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.

Dog Takes A Bite Out Of Local Election Candidate!

Cllr Neil McGovern
(LD, King's Hedges - Cambridge City)

Cambridge City Councillor, Neil McGovern discovered a dog’s bite is certainly worse than its bark while out election canvassing last night (Wednesday, April 25).

He was bitten on the hand as he tried to put a note through a door in the city’s Atkins Close to let the homeowners know he had called while they were out.

Suddenly, the dog leapt at the letterbox and took a bite out of Cllr McGovern, who is standing for re-election in the King’s Hedges ward.

Cllr McGovern abandoned his canvassing and went to the accident and emergency department at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

“It was quite a shock and totally unexpected,” said Cllr McGovern. “It was a minor bite but I decided I ought to get it checked out at the hospital.

“The staff were fantastic. They gave me a tetanus jab and a course of antibiotics and I was ready to go in just 15 minutes. My partner had gone to get some coffee because we expected to be there for a while, but by the time she got back I had been seen and patched up.

“I was so impressed with the service and can’t thank the staff enough.”

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.

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.

Council’s Multi Million Pound Investment To Protect Services

A multi-million pound investment in Cambridge to secure and improve services for years to come has been unveiled by the Liberal Democrats as part of the Cambridge City Council’s budget.

They have set aside £3.4 million to carry out crucial work at the city’s Park Street car park. A study in the new year will look at how the council can be smarter in the way it uses the car park while still retaining much needed spaces for shops and businesses.

Work refurbishing the city’s Lion Yard toilets is included in the budget at a cost of £300,000. The toilets will be retained on ground floor and money will be spent bringing them up to a high standard with the facilities that people want. A working party will oversee the work.

Cambridge’s crematorium and cemetery buildings will be refurbished at a cost of £240,000.

This will also include renovation of the chapels and waiting rooms at the Huntingdon Road Crematorium and the waiting room and reception area at the Newmarket Road Cemetery. The work will follow the major £2 million project to upgrade the technical side of the crematorium, enabling greater energy efficiency and the most recent environmental standards, which is currently nearing completion.

Neil McGovern, Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Customer Services and Resources said: "It is vital that in these difficult times the council continues to invest in its assets and does not let them deteriorate. This investment now will help keep services running for years to come."

Also the council plans to recruit a new Head of Property Services to manage its £100 million commercial property portfolio.

Cllr McGovern added: "Our commercial property brings in about £8 million a year in extra income. This is the same as council tax receipts, so it is vital that we use our assets to keep tax low and protect services"

Local Liberal Democrats @ Conference Videos

Your local Cambridge City Councillor was fully involved in the recent Liberal Democrat Conference, here are some Press clippings;

Cllr Neil McGovern On the new planning policy (from BBC Look East)

Responding to the leader's speech (from BBC Daily Politics)

Speech on IT policy (from BBC Parliament)