City council installs rubbish bins powered by the sun

Cambridge City Council is leading the county and the UK in installing state-of-the art rubbish bins powered by the sun.

The Big Belly Bins use solar power to compact rubbish and therefore need to be collected up to five times less than normal bins. This has the potential to cut the fuel consumption and carbon emissions associated with rubbish collection up to 80 per cent. 

The first of the new bins has been put in East Chesterton on Green End Road Rec and a second will follow next month on the river frontage public open space in front of the Vie development in East Chesterton.

Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Environmental and Waste Services, Mike Pitt, said: “These bins harness the power of the sun to compact the rubbish so that they can take more litter without having to be emptied so often. They also encourage recycling with separate compartments."

East Chesterton ward councillor and Executive Councillor for Climate Change and Growth, Clare Blair, said: "These bins will mean that the city council can cut fuel costs and carbon emissions bringing benefits to taxpayers and the environment. It is excellent news that they are being installed in East Chesterton."

County Council Budget 2011: Road Repairs

At the Full Council meeting held on the 15th February the Conservative-Controlled County Council approved, despite Liberal Democrat objections, a new budget for road maintenance that is an effective cut of £1.4M a year.

Commenting on this proposal, the cabinet member for Highways, Councillor Mac McGuire (CON: Norman Cross), publicly stated that he expects Cambridgeshire’s roads to ".. continue to deterioriate in future".

Given the current, very poor, state of the roads in Cambridge (especially Milton and King's Hedges) it's disappointing news that the level of spending is set to decrease even further.

By contrast the Lib Dems’ alternative budget proposed to invest an additional £10M in our roads, to stop the current deterioration in our infrastructure.

Kilian Bourke, the Lib Dem transport spokesman, said: "The Tories have allowed our roads to deteriorate for years, and now we learn that they are planning to let this continue."

"This is what happens when money is wasted on cheap patch-up repairs that come out every year. We would put a stop to this by investing £10M in proper structural work on our roads."

If you are aware of any problems with the Highways in King's Hedges you can report them here (courtesy of Fix My Street).

Planning apps in Crowland Way and King's Hedges Rd

After a quiet couple of weeks there are two planning applications to report this week.

The first is for a conservatory to the rear of 102 Crowland Way. Application number 11/0093/FUL.

The second is for "Part single storey, part two storey side and rear extension, single storey front" to 76 King's Hedges Road. The reference number is 11/0131/FUL.

More details can be found on the development control pages of the City Council website, particularly through online Public Access.

Anti-Social Behaviour Meeting Thursday

A recent eCops update has reminded me of the periodic ASB meetings that are organised by local residents to raise issues of concern with the Council and Police.

The next such meeting is on Thursday 24th February (this week) at the Community House at 37 Lawrence Way.

It is worth stating that any criminal or anti-social behaviour doesn't have to be tolerated so do please report it. The Police can only act when they know about problems. You can also use us to relay information if you'd like.

Councillor Drop-In Sessions (at Arbury Community Centre)

If you have a local issue you'd like to discuss with one of your Councillors, or just want to drop by for a chat, then we are currently holding monthly Drop-In Sessions on the Second Saturday of every month at the Arbury Community Centre (on Campkin Road). If you have a local issue but can't make one of these sessions we have a Local Survey setup on our website which you can use to let us know.

As always you can contact any member of your local team directly using the information on the left.

The dates for the next Drop-In Sessions are; March 12th, April 9th, and May 14th. And don't forget the Arbury Carnival on June 11 where we will have a stall!

Gladeside park

Just a photo of a local resident and me in the now open new park as promised:


In the foreground is the SkyStation. An interesting combination of bench, climbing frame and public art. Some background on the work can be found at this website.

Getting things fixed: Northfield Avenue junction

Please do report problems in your area to us if you don't have any joy when you report them yourself.

As an example, a resident wrote to us about a problem with the road surface on the new layout to the Junction of Northfield Avenue and King's Hedges Road. The surface was not properly laid and floods when it rains. The resident had tried to report it to the County Council but heard nothing back.

I have chased up the County and have been assured that the surface will be properly relaid. Watch this site for any more updates.

Library Review @ North Area Committee

The minutes documents for this meeting have been published on the City Councils website (click here). It is very unfortunately that neither Sir Peter Brown (the Conservative Cabinet Member responsible for Libraries) or any Officers from the County Council were able to present themselves to the Area Committee to address local concerns.

There is a lot of local feeling on the issues of Libraries that they should have put in an appearance to address.

The minutes from the Libaries segment of the meeting are;


"The committee received an oral report from Councillor Wilkins regarding his understanding of the current position concerning County Council library services.

The County Cabinet considered a budget proposal 25 January 2011, which suggested that 2 of 5 libraries in Cambridge (excluding Central Library) could be closed in order to cut costs. This could affect Milton Road, Rock Road and Arbury Court Libraries in particular.

A Library Service Review Report has been written setting out actions, proposals and expected cost savings.

Members of the North Area Committee and public expressed grave reservations concerning the proposed library service cuts set out in the Library Service Review Report, and expected impact on local communities. The consensus of opinion was that libraries were important for education and learning, the City could not afford to lose these facilities. Meetings at local libraries were signposted to muster support to voice concerns about the Library Service Review Report proposals.

The Committee agreed to bring back an agenda item to the next Area Committee on library services to:

(i)  Express concern about Library Service Review Report proposals.

(ii)  Point out the differing needs of rural and urban areas for library services, as the County Council appear to be taking a generic approach.

(iii)  Discuss land use protection afforded in the Cambridge Local Plan (2006), and whether this has an impact on libraries."

As always if you have any questions or concerns related to libraries please get in touch with me (County Councillor Andy Pellew) and I'll be able to update you. It is also my intention to be at the next Friends of Arbury Library meeting in order to answer any further questions.

Councillor Drop-In Sessions (at Arbury Community Centre)

I'm currently hosting a local Councillor Drop-In Session at Arbury Community Centre until 12.

If you have any local issues you'd like to discuss then please feel free to come along!

I'm your local County Councillor and we have a Full Council Meeting related to the Counties "Integrated Plan" (aka their Budget) on Tuesday so if you'd like to discuss anything please feel free to come by (or if you'd like to ask us a question you can contact us individually by clicking on the links to the left or by clicking here).

Tree works: Jedburgh Court

We've been notified of some tree works near Jedburgh Court: two willows and a cherry are proposed for a "coppice", and one willow for a "pollard". These trees are behind the Learner pool. On the map (right) the trees are marked in green, and the one for pollarding is numbered 10.

If you want more information please get in touch as soon as possible and we will put you in contact with the relevant people at the City Council.

The map is from the City Council.

A year of dug up streets in the City Centre

Slightly out of our ward but...

Councillors in Cambridge have received an invitation to a public meeting hosted by National Grid about substantial work in the City Centre starting in April 2011 and anticipated to continue until February 2012. To quote from the email:

National Grid will be starting work in April 2011 to replace 1.3kilometres of old metal gas mains with new hard-wearing plastic pipe, which is more durable and will last for 80 years if left undisturbed once underground.

The roads affected are Corn Exchange Street, Tennis Court Road, Wheeler Street, Emmanuel Street, St Andrews Street, Emmanuel Road, Market Street, Guildhall Street, Petty Cury, Post Office Terrace, the side of the Zoology Museum and the footpath area of Christ's Pieces.

They do add that

Where possible, the new pipes will be inserted through the old ones, saving time and reducing the need for digging.

This could be a concern for anyone running a business in the affected areas.

If concerned the meeting is on Monday 28 February 2011 at 7pm at The Royal Cambridge Hotel, or get in touch with the team.

King's Hedges Councillor Surgery Next Saturday (12-FEB-2011)

If you are free on Saturday 10-12am and want to meet and discuss local issues I'll be at the Arbury Community Centre holding our monthy Liberal Democrat surgery. If you have any issues you would like your local Councillors (both City and County) to work on over the coming months please feel free to drop in - you'll find us just inside the main entrance (but we have the meeting room booked if you'd like to discuss anything in private).

See you there!


NB: If you would like to ask any of us a question and you can't make the Arbury Community Centre on Saturday then you can always contact us using the details on the left or our Ask Your Local Councillor feature.

Councillors at Work (Audio Recordings @ Full Council)

The Oral Questions segment of Full Council is recorded and I've attached the recording from the December 2010 meeting. Unfortuantely it starts with a question asked by Councillor Sedgwick-Jell who failed to use the microphone provided and so both the question, and some of the comments, have not been recorded (although the answer has).

The recording is made by Democratic Services and is only used to allow them to put together the published minutes (available here as Appendix C on the County Council website) and is then destroyed.

This information will be recorded *anyway* - it's needed to put together the minutes - the question is; is it worth being published in some way?

EDIT: The MP3 Recording is available here.

Read-In at Arbury Court Library

Yesterday's read-in at Arbury Court Library was a great success. The library was packed with people reading and determined to do what they can to help support the Library Service and save it from damage.

Julian Huppert came along to lend his support after his morning surgery, and in the rather posed photo at the top you can see me, Julian and East Chesterton Councillor Clare Blair. Many residents took up the chance to chat to Julian about libraries and other issues.

There was also a photographer from the Cambridge News, and I'll update this post with a link when they publish their story and picture.

It was nice to meet a lot of old friends I wasn't expecting to see, as well as the members of the Friends group.

One resident chatted to me about the value of the library to her in gaining legal advice, others about the importance for their children, others about their role in providing access to services that are online.

The Friends of Arbury Library did a superb job organising the event: and they deserve a huge thank you. Your local Focus team will continue to campaign to protect Cambridge Libraries, not just at Arbury Court but also on Milton Road and throughout the City. Libraries are not a luxury but an important part of our educational and social infrastrcuture.

We will keep you posted about any future events, or anything else you can do to help.

Update 8/2/11: The Cambridge News article was published yesterday.

Happy Chinese New Year

February 3rd marks the Chinese New Year this year, so the team would like to wish a prosperous and safe year of the rabbit to all our readers and residents.

Friends of Arbury Library meeting

Just back from the Friends of Arbury Library meeting at the Arbury Community Centre.

A good number of residents managed to attend the meeting, and there was a good discussion about the library, as well as the business of the evening: to formally adopt a chair, secretary and committee.

Unfortunately Andy Pellew was unable to attend due to a family illness, so the meeting started with a brief outline of the background from Mike Todd-Jones. This was followed by passionate defences of the role of libraries from East Chesterton Lib Dem Cllr Clare Blair, and local residents Liz Brennan and Pete Shipton.

Clare explained how libraries had helped her children learn, and this was echoed by residents in the general discussion.

Local author Paul Shipton talked about the impact of the library in local schools, and his positive reception when talking about the library in our local schools.

The discussion from the floor emphasised how strongly people feel about the library service in general, not just about Arbury Court Library. A member of the Friends of Milton Road Library spoke about the threat they face, and the need to work together.

Arbury resident John Marais was then re-elected as chair of the Friends. He has done a superb job as acting chair. John made it clear his hope for FOAL to work with all other Friends groups across the city.

A committee volunteered, and local city and county councillors were asked to attend committee meetings ex-officio. An invitation that the local team, and our LibDem colleagues in Arbury and East Chesterton were keen to accept.

The hard work of making sure that the Conservative run County Council hears that we don't want the library service damaged starts on Saturday with the read in at Arbury Court Library at 2pm this saturday. This is a really positive demonstration.

The Friends have their own website, if you want to get more involved with FOAL come along on saturday or get in touch with them or the team.

Consultation on the Future of England's Forests

The Government has started a consultation on the future of England's forests. The Woodland Trust is one of many organisations that has come forward with grave concerns about the privatisation of the existing forests - they have started a "Save England's Ancient Forests" campaign.

I'm not quite sure that the Governments proposals will cause the level of damage that the Woodland Trust seems to be concerned about but I do share some of their concerns about the right of public access, and government funding for charities to take these forests on to name just two areas!

I'd encourage you to check the Woodland Trusts website (here) for information on their campaign and sign their petition (here). 

The government's consulation document is available online (here).