North Area Committee: 19 June

The North Area Committee meets this Thursday (19 June) at Manor School on Arbury Road.

The meeting has planning applications at 6.30pm, then from 7.30pm we have an agenda including...

• Arbury Park update from a South Cambs planning officer
• The Open Forum where you can raise issues with all the local councillors for the North of the city
• Decisions on the Community Development and Leisure grants. Several groups in King's Hedges have made applications for money from this pot.
• A discussion and update on the Environmental Improvements programme, including works on the Campkin Rd piazza.

If you have any concerns come along and see us.

There will also be an exhibition about the impact of climate change in the hall.

Planning application in Ramsden Square

An application has been made to erect a "two bed dwelling" in Ramsden Square.

The application reference number is 08/0795/FUL.

For more information visit the City Council planning web site. You can submit comments on the application online, but need to accept some conditions to do so (so we can't give a direct link). More information is available from

Scaffolding on Atkins Close

I recently had some calls about the scaffolding on Atkins Close.

The apparent delays in removing the scaffolding were partly caused by the fact the scaffolding is being used for more than one job. Hopefully this means we won't need scaffolding again for many years.

However, City Homes were also unhappy at the delays from the contractor involved. After my intervention the contractors have started to remove scaffolding from one of the blocks, but this is almost certainly a coincidence!

If you are concerned about the time scaffolding is up on your block, call or email us and we can chase it up.

Post office closures: news in July

Cambridge will hear in July which of our Post Offices will be under threat of closure from the Labour Government's closure scheme.

We will update you when we hear.

Milton Road trees: confusion from the county

East Chesterton Liberal Democrat Cllr Julian Huppert asked a question about the Milton Road trees at the recent full meeting of the County Council.

However the answer whilst giving grounds for optimism was confused.

We shall continue to work towards planting being resumed.

Milton Road trees: confusion from the county

East Chesterton Liberal Democrat Cllr Julian Huppert asked a question about the Milton Road trees at the recent full meeting of the County Council.

However the answer whilst giving grounds for optimism was confused.

We shall continue to work towards planting being resumed.

10p tax fix leaves 1.1 million still worse off

Whilst Gordon Brown may have got some of the message about increasing tax on those on low incomes, he still has some way to go.

There are still about 1.1 million people on low incomes around £100 worse off. This is to pay for tax cuts on those on middle incomes or better.

The Liberal Democrats were the only party to oppose the abolition of the 10p rate. Vince Cable pointed out the problems when they were announced in the budget last year.

You can see full details on our tax policy.

Milton Road trees

The latest news is that the County Council seems confused on the tree situation.

In answer to a question by Julian Huppert at a full meeting of the County Council there was a confused response which leaves us no further forward.

We hope that the confusion can be sorted quickly and we will be allowed to resume planting.

Rees Thomas site

The closure of the busy cycle path from Woodhead Drive to Hawkins Road has caused some inconvenience.

I have been unable to persuade the contractors that closing the whole road at once is a bad idea, but they have at least put up diversion signs to help people navigate after requests from me (and others).

Thank You!

King's Hedges elects our third Liberal Democrat councillor, in a swing to us from Labour

"I'm very pleased to have been chosen by my fellow local residents of King's Hedges as their representative, and proud of the confidence the electorate have in myself and Liberal Democrat policies."

Neil joins Liberal Democrats Cllr Mike Pitt, and Cllr Neale Upstone in serving the ward.

Mike Pitt said "I am very pleased that Neil has been elected, he will be an excellent and hardworking councillor for King's Hedges."

A big thank you to the voters of King's Hedges for electing Neil McGovern as their third City Councillor to join Neale Upstone and myself.The results in full

1. Neil McGovern (Liberal Democrat) 760
2. Geri Bird (Labour) 562
3. Cyril Weinman (Conservative) 419
4. James Youd (Green) 129

Another big thank you to everyone who voted for Neil, to everyone who we talked to during the campaign, to everyone who helped us win.

Polling day today!

Don't forget to vote for a hard working local councillor today!

Neil McGovern lives in the ward and as you can see is already working hard for local residents.

The two polling stations are

• Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road (for those with poll numbers starting G1, living in the south east of King's Hedges), and
• North Arbury Chapel on Northfield Avenue (for those with poll numbers starting G2, living in the north west of the ward)

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.