Dear residents, spring is well and truly here and the lighter evenings are upon us.  Time, perhaps, to dust off your bicycle or walking boots and get outside on one of our amazing local paths, such as those on or close to the guided busway and the lakes at Northstowe and Swavesey. My report is an edited version of the report that I send to the parish councils in my division.

FULL COUNCIL

The Council met on Tuesday 19 March, and received reports on senior manager pay, pay policy, and gender and ethnicity pay gaps. Five motions were proposed. 

1. To work with partners to ensure our Armed Forces Covenant Officer is properly resourced; and write to Government about support for veterans, Afghan refugees, and dependents of Commonwealth veterans (PASSED) 
2. To ask the Government to disband the Greater Cambridge Partnership and transfer its functions to the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority but still let us keep the money (DEFEATED) 
3. To oppose any new ‘locally imposed forms of taxation’, cost up lots of ‘ambitious transformational strategic infrastructure interventions’, and discuss with the Government how to pay for it (DEFEATED) 
4. To ask the Government to introduce a proportional voting system for Police & Crime Commissioners and Mayors, and work with partners to encourage greater understanding of our tiers of local government and increase young people’s participation in local elections (PASSED)
5. To ask the Government to commit to making the benefits and opportunities created by growth in Greater Cambridge accessible to all residents of Cambridgeshire and to commit to essential infrastructure and services to deliver growth, establish ambitious targets for affordable housing, and invest in training and education (PASSED) 

Council composition changes again 

The Liberal Democrat candidate won the by-election for the vacancy in Yaxley & Farcet on Thursday 21 March. For the first time ever the Liberal Democrats are the largest group on the council. The composition of the council is as follows. 

• Liberal Democrats 23 
• Conservatives 22 
• Labour 9 
• Independents 4 
• Non-aligned 3

Development Corporation to decide future of Cambridge

The Government has set out more details of its plans for a huge expansion of Cambridge and the areas around it. Originally called Cambridge 2050, then Cambridge 2040, it has now been set out in a document called The Case for Cambridge with plans for 150,000 more houses in and around Cambridge. 

The Government’s spring budget included £10.2M for the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and transport to it (the Cambridge South East Transport or CSET project). 

A major obstacle to growth in and around Cambridge is water scarcity, to which the Government’s answer is to pilot a new system of ‘water credits’ where ‘developers can offset their development through the purchase and sale of water credits to ensure they have a neutral impact on water scarcity within Cambridge’. To describe my view on this idea as sceptical would be an understatement. 

Last year, the Government appointed head of Homes England Peter Freeman to lead a new Development Corporation called the Cambridge Delivery Group to deliver the Government’s vision for Cambridge. This will add yet another layer of local government to our already toppling structures, and a new and unaccountable body deciding the future of the city. Some locally elected representatives will be on an advisory board, but it appears that decisions will be taken elsewhere.

I spoke on Motion 5 above and highlighted that ‘The Case for Cambridge’ in its entire 35 pages does not once refer to Education, skills yes but not Education.

***************************************************STRATEGY RESOURCES & PERFORMANCE – Household Support Fund and supermarket vouchers

The Government’s budget included an announcement that it would be extending the Household Support Fund for six months. This is the funding that helps the council pay for supermarket vouchers during the school holidays for families entitled to support, as well as other payments to households in need. 

The Government did not announce this in time for local councils to include it in their budgets, so the council’s Strategy Resources & Performance Committee has agreed to modify its spending plans. The supermarket vouchers will therefore continue to be issued at the current rate for the next six months.

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ADULTS & HEALTH ‘High intensity users’ of

A&E services

Cambridgeshire County Council will host the ‘High Intensity Users’ team working with patients who frequently attend hospital A&E departments. Last year the NHS in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough spent an estimated total of £28 million on emergency care for 4,500 people who attended A&E departments between five and ten times a year. Many of these patients have complex needs, and identifying and supporting them early can save the NHS at least forty per cent of these costs.

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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Childcare Choices for parents across Cambridgeshire

From 1 April, working parents across Cambridgeshire can get even more help with their childcare costs, starting with 15 hours childcare a week for two-year-olds. Support is not just limited to nurseries and childminders. Depending on eligibility criteria, this support could also be used for clubs, home care workers and play schemes. Find out more and to see if you’re eligible on the Childcare Choices website.  

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ASSETS & PROCUREMENT

The council’s Assets & Procurement Committee has approved a new Land & Property Strategy to guide the management of its diverse portfolio of land and property. This strategy will implement actions for change and improvement highlighted in a Property Asset Management Health Check commissioned by the council from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). 

The committee has also approved a Commercial, Commissioning & Procurement Framework and made arrangements to reprocure water and waste water services when its current contract comes to an end in October. 

***************************************************COMMUNITIES SOCIAL MOBILITY & INCLUSION (COSMIC) Cambridgeshire Priorities Capital Fund

The council’s Cambridgeshire Priorities Capital Fund was hugely over-subscribed. Twenty-six applications were awarded funding, but none of these were within our division. 

Cost of Living

The council’s Communities Social Mobility & Inclusion Committee has approved an additional £150,000 to Cambridge Housing Society to deliver the Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme, which supports Cambridgeshire residents facing unexpected financial difficulties. www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/parenting and-family-support/cambridgeshire- local-assistance-scheme

The council has also allocated £400,000 to Citizens Advice to deliver income maximisation across Cambridgeshire. By the end of the third quarter of 2023/2024, Citizens Advice had supported 2,251 people, against an annual target of 2,400. This resulted in a total additional income gain of over £1.5 million.

‘Closer to Communities’

The council is proceeding with a series of pilot projects to bring decision-making closer to local communities. One of these projects is in East Cambridgeshire, involving a community led environmental initiative. A consultation event will take place at The Maltings in Ely on Wednesday 24 April.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/supporting-communities-to-benefit-from-the energy-transition-stakeholder- engagement-workshop-tickets 868896872937

Safe accommodation

The committee has also refreshed its Safe Accommodation Strategy for victims of domestic abuse for the next three years.

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ENVIRONMENT & GREEN INVESTMENT  Flooding cases

Officers from the Flood & Water team and the Drainage & Resilience team are meeting weekly to review the many cases across the county of water problems arising from Storms Babet through Henk, and the saturation arising from an exceptionally wet winter.

Flood risk enforcement

The council has refreshed its policy and protocol for enforcement under the Land Drainage Act 1991.

Fens 2100+

Fens 2100+ is a new programme of work launched in 2023 to enable the Fens to adapt to the challenges of climate change both now and into the future. It is a partnership project between the Environment Agency, Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA), Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs), National Farmers Union (NFU), and Anglian Northern and Great Ouse Regional Flood & Coastal Committees (RFCCs). 

Its aim is to develop a Fens-wide flood resilience investment strategy, and develop a strategic case for continued investment in flood risk management across the Fens. The project will set out the flood risk management investment choices needed so that the Fens can flourish and adapt to climate change. 

The programme will develop a Fens-wide flood resilience investment strategy so that Flood Risk Management Authorities can plan for the next twenty-five years. The writing of the strategy will be completed in 2025. 

Over the next 100 years, an additional £4.5 billion will be needed to manage flood risk in the Fens—based on today’s costs and not accounting for climate change. Under current flood risk management funding rules half of that investment would be funded, the rest is not. The Fens 2100+ programme has been developed to address that gap. https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/east-anglia-c-e/fens2100/

Local Nature Recover Strategy

The council is working with partners on the production of this strategy. Natural Cambridgeshire is continuing to develop an engagement and communications plan to support this piece of work.

Decarbonisation of council buildings 

The council has been successful in its application for Government grant to decarbonise nine more of its own buildings including libraries and youth centres. This will help the council meet its target of 2030 for net zero for its own operations. Government funding of £1,244,550 will be added to £3,793,741 from the council’s own decarbonisation fund. The works to these buildings will remove 178.44 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

Clean energy at Park & Rides

Work is progressing on the installation of solar panels at St Ives and Babraham Rd Park & Rides. These will provide power for the operation of the sites themselves, while also making energy available to commercial customers via a private wire. Several electric vehicle charging points are being installed at each site, with some of these designed specifically for the access requirements of drivers with disabilities.

North Angle private wire

Work is also finally under way on the project to connect North Angle Solar Farm to the Swaffham Prior community heat network by means of a private wire.

Swaffham Prior named as finalist in international award

Meanwhile the Swaffham Prior community heat network has been named as a finalist for an international award, the Ashden Awards, recognising ground breaking climate solutions. The project won the prestigious Edie Net Zero Award for Renewable Energy Project of the Year last November. The Ashden winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on Thursday 27 June.

Connecting Cambridgeshire

Connecting Cambridgeshire switchover will affect not only landline telephones but also a range of telephony dependent devices including many alarms. More information at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9471/

Gigabit-capable broadband coverage in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough has hit 85 per cent a year early, meaning we are above the national average and ahead of Government targets. Work is ongoing to bring future-proof connectivity to homes and businesses in harder to reach areas. 

Connecting Cambridgeshire will be launching its Digital Inclusion Strategy in May. District Digital Overviews for each district in Cambridgeshire are available at https://www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/about/digital-connectivity-strategy-2021-2025/district-digitaloverviews  

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HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORT Guided buses resume two-way running

Work on a section of the Guided Busway between Cambridge Railway Station and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus to install a new safety measure is now complete and buses returned to two-way operation from Saturday 30 March.

EV charging cross-over pilot

A trial will take place across the county on a first-come first-served basis of EV car charging solutions that involve cables crossing the highway. We are encouraging council officers to be ambitious in this.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough will need ten thousand public plug-in stations by 2030, as more and more residents without off-street parking and charging capacity will be wanting to make the switch to electric vehicles.

20mph funding 

Applications for fresh schemes across Cambridgeshire closed on Friday 22 March. Speed reduction schemes such as these are being funded from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s Transforming Cities Fund allocation from Government.  

Traffic Management Centre (TMC) 

The TMC responded to 126 incidents on the road network throughout Cambridgeshire in February covering 21 weekdays. This is a decrease to January’s figure but not far off that of February 2023, but lower that previous year.  Please see the table below which illustrates the number of incidents over the last 6 months, compared to the same period last year;

Incidents by month/year 

	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb
2022/23	112	88	207	140	167	138
2023/24	103	109	144	81	163	126

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PLANNING (including consents) Enforcement and appeals

The council’s Planning Committee recently received updates on planning enforcement and appeals

Council and committee meetings – Cambridgeshire County Council > Meetings (cmis.uk.com)

Envar inquiry

An eight-day Public Inquiry to hear the appeal against the refusal of permission for Envar’s proposed incinerator at Woodhurst closed on 1 March. The inspector is expected to make his recommendation within three or four weeks, and the Secretary of State to issue a decision a month after that.

Sunnica solar farm

The statutory deadline for the Secretary of State to decide this application was reset to Thursday 11 April.

East West Rail

Drop-in events ahead of the first stage of statutory consultation have been put in place, for Cambridge details are 21 May 2024 – 14:00-19:00, St Philip’s Church Centre, 185 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 3AN eastwestrail.co.uk/news/latest-stories/community-conversation-events

Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant Relocation

The Examination of this application is due to finish on Wednesday 17 April.

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FUNDINGS RELEASED:

Thalia Community Fund

Community groups in the county, can apply for this funding if they are planning a project which will improve their local area. The Thalia Community Fund is offering a grant to projects which will provide, maintain or improve a public park/amenity, conserve a species or habitat, or repair, maintain or restore a place of architectural importance or worship. Check eligibility for funding on the Cambridgeshire Community Fund website. 

News from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA)

Latest updates on buses below:

News released by the CPCA on 21 March 2024:  How the Combined Authority is improving the bus network  – Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk)

And from the Board meeting papers:  Bus Reform and Network Delivery update,  (https://tinyurl.com/4dsxhu72.).  Within Appendix 1: Draft Report Summary Table – Pages 174-176 – there are details for Longstanton, Northstowe, Over and Oakington & Westwick ward:

• Service 1, 17 (NEW) – Express via Busway, Cambridge to Huntingdon, Milton Road, Busway / Science Park, Busway / Histon & Impington, Longstanton P&R, Swavesey, Fenstanton. Largely limited stop, catering for longer distance trips. 
• Service 5 – busway A service; additional Stops on Histon Road – this route could cater for Sixth Form Pupils attending Chesterton Road Sixth Form 
• Service 7 (NEW) Longstanton Park & Ride to Sutton, rural linking villages to Busway and Sutton (for onward connections). This route could benefit for pupils attending Northstowe Sixth Form on the Education Campus due to open academic year September 2024
• Service 25 – Integrates Services 1A and 5A – St Ives to Bar Hill, main points served will be Fenstanton, Fen Drayton, Over, Swavesey/Willingham, Longstanton P&R. Rural connections to main town and Busway.

WARD NEWS – OVER

• Fen End sewage flooding issues, do not fall under the County Council remit, but we are still conducting a way of raising these issues to Anglian Water from across the County. I did visit the area with Local Highways Officer on 23 March and we spoke to a resident and can confirm that none of the gullies are blocked. 
• Fen End pavements and gulley outside no. 2, the Local Highways Officer will look to put forward the pavement for the Slurry Seal programme and the area damaged on the road with the carriageway team.
• Bus Shelter on Mill Road, Over – S106 Funding. The County Officer has informed me that they are working on a draft Proposed Memorandum of Understanding to be used as in place of the usual highways agreement which would be required to allow the works to take place. County is unable to use the standard agreement given that adoption of County owned land will be involved. The MoU will need discussion with the legal team to ensure it is fit for purpose.

HIGHWAYS  New Local Team

Local Highways Officer: Neal Stephens

Local Highways Officer: Aaron Boddington

Quarterly Highways meetings 2024 dates 

Friday 26 April 12noon – 1.30pm – Green Infrastructure Team Manager will be attending

Friday 12 July 12noon – 1.30pm

Friday 1 November 12noon – 1.30pm

Hatton Road works  

Upcoming works due with a 3-way traffic lights at the roundabout Hattons Road and School Lane junction. Works will be carried out by L&Q Estates and they are going to construct three new Entrances into where the ponds areas. The works are due to start 15/04/2024 and could include work on a Saturday morning. Details are on One Network https://one.network/?GB138130168. Traffic will be manual controlled 09.30 – 15.30 and removed at night replaced next day if needed. They will work their way down to the new roundabout constructing the other two entrances. Signage be for work starts. I am awaiting for further details on when works will end.

A14 Bar Hill roundabout repairs 

TTRO 26-645 for the proposed night road closures for two weekends 10 and 17 May was sent out to the relevant parties to be confirmed by 29 March. All being well and if no issues are raised these works will go ahead.

Investigations into the issues around the flyovers across the A14 corridor are progressing but at very early stage and further evidence is needed. The next steps agreed in March was to carry out a further Geotechnical Survey to look into the surrounding area of the structure. It should be noted that we may need up to 12 months of data capture from the monitoring equipment before we have sufficient evidence to consider next steps. We hope the Geotechnical Survey might potentially speed up this process, subject to the survey report.

Airfield Road

It seems that residents do try and still use this road via car or bike. I have received complaints from both Oakington & Westwick Parish Council and Longstanton Parish Council informs me that there is a missing sign at the top of Woodside. I am picking this up with the Highways and Planning team. 

VOI e-bikes and e-scooters Possible extension to pilot area: Northstowe, Longstanton and Oakington

In March, at the CPCA Transport and Infrastructure Committee meeting it was agreed that the CPCA should extend the e-scooter trial for another two year and to add new communities, which includes the Longstanton ward. 

COUNCILS, RESPONSIBILITIES AND KEY GOVERNMENT FUNDED ORGANISATIONS

If you have a problem or concern do not worry too much about who can solve it just ask the question and we will endeavour to signpost to the right person. The organisational structure of Cambridgeshire is complex, but it is important to identify where responsibility lies. 

County Council Responsibilities: Education, Transport, Highways, Heritage, Social care, Libraries, Trading standards, Waste management, Maintaining their estate. Some of these services are shared between Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council but any concerns should be directed to the county council.

District Council Responsibilities: Council tax payments and benefits, Household bin collections, Housing and housing benefits, Council leisure facilities, Environmental health, Residential planning.

Parish/ Town Council Responsibilities: Looking after community buildings, Open spaces, Allotments, Play Areas, Bus shelters.

Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) ‘The local delivery body for a City Deal with central Government worth up to £500 million over 15 years, to vital improvements in infrastructure (decarbonising transport), supporting and accelerating the creation of 44,000 new jobs, 33,500 new homes and 420 additional apprenticeships.’ Partnership between Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, University of Cambridge.

The Combined Authority, Cambridge and Peterborough, our elected Mayor ‘A combined authority (CA) is a legal body set up using national legislation that enables a group of two or more councils to collaborate and take collective decisions across council boundaries.’ What our mayor does – Business support, skills, housing, transport, environment, international, digital connectivity, resilience, research, and strategy. New homes.

Police and Crime Commissioner, Cambridge and Peterborough To support and challenge the Chief Constable to provide effective and efficient policing services for the area.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority The Fire Authority is the governing body responsible for delivering a fire and rescue service to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. It is made up of Cambridgeshire County Councillors and Peterborough City Councillors.

CONTACT DETAILS

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the above, or any other matters. 

Firouz Thompson, County Councillor for Longstanton, Northstowe, Over and Oakington & Westwick

Email: firouz.thompson@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

For those on social media we have highly active Facebook groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2066298150052161/   – Longstanton, Oakington and Northstowe https://www.facebook.com/libdems3rdMay18 – Over & Willingham