 | Ros Hathorn, 76 Cambridge Road, Impington, Cambridge CB24 9NU Ros.Hathorn@cambridgeshire.gov.uk Tel: 07548 745197 https://hiopcouncillors.wordpress.com/ |
Contents
Who does what, The Coppice, Orchard Park Trees, 20mph consultation Orchard Park, Guided busway, Pot hole club, Traffic lights vandalised, Growth Company, Summer activities and Food programme, Adult bike training, Blood pressure monitors at libraries, Call for Woodland sites, Waste strategy and Design Guide
Who does what
In a perhaps long overdue review I’ve outlined broadly where responsibilities lie in our rich environment of local governance. As you can see it’s a total muddle imposed locally by a central government.
Compared to previous responsibilities
The Coppice
I picked up concern from a local resident that it was impossible to use a wheelchair on the footways of The Coppice, working with Histon and Impington Parish Council, wooded areas have been cut back and the District Council is due to sweep the roads to make the paved areas and roads a lot tidier. I was thrilled to receive a thank you note from one of the residents after this work was completed such actions make a real difference.
Orchard Park Trees
Work commenced on footway restoration in Orchard Park this month. This is work I have campaigned for with the community council over a period of years. I have received various reports of serious harm caused by the damaged footways.
Significant work is being done to make good pavements damaged by tree roots; the wrong trees in the wrong places. I am working closely with the community council to ensure that the tree lined avenues which are such an important and charming feature of Orchard Park are retained but that the best decisions in terms of tree management are made for future decades.
20mph consultation for Orchard Park
The 20mph consultation for Orchard Park closed for the 3rd time this week. I am hopeful that finally the county council will be able to support a much wanted 20mph zone. Parties beyond Cambridge city have relished in stirring up controversy around this, which is particularly harmful for Orchard Park.
Guided busway
A busway drop in meeting was held at the Baptist church evening of 9 June where plans were presented for the new busway crossing at the community orchard. Residents were asked their views on items such as the surface for the new footpath, interestingly there was a lot of interest in a more hardwearing less natural looking surface. Views are still being captured as the designs are finalised so please get in touch with your thoughts. The council are looking at formalising ways to capture community feedback.
Pot hole club
The inaugural Histon & Impington pot hole club meeting took place last week at the Rose and Crown. I have tried many ways to try to get a fair share of highways maintenance work here. Broadly speaking South Cambridgeshire is historically disadvantaged and this is exacerbated by it’s inconvenient donut shape, which takes highways maintenance officers a long time to navigate so fewer reports are submitted. The disproportionately high number of villages also creates challenges
A group of amazing volunteers attended and others got in contact. We have started work on a spreadsheet tracking individual reported faults and their progress through the system. I will submit these to the highways service and hopefully by engaging with the service in effectively their language it will be easier to unlock work on some longstanding issues.
Traffic lights vandalised
After writing about traffic lights being vandalised including at the Park School last month I can update that an individual has been arrested and charged.
Growth Company
Unsurprisingly government announced that it will be creating a Development Corporation across South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge city, I hope it is led benevolently and generously and benefits the residents of our area as there will be very little democratic accountability over it’s decisions for the next 25 years and that was a government decision. Summer activities and Food programme Government has changed it’s approach to school holiday food vouchers so this summer will mark the end of the County Council’s food vouchers during the summer holidays. It will still be possible for those families most in need to get additional financial support but through the Crisis Resilience Fund which has different criteria to the previous Household Support Fund.
Holiday activities and school vouchers
Coordinated by Cambridgeshire County Council on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE), the Holiday Activities Fund HAF provides primary and secondary aged children with access to healthy food, fun activities and enriching experiences throughout the school holidays. Government funding for the programme is confirmed until December 2028.
Parents and carers can find more information about the programme, including how to use their voucher and details of local schemes, on the council’s website: Cambridgeshire Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme | Cambridgeshire County Council
Blood Pressure Monitors for Libraries Residents
will be able to borrow 350 blood pressure monitors from libraries across Cambridgeshire.
Adult bike training
A cycle training programme, will commence in Summer 2026. Training sessions will be delivered across Cambridgeshire market towns and Peterborough including Histon, aimed at improving residents’ confidence, skills and safety when cycling.
The programme has been designed to cater for a wide range of participants, including:
- · Adult learn-to-ride and confidence sessions
- · Family cycling sessions
- · Women-only sessions
- · Beginner sessions for children
Sessions will take place on weekdays, weekends and during school holidays to maximise accessibility. We expect to engage around 700 participants, with separate targets for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Please see the booking website attached for further information:- https://grafhamwater.cinolla.com/grafham-water/category/funded-cycle-training.
Call for Woodland sites
The County Council is calling for sites for woodland development, they are encouraging all interested parties to submit sites of 0.5 hectares or larger by 30 June 2026. Support will be given by the county council through discounted or possibly free trees and ongoing management advice and support. Bones MacBradan, Forestry Commission Nature Recovery Advisor for the East, said: “The UK Government has pledged to increase total UK tree cover to 16.5% by 2050, creating 30,000 hectares of new woodland per year by the end of this Parliament.
“Cambridgeshire is one of the least wooded counties in England, set within one of the least wooded countries in the world. This campaign presents a powerful opportunity to begin to transform Cambridgeshire’s position from a sparsely wooded county to a far leafier one by increasing tree cover both in and outside of woodlands. In doing so, it can help tackle the biodiversity and climate crises, deliver vital ecosystem services, create jobs, and provide people across the county with greater access to beautiful, nature‑rich green spaces.”
Waste strategy and Design Guide
As Chair of the Environment and Green Investment committee I presented the Waste Strategy and Waste design guide to full council, both were given unanimous support. The strategy outlines the direction of travel for waste which is always to reduce levels of municipal waste for all political parties and councils.
There is considerable misinformation circulating about Mixed Dry Recycling Facilities. During COVID Boris Johnson’s government broke procurement rules to favour contracts with cronies. This cost the country billions in waste money, since that time procurement rules have become much tighter. There have been calls to break procurement rules by a number of political parties to favour local providers no matter the cost to the taxpayer. There has also been a good deal of deliberate naivety about the complexity of delivering a Mixed Dry Recyclables facility; extraordinarily expensive, unpopular with neighbours, needs Environment Agency license, can only proceed if councils across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough support. I have heard calls from residents of Histon and Impington for mixed dry recyclables to be processed in Cambridgeshire. There is a good deal of county land around Histon & Impington should we be putting community support for a new recycling facility on farmland here in a Neighbourhood plan refresh? It’s a good location for many reasons although personally I think it would be extremely unpopular. How local do we want waste processing to be?
The design guide is effectively an agreement for developers that waste collection authorities will use a certain type of collection arrangement and developers should organise their developments accordingly. It’s a bit like committing to use three pin plugs as the collection agency and requiring that three pin sockets are installed by developers.
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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