Liberal Democrats Urge City To Resist EDL Provocation During March

Cambridge residents are being urged to resist provocation by the English Defence League when supporters march through the city on July 9.

The plea comes from Cambridge Liberal Democrats who want to see business as usual to demonstrate the EDL’s irrelevance to the city.

MP Julian Huppert, Cambridge City Council Leader, Sian Reid, Mayor Ian Nimmo-Smith and Lib Dem city and county councillors have signed up to a statement which makes it clear that the EDL is not welcome.

They have been joined by others across the city keen to impress upon the EDL that they are proud of their city’s “capacity peacefully to embrace people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds and enable them to regard Cambridge as their home”.

The Lib Dems have put their statement on their website at http://tinyurl.com/EDLStatement so that others can make their views clear.

Tim Bick, Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Community  Development said: “We know that a large number of people are keen to register their public opposition to the EDL’s unwelcome visit to Cambridge and what they stand for, but would prefer not to make the EDL feel more important by supporting rival demonstrations. This statement enables them to give them the cold shoulder without leaving their views and their beliefs in doubt.

“We have taken our lead on this from the Cambridge Muslim Council and opened it to the whole community.”

Cllr Reid said: ““There is no place in our city for anyone who does not share our view that diversity enriches our city. We are proud to welcome people from different nationalities and different faiths; we believe this is what makes Cambridge such a wonderful city in which to live.”

Whippet Guided Buses to stop on Milton Road

Finally; some good news as a result of the Guided Bus for people in the North of Cambridge!


When the Guided Bus finally starts running (scheduled on the 7th August) Milton Road will get a new bus service. Whippet coaches have agreed that their hourly service along Milton Road will stop at the Arbury Road/Union Lane junction.

The Monday to Saturday services will start at 0816 and run until 1816 southbound taking 10 minutes to get to the city centre and a further 9 to the railway station where they will stop. Northbound, the buses will stop every hour from 1003 until 1903 taking 5 minutes to get to the Science Park and a further 20 to get to St Ives via Histon, Oakington, Longstanton and Swavesey. On Sundays, services are every 2-3 hours starting after 10am and finishing before 7pm.

Click here for the whippet timetable.

Earlier today, Cllr Kevin Wilkins met Peter Lee, the Director of Whippet Coaches to welcome the news and discuss details. Mr Lee agreed that Whippet buses would stop at any stop along Milton Road not just Union Lane. This is very welcome news – but County Council officials are believed to be unhappy about this!

All the buses (with green, euro 5 engines) will show up on the real-time information signs at the bus stops and on various mobile phone apps.

Cross-company tickets will be available so that passengers wishing to transfer to a Stagecoach bus for example in the city centre will be able to do so.

Despite repeated requests, Stagecoach have no plans to follow suit with stops on Milton Road.

E-Cops - Have your say... on sharing information with police

How would you prefer to report information about criminal or suspicious activity in your area? 

The question is part of the second week of the ‘Have your say’ forum launch, an online tool that gives you the chance to help shape the future of policing in Cambridgeshire. All comments, questions and answers will be viewable and the forum will be live for at least the next three months.

As part of an ongoing review to improve the way the force receives and uses information the force is this week asking how the public prefer to report information about criminal or suspicious activity. The public are vital to fighting crime and it is important that we have good links with our local communities.

We are currently reviewing the way we receive and use information from the public and as part of that work we want to make this process as easy as possible for people. We’re asking if you would prefer to call, email or use the anonymous Crimestoppers service to report information about criminal or suspicious activity in your area.

Despite the cuts our priority remains bringing offenders to justice and keeping the people of Cambridgeshire safe.

I’d like to encourage you to visit the force website and have your say, and also share this opportunity with friends and family by forwarding this email.

Kind regards, 
Superintendent Paul Fullwood

http://www.cambs.police.uk/newpolicingapproach/haveyoursay/ - Have your say forum

Coming to a Library Near You ...

As part of the County Councils plans for the Library Service our local library (Arbury Court) will be closed for a week to allow the installation of self-service machines (like the one pictured from the Central library) and to allow time for staff training.

This investment in the local library is welcome. What is less than welcome is this Conservative Administrations' cuts to staffing and opening hours - a library is only useful to it's local community when it's open and people can only get the best use out of it when there are trained staff on-hand to help.

You can keep up to date with events at your local library by following the Friends of Arbury Library blog. The County Council has just finished a consultation on opening hours the results of which are not yet available - when something is available I will post it here.

County Council Liberal Democrats Name Their New Team

Liberal Democrats have named their new front line team on Cambridgeshire County Council for the next year.

Group Leader, Councillor Kilian Bourke, who officially took over from Cllr Fiona Whelan on Friday (June 17) is supported by Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, who takes over as Deputy Leader from Cllr Peter Downes.

Cllr Graham Wilson has been elected Group Chairman, Cllr Michael Williamson, Group Secretary and Cllr Peter Downes, Group Treasurer.

Cllr Susan van de Ven will lead the Transport portfolio for the next year; Cllr Kevin Wilkins has been elected spokesman for Planning, Enterprise and Environment and Cllr Sarah Whitebread will head up Localism, Climate Change and Social Justice. 

Social Care for Children and Adults will be led by Cllr Fiona Whelan, Cllr Geoff Heathcock will lead on Health and Cllr Peter Downes will continue as Education spokesman.

Cllrs John Batchelor and Kevin Wilkins will continue on Cambridgeshire Police Authority and Cllrs Nigel Bell, Geoff Heathcock and Sue Gymer will be joined by Fiona Whelan on Cambridgeshire Fire Authority.

Cllr Tim Stone has been elected chairman of the Audit Committee.

Cllr Bourke said: “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to lead such a strong team of councillors. We have a wealth of knowledge, expertise and political experience among our front line."

“We will continue to be an effective opposition doing our best for our ward residents and people across the county.”

City council rejects new plans for Lion Yard toilets

Cambridge City Council has rejected revised plans for the city’s Lion Yard toilets because they do not give the public what they want.

 Leader, Sian Reid said that the proposals are still driven by maximising ground floor retail space and not providing good city centre public toilets.

 “We are listening to the public and as such, we are refusing these plans,” she said. “It is time the developer started listening to the public as well.

“These proposals will not solve the problems we are facing. Residents clearly want ground floor toilets but these plans are driven by maximising ground floor retail space.

“The developer is still looking at the proposals in terms of what is adequate for a shopping centre and not in terms of what is right for central toilets serving a city.”

The developer has consulted disability groups in the city on its amended proposals which include one ground floor disabled cubicle accessed with a radar key and a baby changing facility on the first floor. The new plans include only two cubicles in the male toilets compared with four in the original proposals and there will be a lift.

Cllr Reid added: “We want to make sure that our residents are completely happy with the finished plans. These amended proposals do not address their concerns and therefore we cannot endorse them.”

E-Cops - 'Have your say' on the future of policing in Cambridgeshire

You have the chance to help shape the future of policing in Cambridgeshire using a new online tool.

The ‘Have your say’ section on the force website will feature weekly projects being considered for a more efficient and effective policing model.

The force faces a number of challenges over the next few years as we work to balance the books and ensure we make the best use of resources.

Work is already underway to review the existing force structure to create a new policing model that provides the best possible service to the public. 

Our focus remains on frontline duties and a commitment to bringing offenders to justice and keeping people safe. 

Now you can get involved in helping us achieve this by having your say about the changes being made to the force. 

We are very interested in your opinions and will be taking the responses into account as we redesign the force’s structure. 

Each week a topic under review will be posted on the force website for people to comment on or post questions. All comments, questions and answers will be viewable and the forum will be live for at least the next three months. 

The first topic will be the review of all non-frontline duties carried out by police officers. This includes managerial, analytical, training and call handling. 

Over the life of the restructure we will look at each of the officers in these posts and consider which should be returned to the frontline and in what timeframe.

Kind regards

Chief Constable Simon Parr

http://www.cambs.police.uk/newpolicingapproach/haveyoursay/ - 'Have your say'

Arbury Carnival 2011 Thank you!

Just a quick thank you to all the people who came up and spoke to us at the King's Hedges and Arbury Liberal Democrats stall at this years Arbury Carnival. It was a fantastic day and the weather, when you consider the Friday and Sunday, was just brilliant.

If you came along I hope you enjoyed it, and remember to put the 9th June 2012 in your diary for next years' Carnival!

The Carnival organisers have a short survey on their website if you have time to offer feedback to help make next years (35th Anniversary!) event even better.

Dust off your bike!

“Dust off your Bike!” is a campaign organised by Cycle Cambridge (part of the County Council) which aims to encourage more people to use their bikes to get around.

They are organinsing 3 events where you can get free bicycle repairs, maintenance workshops and children’s actvities. They are as follows:

• Sat 18th June 10-4 at CU Football Ground, Newmarket Road
• Wed 22 June 10-4 at Cambridge Regional College, King’s Hedges Road.
• Sun 26th June 10-4 at the Grove School, Campkin Road.

For more information visit the County Council website here.

Big Tree Plant: grants to plant trees

The Forestry Commission are offering Tree-planting grants. For information on how to claim and what is involved there is a website with more information.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/england-bigtreeplant

The next round of grants will be given out in September and it would be good to see as many applications from Cambridge City as possible - people are clearly passionate about trees and this is an opportunity, in conjunction with local groups, to make our area of Cambridge a little greener!

If you'd like to be involved please contact one of the team and, if we can get enough people, we'll coordinate the application.

Lib Dems welcome busway but fear huge bill for taxpayers

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have welcomed the news that the long-awaited Guided Busway will be open finally on August 7.

But they are concerned that the county’s taxpayers could pick up a huge bill for the project after fears that the total cost could creep up to as much £187 million; in a worst-case scenario local people could be liable for up to £71 million.

The Conservatives insisted from the start of the project, which is more than two years late, that "not one penny" of taxpayers’ money would be needed to pay for the busway.

With a legal battle imminent and new contractors brought in to rectify defects to meet the August deadline, however, they have now resorted to promising to “get the best deal for taxpayers”.

Liberal Democrat Highways Spokesman, Kilian Bourke said: “It will be good to see the guided bus finally up and running but at what cost to local people?"

“A string of Conservative leaders promised not to spend one penny of taxpayers' money on the project but now they are only promising to get "the best deal for taxpayers."

"The watering down of the original promise is ominous when there is £71m at stake.  I suspect this is one "best deal" that local taxpayers could do without."

King's Hedges Eat and Meet

Next Tuesday (7th June) there is another in the series of "King's Hedges Eat and Meet" meetings at the North Arbury Chapel.

These meetings are organised by King's Hedges Neighbourhood Partnership as a way of encouraging local groups and agencies to network with each other so that we can all work together to best serve local residents.

I'll be attending as both your local County Councillor and Chair of Governors at the Manor. If there are any local issues you'd like me to raise, events you'd like me to highlight, or local groups you would like to see invited let me know and I'll pass on your request.

One Week To Go Until The Arbury Carnival!!

Just a little reminder that in one weeks time on the corner of Campkin Road and Northfield Avenue the annual Arbury Carnival (now in it's 34th year!) will be kicking off.

Your local Liberal Democrats from King's Hedges and Arbury will have stalls, come along and talk to us!

The website with more information is;

www.arburycarnival.org

Next year will be the 35th Anniversary of the Carnival and we'll be doing something special. If you'd like to volunteer to join the committee and help us organise it then you can either contact me (via email) or come up and talk to any of the organisers on the day.

Note: Expect some traffic congestion on Northfield and Campkin during the procession (around Midday) but otherwise local disruption should be kept to a minimum!

Roadworks In King's Hedges (and across Cambridgeshire)

Cambridgeshire County Council's Highways Department are currently proposing (plant and weather permitting) to perform some surface dressing of some of the more badly damaged roads across Cambridgeshire.

I've attached the County-wide details here (PDF).

Of particular interest to residents in King's Hedges will be the work starting on the 4th June to fix up Northfield Avenue between Campkin Road and King's Hedges Road.

As you can see in this picture taken just before the last election the previous round of street repairs have left the road in a far better technical condition (some of the potholes were beginning to be real danger to cyclists) but looking less than ideal.

Hopefully the work later this week will address this. 

Notification of Tree Removals - Apthorpe Way

I have been notified by the City Council that the County Council Highways Department has instructed them to remove four early mature silver maples in Apthorpe Way. These trees are causing subsidence damage to two of the adjacent properties.

The consultation included the three options;

1) Do nothing. Retain the existing trees and either resist of accept any potential claim for damages. This option is not acceptable to the County Council.

2) Reduce the crown of the tree to reduce the trees water update. This would need to be substantial (50%) and due to the vigorous nature of the trees and the expectation of fairly rapid re-growth it would be necessary to repeat the process every two years in order to maintain the reduced demand.

3) Remove the trees and replace with smaller trees (such as whitebeam - these are already present on the verge opposite). 

Only Option 3 is supported by the affected homes insurers and while it is possible felling the two nearest trees could mitigate some of the damage as the other two trees would remain and the option is not favoured by the insurers there is a risk of protracted legal action should subsidence resume.

If you'd like to see the original documentation provided please visit my website here.

Library Service - Opening Hours Consultation

Cambridgeshire County Council are currently running a consultation on the opening hours for Arbury Court Library, Histon Library, and the Cambridge Central Library which directly affect King's Hedges. The catchment for Milton Road Library *apparently* does not include King's Hedges. 

Looking first at Arbury Court (where I'm a friend of the Library) at the moment the library is open for 32.5 hours a week. The proposal is that this be reduced to 27 hours a week. This reduction is around 17%, substantially more than overall reduction of 7% being proposed for the entire service.

Unfortunately the news for both Histon (a 10% reduction) and the Central Library (a 9% reduction) are not substantially better.

It seems after attempting to rig the original survey identifying the libraries under threat of closure against City Libraries the Conservative administration is now attempting to rig the opening hours cuts so that they disproportionally affect city libraries - and this is surely what these cuts (based on the population of the catchment area - rather than actual usage) will do.

Once again the Conservative administration is ensuring that the harshest cuts are inflicted on Cambridge City.

The surveys can be completed online by following the following links;

Arbury Court

Histon Road

Cambridge Central Library

And for those of you for whom the Milton Road Library is more appropriate a link to this survey is available here.