Markham Close pavement fixed

In the online Focus Neil McGovern reported damage to Markham Close pavement.

Thanks to Neil's reports this damage has now been repaired!

Milton Rd Trees: County leaders yet to reply

At the North Area Committee meeting on 17 April the County Council officer in charge of the building of the Guided Busway gave a presentation on the busway's development.

One interesting aspect of the discussion was that he said during question and answers that he believed that there was no need to widen the road to accomodate current or future bus traffic.

The day after I wrote to County Cllr McGuire (in charge of transport) and County Cllr Pegram ("Cabinet Member for Environment") to ask whether this would mean that the threat to Milton Road trees could be lifted.

Frustratingly, they have yet to reply.

The good news is that the reason given for the moratorium is not supported by the County Council's officers. The bad news is that the County seems unwilling to admit this!

However as the report to the Area Joint Transport Committee was postponed (again) to July, you can still sign our petition online, or email us (see the contact) or write to Save Milton Road Trees, 19 Kirkby Close, Cambridge, CB4 1XP

City council votes to campaign against negative subsidy

Cllr Upstone and I were pleased to vote at full council to support a motion calling for the members of the city council to condemn and campaign against the negative subsidy system.

The Liberal Democrat group all voted in support of the motion, but the Labour group voted against it. Some of their members spoke in favour of the system, incredibly saying it was fair to take money from some of the poorest residents of Cambridge, including some of the most vulnerable, to pay for repairs in big cities.

The King's Hedges team will continue to work against the negative subsidy scheme. We want to ensure a fair deal for tenants and that £3m a year isn't taken out of King's Hedges by Gordon Brown.

We could make a real difference in King's Hedges with that money.

Fence fixed on Hopkins Close

Thanks to work by the LibDem team the fence between Campkin Road and Hopkins Close that blew down in the wind has finally been fixed.

(Thanks to Clare Blair, a LibDem councillor for East Chesterton, for help chasing this up!)

Negative Subsidy: £3m from King's Hedges

Of the £12million that is taken from Cambridge council tenant's rents to pay for repairs in other cities that the Labour government is unwilling to fund itself, we have worked out that about £3million is being taken from King's Hedges this year.

Imagine what could be done in King's Hedges with that amount of money! We could build new homes, or improve many homes that we have to wait for work on.

The Liberal Democrats are campaigning against it. David Howarth, our MP, and the City Council, led by Catherine Smart, the chief councillor for housing, have talked to the government about this unfair scheme asking them to end it. The LibDem party has voted that should we be in power we would scrap the scheme. Watch this space for more news!

Cambridge Manifesto

The Cambridge Liberal Democrats have launched our manifesto, which is available online.

Highlights include

• Continue to expand the range and extent of recycling in Cambridge, including more flats
• Locally, improvements to the Ramsden Square recreation ground
• Following the success of the relaunched DEC bus provide a new playboat to provide opportunities for activity and adventure projects for young people
• Build on our work improving the insulation and energy efficiency of Council Housing, and extending a new scheme to help those in private rentals and owner occupied.
• Continue to ensure that new developments include community facilities and 40% high quality affordable housing
• Continuing to campaign to get the Labour government to end negative subsidy
• Campaign to allow local residents more say in setting speed limits and transport policy.
• Look to find ways to reduce the Council's own carbon footprint, as well as helping others do the same
• Improve access to council services, through the new access centre

Read the manifesto for more details!

Save Milton Road Trees!

We've been collecting a petition in the Milton Road area to send a strong message to the county council to protect the trees. The trees provide a beautiful approach to the City and a beautiful place to live, and have crucial importance for preserving our air quality.

We're off to the Transport Area Joint Committee on 21 April to present your petition to the committee and try to get the decision to not replant reversed. We will also argue against plans which threaten the trees.

Wish us luck, more news when we've got any will be posted here.

You can still sign the petition online, or email us (see the contact) or write to Save Milton Road Trees, 19 Kirkby Close, Cambridge, CB4 1XP

Update: The decision on the Milton Road bus lane has been postponed to the next Area Joint Committee in July. We plan to present the petition to the committee then.

Some relief for Milton Road - There will be no Waterbeach "eco-town"

Our battle against mad ideas affecting Milton Road has notched up a success.

Yesterday, the government announced their shortlist of so-called eco-towns, and Waterbeach has been dropped from the plans.

That's great news, as there is no way that the A10 and Milton Road could cope with the traffic that this would generate. Waterbeach is too far out of Cambridge to get people cycling and walking - they would drive.

When asked for her comments, Executive Councillor for Climate Change and Growth, Sian Reid, said:

"I'm delighted that Waterbeach wasn't included in the shortlist. We fought hard to protect the area and our dedication paid off. It is a real relief for all our wards near the A10, especially the Milton Road area. Putting more pressure on key radial routes into the city would have dramatically damage the quality of life in there areas."

Unfortunately, the local Labour councillors still think that putting towns where there is not good transport is a good idea. In comments about another proposed town, still on the list, Labour Parliamentary candidate, Daniel Zeichner "dismissed additional claims that an eco-town would destroy an area many consider to be a rural idyll and said the 8,000 homes were a boom".

Clearly he's another one backing Gordon Brown's approach of "growth, growth, growth". It's time he found a sustainable way of running our economy, rather than putting our communities and environment under such immense pressure.

Edgecombe flats

I had a very useful meeting with the housing officer for Edgecombe flats last week.

It allowed me to raise several issues that residents had told me about, and we identified areas that need repairs and attention.

I expect to see improvements over the next few weeks, and if time allows we'll print updates here.

Dog warden

Another quick post: I've been in touch with the dog warden quite a bit this year.

They have had some success in dealing with fouling issues in Kent Way and Nuns Way. They have also investigated problems with dogs off leads.

If dogs off leads are causing a problem in parks we would need to place a special order on the park, and I'd rather not stop the majority of responsible dog owners from being able to exercise their dogs! Do let us know of any problems and we will deal with them.

Campkin Road shops - Repaired!

Good news for those following the story of the cobbles outside Tesco on Campkin Road; we've had some emergency repairs carried out as you can see in the picture. These are temporary repairs as we're waiting for a full refit of the area.

In the mean time, I'll be following up with the delivery companies who use the area to try and ensure that they don't drive over the cobbles, which seems to be one of the causes of the problem.

Road Closure featured in Cambridge News

In a report by John Downing, the Cambridge News has helped raised awareness of the closure of King's Hedges Road.

We'd like to thank them for raising awareness of the issue, and putting pressure on the County to improve lines of communication. Thanks also to Stagecoach for agreeing to put publicity on their buses.

Cambridge sport hit by Olympics?

There is an interesting article in the Cambridge News (available here online) about the effect of the London 2012 Olympics on sports funding in the County.

Apparently it could drain off as much as £9.2million from Cambridge City, and a total of £21million from Cambridgeshire as a whole. These figures come from research done by LibDem MP Don Foster.

Whilst I am very excited at the prospect of the Olympics coming to London in 2012, the project does need to be carefully managed. We don't want the legacy of 2012 to be a reduction in sporting activity in the UK! The Labour government needs to learn lessons from earlier projects.

King's Hedges Road Update

I have managed to find someone who knows about the road closure.

A County Councillor Officer has replied to the team to inform us that the closure is due to EDF's substation building works. He assured me that "EDF Energy have informed everyone affected by the closure."

The dates were chosen to coincide with CRC's Easter vacation, and the bus companies and emergency services have been informed.

It is a shame that the signs couldn't have been put up earlier, and the courtesy extended to residents of King's Hedges Road. I have made this concern known to the County Council, and I hope they can improve next time.

Street Signs

Just a quick note: I've put in requests for the missing street name sign for Albemarle Way, and the damaged street name sign in Banff Close to be repaired.

King's Hedges Road Closing?

Like many of you I've seen the signs concerning the closure of King's Hedges Road for two weeks soon. The situation is somewhat confused.

Cllr Mike Pitt has written to the highways department at the County, but the person replying has not heard about the closure. Further investigation is underway and we'll update as soon as we hear anything.

It seems odd that King's Hedges Road residents like myself have not been warned by the County Council about the possible closure, and neither have the City Councillors.

Even the the road closure website for the Guided Busway works, as well as the main County Council road closure website seem unaware of this development.

Markham Close crumbling pavement

For anyone else who's noticed that the pavement on Markham Close is crumbling, good news!

The County Council has been written to, and has scheduled repairs. As usual, we'll check up on this and make sure it's completed.

Campkin Road shops concourse

The cobbles on the concourse outside the Campkin Road shops seem to have come loose again, and some have disappeared. I've written to the city council, and they've ordered some repairs. I'll keep an eye out and make sure this is followed up.

This is the second time your LibDem team have asked for emergency repairs. Mike Pitt got some repairs made last August.

The longer term improvement project is continuing to advance.

Bus passes

I have just heard that the City Council has begun posting out bus passes to those who qualify for free travel.

Just under 10000 passes, all those who applied before the end of January, will be sent out next Tuesday, and so they will start to arrive from next Thursday (20th March). Despite the huge number we expect them to arrive before the end of March, so get in touch if they haven't arrived.

Anyone who applied after the end of January should get their pass by mid-April.

I should stress that the old passes remain valid until September anyway.

Nuns Way rec play equipment

Bad news on the Nuns Way rec repairs. I've just recieved an email from parks about the repairs.

The issue is that to strengthen the boards to avoid future repeats of the damage needs something called "trailer board". This is a special wood and has been on order from more than one local supplier for several months but has not yet come back into stock.

I am expecting another update soon. The equipment will be back in service eventually but I can't give a date yet. I will continue to chase...