 | Ros Hathorn, 76 Cambridge Road, Impington, Cambridge CB24 9NU Ros.Hathorn@cambridgeshire.gov.uk Tel: 07548 745197 https://hiopcouncillors.org | |
CONTENTS: County Council spending; Local Nature Recovery Plan; Busway safety; Police, MP, Kings Meadow and anti social behaviour; Milton County Park Parking, Food Waste, ICBs, SEND, Darwin Green School, Appointments
County Council
As an introduction to the county council we have received a number of briefing notes. I thought this was helpful.
Local Nature Recovery Plan
This will be going to the Combined Authority next week. Over summer possibly early autumn there will be a public consultation. I strongly recommend if you’re interests in this area to engage with this. Broadly it looks at where there is already nature and how that can be nurtured, supported, enhanced and expanded. It’s an important document for Cambridgeshire.
Busway safety
A paper is coming to Highways and Transport committee on Tuesday 17 June in response to the recent £6m fines by the Health and Safety Executive and the 3 deaths and other incidents on the busway proposing fencing the length of the busway. There are also proposals to find a solution to access issues for cyclists and pedestrians when the maintenance track is flooded towards St Ives.
This is a major issue for Histon, Impington and Orchard Park as in the northern busway (where the busway remains unfenced) we have the most intimate relationship with the busway. We use it to travel within our communities and it is often adjacent to people’s homes. It is heavily used for recreational amenity. The measures will close the informal crossing points meaning the only crossing points here will be at Station Road/ Cambridge Road, Gatehouse Road, Orchard Park west area, and the St Audreys formal pedestrian crossing.
I have posted about this on Histon and Impington facebook groups (I can’t post in Orchard Park unfortunately). I am gathering comments and intend to raise both the major themes from local debate and my concerns about how the busway is managed. I want to secure public commitments from the council to hold face to face community engagement in Histon, Impington and Orchard Park, to create a clearly publicised accident reporting mechanism for all busway users, to have a formal mechanism where requests for improvements are considered and for improved CCTV. Lighting remains an issue we should campaign for.
Police, MP, Anti Social Behaviour Kings Meadow
I organised a meeting with the MP, police, Clarion housing and District councillors Sunita Hansraj and Martin Cahn to discuss anti social behaviour and specific issues in Kings Meadow. We identified a number of Kings Meadow specific concerns including bulky waste and litter, street and pavement sweeping, highways maintenance and maintenance of the green spaces. Further meetings are being scheduled.
More broadly it highlighted concerns across the division. Anti social behaviour and crime are escalating in different and specific ways. Police advised they were not seeing this in their data and were not able to deploy resource accordingly. They encouraged everyone to report any incidents, even just observations of something that may look like a drugs deal or bike theft. Reports rarely lead to criminal prosecutions but they alert the police to trends such as increasing anti social behaviour in an area which in turn allows the police to prioritise locating officers in certain areas.
It was clear that there are real challenges in South Cambridgeshire policing, they have a really challenging area to manage (large, sprawling, lots of villages) they also have significant numbers of graduate trainees who attend training at the same time, meaning they require a lot of cover. This issue is now at least 2 years old and it is disappointing that we see no progress. Further meetings are planned as there is a lot more work needed in this area but please report, report, report.
Milton Country Park Parking
Working with Cllr Bradnam who represents Milton we raised issues flagged to us about the new parking system at Milton Country Park. People were complaining about unfair ticketing and issues with payment machines. The country park advised that they have ironed out some initial glitches and the system is now operating more fairly. Please carefully read the rules and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you feel you’ve been treated unfairly, if you get in touch with the country park within 24 hours they can rescind tickets. If later do raise it with me and I will try to get action.
Milton Country Park were reluctant to issue a clear statement and attempt to proactively manage the situation. I think this would have helped.
Food waste
As the County Council’s RECAP board member we recently discussed weekly food waste collections. Which will be rolled out across the county January to June next year. The county council will manage the food waste, the District Council will be managing the collection of the waste, communications and information. The caddies will be silver/grey. I really look forward to not having smelly food waste in my green bin.
Pressures ahead for Integrated Care Boards (ICBs)
NHS England has published what has been described as a ‘draft blueprint of the future model of ICBs’. These local boards are responsible for planning, funding, and commissioning NHS services for their local populations.
Spending per head by ICBs, which varies across the country from £49 to just under £21, will be cut to £18.76. Plans on how ICBs will meet this new target should have been submitted by 30 May.
There will also be a shift in the functions of ICBs, including to neighbourhood health providers. Boards were told in March they must cut their running costs by around half by October 2025 and to focus on reducing duplication when making cuts. Health minister Karin Smyth recently revealed that no impact assessment had been conducted of the decision to reduce ICB running costs.
Special educational needs and disabilities inspection
National inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last month published their report on provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the county.
The County Council and the NHS are jointly responsible for the planning and commissioning of these services as part of the Cambridgeshire Area SEND Partnership, for children and young people with SEND in Cambridgeshire. The partnership has been given the middle rating of three possible outcomes.
The inspectors highlighted several areas of good practice, including a clear and coherent strategy, the capacity to improve provision, and strong relationships across the partnership. It made five recommendations for improvement:
- Improved timeliness and quality of Education Health & Care Plans.
- Improved access and shorter waiting times for specialist mental health pathways and neurodevelopmental assessments.
- Better opportunities for ‘co-production’ with children and young people with SEND, so their voices and views are more fully included.
- Improved support for children and young people with SEND as they prepare for adulthood, especially in mainstream schools.
- Better communication of the local area partnership’s offer, so that schools, services and families know about and understand what the area seeks to provide.
The council has already invested £500,000 to manage the increased demand for Education Health & Care Plans and approved a further £920,000 annual investment in February this year. The full report is at https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50276860
Darwin Green Secondary school
A recent meeting identified that development plans for the new school are continuing with a proposed opening date of 2028 at the latest. The County Council has provided a number of confusing statements on this but there is progress.
Appointments
I will be taking on the following roles at the county council. Chair of the Environment and Green Investment Committee, Vice Chair of the Shareholders Sub Committee, RECAP board member (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s waste partnership). Advisor on Natural Cambridgeshire’s board.
INFORMATION
Report a Highways fault If you see a problem; blocked gully/ drain, pot hole or other Highways issue please report it
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 problems, questions or concerns.
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