Huppert meets school staff in fight for better funding

MP Julian Huppert will meet head teachers, school governors and other education officials on Friday (May 20) in his fight to get more government funding for schools across the county.

Julian will discuss the issue with members of the Cambridgeshire Schools Forum with the intention of lobbying the government for a better deal for the county under the new national funding formula for schools.

Cambridgeshire schools are among the worst funded in the county with each pupil receiving £438 less a year than the national average. If the county were brought into line, Cambridgeshire County Council would have an extra £34 million to spend.

Julian said: “The education of our children is of paramount importance and an extra £34 million would make a real difference.

“Our schools have suffered from serious underfunding dating back to the 1980s and perpetuated by Labour. We cannot allow this to go on. The government must give Cambridgeshire a fairer settlement and bring the county into line with others across the country.”

Earlier this year, Julian received a promising reaction from Education Minister, Michael Gove to his call to review the county’s grant allocation. Responding to a question from Julian in the House of Commons, Mr Gove said pupils should not be treated so unequally.  

“It was clear from his response that Mr Gove recognises the problem,” added Julian. “This is encouraging and I will do everything in my power to push the government to act.”

Open Eco-Homes events, June 10th, 18th & 26th

Local environmental charity Cambridge Carbon Footprint is once again organising a series of Open Eco-Homes days in and around Cambridge in June.

Fifteen eco homes open their doors on Saturday 18 and Sunday 26 June to share their experience with solar panels, green sedum roofs, high-efficiency insulation, wood-burning stoves, ground source heat pumps and much more…

To choose homes to visit and find out how to book, log on to http://www.openecohomes.org

Booking is essential and spaces do fill up quickly, so don’t delay.

To start it all off, there will be a LAUNCH on Friday 10 June with a Question Time event, chaired by City Council leader Sian Reid. A panel of experts will be answering all your questions, and you can chat with the eco home owners over wine and refreshments.

Visit http://www.openecohomes.org for more information.

King's Hedges Surgery

Today I'm at Arbury Community Centre for the latest King's Hedges Liberal Democrat Surgery. If you have a local issue you'd like me to look at or just want to talk feel free to drop by.

I'll be around until midday, and if you can't make this one then you can always catch us at the Arbury Carnival on the 11th June.

Cambridgeshire's Music Service Saved Following Successful Campaign!

The County Council Music Service which runs the county’s Youth Orchestra, four music academies and music lessons for thousands of children has been saved after a campaign run by the Lib Dems with parents and music teachers.

The County Council had planned to siphon the government music grant of £670,000 but the money will now be kept for music provision for local children.

Cambridgeshire Lib Dem Deputy Leader, Peter Downes, is a past chair of the Cambridgeshire Youth Orchestra. He said: “There is clear evidence for the beneficial effect of music-making on children’s general development as well as their specific musical skills. Cutting money for music is short-sighted and counter-productive at a time when we are committed to raising standards for young people.”

Area music academies run by the service also provide the opportunity for children of all ages and abilities to perform in groups. The four academies provided ensembles for players from Grade 1 – 8 in classical music, jazz, folk music and samba bands.

These academies are free for children whose schools buy tuition from Cambridgeshire Music Service and available for all other children at a modest termly fee.

Save Milton Road Library Public Consultation

The friends of Milton Road library (which is still under threat of closure by Cambridgeshire County Council) are holding a public consultation meeting at St. Laurences Church on Milton Road at 7pm on Monday the 16th of May.

It's important that as many people as possible attend these public meetings to show the local communities support for the local library.

If you'd like to contact the Friends of Milton Road Library their email address is fmr.library@gmail.com.

Attached is a PDF of the library poster (shown on the left), please print this out and display wherever possible.

Reminder: Machinery on the Busway from Today!

Just a quick reminder following on from a Press Release issued by the County Council last week; from today there is the possibility of heavy machinery being on the Guided Busway so that the County Council can lay the surface for the cycleway.

The work will take place from Milton Road out to Swavesey and on the entire Southern Section.

This was originally announced on election day so a lot of people might have missed it!

Planning application on Lovell Road

First planning app to report for a little while.

There is an application for a a single storey ground floor extension to the rear of 105 Lovell Road. The reference number is 11/0397/FUL.

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

Election Result in King's Hedges

As Mike's post has already revealed he was defeated in the election on Thursday. The full election results are available on the Cambridge City Council website (here) and are reproduced below;

The majority was 175 (or about 7.5% of the total). The total number of votes cast was 2,261 (which represented around 37% of the electorate).

The share of the vote was as follows;

Needless to say this is a very disappointing result for your local team in King's Hedges and we all wish Mike well as he takes a well earned break and for whatever he chooses to do next.

Thank you for your support

A huge thank you to all those who voted for me yesterday.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to re-elect me to serve for another four years as your councillor.

It has been a privilege to be your councillor for the last four years.

A more detailed post will follow when we have had some sleep!

Polls close in an hour!

Polls close at ten tonight. You have an hour left to vote.

We will post the result of the King's Hedges election here as soon as we can, in the mean time watch the King's Hedges twitter feed as we may be able to post headline results there earlier.

A big thank you to all who have already voted!

Don't forget to vote

Time is running out to vote!

It has been a privilege to serve as King's Hedges councillor for the last four years, and I hope to be able to continue to serve you.

I hope that you would like me to continue to fight for the ward, to work to get money spent on improvements in the public spaces, to continue to work to deal with problems such as the litter between CRC and Campkin Road, to continue to protect key services and fight for improvements such as the improvement to the Ranger Service.

This blog details some of the more public work the team does all year round.

You also have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change our broken electoral system. Britain needs a fairer voting system. AV is a small change, as simple as 1-2-3, but a small change that will make a huge difference to how our MP's relate with the electorate.

The polls will be open until ten o'clock tonight, don't forget to vote before then!

Please vote for me and "Yes" in the referendum.

People in "GA" (basically the east of the ward) vote at Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road, and those in "GB" (the west end) vote at the North Arbury Chapel. This is printed on your poll card. If unsure, go to the nearest and they can direct you if it isn't the right station. You don't need the poll card to vote, just give your name and address to the poll staff.

Yes to AV: 9 Hours to go

When you look back on today, what do you want to remember? In just nine hours, the polls will close and with that this generation's chance to win electoral reform will be over. Will you look back with pride at your involvement in this campaign, or regret that you missed your opportunity to make a difference? Right now, AV is still within our grasp, but we need you to help make it a reality. Find your nearest campaign centre and help us get out the vote: http://www.yestofairervotes.org/now-or-never Thanks, Willie Sullivan Head of Field Operations P.S. If you can't get to an activity or office, make calls from home: http://www.yestofairervotes.org/5-may-calls

Vote to Re-elect Mike Pitt Today!

Mike has served local residents in King's Hedges as a councillor for the last four years before which he was a local activist. During his time on the Council he has worked hard for the ward. Some of the many projects he has been involved in include;

• The refurbishment of the forecourt in front of Campkin Road shops, 
• The campaign to save Milton Road trees (pictured), 
• Getting new dog waste bins installed, 
• Improving the path from Ramsden Square to Campkin Road, and
• Installing safety bollard on Northfield Avenue.  

This is alongside smaller, local work such as getting street lights repaired and potholes fixed.  He has also ensured that the City Council works more effectively with the Cambridge Regional College to tackle problems with litter in the area (particularly Campkin road forecourts).

He is also involved in our local community.  He serves as governor of King's Hedges School on Northfield Avenue, and is a trustee of the Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road. Both of these are central to King's Hedges.  He is also a Friend of Arbury Library (pictured with Local Councillor Claire Blair and Cambridge MP Julian Huppert).

On the City Council he has served two years as the Executive Councillor for Environmental and Waste Services: responsible for bin collections, and street cleaning.  He led the roll out of the new blue bin collections that has seen our dry recycling rate shoot up by making recycling easier for residents.  This service will be further enhanced after the elections when the City Council will begin accepting batteries for recycling as part of the collections for the first time.

Mike has also recently steered through the introduction of apprenticeships and has, despite the financial strains on local government, managed to create extra posts in both the Ranger service and the enforcement team to tackle litter and flytip.

Re-elect your hard-working local councillor on May 5: Vote for Mike Pitt.

2 Days to Go: Your Chance to Change British Politics for Good

Pint at the pub or a coffee in a cafe? It's not difficult to pick between two, but what happens when you have more options? Well that's the problem facing voters across the UK today, now that we all have many more than two candidates to choose from in General Elections, and AV is the only fair answer. The NO2AV campaigners think that AV is too complicated for voters like you. Well I'm sick of politicians telling us we are too stupid to understand AV. We're actually quite clever! If we can follow cricket, snooker or an EastEnders plot, I reckon we can handle voting with AV. I'm going to prove this in the final Yes to Fairer Votes Referendum Broadcast, aired tonight at 5.55 on BBC Two. No need for you to wait though - you can watch it right now, then share it with everyone you know who thinks AV is complicated. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3! I'm proud to live in a country where we are free to make our own choices; but under the current system, that freedom of choice doesn't extend to the voting booth. Under FPTP, two-thirds of our MPs that are sent to Westminster, even though the majority of their constituents voted against them. The referendum on Thursday is our chance to change all that - the winner under AV is the candidate that the majority are happy with. What could be fairer? Watch my video about how simple AV really is, and share it with everyone you know. Every vote you win could be the one that decides the future of politics in the UK. http://www.yestofairervotes.org/1-2-3 AV isn't complicated, it's as easy as 1, 2, 3. With thanks, Dan Snow

Drop in session on the 14th May

It is now May so it is time to post a reminder of our next drop in session on Saturday 14 May.

This will be at the Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road from 10am until noon as usual.

Hope to see some of you there!

Taxpayers could pay £71m as guided bus total almost £187m

The spiralling cost of building Cambridgeshire’s Guided Busway is expected to reach almost £187 million and taxpayers cost be left to pick up a staggering £71 million.

Liberal Democrats have revealed the final figures just days after contractor BAM Nuttall handed over the project to Cambridgeshire County Council two years late.

The figure includes the cost of rectifying outstanding defects and fighting the case through the courts.

It is broken down as follows:

• £151,154,389 for the Potential Final Account to the Employer – BAM Nuttall’s settlement figure on handover.

• £29,680,331 for non-contractual costs including land and supervision.

• £5 million allowance for legal costs.

• £1 million plus for rectifying outstanding defects – although this is only a (cautious) Lib Dem estimate as the actual figure has not been calculated.

The county council has £92.5 million from central government plus £23.5 million anticipated income from developer contributions making a total of £116M to payfor the busway.

This leaves it almost £71 million short which could be left for the taxpayers to fund if the county council loses the court case. Although losing 100 per cent of the court case in unlikely, the figure shows the scale of risk which keeps growing.

Lib Dem transport spokesman, Kilian Bourke said: "The cost of the busway just keeps creeping upward.  When is it going to stop?"

"The Conservatives promised the scheme would come in at £116M and that "not one penny of taxpayers' money" would be spent on it. Now we learn that the global cost of the project, including lawyers' fees, will come to £187 million and that the local taxpayer will be liable for up to £71M if the Tories lose the court case outright.

"This is unlikely to happen but the scale of the risk is monumental and losing even part of the case could leave taxpayers massively out of pocket. i just hope the Conservatives' gamble pays off and they win the case hands down."