Ros Hathorn, 76 Cambridge Road, Impington, Cambridge CB24 9NU Ros.Hathorn@cambridgeshire.gov.uk Tel: 07548 745197 https://hiopcouncillors.org

CONTENTS: Histon & Impington Brook Primary OFSTED, by-election, Full Council motions, CSET busway vote, Waterbeach busway, St Ives busway, Bus franchising consultation, County Council budget, national highways funding, Closing offices to create efficiencies and improve service delivery, Electric scooters, East West Rail, Cable recycling, Modal filter Mill Road Bridge, Swish and Diwali.

Histon & Impington Brook Primary, had an OFSTED inspection mid October.  We await the report but this is a stressful time for any school and I was pleased to see the teachers still smiling at the end of the second day.

By-election 24 October 2024, Well done to James Rixon, Liberal Democrat who won the recent Histon & Impington Ward by-election.  There was a strong slate of candidates all of whom should be applauded for being prepared to stand for election.  

Cllr Rixon beat the other four candidates, receiving 942 votes. Edd Stonham, the independent candidate, came second with 617 votes, with the Green Party’s Kathryn Fisher in third, with 420 votes and Conservative Clive Pelbrough-Power, receiving 283 votes, beating Labour’s William Mason, who polled 172 votes.

The turnout was 28.6 per cent, high for a by-election.

Full Council Cambridgeshire County Council met On October 22nd. The council debated four motions proposed by councillors, and agreed them all unanimously.

1. A call for fairer police funding and awareness of domestic abuse. Cambridgeshire is the fourth lowest funded police force in the country, and local taxpayers fund around half of Cambridgeshire’s policing budget.
2. A motion which I submitted seeking changes to planning processes in cases where schemes are delivered over many years yet planning designs and decisions are not able to be changed to accommodate new situations.
3. A proposal about safety risks from lithium-ion batteries in items such as e-bikes and e-scooters, for householders and for waste collection and disposal crews. It endorses the work being done by Lord Foster and the charity Electrical Safety First to seek to ensure third party independent approval testing for these items entering the UK market, regulations for safe disposal of used lithium-ion batteries, and controls to address specific fire concerns such as charging points.
4. A proposal for a review of the aftermath of National Highways’ project on the A14 so that issues are clear and documented, and calling for National Highways to be more responsive and to resolve outstanding matters.

Busway vote The council also agreed at full council to apply to Government for a Transport & Works Act Order to progress the Cambridge South East Transport project for a busway between a new travel hub near the A1307 / A11 and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, connecting with Granta Park, and the villages in between (Sawston, Stapleford, Great Shelford).  Busway votes are always challenging with a lot of scrutiny. 

There was significant controversy generated by local residents when the Cambourne busway came to full council, and the same pattern was seen for this busway with an alternative proposal that suggested a single lane busway added to an existing road over the Gog Magog hills on the premise that there is no congestion in the city during the afternoon peak.  

As was mentioned during the debate on the Cambridge South East busway with privilege comes responsibility.   It is a massive privilege to live near the Addenbrookes site, the new cancer and childrens’ hospitals are amazing medical resources we will benefit from, however with that privilege is the responsibility to safeguard and enable employees across the biomedical site to get to work.  That is simply not possible with the proposed growth and current transport infrastructure.  Members of the public representing different parts of the biomedical campus attended to speak about the urgent need for improved transport into the Addenbrookes Campus site.  

Waterbeach busway –  I am coordinating weekly meetings with the GCP to press for the best possible design options to come to full council in February when the vote on the Waterbeach busway will be taken. We have already seen an upgrade with the maintenance track to have solar studs along the entire route which is a significant improvement.  Although this is beyond the scope of the vote at full council I am aware that it is only by pressing for better design and supporting initiatives that we will see them delivered.  

St Ives busway – the success of the busway has demonstrated that people really are willing to travel and unlike almost every other route the problem is how to deal with demand.  After Cllr Firouz Thompson and myself have worked extensively with Stagecoach they have added a further two buses to the peak service. This has unfortunately coincided with bus redirection as the busway is closed for essential works in Histon and Orchard Park. 

Bus Franchising consultation This closes on 20 November I urge people to think about what their red lines are in terms of franchising.  For me if bus operation moves to a franchised model the transport planning and operation should be at arms length from political interference, so that unitary Mayors cannot just add politically expedient bus routes to the service when an election is approaching paid for by cancelling routes in other parts of the county.  Secondly a far better mechanism for gathering data and finding solutions to the challenges villages face is essential.  Villages are at a significant disadvantage as they don’t have the resources market towns and cities have to press for bus improvements, making it clear the Combined Authority must up their game on this is really important. I stook in front of Tescos Histon last Saturday to canvas opinions on buses.  One comment that came back was that the service levels on the number 8 have improved over the last 6 months with fewer cancellations.

Bus franchising consultation

Budget  The council’s current position forecasts an overspend of £9.6M for the current financial year—that’s 2 per cent of its budget. The county council’s estimated budget gap for next year (2025/26) has increased from £23.5M to more than £39M, largely due to a combination of increasing demand for services, inflationary pressures, and uncertainty over future funding from Government. Over the last ten years, the council’s core government funding has reduced by 70 per cent in real terms. Combined with more steep rises in inflation and a surge in demand for services supporting some of our most vulnerable residents, this has added further cost pressures to the council

National Highways funding– Call for new applications

Do you have an initiative that could benefit from our legacy funds? All non-for-profit groups or organisations in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire can apply, including but not limited to local schools, charities, community groups, and environment groups. Grants for the Social Value Fund are from £15,000 to £200,000, for smaller scale projects, the Community Fund offers grants of up to £15,000. We have three more applications windows for the two funds – November 2024 to January 2025, May 2025 to July 2025 and November 2025 to January 2026.

For details on funding criteria and how to apply, visit our Social Value Fund and Community Fund page.

Closing offices to save money and invest in improved facilities Councillors at the Asset and Procurement Committee I chaired agreed to close five offices, invest in remaining accommodation to bring services closer to communities, continue to lower the council’s carbon footprint to meet its net-zero 2030 goal, and deliver around £2m in annual savings.

Electric scooters as Christmas presents? Please be aware Please be aware, as it may not be common knowledge, that while privately purchased e-scooters can be used on private property, they are not legal to use on the ‘public highway’ – our roads and pavements. The exception, which makes things confusing, is the County Council run E-scooter rental scheme in Cambridge city out to Histon & Impington.

We do get a fair share of complaints and concerns about e-scooters, mainly because of concerns about the safety of riders and those who may come into contact with them. We’re aware that Cambs Police will be doing a publicity campaign about this issue as Christmas approaches.

East West Rail  East West Rail (EWR) have announced that their Non-Statutory Consultation will begin on 14 November 2024, closing on 24 January 2025. More information, including details of consultation events, can be found at https://eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation2024

Recycling Cable  Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service is working with Recycle Your Electricals to encourage Cambridgeshire residents to participate in The Great Cable Challenge – a nationwide campaign aimed at tackling the millions of cables sitting idle across UK households. The initiative is part of this year’s International E-Waste Day.

The challenge aims to give a second life to the valuable materials contained in cables, such as copper. Copper can be recycled into new items such as wind turbines and new tech such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets or smart watches.

With millions of cables cluttering up UK homes, Recycle Your Electricals have published a handy Cable Guide. With 35 of the most used cables, the guide provides easy to use visuals to match cables to their original electricals. If the electricals or the cables are no longer working or they aren’t needed anymore, simply bag up your cables and recycle them!  The Household recycling centre at Milton has full electrical cable recycling facilities.

The modal filter on Mill Road bridge was approved. This means the bridge will be closed to all motor vehicles, except buses, pedestrians, cyclists, emergency services, taxis and blue badge holders’ registered vehicles.  The council agreed to take a pragmatic approach to providing exemptions for those with blue badges or carers’ responsibilities.

The special committee members considered responses received in the recent five-week statutory notice period for the proposed Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). There was significant local support for the measure including over 25 speakers.

Histon Swish and Orchard Park Diwali celebrations.  It was a joy to attend both these events with my family.  I volunteered at the Swish and found it a delightful, friendly, calm and gentle experience which recycled an enormous volume of clothing.  I attended the Diwali event organised by Cllr Sunita Hansraj and was incredibly impressed by how popular it is and what a lovely event it is.

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.