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.”

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.”

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.

Lib Dems Back Move To Help More Street Drinkers

Outreach workers are hoping to extend a successful project and take more drinkers off the streets of Cambridge.

The £33,000 scheme, backed by Liberal Democrats on Cambridge City Council, would increase the number of successful detox programmes offered to alcoholics who cannot maintain normal out-patient treatment.

Street Outreach and Mental Health Team workers have asked for half the funding from Cambridge City Council and half from the GP consortium, Camhealth following successful working with street drinkers which has led to 30 a year treated under the detox programme. If both partners agree to funding this number could be increased to 50.

The money would pay for a Project Worker to support the Community Psychiatric Nurse.

City Councillors Catherine Smart and Tim Bick, responsible for housing and community safety respectively, are set to approve extra funding from the city council and are hoping Camhealth will follow their lead.

"Over the past two years, these community detox programmes have built an impressive track record," says Cllr Smart. "It now looks like we can capitalise further on the effectiveness of the Community Pyschiatric Nurse with a modest additional investment.

“With support from the city council we can increase treatments to at least 40 a year. If Camhealth come on board too and make this a full-time position, we could make it at least 50.

"Alongside education and training, interim accommodation and housing, these detox programmes fit into the Council's endeavours to rehabilitate those often seen on the streets, sometimes creating a nuisance by their behaviour," says Cllr Bick.

"I don't think there's a more sustainable alternative. One more individual getting their life back on track is one less potentially living on the streets: it's a win-win approach."

Rachel Everitt from the charity, Crime Reduction Initiatives, which manages the Street Outreach Team said: “"Our nurse does really positive work and secures some great outcomes. “But the time-consuming engagement and follow-up work with clients tends to hold back the capacity of his clinical role.

"With a Project Worker to support him, we think we can significantly increase the number of successful detoxes."

Subject to Council protocols, the city council will provide an immediate 12 months grant for half of the Project Worker's costs paid for from budget under-spending elsewhere.

It plans to assess the impact as part of a major review of policies to combat anti-social behaviour from the street life community in October.

Cllr Tim Bick, Street Outreach and Mental Health Team Manager, Rachel Everitt, Alcohol Community Psychiatric Nurse, Malcolm Stork and Cllr Catherine Smart

City Council Makes Youngsters A Top Priority For 2012

Cambridge City Council is making young people a top priority for 2012 with a range of projects to give them a head-start.

Plans just published include:

•  Expanding the impact of the Council's Children and Young People's Participation Service (ChYPPS) across the city's 9-13 year olds, through greater use of volunteers and closer working with schools, following a major all-party review.
• Budget proposals from the ruling Lib Dems  for a new Youth Officer post to strengthen the council's role in work with the older, teenage group
• A new scheme to engage young people at risk of exclusion in sport.

"We are committed to do things well that we have only one chance to get right, especially in this time of austerity,” said Tim Bick, Executive Councillor for Community Development.

“What more important, in this context than the experience of a whole generation of the city's young people who face so many risks and challenges?"

He welcomed the new strategy for ChYPPS adding: "This service in Cambridge is almost unique and something the whole council is proud of. Growing it further through the engagement and training of volunteers will enable it to amplify its impact. Transmitting and sharing the council's huge expertise in 'play' can build capacity in the wider community, which is a wholly healthy ambition".

Referring to the new Youth Officer post included in the Lib Dem budget proposals, he said: "Teenagers are typically not looking for the same structured activities which ChYPPS provides for the younger ones. Services for them have historically been provided more by the county council than the city council. The county council has drastically cut them back recently and it seems time for the city council to play more of a role.

“This post will support our investments in facilities for teenagers, such as last year's expansion of the cafe at The Junction and the project we are currently discussing with the YMCA on Gonville Place - and enabling activities that go with them."

Of the scheme to engage young people at risk of exclusion in sport, Rod Cantrill, Executive Councillor for Arts and Recreation, said: "Over the next 12 months the city will focus on participation in sport as part of the Olympic celebration. This project seeks to use sport as a means of involving those young people who feel on the edge of the community."

Lib Dems Invest In Plans To Help New Communities Succeed

Cambridge City Council is preparing to bring residents' views centre stage to shape the future of their own communities.

In their budget proposals, they plan to invest in a new post of Community Engagement Officer to organise the processes.

Over the past year the council's Area Committee covering the nothern part of the city has experimented with methods of involving residents more in setting the agenda for its work. One of the successes was receiving the contributions of nearly 700 people to the setting of priorities for the city council and other agencies.

The LibDems are now making sure that other communities in Cambridge have the same opportunity to say what is best for their areas.

In addition to guiding the committees' regular work, this can help communities grasp opportunities such as the targeting of funds contributed by developers as a condition of their planning approval to schemes for neighbourhood open space and community facilities. From next year the council is planning to devolve much of this responsibility to its four areas.

Executive Cllr Tim Bick, who has responsibility for Community Development, said: "Lib Dems firmly believe that communities know what is right for them. We want to build on our track record in area working and community engagement to support neighbourhoods to shape how they are managed and how they develop.”

City Council's Plan For Face-To-Face Justice To Beat Crime

Offenders are to be encouraged to face their victims as part of a new initiative proposed by the Liberal Democrat-led Cambridge City Council.

The idea, which has already led to big reductions in re-offending in other parts of the country, is designed to broaden street restorative justice launched by the city’s police.

It is hoped that by bringing together victim and offender along with the police or another organisation which had referred the crime, all parties could work together for a successful outcome.

Neighbourhood Resolution Panels would be created, similar to those introduced in Sheffield, Norfolk and Somerset where they have led to reductions in re-offending in low level crime or anti-social behaviour which is not serious enough to prosecute.

It is hoped £34,000 can be made available in the council’s budget to fund a project leader over two years to set up the Neighbourhood Resolution Panels.

The scheme is designed to complement street restorative justice pioneered by the police where on the spot reparation, such as an apology or a clean-up, takes the place of formal cautions or warnings for minor offences if both victim and offender agree.

Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Community Safety, Tim Bick said: "Experience elsewhere suggests that victims value the opportunity to ask questions about the offence, to talk about its effect on them and others, and to work with the offender to help stop them offending again.

"The experience of confronting the personal impact of their deeds has clearly had a positive effect on offenders, as resulting re-offending rates, particularly for young people, have been much lower than they are nationally.

"These panels have the potential to complement street restorative justice already started by the police. They provide slightly more structured events for situations where more reflection and discussion is appropriate. And they have the enormous benefit of being firmly grounded in the community itself.

"This approach to crime will not suit every case but the evidence is that it has an important role to play. It ought to fit well in a city where we are concerned to prevent people embarking on a life of crime before they get started."

The initiative on Restorative Justice features as a priority in Cllr Bick's plans for community development and community safety over the coming year.

"The city council will be working closely with our partners, particularly the police, in order to design the scheme in a way which commands the confidence of the community,” added Cllr Bick.