Play your part in Olympic Games urges councillor

A leading Cambridge City Councillor is urging people to put forward nominations for Olympic Torchbearers so that the city can play its part in the historic event.

Rod Cantrill, Executive Councillor for Arts, Sport and Public Places met up with young Olympic hopefuls, shooting champion, Anna Rehfisch and fencer, Kristjan Archer to encourage nominations.

The pair are hoping to compete in the 2016 games in Brazil and they joined Cllr Cantrill when the Olympic Torch visited Cambridge at the end of last week.

Residents can nominate anyone who supports them in their lives to carry the torch in the run up to the games next year.

Cllr Cantrill said: “It is really great to see so many people, old and young, getting involved. This event and the whole build-up to the games are important on many levels: it gets everyone interested in all types of sports; it encourages people to achieve their goals and it promotes healthy living and exercise. I would encourage people to nominate anybody that supports them in their life in what ever shape or form to carry the torch next year”

Nominations can be made via www.lloydstsb.com/carrytheflame until September 12.

This is a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of King's Hedges across the City and highlight the good work that goes on in our community - if you have someone who you'd like to nominate then please make use of the URL, this really will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

E-Cops - Re-appeal over two CCTV images

We are still trying to trace two people in connection with the disorder in Cambridge on Tuesday (August 9) and would ask you to view two CCTV images we have released.

Officers were called to reports of between 30 and 40 youths, some wearing face coverings, hanging around Midsummer Common at 11.35pm. The group made their way towards the Grafton Centre and some threw items, including rubbish, at officers. Two officers suffered minor injuries.

The images can be found at the bottom of this email (web link).

We are keen to hear from anyone who recognises these people. I would also urge the people who are pictured to contact police themselves. Anyone with any information should call me on 0345 456 456 4 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Detective Sergeant Emma Compson
http://www.cambs.police.uk/images/newsitem/download/CB%209.8%206.JPG - Cambridge CCTV 1
http://www.cambs.police.uk/images/newsitem/download/CB%209.8%209.JPG - Cambridge CCTV 2

Petition Launched To Oppose Cuts To Front-Line Fire Service

Liberal Democrat Fire Authority members have launched a petition against cuts in front-line fire emergency services. The petition is in response to plans by fire chiefs in Cambridgeshire for £6 million of cuts to the fire service budget of the Conservative-controlled authority.

The petition can be signed on-line or can be printed off in order to collect further signatures and will be presented to the Fire Authority at its meeting in October.

Opposition Leader on Cambridgeshire Fire Authority, Councillor Nigel Bell said:

“I urge people in the county to sign this petition to oppose the plans for cuts in front-line services.

“There are serious concerns about the £4 million of cuts already imposed but the extra £2 million of cuts, which will see the closure of up to 4 fire stations and the removal of fire appliances, is unacceptable because of the risk to lives through increased response times.

“We believe that cuts to front-line services are dangerous and unnecessary. Instead we should be raising Council Tax in line with current inflation and be pressing for a fairer grant settlement achieved for rural fire services. We also believe that by closer working with neighbouring Fire Services we can save money through economies of scale, for example in our management costs.”

The petition can be found at:
http://cambslibdems.org.uk/en/petition/petition-against-cambridgeshire-fire-service-cuts

Council May Face Massive Cash Cuts To Fund Academies

Cambridgeshire County Council may soon find itself forced to make cuts in this year’s budget to find the extra money needed to fund the schools that have become academies.

The government has realised that it is wildly over budget for its academy programme and is now consulting about how to plug the gap.

In a recent consultation document the government conceded that it is facing a shortfall of over £600 million over the two year period 2011-2013. This has arisen because it is paying academies more money than they need and consequently more schools have decided to become academies than expected.

Lib Dem shadow cabinet member for Education, Cllr Peter Downes said:

“This amounts to a bribe to persuade schools to convert to academies and leave the Local Authority so that Mr Gove can demonstrate the 'success' of his academy policy. This will fragment our education system, which is already under financial pressure.

“Mr Gove's policy, clearly supported by the Tories in Cambridgeshire, is divisive, unfair and unsustainable.”

In Cambridgeshire four primary schools have become academies and two more are expected to convert by October 1st. 17 secondary schools have left the Local Authority already and five more are on the way.

The Council has already lost £1.71 million from this year’s budget and now stands to lose a further £3 to £4 million, depending on exactly when schools convert.

Cllr Fiona Whelan, Lib Dem shadow cabinet member for Adults’ and Children’s Social Care said:

“It is impossible to defend or justify transferring money out of services to the most vulnerable adults and children just so that a few relatively privileged schools can get a cash boost.”

Council officers expect to hear the government’s decision early in September.

Disorder in Cambridge - @cambscops Published Pictures

Police have released some information on Twitter;

Below are the images the police have released via Twitter - you can click on them for larger images. If you have any information please contact the police on 0345 456 456 4 (or you can DM them on Twitter via their @cambscops twitter account).

Police Advice Regarding Social Media and Riot Rumours

Cambridgeshire Police have been urging people across Cambridgeshire to ignore the various riot rumours circulating on social networks (Twitter, Facebook) in relation to Cambridgeshire. Cambridgeshire Police have their own Twitter feed which is updated regularly and is probably the best place for news and local updates;

https://twitter.com/#!/cambscops

The official news release is below.

"We are urging social media users not to believe everything they read on Twitter or Facebook – unless it’s an official feed.

We have been receiving a number of calls and Tweets, following rumours and speculation circulating on social media sites.

There is no truth in these rumours, and we have been working hard to reassure the public through their official Twitter feeds @cambscops and @suptpaul.

We would urge people not to believe everything they read on social media sites – unless it from an official police feed. There are a number of unhelpful postings and rumours that are simply untrue. 

We are also actively pursuing anyone we believe to be using social networking sites to incite violence and disorder.

Young people are particularly reminded of the risks of committing serious criminal offences with items they post on social networking sites. 

We continue to monitor the situation across the county – as well as other parts of the country, and are committed to keeping the people of Cambridgeshire as informed 

as possible through our official channels.

Anyone concerned about issues in their area can keep an eye on our Twitter feeds @cambscops and @suptpaul"

Lib Dems Gain Assurance That NHS Won’t Increase Waiting Times

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have sought and received an assurance from Cambridgeshire PCT that the local NHS will stick to the 18 week target for operations and treatment in the county.

Shadow Cabinet member for health, Cllr Geoff Heathcock, asked for an assurance from Cambridgeshire PCT after it emerged that some PCTs were ignoring the 18 week target in order to make savings.

Cllr Geoff Heathcock added:

“It’s a relief to know that patients will not be kept waiting longer. To wait at all when you are in pain can be very distressing.”

Unicef: Horn of Africa Disaster Appeal

I've received the following email from Paddy Ashdown (President of Unicef and former Liberal Democrat Leader);

"As I write this, there is a crisis in the Horn of Africa that is claiming the lives of thousands of children. Famine has been declared. Millions face starvation. In Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia we are witnessing the worst humanitarian catastrophe in a generation.

It is a crisis that has unfolded slowly, so much so that the media has found little drama to force it to top of news bulletins - which have instead been dominated by the phone hacking scandal. But a starving child is a starving child whether a camera is pointed at them or not. There are an estimated 10 million people in desperate need of emergency relief and we must not ignore them.

Unicef, the UN’s children’s agency of which I am the UK president, has called this crisis a “children’s famine”. In those most severely affected regions of Somalia – Bakool and Lower Shabelle – acute malnutrition due to poor diets or inadequate food is now exceeding 50% and the daily death rate for children is peaking at 13-20 per 10,000 children. That's more than 250 children or one child every six minutes. Unless we can have a swift intervention the forecast is that drought will spread to the other five regions in the south between August and December.

We should all be proud that the British government is leading the way, already providing more than £90m of aid to the region, giving emergency assistance to more than 2m people. This means, for example, treatment for starving children and access to clean drinking water. But this is not enough, not by a long shot.

As a government, the Coalition will, I am sure, continue to press our international partners to join us in taking urgent action. As individuals, we can help by contributing to the Unicef East Africa Children’s Crisis Appeal. The British people have been incredibly generous, but we can and must do more. I urge you to give all you can.

As President of UNICEF, I naturally hope you will donate to their appeal - but whatever means to choose to make a contribution, I urge you to do so as soon as you feel able to. This help is needed NOW.

To donate £10 text word FAMINE to 70099; to donate more go to Unicef UK or telephone 0800 316 5353 or visit one of the other donation sites which are available, such as the DEC Appeal.

Thank you.

Paddy Ashdown

President of Unicef UK

Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats"