2011 Cambridge City Council Manifesto

The Cambridge Liberal Democrats have launched our manifesto for the 2011 City Council elections.

The manifesto can be downloaded as a PDF from our main website.

In the manifesto, the Lib Dems reaffirm their commitment to work for the benefit of the city and its residents.

The manifesto identifies three guiding principles:

•basic services - promising to keep the city clean and cared for by collecting waste, sweeping streets and caring for parks and open spaces;

•vulnerable people's services - continuing play provision, keeping advice centres open and continuing with grants to those working with the homeless. the elderly and the disabled;

•growth - promising proper planning with quality design and establishing green spaces and new neighbourhoods where people will want to live.

Over the last 11 years of Liberal Democrat control, Cambridge City Council has had a track record of careful financial management that was judged excellent by the Audit Commission.

The manifesto clearly outlines a list of some of the key achievements that the Liberal Democrats have made to make this council so strong. The Lib Dems have:

•Taken advantage of a change in government financial rules and built some new council houses which were handed over to City Homes in January 2011;
•Invested in the expansion of Logans Meadow local nature reserve to create a new wetland reserve in East Chesterton and consulted about an expanded West Cambridge conservation area;
•Used the resources, gained through the Cycling Demonstration Town status, to improve The Tins, New Bit and Madingley Road cycle paths;
•Campaigned for and won the promise from the Highway Authority of a Mill Road area 20mph zone;
•Campaigned for the installation of more Real Time information at bus-stops especially where there is already money available from developer contributions
•Pressed the County Council to work more closely with the City Council to find transport solutions to meet the growth of jobs and homes in Cambridge;
•Campaigned for safety measures to be carried out on the A14

For more information follow the link.

Digital switchover: time to retune

Just a quick reminder that the digital switchover is having stage 1 for the Sandy Heath transmitter today. Thats the transmitter that serves Cambridge.

What this means is that we lose BBC2 on analogue, but gain more digital services instead. To gain these you will need to return any terrestrial digital box or TV you have. More information is available from the Digital UK website. In particular they give a general guide on how to retune a digibox:

A full re-tune should only takes a few minutes and can be done with your remote control. Here are some guidelines for how to do it, but bear in mind every model of digital TV or box will be a little bit different.

Switch on your Freeview TV or box and press 'menu' on the remote control. Select the 'set up' or 'installation' option

Select 'full re-tune' option (sometimes called ‘first time installation’, 'factory reset' or 'default settings'). Selecting 'channel update' or 'add channels' will not fully clear old channels and enable new ones to be found

Press ‘OK’ if your equipment asks if you want to delete all your channels. Don't worry this is normal

If you are prompted for a code, try 0000 or 1234.

Channels will automatically be installed. This may take a few minutes and your equipment may shut down and restart

The second stage is in two weeks time on 13th April.

Image taken off the switchover website.

CAB launch information point at Arbury Community Centre

Last week Andy Pellew and myself attended the launch of the new CAB information point at the Arbury Community Centre. In the picture are (left to right) Cllr Tim Bick (the Executive Councillor for Community Development responsible for supporting the project) myself, Alan Soer (Manager of the Community Centre), the hub itself and Andy.

Supported by the City Council, the CAB point provides information on a range of issues. It provides independent and confidential advice on housing, benefits, family law, employment rights, taxation, and other issues. It also provides suggestions about where to go to for more help if needed. With a touch screen it is designed to be easy to use.

The current economic climate means that access to advice is very important and hopefully this project will allow wider access to support.

Thanks to the Community Centre for agreeing to host the Hub, and particularly to Alan Soer for the work he put in to enable it to go in and work.

Two planning apps on Milton Road

This week has two planning applications on the list, both at the same adddress on Milton Road.

The first is for a "side and rear roof extension, part first floor and part ground floor rear extensions and removal of existing conservatory" at 347 Milton Road, with reference 11/0271/FUL. The second app is for an outbuilding at the same address, with reference 11/0272/FUL.

More details can be found at the City Council website, or contact the team in case of difficulty.

Liberal Democrats: Our Manifesto in Practice

The Liberal Democrats have been in government for only ten months, but we have already implemented many of our manifesto policies.

In this document (attached PDF - view download) you will find details of how we are putting our manifesto into action. The list does not even include those of our policies that are in the Coalition Programme but have not yet been implemented, so this list is just the first part of a long line of Liberal Democrat policies to come.

This document is a striking illustration of the influence the Liberal Democrats are having in government.

Chris Fox

Chief Executive, Liberal Democrats

NCT Nearly New Sale at CRC

A colleague on the City Council has asked me to plug an event at Cambridge Regional College, just across the King's Hedges Road.

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) are holding a sale of nearly new "high quality clothes, toys and equipment for children (0 – 10) at bargain prices" at The Sports Centre of CRC on King's Hedges Road, from 2.30pm to 4pm on Saturday 26 March.

Entry is a pound, going to the NCT who also take a share of the sale proceeds (with some going to the donor). They are also looking for volunteers to help out, you can volunteer by email.

The local branch of the NCT can be reached on the web.

If I can work out how I shall attach the flyer! If I fail please contact me and I'll email you the PDF.

County wide library petition

The various Friends groups of libraries across Cambridgeshire have set up a County-wide petition.

The petition reads:

We the undersigned call upon Cambridgeshire County Council to reject proposals to close libraries or to replace the existing professional service with a reduced service run by volunteers.

We believe that libraries are a vital part of the community.

Every community that has a library values this service, whether it is in the City, like Arbury Court library in our ward, or in the villages.

I hope you can join me in signing the petition.

Guided Busway Local Liaison Forum - Wednesday 16 March

Not a lot of notice I'm afraid but this meeting is happening *tonight* at 7pm in the Orchard Park Community Centre.

Is it just me or is it staggering that this many months/years after the busway was supposed to open there are *still* issues that need to be resolved by the Contractors being raised at local meetings like this?!

Unfortunately I am not able to make the meeting but if there are any local issues you'd like to see raised please don't hesitate to let me know and I will pass them on. Needless to say the question "when will buses start running" will not be answered.

Documents for the meeting are attached below.

Agenda
Previous Meeting Notes/ Minutes

Planning applications: Milton Road and King's Hedges Road

The weekly list of applications gives two applications this week, one each in Milton Road and King's Hedges Road.

At 146 King's Hedges Road is an application for a "First floor extension and ground floor", reference number 11/0187/FUL.

The other is for a "Single storey conservatory to rear" of 287 Milton Road, reference 11/0213/FUL.

As always more details available from development control, and contact the team in case of difficulty.

Teenagers' clean break thanks to council partnership

Twelve teenagers will be given the chance to take part in a six month apprenticeship scheme thanks to an innovative Cambridge City Council partnership approved at today's Environment Scrutiny Committee.

The Lib Dem-run council is teaming up with cutting edge training company, Nordic Pioneer to give the young people aged between 16 and 18 training in cleaning up the environment.

The scheme will be partly funded with £10,000 raised from Fixed Penalty Notices issued for environmental crime such as dropping littler, graffiti and fly-tipping.

Apprentices will work cleaning up nature reserves, commons and cemeteries and remove fly tipping, graffiti and fly posting among other tasks.

Their apprentices will work with members of the council's Streets and Open Spaces service delivery team and the scheme will lead to an NVQ level 2 in Cleaning and Support Services and six months of work experience.

Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Waste and Environmental Services, Mike Pitt (pictured) said: "This is an exciting opportunity for young people to learn valuable skills and gain a nationally recognised qualification while caring for the environment around them. We are confident that this scheme will help the youngsters to find permanent employment in the future."

Funeral procession on Friday

We have recieved via eCops a warning about a large funeral procession on Friday of this week (18 March):

The procession will be led by a hearse, followed by a horse-drawn carriage and anywhere from 500 - 800 mourners walking behind.

It is due to leave the Blackwell Site on Kings Hedges Drive at approximately 10am, going down Kings Hedges Road to St. Andrew's Church, Church Street, East Chesterton, with the service due to start at 12pm. At approximately 2pm the procession will walk up Milton Road, through Milton village to Milton Cemetery on Landbeach Road, Milton.

All timings and numbers could vary on the day, but we wanted to make you aware of it and ask for your patience if you are travelling in the area whilst it is happening.

If you haven't already you can sign up for eCops at the Cambridgeshire police website.

Tree Strategy workshops

The City Council is consulting on its tree strategy: a matter that is close to many peoples hearts. As a way of getting public opinion at an early stage the City is holding three workshops.

Probably the most useful one for King's Hedges residents is on 21st March from 12 to 7pm in the Meadows Centre. However there are two others, one in Cherry Hinton Village at 12-7pm on March 15, and one at the Guildhall from 12 until 8pm on the 23rd March.

To quote from the information we've been sent:

The workshops will be interactive drop in events where issues and concerns, including options for addressing these concerns in the emerging Strategy, can be raised from the outset. You are invited to drop into any of these events and talk to Council officers about different aspects of tree management in areas like new neighbourhoods, Local Nature Reserves, and parks and open spaces. Council officers will collect the thoughts and ideas and use these to start developing the strategy.

As part of these events, the Council is organising specific slots for round table discussions. These sessions will be held at 2.30pm and 6pm at each event.

More information is available via email on treesconsultations@cambridge.gov.uk, or in case of difficulty contact one of the team.

Rolling Registration: Don't Lose Your Right To Vote!

I've received a reminder from the Electoral registration people at the City Council of the deadline to register to vote in May:

Local elections will take place on Thursday 5 May. There will also be a referendum on how we vote at parliamentary elections on the same day.

You must be registered to vote by 14 April if you wish to vote at the local elections and the referendum. You are not automatically registered even if you pay council tax.

You may be planning to be away on 5 May, given the extra Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding. If this is the case, you should be registered to vote before 14 April and you can either apply to vote by post before 14 April or apply to vote by proxy before 21 April.

If you are unsure if you are on the register you can check by getting in touch with the City Council, or asking one of the team to check for you. You can download the forms required from the City Council website, or ask for them from the helpdesk by calling 01223 457048.

If you are unsure if you are eligible then you can get advice from the About My Vote web page, or from the City Council.

As I am "up" for election in May this year I should probably declare an interest in getting people registered to vote!

Advanced warning: North Area Committee

This is a short post about the next North Area Committee.

It is on Thursday 24th March at Manor School, Arbury Road. Planning will be at 6.30pm (with one item on the draft agenda, an application in East Chesterton). The main meeting starts at 7.30pm.

The meeting has a new format, with a "Community Forum" session after the usual Open Forum. The final agenda will confirm the details, but we hope to have sessions on Libraries and the Localism Bill.

The formal session at the end looks likely to cover grants, the new format of the meeting, and licensing of "Sex Establishments".

When the agenda is published I'll try to put a more complete post up!

Ramsden Square: extra dog bin

As you may have seen in the Cambridge News I've been working with local campaigner Lil Speed to try and improve the issues around dog fouling on Ramsden Square.

We met yesterday morning on the Square with City Council and County Council staff to see what can be done about some of the problems in the Square.

The first visible result is to idenify a site for a dog waste bin in the area we felt most affected by dog fouling. The new bin should be in position inside a week or two. The City Council will then monitor use of it and see if it improves the situation.

The team are always keen to hear from people to see if we can take steps to try deal with ongoing problems like this.

Schools becoming Academies: meeting in Impington

The team have been informed about a meeting at Impington Village College hosted by County Cllr Peter Downes about schools becoming Acadmies. Cllr Downes is the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on education on the County Council. Peter has been vocal in his criticism of the move to academy status.

The meeting is at 7.30pm in the Gropius Hall at IVC.

The flyer says:

An opportunity for teachers, support staff, governors, parents and pupils in Cambridgeshire to have a free and frank discussion of the key issues facing schools and our education system as some schools consider converting to ‘academies’.

* What does it mean to be an‘academy’?
* How is it different from a ‘school’?
* Who will be the governors and what are the extra risks and responsibilities?
* What are the advantages?
* What might it mean for teachers and other school staff?
* What is the effect on other schools, other pupils and on the education system as a whole?

If you are interested and able to go it should be an interesting discussion: a similar meeting in Huntingdon was reported as being very popular.

I should probably point out that the school I teach at (Linton VC) has converted to Academy status.

Planning application: Milton Road

I didn't manage to sit down and post last weeks planning application, but there was one application on last weeks list. This was for "Installation of one non-illuminated double sided totem sign" at 414 Milton Road (reference 11/0180/ADV).

There isn't anything on this weeks list.

As ever see the City Council website for more details about an application.

Personal Travel Planning in King's Hedges

A Travel Planning Project has recently completed in King's Hedges whereby residents could opt to have a personal travel plan drawn up with the aim of increasing their usage of sustainable transport.


The results showed that use of sustainable transport increased by 35% - against a national average of only 11% - after the plan was drawn up by the researcher. This is a very encouraging figure!

The results for the survey, including an evaluation report from an earlier trial in Orchard Park are attached.

Of course it's always difficult to tell in the short period of a study like this if we are really looking at a change in peoples attitudes towards the use of sustainable transport or that people are just doing something to make themselves look good in front of the researcher or for the various free gifts on offer.

It's a shame that studies like this are being done at the same time as the Conservative-controlled County Council is eliminating bus subsidies across Cambridgeshire - there seems to be little point in encouraging people to use public transport if you're then going to take it away!

If you'd like to read about the survey then the website is here.

King's Hedges Personal Travel Planning Project - Evaluation Report (379Kb)

King's Hedges Travel Planning Project - Project Results and Implications (2Mb)

Orchard Park Personal Travel Planning Project - Evaluation Report (1893Kb)