those people struggling to get a university education against a backdrop of financial hardship. These are the very people that we need to help and this change will make it possible.”

Cllr Brooks-Gordon and Baroness Brinton were both mature students at Cambridge’s Churchill College and fully admit what without support they would have struggled to achieve their qualifications.

“I was determined that part-time students, many of whom are single parents, mature students or disabled, should not be discriminated against in the loans system” said Dr Brooks-Gordon, a Reader at Birkbeck, University of London and past tutor at the Open University.

Part-time students make up 40 per cent of undergraduates and Cambridge is national hotspot for part-time students including Anglia Ruskin, the Open University, and Cambridge University."

Baroness Brinton said: "It was clear when I made the case repeatedly in the House of Lords that the Government’s original proposal was bizarre and illogical.

“The Lords and now the government have backed our proposals and cleared the way for these changes to become law. That will bring a great deal of relief to many part-time students and hopefully encourage others to embark on courses that might otherwise have been completely out of reach.”

Local Councillor Drop-In Surgery This Saturday!

Do you have a local issue you'd like to discuss with your local Councillor? Maybe you have a view on Councillors allowances, changes to the library services, or what you'd like to see your Council (either City or Council) doing in King's Hedges?

This saturday from 10am until midday you can come and talk to us at the Arbury Community Centre.

No need for an appointment, just turn up!

Be Bright, Be Seen As The Nights Draw In

Road Safety Officers at Cambridgeshire County Council are urging all road users to take extra care on the roads once the clocks go back this weekend.

The change of the clocks means it will be darker in the afternoons, when many people are making their way home from work or school. The darker conditions make it harder for pedestrians and cyclists to be seen by other road users.

Parents are being encouraged to make sure they and their children 'be bright, be seen' by attaching reflective strips to their bags and coats or other clothing. Cyclists are also reminded that they must use lights during hours of darkness and should ensure their bike reflectors are clean and clearly visible.

To support this message, Richardsons Cycles are providing reflective bands to be given to children at selected primary schools around the county, along with advice for parents from Road Safety Officers.

Matt Staton, Road Safety Officer for Cambridgeshire County Council, said: "It is very important that pedestrians and cyclists ensure they can be seen when making journeys in the dark, but it is equally important that other road users are extra vigilant in the knowledge that pedestrians and cyclists will be harder to see."

Simon Haydn, Bikeability Project Officer for the County Council, added some extra advice for cyclists: "All lights should be fitted to the bike, and although helmet or head torches are useful, they can be potentially blinding for other road users."

Councillors' Allowances Rise Rejected As Process Was Flawed

A controversial decision to raise county councillors’ allowances by 25 per cent has been thrown out after it was found that the process was flawed.

 

Mistakes made by the Tory-run Cambridgeshire County Council have wasted over £5,000 of public money and means the whole process must go back to square one.

 

The decision is a victory for Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats who had voted against the increase and campaigned to overturn the decision.

 

It came after former Liberal Democrat councillor, Clare Blair, called the issue into the council’s Standards Committee today (Tuesday, November 1) claiming the process broke the rules of the council’s constitution and government legislation.

 

Committee members agreed after discovering that the council had made serious errors in the process of appointing members to the Independent Remuneration Panel which recommended the 25 per cent increase in members’ allowances and failing to advertise its report for public comment.

 

Cllr Blair, a former Cambridge City Executive Councillor who represented East Chesterton, spoke at the Standards Committee meeting calling the whole process into question.

 

Later she said: “This whole process was flawed. The Conservative administration made one mistake after another by rushing this matter through the council.

 

“This is has been a terrible waste of public money. Now the process must begin again. I hope ordinary residents will also consider joining the new Independent Panel and that the Conservatives will see that a 25 per cent increase at this time is totally inappropriate.”

 

In the meeting Lib Dem group leader Kilian Bourke said: "To retrospectively ratify this decision would almost certainly lead to a judicial review, which could end up costing the council as much as the 25 per cent pay rise itself.

 

Later he added: "I welcome the fact that the 25 per cent increase will now be overturned, although the Tories should not have voted it through in the first place. The increase was totally inappropriate at a time of wage freezes, redundancies and cuts to frontline services and the public have made their anger at this decision clear.

 

"I want to thank the 3,000 people who supported our campaign to have the increase reversed. I have no doubt that the weight of public opinion contributed to the decision to scrap the report."

Planning applications: Arbury Road

This week there is one planning application in the ward to report. It is from the City Council and concerns "installation of of 9.88kwp solar photovoltaic panels to approximately 67m2 of the south-west facing roof slope" of the City Homes North office on Arbury Road. The reference number is 11/1227/FUL and you can see the detailed documents online too.

As normal you can get more information from the City Council website, and in case of difficulty contact the team.

In case you wonder why we didn't have a planning post last week: there weren't any applications in King's Hedges.

Remember, remember...

We are approaching November 5th and the City Council is once again hosting a bonfire and fireworks on Midsummer Common. The event is always good fun, and public displays tend to be both more spectacular and safer than private ones. The funfair opens from around 6pm, with a display by Wildfire Productions from 7pm to 7.20pm.

The main event are the fireworks and bonfire lighting at about 7.30pm.

The display does cause transport problems around Misummer Common, and this tends to have knock on effects up Milton Road. The police have used the eCops to pass on some of the details:

Victoria Avenue, Trafalgar Road, Trafalgar Street, Fair Street, New Square, Maids Causeway between Four Lamps Roundabout and just west of Brunswick Gardens, Jesus Lane and Kings Street between Four Lamps Roundabout and Manor Street, will be closed between 6.30pm and 8.30pm, as crowds build up.

There is also a one way system in the De Freville area north of the River. The River is also closed to traffic.

Full details of closures, and access arrangements are on the City Council website.

I hope as many people as possible enjoy the display.

(Finally a thanks to all the sponsors, listed on the website, for making the event possible.)

Your Views Count – Have Your Say on Bin Collections

Cambridge City Council is carrying out a survey asking residents for their views about bin collections.
The survey is part of a major project to review the routes that bin lorries take around the city. Using specialist software to re-map the routes taking traffic and other factors into account, the council aims to reduce the costs and carbon footprint of bin collections in the city.

Re-mapping the bin lorry routes means that some residents might see a change to their bin day in 2012.

Executive Councillor for Environment and Waste Services, Cllr Jean Swanson said, “The software will tell us where we could make savings, but we want to take residents’ views into account too. As well as finding out what people think about some of the options that the software may present, we are also asking what people think about things like incentives for recycling, and what services they would like to see.

I’d like to encourage as many Cambridge residents as possible to visit our website and take the survey.”

Residents can visit www.cambridge.gov.uk/binsurvey until November 5th to complete the survey.

A telephone survey of a representative sample of 1000 residents will also be conducted this week.

NO to 25% Pay Rise For Councillors ...

The number of signatures on the online-petition has now passed the 700 mark with at least 400 more people signing the paper version. Have you signed yet? The petition link is available here;

http://noto25percent.com

If you'd like to sign the paper-based petition the Liberal Democrats will be in the markets of Cambridge and Ely this Saturday if you can come and visit us.

We are encouraging people to download, circulate, and return the paper petition forms wherever they can. This is a cross-party effort supported by members of the Trade Unions, as well as Councillors from across the political spectrum; Labour, Green, UKIP, as well as Independents. There are two versions attached - one with our (Liberal Democrat) logo and one without.

Don't let them get away with it ... help us reverse this unjust pay rise.

Action on litter in King's Hedges

September marks the return to school and college, and the unwelcome increase of the litter problem between Campkin Road shops and Cambridge Regional College.

This is an issue that the City have been working hard on to try and deal with. The City Council has taken a multi-pronged approach. Working with CRC to educate pupils, and sending the enforcement team out with the power to issue £70 on the spot fines for those caught littering.

The second part is litter picking. The City Council teams pick daily in the affected area, and both Tesco and Ocean Dragon are also providing litter pickers. Ocean Dragon have agreed to pick between 1.30 and 2pm, and Tesco at 3pm. The hope is this will pick litter after the lunchtime rush which seems to be the time of the worst problem. The City has also used powers to clean up some of the gardens that were impacted by the litter dropped.

Alongside the picks and the enforcement powers the Council have also used some of the City Summer Bins along the route used by the students.

The City Council is monitoring this, but as always contact the team should there be any problems.

It is also worth noting that if you see a problem with litter when out and about in the City you can call the City Council on 01223 457000 to request a pick for the area. You can also use this to report flytip or graffiti.

Petition to stop the Tory 25% pay rise

The Conservative group on the county council is set to award themselves a 25% pay rise while cutting services and making staff redundant.

The LibDems oppose this.  Cuts were made to sort out the mess of the economy.

If you're as angry as us, please sign the petition at http://epetition.cambridgeshire.public-i.tv/epetition_core/view/remuneration asking them to reverse this decision, before December, when there will be a full council meeting.

'Make A Difference Day' Celebrating Community Service Volunteers

This year's 'Make A Difference Day' will highlight how volunteers can tackle loneliness and isolation at a special fair held at Cambridge Central Library on Saturday, October 29.

The Volunteer Recruitment fair is being held by Cambridgeshire County Council Library Service together with Volunteering Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The free event will celebrate community service volunteers and will give people the opportunity to find out more about volunteering in their local area or opportunities in Cambridgeshire County Council and other organisations.

The event is being held in the Central Library, Cambridge from 10am to 2pm in the third floor conference room.

There will be staff on hand to talk to and more information can be found at;

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/news/ 

or contact maggie.brown@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Secondary School Application Deadline Approaches

Parents of children due to start secondary school in September 2012 are being reminded that the relevant forms must be completed and submitted by the end of this month.

The Secondary Application Form - and Supplementary Information Form if required - must be submitted to Cambridgeshire County Council by 31 October 2011.

Information and guidance about how to apply for a place is available in the Next Steps - Admission to Secondary School: a guide for parents 2012 - 2013 leaflet. This publication is available from Cambridgeshire County Council's website at: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions, where parents will also be able to access the online application facility, or download a paper copy of the Secondary Application Form

If parents submit their applications late, there is a real risk that their child will not offered a place at one of their preferred schools, as other children's applications (those received by the 31 October deadline) will be processed ahead of theirs.

For further information, e-mail admissions@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or log onto the County Council's website at:

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions

Planning application in Milton Road

After a little break from us the weekly list of planning applications is back.

Just one to report this week:for "Installation of two fascia signs and one pylon sign (all internally illuminated)." at 383 Milton Road. The online planning system now seems to allow direct links to the application, so if you need more details follow that link.

383 Milton Road is in the stretch between the Lovell Road and the bus way on that side of the road.

As always in case of difficulty contact the team, and for more information see the Development Control pages of the City Council website.

Buses: Cut First, Ask Later

The County Council has paid a heavy price for its cavalier decision last February to cut 100% of bus subsidies.   No research had been conducted on people’s transport needs, and there was no plan in place for those who lack transport of their own and would end up stranded, though the council said it expected Community Transport to make up the difference.

In May an application for Judicial Review was lodged against the Council on several grounds, including lack of consultation.  In July the Council’s bid for £5 million from the government‘s Local Sustainable Transport Fund was denied, specifically on the basis that the Council had gone too far in its cuts.  The government refused to fill in the gaps.

In order to make the Judicial Review go away, the Council has been forced to consult on residents’ transport needs—something the Lib Dems have been pressing for all along.

It is now doing so, though the consultation is being run primarily via the council’s website:

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/around/buses/busconsultation.htm

Unfortunately the web version does not allow you to view the entire document before starting to respond.