South Cambridgeshire District Council – Histon & Impington Ward

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us using the details below.

Martin Cahn: Cllr.Cahn@scambs.gov.uk 07826 748407
Sunita Hansraj: Cllr.Hansraj@scambs.gov.uk 07584 671322
Pippa Heylings: Cllr.Heylings@scambs.gov.uk 07837 228416

Building local resilience to climate change and keeping pavements safe 

Road sweeping is an essential service. Autumn is the season when many roads and footways become slippery and dangerous due to fallen leaves and the road cleansing service has a difficult task keeping up. Every community has the same issues and demand for street sweeping is at it’s highest at this time of year. Street sweeping makes footpaths safer particularly for those with poor mobility or using wheelchairs or buggies. It also reduces the flood risk by stopping debris from being washed into gulleys and waterways. That is why there has been much-appreciated collaboration at all levels for a joined-up way to tackle both road sweeping and gully/drainage ditch clearance. Working together with the HI Street Cleaning volunteers and the Parish Council, your County and District Councillors are coordinating the week between the different organisations in order to define local priority streets and areas, particularly key locations that have a high footfall such as the area around the doctor’s surgery and the schools. This aims to ensure that pavements are cleaned of debris ahead of the County Council gully clearance schedule, which makes huge sense, especially with funding and resources getting ever tighter. So, there is now a live document with priority pavements being held by the Parish Council, regularly being updated, one which is shared by your District Councillors with the South Cambs District Council Street Sweeping team who have indeed succeeded in prioritising these areas within their schedule.

If you’d like to understand more about the Street Care and Cleaning service provided by South Cambs and the 10-week cycle for visiting villages, please visit: South Cambs Street Care and Cleaning Service

National Planning Policy Framework revision

At the end of October 2023, the government enacted the new Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which, in planning terms, heralds (despite protestations otherwise)   increased centralisation of the planning system particularly with Local Plans being given less primacy especially where they conflict with national development management policies, a new national infrastructure levy, digital standards and ‘environmental outcomes’ set by ministers replacing former environmental impact assessments.

On 19^th December, DLUHC (Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities) issued a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) setting out the government’s planning policies for England.  The NPPF is the guiding document for all planning decisions and was revised in response to the new Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. What are the main changes to planning? Well, perhaps not surprisingly for a Secretary of State who is not enamoured of devolution of power to local government, there are quite a few changes to the rules for Local Planning Authorities (LPA) like South Cambridgeshire District Council. These are aimed at fast-tracking the planning process to reduce the number of ‘delays’ but it is questionable as to whether the real source of delays is being tackled. For example, these changes include: the removal of the ability to agree extensions of time in order to encourage councils to determine planning applications quickly. Our local Parish and Community Councils will know that, often, there are sound reasons why an extension is sought not least because there are no accompanying changes to the number of requirements, studies, reports etc that need to be provided and due process with local consultation ensured. Disappointingly, despite some noises that they would address this barrier, there is nothing included about how to increase the planning resources that Local Planning Authorities need in order to process applications efficiently – nor resources for enforcement by the local planning authority that many residents rightly call for. . Changes are also expected in 2024 to introduce a new plan-making system with a fixed 30-month timetable. Officers await further detail on this to understand the potential impacts on and opportunities for the emerging Local Plan process and timetable. All councils want to deliver the right new homes for their communities. The best way to do that is to have a robust and sustainable Local Plan. There are many reasons why it can be hard to implement a local plan as quickly as the Local Planning Authority would like. However, we do think that intervention by central government (as seemingly being proposed) should be a last resort when it is demonstrably clear that a delay in putting the local plan in place is entirely due to factors within the authority’s control.

We are concerned that the new NPPF will make it harder for planning committees to block developments that have been ‘approved in principle’ by officers. We feel strongly that this undermines the democratic, plan-led process, which involves local councillors and officers using their collective expertise to assess the evidence to make decisions that deliver for their local communities – in a way that gives local residents and communities a voice.

“As you know, one of our priorities at South Cambs, too, has been to ensure the right homes in the right places.  It is vital for new housing and infrastructure to meet high environmental standards to prepare our communities for climate change and reduce energy bills into the bargain. So it is extremely disappointing that the Government is actively discouraging Local Planning Authorities from putting in place higher energy efficiency standards in their local plans. We were expecting that this NPPF would finally bring in the much-needed higher efficiency standards proposed in the Future Homes Standard. Given our declaration of the climate emergency, it is difficult to understand further delays in the adoption of the government’s own proposed Future Homes Standard.

Meanwhile, the other big change in the NPPF is the announcement relevant to us and the Cambridge 2040 plans is the possibility to create Development Corporations which assume the powers from local planning authorities, taking voice away from local communities on large developments on their doorstep. In South Cambridgeshire, this is particularly relevant to us in South Cambridgeshire with the announcement of the creation of a new Development Corporation for Cambridge in order to deliver Cambridge 2040 with overly ambitious plans to turn Cambridge into the Silicon Valley of the UK

Cambridge 2040

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities has announced further details of the Government’s Cambridge 2040 strategy, although to date there is no public information about the membership of the Cambridge Delivery Group which has been created and is being led by Peter Freeman, formerly Chair of Homes England, nor its full remit and how it will be government. Under a Freedom of Information request, DLUHC responded that “the Cambridge Delivery Group is made up of a team of experienced DLUHC and Homes England staff across all grades., A new Development Corporation will be created, building on the work of the new Cambridge Delivery Group, which has been led by Peter Freeman, formerly Chair of Homes England. It is yet unknown what its remit is and how it will be governed. Although still in the early stages, key aspects of the proposals include:

• The establishment of a Development Corporations to assume the powers of planning in the Greater Cambridge region
• The building of more than 150,000 houses in the region by the 2040’s

Local council leaders have expressed concerns about water scarcity and sustainable public transport. The four leaders – Cambridge City Council, Cllr Mike Davey, South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cllr Bridget Smith, Cambridgeshire County Council Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, and the Combined Authority Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Dr Nik Johnson wrote to him to express their views and you can read their joint letter at
https://www.scambs.gov.uk/joint-statement-from-local-leadesrs-and-the-combined-authoritymayor-on-cambridge-2040-announcement

Cambridgeshire County Council Quality of Life Survey

Following on from the CCC Quality of Life Survey result being published at a county level, we have now added a District level summary report to the published suite of materials. The South Cambridgeshire data is on pages 10 & 11 Quality of Life Survey-District Report-December 2023 (cambridgeshire.gov.uk)

Anti-Social Behaviour

In November District Councillor Sunita Hansraj invited the Police and Crime Commissioner ‘In November I invited the Police and Crime Commissioner, Darryl Preston, to discuss anti-social behaviour (ASB) and crime in general in Orchard Park and surrounding areas including Histon and Impington.

We talked for 90 minutes, the Community Council Clerk and District Councillor Pippa Heylings also attended the meeting to work out how best to tackle these issues together. I spoke about the problem here being compounded by Orchard Park’s proximity to Arbury where perpetrators of ASB sometimes join with those in Orchard Park moving fluidly between areas across the north of the city and creating nuisance.

We discussed the Community Safety Partnership, coordinated by the District Council which has helped immensely in tackling ASB, in some instances leading to police officers working directly with families.

Although we did not get a positive response to the request for additional community police officers, PCC Preston offered to part fund a youth worker for Orchard Park if the Community Council match the fund. I am happy to report that the Orchard Park Community Council has agreed to this.

The Community Safety Partnership have targeted ASB and drug hotspots in Arbury which also benefits Orchard Park.

The PCC said that the numbers of new recruits who have completed their training are gaining experience so will be functioning soon so helping to increase visible policing. Sadly , despite acknowledgement of the issues I had highlighted in HIOP a few weeks after this meeting the PCC met with MP Anthony Browne and offered him 2 community police for St. Neots.

Rent Overpayment Issue

The issue of overcharging of rent has been identified affecting about 130 tenants. They have now been written to and told to expect a full refund around Easter time.

SCDC (South Cambridgeshire District Council) Housing Maintenance

Just over a year ago SCDC entered into a completely new contract with Mears for the repair and maintenance of the council’s social housing portfolio. A full contract review has now been conducted which shows that performance over the previous contract has improved significantly.

Mears have put in additional measures to improve their performance including operative upskilling and additional contract support from central teams and subcontractors

Correction of fake news on Council Finance

A Labour MP made a statement in the House of Commons last month naming councils which were bankrupt. He included SCDC in this. The council wrote to him immediately asking for the record to be put straight and have had an apology from him.

SCDC Help for residents through the cost-of-living crisis

A free electric blanket / electric throw, household support fund, food support were among the things SCDC put in place to help with the cost-of-living crisis. To see what is on offer and how to claim: www.scambs.gov.uk/cost-of-living
If you have any questions or need help in applying, please email: duty.communities@scambs.gov.uk