On 27 March South Cambs met to deal with the single item – South Cambridgeshire Investment Partnership Investment at Cambourne – in a separate extraordinary meeting rather than as part of the already lengthy annual budget session previously reported to you with wit and objectivity by your not especially humble correspondent. Much of the meeting was held in closed session with the press and public excluded. What can just about still be seen in the public video record makes for eye-rolling viewing. The Council (i) failed to anticipate an entirely anticipatable conflict of interest; (ii) continued with the meeting; (iii) bent (and possibly broke) the rules in order to do…

Our visiting speaker for the A.G.M. in March was Dr Jane Wilson-Howarth talking about her life and work in Nepal. She first visited the country in 1976 for a 6 months stay, but ultimately spent 12 years there with her husband (whom she met in Kathmandu) and her children. In 1993 Jane and her husband revisited Nepal, where both had secured work, staying until 1998 when schooling for their children became difficult.  In 1993, Jane was pregnant with the couple’s second child but unfortunately, the birth of their son, David, was more difficult than anticipated as he was born with a hole in the heart and other medical issues. David’s…

More than 40 members and first timers heard Don Chiswell report on “The Great Stink”, during which he used several contemporary cartoons, notably from “Punch”.  In the two centuries preceding 1800 Britain experienced tremendous change and emerged as the “First Industrial Nation”.  The nineteenth century saw massive, continued growth in population, which rose from 10 million in 1800 to 16.9 million in 1851.  This lead to rapid expansion of towns with consequent overcrowding.  In 1841 St Giles Rookery had 1,095 people living in just 27 houses with the associated massive production of filth and disease.   Between 1831 and 1866, four cholera outbreaks struck England with deaths in hundreds of…

Council budget  Full Council recently voted to approve the administration’s Budgets and Business Plan for the next 12 months.   Unlike many other councils, SCDC is on a very sound financial footing. Well targeted commercial investments bring in around £7M per year, which mitigates the huge cut in Government support that all councils have endured in recent years. If it were not for the threat of the Government’s Fair Funding Review, which threatens to strip district councils of business tax revenue and give it to bigger, unitary councils, SCDC would have a projected surplus all the way to 2029 (and few councils can say that).  When it comes to Council Tax,…