Cambridge City Council Grants for Local Groups - One Week To Go!

Cambridge City Council has made available, via the Area Committees, grants for local groups. This round of funding is the last round for 2012-13 and there is only one week left to apply.

Some examples of the type of things that can be fully or partially funded;

• Summer outing for elderly people
• Producing a newsletter for local residents
• Sports and arts activities
• Community events and festivals

Full information (and contact details) are available here (Google Docs, PDF).

This round closes on the 30th September for decision at the 22nd November meeting.

If you want help putting together a bid please contact us using the details on the left.

Cambridge City Council Grants for Local Groups

Cambridge City Council has made available, via the Area Committees, grants for local groups. Some examples of the type of things that can be fully or partially funded;

• Summer outing for elderly people
• Producing a newsletter for local residents
• Sports and arts activities
• Community events and festivals

Full information (and contact details) are available here (Google Docs, PDF).

The first round of funding was completed in March and grants were awarded at the 17th May meeting of the North Area Committee. This round closes on the 30th September for decision at the 22nd November meeting.

If you want help putting together a bid please contact us using the details on the left.

Two-Way Cycling On One-Way Streets

As part of the European Bike Friendly Cities project Cambridgeshire County Council is looking at increasing the number of one-way streets in Cambridge City that allow two-way cycling. This has recently been made a lot easier to do in that a new plate, "except cycles", can now be added to the standard no-entry signs.

Here is a list of the streets involved;

Panton Street
Brookside
Norwich Street
Coronation Street
Mercers Row
Swanns Road
New Square (south)
St Eligius Street
Mount Pleasant
Shelley Row
Albion Row
Perowne Street
Emery Road
Emery Street
Argyll Street (west)
Cockburn Street
Sedgewick Street
Catherine Street
Thoday Street
Ross Street
Hemingford Road
Belgrave Road
Vinery Road (north)
Harvest Way
Fitzwilliam Street
Park Terrace
Springfield Road
Albert Street
Adam and Eve Street at Burleigh St*
Hope St*

*- These two require additional work. The removal of signage as well as removal of island blocks.

King's Hedges isn't blessed with any specific one-way streets which we could ask for this change to be applied to but if you cycle into the City Centre and would like me to add any other roads to the project please let me know.

Cambridge Liberal Democrats Elect New Leader And Front Line Team

Cllr Tim Bick
(LD, Market)

Cambridge Liberal Democrats have today (Monday, May 14) announced that Councillor Tim Bick will be taking over from Councillor Sian Reid as the group’s new leader.

Sian has decided to step down following surgery earlier this year and the need to take some time to fully recover.

The Lib Dems have also elected their front line team for the coming year with Cllr Catherine Smart continuing as the group’s deputy leader. They propose she will continue to have responsibility for housing, Cllr Tim Ward with the planning and sustainable transport portfolio,

Cllr Rod Cantrill with arts, sport and public places and Cllr Jean Swanson with the waste and recycling portfolio.

They will be joined by newly re-elected Cllr Mike Pitt who they propose to take responsibility for community development and health and Cllr Julie Smith for customer services and resources. Both have experience as executive councillors.

Tim will be proposed as Cambridge City Council Leader at the council’s annual meeting on May 24 when councillors will also vote on the nominations for executive councillors.

The Lib Dems will also be nominating Cllr Sheila Stuart as Mayor and Cllr Paul Saunders as Deputy Mayor for the coming year.

Tim said: “I am delighted to be given this opportunity but at the same time we are all sorry that Sian has decided not to re-stand. She has been a formidable leader of the group and the council and we are sorry that she wanted to step down."

Tim has represented Market Ward on Cambridge City Council for the past four years and served as Executive Councillor for Community Development for the last two. He has worked in human resources in the local technology sector for over 10 years and lives in the city centre. He brings experience of leading his party in local government in Warwickshire.
 
The Lib Dems are the largest party on the city council with half the seats and will propose a full Lib Dem administration at next week’s annual council meeting.

“We have a strong vision for this city and have far from run out of energy and ideas,” said Tim. “The council has work to do and needs to satisfy. There is no other party or collection of parties that is in a position to deliver sound, consistent government to the city.

“It is good for the city that the council's procedures envisage close results and help to avoid deadlock. The same procedures will give voice to the stronger Labour representation and we hope this will add richness to the council's decisions."

Sian’s two year leadership saw the city council through hard economic times. She faced tough decisions setting the council’s budget while at the same time making sure that basic services and those for the vulnerable were protected.

Before taking the leadership, she was Executive Councillor for Climate Change and Growth for four years.

During this time she worked hard to get the city council national recognition for its policy requiring developers of new homes to meet the highest levels of sustainable building.

One of her greatest achievements was the recognition for Cambridge in the Centre for Cities report which named it as one of the top cities in the UK to lead the country to economic recovery.

“I am delighted to hand over to Tim,” she said. “He brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role and I have every confidence that, together with his new front line team, the Liberal Democrats will continue to work hard for the people of Cambridge.

"I have been part of a fantastic team of people through extremely challenging times, and very much remain part of that team.”

Community Workshops: Healthy Living and Well Being in the Community - 10th May

King's Hedges Election Results

Well now the election results across most of the Country are known it's been pretty clear that the Liberal Democrats haven't had a good night, the fact that the Conservatives haven't had a good night either isn't really that much of a consolation.

Here in Cambridge City we lost several good Councillors including my ward colleague Cllr Neil McGovern who was part of the Cambridge City Executive and who has worked very hard for King's Hedges residents but unfortunately it wasn't enough to turn back the Labour Tide.

The full results for the City elections are available on the City Councils website here. From the website;

"Before the elections, the composition of the 42 seats on the council was 25 Liberal Democrats, 14 Labour, 2 Green and 1 Independent. 


Labour gained four seats and the Conservatives gained one, while the Liberal Democrat party lost four seats and the Green party lost one. 


A Green councillor announced on election day that he was switching his allegiance to the Labour party, so after the elections the composition of the council was 21 Liberal Democrats, 19 Labour, 1 Conservative and 1 Independent."

The result in King's Hedges was;

• Gawthrope, Nigel Peter (Labour) - ELECTED 827
• Karimi, Arnette (Conservative) 199
• McGovern, Neil Michael (Liberal Democrat) 576
• Tyes, Ian (United People's Party) 105

Here is a quick diagram showing how the vote was shared out;

King's Hedges Share of Vote

Phil Rodgers has done an excellent visualisation of the last two elections on his blog (available here) which shows that both the Liberal Democrat and Labour share of the vote have increased over last year at the expense of the Conservatives but that the Labour share of the vote has increased both by more and from a higher base.

Congratulations to Nigel on his election victory, I look forward to meeting him at the next North Area Committee meeting.

E-Cops - Sixteen Arrested In Dawn Drugs Raids In Cambridgeshire

This morning saw one of the constabulary’s largest ever drugs operations, codenamed Operation Vanguard. Eighteen dawn raids at properties in areas including Sutton, Waterbeach, St Ives, Burwell, Needingworth, Cottenham, Fulbourn, Huntingdon, Milton and Cambridge resulted in 18 arrests. This was the culmination of a long-term investigation into the large scale supply of class A drugs in Cambridgeshire, mainly high purity cocaine.

Arrests were also made today by police in Northamptonshire and Hampshire in connection with the same conspiracy. Of the arrests by Cambridgeshire officers, one was made in Chelmsford, Essex, and another at a property in Red Lodge, Bury St Edmunds, where cannabis plants were also discovered.

Officers will be visiting properties in the vicinity of the raids to update local residents on the policing operation.

I’d like to reassure you that these raids are part of the force’s ongoing campaign to stop class A drugs being sold in Cambridgeshire. The use and supply of drugs in not only illegal, it also fuels other types of crime.

We take this type of offending very seriously and would urge anyone with information about drug dealing to contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 or you can leave details online using their secure contact from – see link below.

Chief Inspector Darren Alderson,
Silver commander
Operation Vanguard

https://secure.crimestoppers-uk.org/ams.form.anonymous.asp - Crimestoppers online contact form

Rackham Close Environmental Improvement Works - Proposed Removal of Existing Tree

Rackham Close, Proposed Tree Removal

The following notification was sent to local Councillors in relation to a plan to remove a tree from Rackham Close;

"In accordance with the Tree Protocol for the Consultation and Determination of Tree Work Operations to Trees on City Council Owned Land I am e-mailing to advise that one of our Environmental Improvement schemes on Rackham close (in the North Area) includes the proposed removal of an existing tree. Please find attached a notice that will be attached to the tree effected which confirms its location and gives some background to the Environmental Improvement scheme generally. For awareness Public consultation has already been carried out for the scheme and did include details of the proposed removal of the tree and there has been no concerns raised by the local residents.

As per the Tree Protocol it would be appreciated if you could please advise me of any concerns you have in relation to the removal of the tree within 5 working days or indicate if you require an additional 5 working days to consider the proposal. If no concerns are raised, for awareness we are looking to arrange for the tree to be removed as soon as possible before we commence the main Environmental Improvement works.

Thank you in advance, if you have and questions then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Gavin Card - Acting Project Team Leader
Cambridge City Council
Project Delivery and Environment Team"

The document is available here (as a Google Doc).

Apprenticeships On The Increase In City

Apprenticeships in Cambridge are on the increase with 2,190* people joining a training programme between August 2011 and January 2012.

This new figure comes on top of record numbers of apprentices in the city last year – 1,630 apprentices were on a training programme in 2011/12 an increase of 53 per cent on the previous year.

The news has been welcomed by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert who says the programmes are vital if people are to be given the chance of full-time employment.

“Apprenticeships are extremely valuable in teaching our people the skills which employers are looking for in new recruits,” said Julian. “By working closely with education providers such as Cambridge Regional College, employers can help to train people to make a much-needed contribution to the workplace.

“In return, employers have people who are trained from the very beginning to meet their specific requirements and who can help to grow their businesses.”

Through the government’s Regional Growth Fund the Eastern region and the South East have benefited from a £92 million investment creating a total of 10,214 jobs.

“For this region to continue to be successful, people need the skills and experience to take advantage of new jobs being created in the area,” added Julian. “Apprenticeships offer these skills while at the same time helping companies to be more productive.”

To support more employers, especially small businesses, to take on apprentices, the Coalition Government has taken a number of measures: a) Offering employers with up to 50 employees an incentive payment of £1,500 to take on apprentices aged 16-24. This will encourage small employers to take on up to 20,000 apprentices, b) Streamlining processes so that it takes just a month for an employer to advertise for an apprentice, and c) Ensuring that the National Apprenticeship Service better supports the needs of small employers – through more effectively targeted advice and guidance and helping training providers work more effectively with local SMEs.

*- Figures for the period August 2011 – January 2012 are based on data from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and are provisional and provide an early view of the number of apprentices for the academic year 2011/12.

Lib Dems Act To Defeat Move To Restrict Shared Homes

Cllr Catherine Smart
(LD, Romsey)

Liberal Democrats will tonight (Thursday, April 19) call on their city council colleagues to reject a Labour move to restrict the number of shared houses in Cambridge.

They will also ask for rejection of Labour’s demands to look at options for regulating houses in multiple occupation.

And they will advise the council that smaller shared houses, where three or more people live in two or more unrelated households, cannot be licensed because conditions required to meet the legislation are not present in Cambridge at the moment; the situation will continue to be monitored.

The Lib Dems have raised an amendment to a Labour motion calling for the restriction and will ask the city council to “recognise the vital contribution that well-run houses make in providing homes for family, students, professionals and migrant workers”.

Catherine Smart, Romsey Councillor and Deputy Leader of Cambridge City Councillor said: “Without shared housing many people living and working in our city would not be able to do so. Property prices make home ownership unaffordable for many in Cambridge but they can live in the city by sharing the cost of renting.

“We are fortunate that we have a diverse mix of people in our city and we don’t want to discourage that. This could be bad for our economy and our community in general.

“It is vital, therefore, that we make sure we support the contribution made by these properties and the people who live there. But at the same time, we do acknowledge that not all of them are run as well as they could be and sometimes there are problems as there are with all types of housing. We have procedures in place to deal with this.”

Lib Dems will ask for an annual report to be brought to the council’s Community Services Committee detailing the number and type of complaints received by the Environmental Health Department in all types of housing in the city and how they have been dealt with, including the number of prosecutions.

The full wording of the Lib Dem amendment is as follows:

'The Council recognises the vital contribution that shared rented housing makes in providing homes for students, professionals, migrant workers and many people on low incomes.   It acknowledges that housing is expensive in Cambridge and that this is the only way many people can afford to live in the city.

Council therefore rejects the idea of limiting the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in the city or part of the city.  If restrictions are put in place, rents would rise and people would quickly be priced out of the city.   Making it difficult for people to access shared housing in the city, could have a disastrous effect on the economy of the area.  

Council notes the desire of some to “extend the current HMO definition to include all properties with 3 or more people in two or more unrelated households, regardless of the building layout”  but also notes that the conditions required in the legislation are not present in Cambridge to extend the licensing system in this way and agrees that it should be kept under review.    However, Council also recognises that the implementation of the licensing of smaller properties can be deeply intrusive and lead to complex enquiries about details of people's relationships and domestic arrangements which are no business of the council.  Any extension of the licensing system would need to be framed to avoid this.

The Council also notes that, while the majority of landlords are responsible and manage their houses in a satisfactory way, a minority are not, causing severe problems both to their tenants and to the neighbours.   It further notes that while the majority of residents are responsible people, some are not and are inconsiderate, irresponsible and cause considerable problems to their neighbours

The Council therefore endorses the actions of the Environmental Health Officers in responding to complaints and working towards changing the behaviour of the irresponsible minority in all types of tenure whether landlords, tenants or home-owners.     It notes that advice, warnings, enforcement letters, injunctions, confiscations and full prosecution are all used to this end. 

However, Council requests that an annual report is brought to Community Services Scrutiny Committee detailing the number and type of complaints received by the Environmental Health Department and how they have been dealt with, including the number of prosecutions."

Residents Back Campaign For New Post Office

Cllr Neil McGovern
(LD, King's Hedges)

Cambridge residents have backed a campaign for a new post office in the King’s Hedges area of the city.

More than 75 per cent of people surveyed by ward councillor, Neil McGovern said they wanted a new post office to replace the one on Cameron Road which was demolished to make way for housing.

After the post office was closed - under a Labour government-run programme which saw more than 7,100 post offices lost including almost a third in Cambridge – residents have been using post offices in Arbury Court, King’s Hedges Road and even Milton.

Now the Liberal Democrats in government are changing the rules to make it easier to open new post offices.

Cllr McGovern said: “Post offices are a vital part of our community and it is clear from my survey, that residents need them, use them and value them. Labour failed to take this into account when they embarked on their massive closure programme which resulted in the loss of the Cameron Road post office.

“I want to see a new post office to replace the one that was lost. The Post Office is the social centre of many communities and it is important that it is easily accessible particularly for the elderly and disabled who cannot travel long distances.

“My survey has demonstrated how much residents have missed their post office and want it back.”

The government has committed £1.34 billion of funding over four years to the Post Office to help modernise and develop the network.

Cambridge North Newsletter Spring 2012

The newsletter is available here (via Google Docs).

Cambridge North Newsletter - Spring 2012

Lib Dems' Election Manifesto To Ensure City’s Success

Cambridge Liberal Democrats launched their election manifesto today (Saturday, March 31) and promised to continue to ensure the success of the city by investing in its people and its future.

They reiterated their vision for Cambridge to meet housing needs, support the city’s economy, care for the environment, tackle anti-social behaviour and meet the needs of the vulnerable.

And looking forward, they said they would continue to do things better for lower costs, with a focus on working more smartly behind the scenes.

Leader Sian Reid said: “We have worked hard over many years to find better ways for the city council to deliver services. This has meant we have preserved investment and protected frontline services during tough times.

“We take our lead from our residents and make decisions as closely as possible to the people affected by those decisions.”

The manifesto sets out clear priorities for new spending in the future:

• Supporting vulnerable individuals and communities including a new job club, installing welfare advice points and rehabilitating street drinkers;
• Investing in streets and open spaces including piloting street champions to tackle litter, a 20mph scheme, dual use litter bins and promoting Mill Road;
• Getting Cambridge’s future right by cutting energy use and investing in renewable and making the case for sustainable transport.

Cllr Reid added: “We are never complacent about the city’s economy and the outlook for its vulnerable.

“Our approach and our work with so many organisations is paying off for Cambridge. The city has weathered the storm better than any other city in the UK which was acknowledged by the Centre for Cities.”


The manifesto is available to download here (via Google Docs).

Cambridge City Area Committee Grants for Local Organisations

Cambridge City Council has made available, via the Area Committees, grants for local groups. Some examples of the type of things that can be fully or partially funded;

• Summer outing for elderly people
• Producing a newsletter for local residents
• Street party to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee
• Sports and arts activities
• Community events and festivals
• Events celebrating the Olympics

Full information (and contact details) are available here (Google Docs, PDF).

There will be two rounds of funding in 2012-2013, the first closes on the 31st March and will be decided at the 17th May meeting of North Area Committee and the second closes on the 30th September for decision at the 22nd November meeting.

If you want help putting together a bid please contact us using the details on the left.

Residents Consultation on the Roman Courts Development

On the 21st March at 3pm there is a public meeting at the Meadows Community Centre just off King's Hedges road regarding the proposed development to replace the existing Roman Courts site in King's Hedges. A letter has been sent to residents;

Residents Consultation Letter

I'd urge those interested in this new development to attend.

The meeting runs until 7pm, so it will be a long meeting, and I will be there and report back what I hear.

Roman Courts: Residents Consultation Letter

City Council Celebrates Success Of Apprenticeship Scheme

Cambridge City Council is celebrating the success of its apprenticeship scheme after eight young people achieved their qualifications.

The young people, aged between 17 and 23, have been awarded their NVQ Level 2 award in Cleansing and Support Services.

They were recruited in two phases under an apprenticeship scheme run by the city council in partnership with cutting edge training company, Nordic Pioneer.

Working with the council’s Street and Open Spaces service delivery team, the apprentice tackled jobs around the city such as removing graffiti, flytipping and flyposting and cleaning up commons and cemeteries.  

Cllr Jean Swanson (LD,
Queen Edith's Ward)

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

The scheme ties in with the national drive to expand apprenticeships after the coalition government gave an extra £50,000 over four years to create 250,000 more apprenticeships.

Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Waste and Environmental Services, Jean Swanson said: We are very pleased with the success of the Cleansing Apprenticeship Scheme.

“We worked with Nordic Pioneer to shape the programme to include some basic grounds maintenance activities to bring some extra variety to the programme and introduce other useful skills.

“Two apprentices have continued to work with us, when required through an agency and they are keen to apply for positions should vacancies arise.”

The scheme is being evaluated it is anticipated there will be enough in the council’s budget to recruit another group of apprentices.

City’s £30,000 Training Scheme To Help Young Unemployed

A £30,000 training scheme to help unemployed young people find work has been launched by Cambridge City Council and backed by MP Julian Huppert.

Five young people, aged between 16 and 21 will be offered paid six month traineeships with voluntary and community organisations which are in partnership with the city council.

The Young Project Workers Scheme will offer responsibility, some training and a positive short-term work placement to include on their CVs.

Support group, Young Lives will organise and run the scheme and trainees will be paid £6 an hour, just above the National Minimum Wage, for 22.5 hours a week.

Cllr Tim Bick
(LD, Market Ward)

Tim Bick, Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Community Development said: “Young people are having a particularly hard time trying to break into the job market and we hope this project will offer a chance to gain worthwhile skills to help make that task easier. Getting that first positive experience onto a CV can often be the most difficult obstacle to get past.

“It is designed to benefit the young people by offering them short-term employment on specific projects, gaining skills which will hopefully help them to find jobs

“At the same time, voluntary and community organisations will benefit from the extra staffing to develop or enhance a short-term project.”

Cambridge City Council is hoping the scheme can be combined with the government’s Youth Contract programme which offers 12 months subsidised placements, but only if the minimum wage level is maintained.

Julian Huppert, who won government backing this week for Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats’ scheme to provide free transport for young people searching for education, training or work, has applauded the Lib Dem controlled City Council for taking the initiative with this training project.

He said: “This is an excellent scheme. It has the potential not only to support young people who are finding it difficult to get onto the job ladder, but also community and voluntary organisations who have been struggling in these harsh economic times.

“Anything we can do to give young people the support and help they need to break into the job market is extremely worthwhile. I am delighted that Liberal Democrats on Cambridge City Council  have recognised the struggle facing our young people and taken positive action to tackle it head on.”

City Councillors Vote On Spending Plans And Tax Freeze

Cllr Catherine Smart
(LD, Romsey)

Cambridge City Councillors will vote this week on their spending plans for the coming year and a move to freeze council tax for residents.

The ruling Liberal Democrat group has put together a budget which safeguards the city’s basic services and protects services for the vulnerable while at the same time pushing ahead with its vision for the city’s future.

But it has been a careful balancing act against a backdrop of a 23 per cent reduction in the council’s government grant over the next two years.

Despite funding restraints, the Lib Dems have identified £1.2 million worth of savings for 2012/13 rising to £1.4 million in later years.

And the council is planning to give grants to help people insulate their homes and to increase plastic recycling.

There are also plans to fund a restorative justice scheme for low-level offending where victims and offenders agree. This scheme will be similar to those in other parts of the country which have been successful in cutting re-offending.

The Lib Dems will ask their Cambridge City Council colleagues to vote for their budget on Thursday (February 23).

Catherine Smart, Cambridge City Council Deputy Leader said: “This budget has not been easy but it has been made easier by the hard work and the robust programme of savings put in place last year.

“This means we have been able to protect those of our services used by vulnerable people, invest in our basic services so the city is kept safe and clean, and to make sure that we get right those things where we only have one chance to get it right.

“And fortunately because we have been prudent, we can take the council tax freeze the government is offering which will bring some relief to people whose finances are stretched.”

Liberal Democrat City Councillors Call For Pay Freeze For Councillors

A pay freeze for Cambridge City Councillors is on the cards after Lib Dems stepped in to halt an increase in their allowances.

The move would save taxpayers £26,000 this year.

Cllr McGovern

Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Customer Services and Resources, Neil McGovern said: “It was agreed last year our allowance scheme should be carried over for a further year while allowing for an inflationary increase.

“But clearly a great deal has changed in the last year and this is the wrong time for councillors to take even an inflation linked pay rise. People are losing their jobs and struggling to make ends meet and we are looking for any savings that we can make to ease the burden on our taxpayers.”

The recommendation to allow the allowance scheme to carry over for 2012/13 was made by the council’s Civic Affairs Committee in March last year.

But Cllr McGovern will tell full council on February 23 that the inflationary increase should not be taken.

Call For Greater Police Powers To Enforce 20mph Zones

Leading Cambridge City Councillor, Tim Bick is calling for a national review to give the police greater powers to enforce 20mph speed limits.

He is urging Cambridge City Council to support the call to the government and the Association of Chief Police Officers as the council considers extending 20mph zones in the city.  

Cllr Bick, Executive Councillor for Community Safety wants consideration given to empower Police Community Support Officers to carry out speed controls to free up police officers for other duties.

He also wants to see option speed awareness courses available for those breaking a 20mph limit for the first time and speed cameras developed for 20mph zones.

Cllr Bick said: “The objective of slowing traffic down on residential roads is shared by many people. It brings greater safety and a better environment. We already have a number of 20mph limits within the city and the city council is currently considering whether to broaden these further.

"They shouldn't rest solely on enforcement, but enforcement does need to be an available tool. It is clear that as the public mood moves on this, the enforcement tools need to keep up in order for the police to continue to make the kind of contribution people would expect from them.

"Where 20mph limits get designated, it should be possible to enforce them drawing on the same approaches used for breaches of all other speed limits. And given the community-based element of 20mph limits, it would also seem appropriate to consider empowering PCSOs to carry out controls in order to make for more flexibility in the deployment of police numbers across the range of incidents they need to deal with."

Cllr Bick’s call comes in a motion to Cambridge City Council on February 23 which welcomes Cambridgeshire Police’s readiness to enforce speed limits and its extension of the fixed penalty notice system for 20mph zones.

His motion urges MPs and the Local Government Association to support and follow-up his call.

The full wording of Cllr Bick’s motion reads as follows:

Welcoming the Department of Transport's encouragement of local authorities which want to introduce 20mph limits, Council accepts that enforcement is only one of the tools which influence the success of such schemes. But it welcomes Cambridgeshire Constabulary's readiness to carry out enforcement and its extension of the fixed penalty notice system to the 20mph limits to do so. To further enhance the situation, it calls on the Government and ACPO to carry out a national review to optimise the tools and powers available for enforcement, to include:

Development of optional speed awareness courses for those breaching a 20mph limit for the first time, treating it like breaches of higher speed limits

The potential to deploy PCSOs to carry out speed controls

The specification of speed cameras suitable for areas of 20mph limits
 
Council calls on local MPs and representatives in the LGA to support and follow-up this call.