CONTENTS: New Road planning applications, Busway, Covid vaccination programme, Dentistry, New Director of Education, Sunnica Solar Farm, Waste partnership awards new recycling contract, Community energy consultation, Active travel hierarchy consultation, Mill Road (Cambridge) bus gate new consultation, Highways projects overview, Winter gritting, Sale of Old Shire Hall, Meanwhile on the Combined Authority

New Road planning applications Whilst planning decisions for the developments on New Road, Impington sit with the District Council the County Council as Highways Authority are a statutory consultee.   I will be attending the public to support local residents laying out their concerns about the impact on New Road and Park Drive and also to attempt to agree solutions.

Busway After having got a commitment for significant funding on the busway from the Combined Authority and increased buses from Stagecoach we still find ourselves in early September with people unable to get on the buses at peak time. This is not acceptable and I am working with colleagues to get improvements.

Covid vaccination programme The government has accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation for an autumn COVID-19 vaccination programme this year. All those aged 65 or over, all those in care homes for older people, and those aged six months or over who are in a clinical risk group, will be eligible for vaccination this autumn.

Dentistry  ‘My Smile’ accreditation for Children & Family Centres All of the County Council’s Child & Family Centres and Family Hubs are now ‘My Smile’ accredited. The ‘My Smile’ programme is aimed at reducing oral health inequalities for the most deprived and disadvantaged children in early years. The programme offers training to Child & Family Centre and Family Hub staff by the Oral Health team from Dental Health Care, part of Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. There are four steps to the programme, consisting of

• Training in good oral health

• How to share information to families around toothbrushing

• Tooth friendly diets

• Dental visits.

Acquiring a ‘My Smile’ accreditation shows that the staff at these centres have received the most the up-to-date, evidence-based oral health training. It also shows that their centres promote a ‘tooth friendly’ environment for children and can confidently promote and advise visiting families on how to support good oral health at home.

New Director of Education Sarah Callaghan has joined Cambridgeshire County Council’s as its new Service Director for Education. She has come from a similar position in Islington and started in Cambridgeshire on 5 August.

Sunnica Solar Farm After the decision by the Government to permit the development of the Sunnica solar farm between Burwell and Red Lodge, the four ‘host authorities’ (Suffolk and Cambridgeshire counties, West Suffolk and East Cambridgeshire districts) submitted a ‘pre-action protocol letter’.

This asked the Government to correct an error in the permission, which loaded considerable costs onto the councils for all the work they will need to do on the detail of the permission. The councils expected the Government to correct this, but the response from Government was that this was not an error, and the councils were indeed expected to shoulder the financial burden. This was the only ground on which the four councils were seeking to challenge the decision, and would not have affected whether the development itself went ahead or not.  This is an extremely disappointing approach from the new government.

Waste partnership awards new recycling contract Local council waste partnership RECAP has awarded its contract for mixed dry recyclables (blue bin waste) to Biffa and Re-Gen after a procurement exercise. The contract was previously held by Thalia who run the waste facility at Waterbeach. The handover will take place on 1 September.

District and City Councils have chosen to take full responsibility for this contract.  The County Council was not involved with the decision.  

Community energy consultation The County Council is currently consulting on its proposed Action Plan to support community energy. The draft Action Plan and survey seeking your views on the proposals have been published, and the survey will remain open until Monday 16 September. I think both Histon and Impington and Orchard Park councils would find value in reading the draft document

https://consultcambs.uk.engagementhq.com/community-energy-project

Active travel hierarchy consultation A consultation on the development of an ‘Active Travel Hierarchy’ was launched on 22 July. This seeks feedback on which routes and public rights of way are considered most important to users, as well as asking residents about their preferences for prioritised maintenance activities.  Consultation runs until 30 September.

This is a piece of work which resulted from a motion I took to full council to request ring fenced funding for footpaths and cycle ways as at that time different classes of roads had ring fenced funding but there was nothing for cycle and footpaths.  This was particularly important as without this the County Council was refusing to consider installing solar studs in new cycleways as they argued that they could not take on the financial liability for maintenance.

https://consultcambs.uk.engagementhq.com/active-travel-hierarchy

Mill Road (Cambridge) bus gate new consultation Cambridgeshire County Council has agreed with the claimant to end legal proceedings in relation to the Mill Road Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) challenge. The Council will no longer be defending the case through the courts, and the judge has agreed to quash the decision that was made to approve the traffic regulation order for the scheme. A new statutory consultation on a proposed Traffic Regulation Order started on Friday 9 August. The Order would close Mill Road bridge to all vehicles, with some exemptions. The consultation runs until midnight on Friday 13 September. https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-andparking/transport-projects/cycling-pedestrian-improvements/mill-roadbridge-tro

Highways projects overview The council wants to use its website more to enable residents to see more up to date information on highways projects. This is very much a work in progress, but some of the larger projects can be seen at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-andparking/highway-projects/our-projects-and-programmes

Weeds The first round of weed treatment, for those communities wishing to have this, is now coming to an end, and the second round will begin in October.

Winter gritting Preparations are under way for the 2024 winter, which starts on Friday 1 November, with salt barns being replenished and servicing of gritting vehicles.  Emails have gone out to parish councils about community gritting.

Sale of Old Shire Hall  I chaired the Assets and Procurement committee where a decision was made on the sale of Old Shire Hall.  In 2018 the Conservatives had agreed a sale on an income strip basis.  This is the type of deal which looks great on paper; an initial payment, followed by regular annual payments with the Shire Hall building sold by leasehold returning to the County Council after 50 years.   In reality it is incredibly different to get signed off and these deals normally collapse before being agreed, it requires alignment of in this case 8 different companies and there is an ongoing risk that one of those companies will become bankrupt. It is possible to waste significant amounts of time pursuing these deals unsuccessfully which is what happened for 5 years. 

Even with the car park revenue there is a significant financial cost to ensuring and maintaining an empty Old Shire Hall.  The cost of doing anything with Old Shire Hall as a council was too great so the only decision was to market the building.  

As the market demonstrated this time the appetite for income strip deals has collapsed following Covid, Brexit, the invasion of Ukraine and the Truss government.  The top 4 bids submitted were for 3 luxury hotels and one research institute  none of these bidders was prepared to consider a leasehold for anything under 250 years.  Due to section 123 of the 1972 act the council cannot legally dispose of land for anything other than best consideration except with the consent of the secretary of state.  Ie the council has to take the highest bid.  Lessons have been learned that allowing developers as much time as they want to finesse a deal leads to years of wasted time, opportunities and costs.  It was agreed to proceed with the highest bidder, a luxury hotel chain, If the current deal has not  been completed by 9 October it will return to committee potentially to offer the property to one of the next 3 bidders.

Meanwhile on the Combined Authority The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is consulting on bus franchising. The consultation will run until 20 November. The consultation outlines two options—franchising, and an Enhanced Partnership. Bus franchising would put routes, timetables and fares in the hands of the local transport authority. An enhanced partnership with bus companies would give local authorities less influence over buses than franchising, but would still allow for multi-operator ticketing and targeted fare discounts. More details, and residents’ chance to have their say, can be found at https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/news/bus-franchisingconsultation-in-cambridgeshire-and-peterborough-goes-live/

INFORMATION

Report a Highways fault If you see a problem; blocked gully/ drain, pot hole or other Highways issue please report it using the tool below. https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/roadworks-and-faults

Adult care assessment Call centre: 0345 045 5202  8am – 6pm Mon to Fri,  9am – 1pm Sat https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/adults/organising-care-and-support/care-needs-assessment Do get in touch with me directly if you have any problems, questions or concerns.

I’ve got a problem who do I contact? Organisational structure in Cambridgeshire is complicated, just ask the question.  Email me, a District Councillor or the Parish Clerk we’ll all point you to the right person (or try to).

Climate Emergency the county council wants to hear your thoughts.  What are your ideas?  What have you done?  What projects could do with some help?  The County Council really wants to hear your ideas email climate@cambridgeshire.gov.uk .

Government Structure in Cambridgeshire  detailing responsibilities

County Council; education, transport, highways, heritage, social care, libraries, trading standards, ­waste management, maintaining their estate.

District Council; council tax payments, household bin collections, housing and housing benefits, council leisure facilities, environmental health, residential planning, local emergency, community policing contact point.

Parish/ Community Council; looking after community buildings, open spaces, allotments, play areas, bus shelters, community projects.

Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) ‘The local delivery body for a City Deal with central Government worth up to £500 million over 15 years to deliver infrastructure (decarbonising transport), 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 (CPCA)  A board consisting of representatives from the District, City and County Councils and Peterborough Unitary Authority, headed by the Mayor.   Responsible for – Business support, skills, housing, transport strategy-liaising with Department of Transport, environment, international, digital connectivity, resilience, research and strategy and 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 governing body responsible for the fire and rescue service, made up of County Councillors and Peterborough City Councillors.

Cambridge development Company ……. Announced by government County Council officers are tearing their hair out trying to get a bit more detail. I will add to this as more is learnt.