Report for October from Firouz Thompson, Cambridgeshire County Councillor

ADULTS & HEALTH

New Director of Public Health

Cambridgeshire County Council has a new Director of Public Health, Sally Cartwright, who joins us from Luton in January. The Director of Public Health is responsible for identifying and improving the health and wellbeing of residents, reducing inequalities in health outcomes and protecting local communities from public health hazards, such as infectious diseases and environmental threats.

Vaccination update

Vaccinations are now available for eligible people against a range of conditions including Covid, flu, pneumonia, shingles, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Local GP practices are calling up eligible patients, or you can find out more at https://www.cpics.org.uk/the-vaccinators/ and book with a local pharmacy or attend a convenient drop-in session without an appointment. 

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

School place appeal panel volunteers

Volunteers are urgently needed to hear appeals when children are not offered a place at their preferred school.

Parents can appeal if their child is not offered a preferred school place; the panels decide if the child should be admitted and must be transparent, accessible, independent, and impartial.

Volunteers ensure parents have a fair hearing. Panel members must be able to listen to two sides of a case and weigh up evidence objectively and impartially. They must also be able to:

  • Communicate effectively with a wide range of people
  • Read and assess information and identify key points • Listen to key information 
  • Ask questions to obtain information and clarify points being made 
  • Analyse information and use it to form opinions and conclusions 
  • Obtain and weigh up evidence to reach a decision
  • Work as part of a team, take advice and develop their own skills 

Training is provided. Appeals peak between April and July, and are held online via Microsoft Teams.

Anyone interested in applying or who would like an informal chat about the role should contact clare.cronk@cambridgeshire.gov.uk 

New Director of Education

Sarah Callaghan joined us in August, reports to Martin Purbrick, our Executive Director for Children, Education and Families. Sarah’s brief includes our Educational Improvement/Attainment Teams, Education Capital, Home to School Transport, Education Admissions, Education Traded Services such as Outdoor Education, Education ICT, Cambridgeshire Music, Governor Support Services and, importantly, Inclusion Services (i.e. Special Educational Needs and Disability Service as well as Alternative Provision).  This role was previously held by Jonathan Lewis.

New homes for children with complex needs

Cambridgeshire County Council is refurbishing two vacant farmhouses in Soham to create local placements for children with complex needs. A care provider will be contracted for up to ten years. This project addresses the local and national need for placements, reducing the need for out-of-county placements and saving over £635,000 annually.

ENVIRONMENT & GREEN INVESTMENT

Climate change progress report and carbon footprint

The County Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee received a progress report on its Climate Change & Environment Strategy, and the annual Carbon Footprint report on Thursday 3 October. This is the sixth annual Carbon Footprint report, covering both the County Council’s own carbon emissions, and those of Cambridgeshire as a whole. Carbon emissions are classified into three scopes:

  • Scope 1: direct emissions from gas or oil boilers and vehicles.
  • Scope 2: emissions from purchased electricity.
  • Scope 3: indirect emissions from contractors and suppliers.

The Council’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions are 42% lower than in the baseline year of 2018/19. Scope 2 is now zero as the Council buys electricity through a zero-carbon contract. Scope 3 emissions for 2023/24 are 99% of its carbon footprint and were 111,307 tonnes CO2e, excluding the Council’s rural estate—39% lower than in 2018/19.

In 2023/24, the Council procured support to identify baseline carbon emissions for its rural estate. More work is needed to agree on an achievable target. In 2022, Cambridgeshire’s total greenhouse gas emissions were 6.45 million tonnes CO2e, a 3% fall from 2021. Transport is the highest emitting sector (27%), followed by LULUCF (23%), agriculture (15%), and domestic energy use (13%).

The risk of not reaching the Council’s carbon targets has reduced but remains considerable. Delivery of these targets relies on collaborating with partner organisations. Please use the link below to view the documents.

Environment and Green Investment Committee meeting 03/10/2024

Newly discovered Roman town given heritage protection

A newly discovered Roman town near Great Staughton is now a scheduled monument, protected on Historic England’s advice. Cambridgeshire County Council had test trenches dug before a solar farm proposal. Due to findings, solar panels won’t be installed there. This site is now Cambridgeshire’s second largest Roman Scheduled Monument after the walled town of Durobrivae, five miles west of Peterborough, and I was delighted to be asked on to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to talk about it.

HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORT

Traffic Management Centre (TMC) 

The TMC responded to 159 incidents on the road network throughout Cambridgeshire in September covering 21 weekdays. This is an increase to August’s figure and that of what we were seeing in September 2023. Towards the end of the month we have seen some early flooding which is very unusual for September.

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 

 AprMayJunJulAugSept
2022/2379731096861103
2023/241101031088875159

WARD NEWS

OVER  

  • Fen End foul flooding – at a Q&A with Anglian Water on 9 September with County Officers and Councillors – I raised this issue. It was confirmed that the groundwater flooding does affect a septic tank in the vicinity and Anglian Water representatives stated that they would investigate. It was also confirmed that any foul flooding will need to be reported to Anglian Water.
  • LHI Mobile Vehicle Activated Signs (MVAS) units – great to hear that the LHI application was successful. It was highlighted to me that while the team were out looking at where the MVAS units could go for Overcote Road, they had some ideas where a speed limit buffer zone could work for the next round of LHI.
  • 20mph application – unfortunately this was not successful and only 8 schemes went through, only 4 schemes made it from the 26 applications in South Cambs. A follow up with officers should take place before the next round.

Anti-Social Behaviour across the ward 

Except from one resident this month from Westwick, I have had no reports from the community about ASB and dangerous driving on South Access Road West or any villages surrounding.

The message is that residents should continue to:

  • Report all incidents on 101, either by calling 101 or using live chat or filling out a form on this link, Report a crime (cambridgeshire-pcc.gov.uk)
  • Fill out the community policing survey, with your concerns about the neighbourhood and community (not to log an incident), filling in the survey will help to set the priorities for the next 3 months for South Cambs Police: Community Policing Survey (office.com)
  • Email address for those who wish to raise any issues direct with the South Cambs teams – scambscops@cambs.police.uk

Please consider filling out the survey about the concerns that you are seeing in our community.

Next meeting will take place on 27th November from 7-8pm. If you wish to attend, please email South Cambs to communitymeeting@cambs.police.uk and an email will be forwarded.

MEANWHILE ON THE COMBINED AUTHORITY

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has now been released from the ‘Best Value Notice’ placed on it in January 2023 as the Government has recognised the improvement in the organisation. 

The Authority’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee is recommending that the Board allow older people and those with disabilities to use their bus passes before the current 9:30AM start. 

The new Tiger Pass offers bus travel for £1 per journey for those aged up to 25. Details of how to apply for the new pass can be found at https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/onepoundbusfare/ 

It is great to see that the Vision Zero road safety project is being revived. Its aims are to reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on our roads and the social and financial impact of this, and to develop financially sustainable models of road safety activity. The original prospectus in 2020 aimed for zero killed or seriously injured by 2040 though this seems unlikely to be met. 

A reminder that the Combined Authority’s consultation on bus franchising continues until 20 November.

Short and long questionnaires can be found at https://cpca-yourvoice.co.uk/bus-franchising-consultation/

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 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2066298150052161/  – Longstanton, Oakington and Northstowe https://www.facebook.com/libdems

Report a highways fault – Cambridgeshire County Council

Report a flood – https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/planning-and-development/flood-and-water/report-aflood