District councillor for Sutton, Mepal, Witcham, and Wentworth (East Cambridgeshire District Council) and county councillor for Coveney, Little Downham, Mepal, Pymoor, Sutton, Wardy Hill, Way Head, Witcham, and Witchford (Cambridgeshire County Council)
3D render of the solar car ports (Bouygues E&S Solutions Limited and Prospus Group)
Work is getting under way at the Babraham Road Park & Ride facility to transform the site into a renewable energy generator.
Solar carports will generate up to 2.5MW of clean electricity, extra electric vehicle chargers will be installed, and the site will provide green energy directly to Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
The project will save 6,500 tonnes of CO2 over 25 years. Projects like these are important for Cambridgeshire in meeting its ambitious target to be net zero by 2045.
The council aims to complete the project by autumn next year. The Park & Ride facility will remain open throughout construction but at a reduced capacity. To reduce the impact to the site the project will be constructed in three phases, allowing 850 spaces to remain open throughout the build.
Cambridgeshire and other county councils are calling on the Government to properly fund adult social care.
“Cambridgeshire County Council has today (Wednesday 5 October) joined councils across the country urging government to properly fund adult social care and its reforms.
The County Councils Network (CCN), which represents Cambridgeshire and 36 councils in county areas, has warned that drastically underfunded services face a ‘perfect storm’ of staffing shortages this winter, less availability of care beds and higher costs at a time when demand is increasing.
Their warning comes as new analysis from CCN reveals that councils in England are set to face £3.7bn in additional costs in 2023 compared to 2021 to keep care services even at current levels, due to rising inflation, wage increases and demand.”
East Cambridgeshire District Council has published the following planning applications in the Sutton division.
22/01120/FUL Little Downham 56 Main Street Pymoor CB6 2DY Construction of single storey rear extension.
22/01113/FUL Sutton Land south east of 107 The Row Sutton Proposed lake and associated works.
22/01030/LBC Witchford 91 Main Street Witchford CB6 2HQ Replace front door like for like, with toughened single glazing instead of original glass, and change the opening direction.
22/01123/FUL Witchford Ridgeway Farm Common Road Witchford Demolition of existing dwelling and construction of replacement dwelling.
You can find further information on the district council’s planning pages. If you would like to respond formally to the council about any planning application, please write to the district council and not to me. You can comment
online using the council’s public access web page (the link above);
A Cambridgeshire County Council committee was united in its condemnation of bus company Stagecoach’s decision to axe or reduce more than 30 services across the county calling it ‘appalling’, ‘scandalous’ and even ‘diabolical’.
But a proposal to allocate £1.7m of the Council’s reserves to a bus subsidy pot was not supported at this stage by the Strategy and Resources Committee today [Friday 30 September], which noted that Stagecoach had recently accepted government money to support its less profitable routes and had also posted notice of significant profits, as a Group, earlier in the year.
The proposal, put as an amendment by Cllr Chris Boden, which also recommended that the council ask the Greater Cambridge Partnership to match fund this sum, wasn’t supported by the committee ahead of a re-tendering process which is currently under way, pointing to severe funding uncertainties ahead for all the services that the council is responsible for.
The committee noted that the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), the body responsible for public transport across the county, had begun a re-tendering process for the threatened routes, the result of which will be known on 19th October – the day before the next Strategy and Resources Committee meets. The CPCA has already pledged an additional £1.7m to secure the threatened routes from 30th October to end of March 2023.
Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, Leader of the Council, and Chair of the Committee expressed her outrage about the Stagecoach proposal and confirmed the committee’s sympathy with the spirit of the proposed amendment.
“There has been a terrific failure by government in handing over money to Stagecoach with no strings attached,” said Cllr Nethsingha. “While it is possible that there may be a need for more funding than the CPCA has indicated is available, it is currently unclear what the scale of that need might need to be, or how else it might be met, and we will know what this is by the time of our next meeting.
“I am pleased that Mayor Dr Nik Johnson has moved so swiftly. We will work with him to ensure funding is found to rescue these routes as soon as we know how much money will be needed, “added Cllr Elisa Meschini, Deputy Leader and Vice Chair of S&R.
“But it is incorrect to label our General Reserves as an ‘un-ringfenced account’, much less a “pandemic recovery account”. Our General Reserves are needed to protect us against the effects of the uncertainty currently rocking the markets, including interest rates and the costs of servicing our debt. We cannot commit them to any other specific purpose without more information at the present time.”
The fact that Stagecoach are able to simply withdraw services at such short notice is a massive problem,” Cllr Nethsingha continued. “I am writing to Government, specifically to Lucy Frazer MP, as Minister of State for Transport, to ask that the Government urgently review the current regulations which allow bus companies to simply cancel routes at such short notice and give Bus Improvement money direct to bus operators rather than the authorities who are responsible for them.”
“As a member of the CPCA Board I am pleased that the Board has stepped in quickly to tender to preserve the current routes. I am also pleased that the GCP has decided this week to consult on proposals which I believe will offer very much improved bus services across the whole Cambridge travel to work area, including options which would make franchising a realistic possibility.”
East Cambridgeshire District Council has published the following planning application in the Sutton division.
22/00909/FUL Witchford 8 Wheats Close Witchford CB6 2JQ Car port conversion and demolition of outbuilding.
You can find further information on the district council’s planning pages. If you would like to respond formally to the council about any planning application, please write to the district council and not to me. You can comment
online using the council’s public access web page (the link above);
East Cambridgeshire District Council has published the following planning applications in the Sutton division.
22/01038/FUL Little Downham 1 Matthew Wren Close Little Downham CB6 2UL Proposed conversion of the existing two domestic outbuildings from a microbrewery (B2 use class) back to residential use.
22/00843/FUL Little Downham 31 Cannon Street Little Downham CB6 2SR Proposed rear extension and internal alterations.
22/00893/FUL Little Downham Holly Tree Cottage 96 Main Street Little Downham Single storey rear extension.
You can find further information on the district council’s planning pages. If you would like to respond formally to the council about any planning application, please write to the district council and not to me. You can comment
online using the council’s public access web page (the link above);
East Cambridgeshire District Council has published the following planning applications in the Sutton division.
22/00997/FUL Coveney 24 Main Street Coveney CB6 2DJ Proposed extension to rear of property.
22/00998/LBC Coveney 24 Main Street Coveney CB6 2DJ Proposed extension to rear of property.
22/00813/FUL Sutton 19 The Row Sutton CB6 2PD Construction of single storey rear extension and internal alterations.
22/01044/OUT Sutton 44 The Row Sutton CB6 2PD Outline application with matters reserved except access and scale for two dwellings.
You can find further information on the district council’s planning pages. If you would like to respond formally to the council about any planning application, please write to the district council and not to me. You can comment
online using the council’s public access web page (the link above);
It’s hard to imagine the United Kingdom without Queen Elizabeth II.
For most of us, she’s the only monarch we’ve known until now. She’s been a constant presence as our Head of State for over seventy years. She’s been played by Helen Mirren in The Queen, and by Verity Russell, Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and (soon) Imelda Staunton in The Crown. She’s jumped out of a helicopter over the London 2012 Olympic Games, and had Paddington Bear to tea for her Platinum Jubilee.
It’s genuinely difficult to imagine this country without her, and many have surprised themselves with the depth of their feelings at her loss.
Thank you, your Majesty, for your lifetime of service to the nation.
As leader of the Liberal Democrat group on East Cambridgeshire District Council, I’ve just written to the Chief Executive as follows.
“DLUHC has just launched Changing Places toilet (CPt) funding round 2. This round will see up to £6.5 million made available to eligible councils with no current Changing Places toilet provision and those that are identified as being in the top 50 per cent of councils according to the updated index of need.
Eligible councils are listed at Annex C of the CPF round two prospectus. East Cambridgeshire is in the list of 155 authorities targeted to apply, and is listed as having zero Changing Places toilets.
The rules are very similar to last time—any venue considered, including buildings not owned or run by the council. The Council needs to submit an expression of interest, with up to three locations listed in order of preference, by Friday 30 September.
To assist councils in their applications, DLUHC are hosting livestream events in September. For those who are new to the scheme, and who did not make an application in the first round, the events will take place from 12.00pm to 1.00pm on Tuesday 6 and Thursday 15 September. Further information is available from the Changing Place Fund team at changingplaces@levellingup.gov.uk.
In view of our being targeted by Government for our poor provision of Changing Places facilities, I assume and expect the Council will be applying (and liaising with local public and private sector organisations in the process), and would like to be kept apprised of the outcome.”
Did you know that your Cambridgeshire Libraries library card gives you free access to PressReader, where you can read thousands of worldwide eNewspapers and eMagazines online as soon as they’re published?
