Dear Residents,

As February turns to March, the days are getting longer, and signs of spring are emerging. If you’re walking, cycling, or wheeling, please stay visible in low light to keep our roads safe for everyone.

Here is my monthly update, which is an edited version of the full report that I provide to the parish councils in my ward.

HIGHWAYS

As part of the 2025/26 maintenance programme, several roads and footpaths in our area will undergo surface treatment to improve durability and safety.

Road Surface Treatments for 2025/26:

Gravel Bridge Road & Longstanton Road will receive Gripfibre Treatment this summer, with final pre-patching work due before then, some took place in December.

Glover Street & Long Furlong, originally set for Micro Asphalt Treatment, have been upgraded to Gripfibre for better resilience. Inspections will ensure potholes and defects up to 30mm deep are filled where the surface is structurally sound.
Footpath Improvements:

Footpaths on Glover Street, Long Furlong, and Fen End are scheduled for Footway Slurry Treatment in 2025/26.

Addressing Road Edge Erosion:

For Longstanton Road and Gravel Bridge Road edge erosion, given the high cost of a full-depth structural repair, would require digging to a depth of around 500mm, which would be a major project needing special funding. The Gripfibre Treatment will take place this summer and officers will look thereafter to reinforce eroded edges with road planings, topsoil, grass seed, and verge marker posts, and add edge lines to guide road users and protect the carriageway. This is by far a more effective solution and will need confirmation if this can take place in 2025/26.

Fen End:

Highways officers are assessing solutions for a blocked drain causing repeated flooding and road damage at the top of the road near the junction. With parked cars forcing traffic onto one side, erosion has worsened, and recent patch works has failed due to a lack of tarmac foundation. A long-term maintenance plan is being explored.

These works aim to improve road conditions while ensuring cost-effective solutions. If you have any concerns, please get in touch.

BUSINESS PLAN AND BUDGET 2025/2026

On Tuesday, 11 February, a meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Full Council agreed a legal budget for 2025/26. Members prioritised investment in highways maintenance as well as in children who become looked after and building new schools.

Councillors acknowledged the challenges the council is facing with the demand for services, increasing complexity of need, inflation and market failures. Despite this, the business plan and budget process has been about listening to residents which is why more than £56million is being invested into highways maintenance.

The county council had to close a gap of £35.1m – with 73% of the Council’s net spend now being funded from Council Tax.

The council has prioritised several key areas, based on resident feedback through its Quality-of-Life survey, and are aligned to its vision to make Cambridgeshire greener, fairer and more caring:

i. Investment of more than £56m in highways maintenance. This is to tackle the significant backlog of repairs, addressing resident concerns. This includes £14.5m for the day-to-day management of the highway and an additional £20m in planned maintenance including roads, pavements, drainage, bridges, safety barriers, traffic lights, public rights of way and cycleways.

ii. Sustaining critical adults and children’s social care, which includes £3m to cover inflation for local care providers and an extra £8m for the 5% increase in the Real Living Wage. An additional £9m for children who become looked after, £4.7m to support home to school transport services and £920,000 investment in capacity in SEND services.

iii. The council continues to support vulnerable communities, with an estimated £6m of Household Support Fund that will be delivered to support those most in need alongside investment in further improvements in our libraries through £1.3m already committed to the Libraries Plus programme.

It was agreed to increase Council Tax by 4.99% (2% of which is for Adult Social Services) – raising £20m of local income to help maintain and protect critical services for the most vulnerable communities. For most of our residents in Band A-D properties that will mean between an extra £1.04 pence to £1.55 a week.

A14 UPGRADE: Bar Hill Bridge 

Over a year ago, National Highways committed to installing monitoring equipment on the sinking Bar Hill bridge, but it was not done. In the meantime, the County Council funded a temporary fix, but without monitoring data, long-term repairs cannot be planned. This inaction is financially unsustainable for the County Council.

Monitoring was supposed to take 12 months, but the situation remains unchanged without any equipment. This problem affects Bar Hill, B1050, and other A14 corridor bridges. Immediate action is needed to ensure long-term stability, we will continue to raise this with our MP and National Highways.

GROWTH ANNOUNCEMENT 

At the end of January, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the Government’s growth ambitions, focusing on reviving the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, or ‘OxCam arc.’ This plan, dubbed ‘Europe’s Silicon Valley,’ will be overseen by science minister Sir Patrick Vallance. Key details include:

• East West Rail, with a new station at Tempsford
• The new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital
• A University of Cambridge Innovation Hub in central Cambridge
• Development at the Beehive Centre site in Cambridge and at Waterbeach
• The new Fens and Lincolnshire reservoirs
• Upgrading of the A428 Milton Keynes to Cambridge

A new delivery body for development around Oxford will mirror the growth company for Cambridge, headed by Peter Freeman, former chair of Homes England. This announcement highlights Cambridgeshire’s economic significance and attempts to revive economic growth. However, the infrastructure announced mostly includes already planned or ongoing schemes.

Certainty on funding for the entire East West Rail route to Cambridge is needed for future planning. Current house-building plans are ambitious and require the announced infrastructure. The Fens Reservoir, in early consultation, will not supply water until the late 2030s. Further investment is required for additional development to ensure sufficient water, health services, and transport. Anglian Water objects to several development proposals due to insufficient sewage systems.

The commitment to the Cambridge Cancer Hospital is welcome, but health services, including GP surgeries, dentists, and hospital facilities, are struggling. The establishment of more unaccountable delivery bodies raises concerns about public engagement and democratic input, especially as the Government reorganizes local councils.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION

In December, the Government announced rapid changes to local government, aiming for elected Mayors and single-tier ‘unitary’ councils. Areas without Mayors are prioritised, and two-tier areas must transition soon. Some councils can cancel upcoming county elections to expedite this, however, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough County Council and Mayoral elections will proceed on 1 May.

Unitary Councils
The government’s specification for new unitary councils continues to emerge. Broadly, the new Mayoral authorities should cover around 1.5 million people with at least two unitary councils each with a minimum of 500,000 people. (Ours has about 900,000 so is a little on the small side). The populations of the current district and city council’s is shown on this map:

The county council’s Insight team is assisting with proposals. If no agreement is reached, however, the Government will decide.

More powers for Mayors:
At the same time as all this, the Government also wants elected Mayors to have more powers.

• Spatial Development Strategy: Adopted with majority support.
• Development management powers: Similar to the Mayor of London.
• Mayoral Levy: Infrastructure funding from developers.
• Homes England partnership: Stronger ties and regionalised model.
• Funding for housing ambitions: Mayors control grant funding.
• Affordable housing program: Strategic direction by Mayors.

ADULTS & HEALTH

Frequent users of A&E

A new specialist team is reducing avoidable A&E visits in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The High Impact Use team (HIU), a partnership between NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and the County Council, supports those who frequently attend A&E for non-medical reasons.

Since its launch in October 2024, the team found that many frequent visitors to A&E have issues like loneliness, financial problems, and poor physical and mental health, rather than urgent medical needs.

Services Provided by HIU

• Build trusted relationships with frequent A&E visitors.
• Arrange and attend appointments with patients.
• Enroll patients in community groups or charity services.
• Assist with access to support services (counselling, housing advice, employment guidance).

The service is provided to people aged 18+ registered with a GP in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, or Royston.

The service is provided to people aged eighteen or over who are registered with a GP in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough or Royston.

COMMUNITIES, SOCIAL MOBILITY & INCLUSION (COSMIC)

Falls prevention

Cold homes can affect mobility and put older people at greater risk of falling. It’s important to be extra careful to avoid falls during winter months. There’s an online interactive risk checking tool to help identify your risks, or those of older family, friends, or neighbours. www.steadyonyourfeet.org/cambridgeshire   

ENVIRONMENT & GREEN INVESTMENT

New Contract for collection of recyclable waste

The new contract involves transporting blue bin waste for processing in Northern Ireland. Household Recycling Centre waste is handled separately.

RECAP, the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Waste Partnership, let the contract, with the County Council’s procurement team assisting. The district councils, who have managed this contract for ten years, made the award decision.

The current contractor, Thalia at Waterbeach was disqualified for a non-compliant bid, so the contract was awarded to Biffa (London) for East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Fenland, and RE-GEN (Northern Ireland) for Cambridge, South Cambridgeshire, and Peterborough. Bids were assessed on quality, price, and transport considerations.

Concerns have been raised about increased HGV journeys with RE-GEN, but they already serve sixteen other authorities and distributes sorted recycling back to the UK before making the return journey to Northern Ireland, They also plan to build a new facility in the Midlands. RE-GEN can recover up to 99% of material, compared to 80% now, capturing an estimated 400 more tonnes monthly. This aligns with the upcoming ‘extended producer responsibility’ scheme, requiring efficient recovery of packaging.

MEANWHILE……….. on the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority 

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has announced he will franchise the region’s bus system, bringing services under greater public control to create a more reliable, affordable, and passenger-focused network.

The landmark decision marks the most significant reform of the area’s bus network in forty years.

Under the new model, the Combined Authority will set fares, routes, timetables and service standards, working with contracted private bus operators to ensure they are implemented and work effectively. Unlike the current deregulated bus system, brought in under the 1985 Transport Act, franchising allows profits to be reinvested into improved services.

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/libdems3rdMay18 – Over & Willingham

Report a highways fault – Cambridgeshire County Council
Report a flood – www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/planning-and-development/flood-and-water/report-a-flood