Choice Based Letting: Going live next week

There is a big change in how social housing is allocated next week with the launch of Home-Link, the Cambridge Choice Based Letting Scheme (CBL).

This means that from next week instead of going on the waiting list until a house is allocated to you, people on the housing needs register can "bid" for the houses that become available, up to three of their choice each fortnight. The houses will be allocated based on the four priority bands (from A ("urgent") to D) and then based upon how long the bidder has been on the list.

Each fortnight a magazine (available at City Homes North and Arbury Library in our area) will be issued, and the houses will go on the Home-Link website, and a bidding round will take place by web, SMS, phone, post or in person. The first bidding round is next week!

Help with bidding will be available at City Homes North, and from voluntary organisations such as the Citzens Advice Bureau and Cambridge Law Centre.

From the second issue there will be a report: this will allow those on the list to see the need band and the time that the successful bidders had been waiting.

Covering Cambridge City Council houses, and residential social landlords and Council stock in 6 neighbouring local authorities, this is one of the larger CBL schemes in the country, and as far as we know the first to cover a mix of urban and rural districts.

A word of warning: the scheme doesn't create any new homes: we still have around 6000 people on the waiting list in total. Further Cambridge has just under 300 people in band A (Urgent) and just under 300 in band B (High) at any time but only around 600 homes are available each year. That figure includes sheltered housing and bedsits. There is still huge demand for our limited stock.

However the advantages are that now prospective tenants have more choice in the houses they will live in, can see more clearly what is available for tenants, and can see clearly how long people are waiting to get housed.

Northfield Avenue Underpass Swept

At the weekend it was reported to me that the Northfield Avenue underpass was unpleasant and unsafe due to large amounts of leaf litter collecting in it. The matter was reported to the City Services helpdesk by phone.

This morning I was in the area so checked by and I was pleased to see that the footpath has been cleared.

If there is a problem with leaf fall, mud or litter then please let us know and we'll try to get it tidied up.

Public Art Survey

Just a quick link.

The City Council want to know what people think about the provision of public art in Cambridge, and whether people know about what there is.

Go to the survey on the council website and see if you know the works and let us know what you think.

According to the 2006 audit we aren't very well provided for art in the North of the city (KH, Chesterton or Arbury!), so please get involved and let the council know what you'd like to see.

Second reading for "Cambridge Rule" bill

In slightly better news, a private members bill in the Houses of Parliament, which aims to allow local authorities to set higher minimum energy standards for new builds, has got a second reading.


This is nick-named the Cambridge Rule as we were the city council that tried to include such a requirement in our local planning rules but were overruled by a government inspector who felt that it was "unreasonable" to expect higher standards.


The better the build standard the lower the heating bill and the easier to keep the house warm!



The Government's support for this bill (or not) will be an indication of how real their environmental credentials are. We'll keep you posted on how things develop...

£1500 per family penalty for well run housing

The figure for how much money the Labour government are taking from our tenants is now in. This year the Council Tenants of Cambridge will be sending £12.1 million to Gordon Brown.

Thats £12.1 million that we can't spend on improving homes for people in the city, or on providing extra affordable housing in the city to reduce the waiting list, or even on maintenance of the housing stock. It could hit our plans to refurbish sheltered housing.

It works out at £1500 per household.

The argument goes that it is right to take money from rich areas to subsidise poorer, but this isn't what happens. The people being hit for this cash are not the wealthiest in Cambridge, or those most able to pay. This is a tax on being a council tenant, and those include some of the most vulnerable in our society. It includes those in sheltered housing.

I try to avoid posting when angry, but whenever I start to write about the"negative subsidy" I get angry: This is not a fair way to address issues in housing provision, and it damages the services that the city can provide.

The Liberal Democrat run City Council continues to campaign against it, as does David Howarth, our MP. As will your Liberal Democrat ward councillors.

Northfield Avenue -- Cycle path proposals

I have just returned from the County-City Area Joint Committee for transport issues.

Thanks to a huge response from local residents, including a petition by the parents at King's Hedges Primary, the proposals to turn the footpath on Northfield Avenue into a shared use path has been rejected. I spoke against the path at the meeting, but the officers at the County Council had already listened to the massive feedback they had and withdrew the proposal!

The extra crossing on King's hedges Road is going ahead, which required the narrowing of the Northfield junction. This should improve safety on both roads by slowing traffic.

There is also the possibility that a 20mph limit will be introduced on Northfield Avenue, the road has enough traffic calming measures on it already to meet the county's rules. This would make Northfield Avenue a safer place to walk and cycle, which will be important when Arbury Park residents begin to use it to get to work and school.

Watch this space for news!

New Brookfield Hospital consultation

Following local campaigning by COPE and Cambridge's MP David Howarth the local NHS primary care trust have announced a new consultation on Brookfield Hospital. This could be the first stage to saving the hospital from closure.

You can get the consultation document and the business case online.

For more details, including a range of background information, and to respond online, see the consultation homepage.

Northfield Avenue proposals

The County Council are proposing making changes to Northfield Avenue to calm traffic. More details on the changes can be found on the County Councils website.

I have concerns about the creation of a shared used cycle and footpath outside Kings' Hedges Primary which I have raised with the County's officers. There is a petition about this aspect, and if you contact me I can put you in touch with the organiser.

Please let me know your opinions on the scheme. It will be looked at by the Area Joint Committee at the end of January.

North Area Committee: Congestion Charge discussion

As well as the more usual items at the North Area Committee this Thursday we have a visit from County Council officers with more information on the Transport Infrastructure Fund bid. Or the congestion charge project if you prefer.

The meeting is at Manor Community School on Arbury Road.

There will be a display on the TIF plan and County officers from 6pm but the meeting itself starts at 7.30pm.

Other items on the agenda include neighbourhood policing, the open forum and planning permissions.

Quick update

Due to a mix of technical problems (my laptop is now behaving itself) and the pressures of the school term I haven't been able to post any news for a while. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy!

Firstly I've got some repairs made to fences outside the bungalows on Northfield Avenue. Secondly I've been trying to chase an upgrade to the footpath from Ramsden Square to Campkin Road, however this has hit a snag. The removal of pinch points on that path has also been delayed and will be discussed in march at NAC. Please let us know of your opinion on these projects.

We should also have a reasonable redevlopment of the Arbury Community Centre carpark. Thanks to all who got involved in the consultation. Hopefully the lights in the area (which I reported via the County Council's street lighting unit) will soon be fixed too.

There is also news for Council tenants about this years government settlement, but that had better wait until the final figures are confirmed.

Anyway I wish you all a very mery Christmas and a successful and enjoyable new year!

Some good news when cycling and walking from King's Hedges

After several months of building concrete supports, and bolting and welding together of a jigsaw of steelwork, then new bridge across the River Cam was finally hoisted into place yesterday.

While it will still be several weeks before it is open, it is a significant step forwards towards offering an alternative route, down Union Lane and across to Riverside to head into town across Midsummer Common.

It's time Labour ended the sale of our votes to wealthy people

There has been yet another scandal involving large donations to political parties, in this case, hundreds of thousands of pounds donated to the Labour Party.

Labour have been in power for 10 years, and were supposed to be the party of the people, but instead, they're allowing their party policy to be dependent on bowing to the wishes of the wealthy.

What about the rest of us?

Gordon: Give us our democracy back!

Progress on city centre drinking

I was at a licensing committee meeting earlier this week, and we were finally able to vote on a "Cumulative Impact" policy. Something that we could only do with sufficient evidence from the police.

Since the changes to alcohol licensing a few years ago, we've seen a notable change to the character of many towns and cities. The hope was that the new licensing laws would allow for a more managed situation as pubs closed, and it did work that way for a while. However, the evidence shown to us by the police, demonstrates that Cambridge, like towns like Brighton, has had an increasing problem with violence and drink-related anti-social behaviour, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Part of the problem, I would say is that the licensing laws changed to "liberalise" the situation, something that I as a "Liberal" take as being a slur on the Liberal tradition. It did not liberalise licensing, it created a "presumption to grant" a license for any application, irrespective of local residents and councillors feelings. It gave us no democratic involvement, instead, chaining local councillors to implement the policy dictated by central government.

This policy was quite simple: "keep Britain drinking" or even "get Britain binge-drinking".

It certainly wasn't Liberal. Liberalism balances the freedoms of a person (e.g. to have a drink) with the rights of others to have a peaceful night and to use their town centre safely.


At least now, Cambridge should soon have a much stronger position. For license applications for the city centre and for the Cambridge Leisure Park (near the station), we have recommended that the city council apply a cumulative impact policy, which will require that license applications show that they will not be adding to existing problems.

This should allow a restaurant to get a license, but will require that large "mega-pubs" can be turned down.

The Full Council meeting where we expect this decision to be ratified will be at the Guildhall on the 6th December.

North Area Committee, Thursday 15 November

This Thursday, the 15th November, is North Area Committee night at Manor Community College on Arbury Road.

As well as the Open Forum which gives you a chance to ask questions of the north area councillors (covering King's Hedges, Arbury, and East and West Chesterton) there is an agenda consisting of...

• The Network, Maintenance and Traffic managers from Cambridgeshire County Couuncil will be visiting.
• We will be getting a briefing on open spaces and recreation relating to S106 money (money from property developers to pay for infrastructure).
• And the usual planning applications will be considered. These include applications on Downhams Lane and Milton Road in King's Hedges.

Please come along for the open forum if you have any questions!

Pavements on Markham Close (I spoke too soon!)

I was in Markham Close again and I couldn't help but notice that not all the marked up repairs had been made! I am chasing up what is happening as the remaining pavement is dreadful, and really shown up by the newly laid bit.

Hopefully it is just a delay caused by the weather but I will be in touch as soon as I get any information. (Looking at the time I guess that won't be until Monday now.)

Markham Close being resurfaced

A nice new pavement was being laid in Markham Close when I was visiting the area on Tuesday. This is a very welcome improvement.


I have recently asked the County to take another look at the surfaces in Ashvale, especially at the school end.

On another note I've reported another batch of street plates to the County and been told that orders have been placed to fix several in the Livermore Close area.

I'm a councillor... and speed dating

Neale and I took part in two events connected to Local Democracy Week to try and raise the profile of Councils with young people.

Neale took part in "political speed dating", in which 9 City Councillors tried to persuade sixth form students to support them. He won the contest, well done Neale.

In the "I'm a Councillor" game, aimed at secondary school students, I didn't quite win. I came second. More importantly I learned a lot about what is important to the young people in Cambridge, and this should help me in doing my job as your Councillor.

Both events were good fun for us. I hope the sixth formers and pupils enjoyed them too!

Brookfields Hospital petition

The campaign to save Brookfields Hospital have started a petition calling on the local NHS Primary Care Trust not to close the wards for the elderly at Brookfields.

If you support the campaign you can sign up online at http://www.ourcampaign.org.uk/brookfields.

Join me in supporting David Howarth's campaign to keep the vital services at Brookfields open.

St Alban's Rec - The witch's hat

An issue that has come up on I'm A Councillor... from local young people is the "witch's hat" on St Albans Rec. There is concern that this has been removed, and along with other councillors I chased up officers to see what happened.

The hat was taken down to allow a new safety surface to be put in below it. Apparently this work is finished and the hat should be returning soon.

Pavements in Caravere Close

Following a complaint from a local resident I passed on concerns about the state of the pavements in Caravere Cose, in the Armitage Way estate. I'm pleased to report back that the County officer agrees with me and the residents that repairs should be made!

A works order was raised, but it has yet to be carried out. Watch this space (and the pavement)!