The county council’s Commercial & Investment Committee met this morning, and in a rare outbreak of unanimity every decision was taken without a dissenting voice.

The committee agreed:

• To proceed with the procurement of a new contract for water and sewerage services for the council next year, with the aim of saving money over its 160 premises, the opportunity of better data about water usage, and optional services to help reduce water consumption;
• To renew the county council’s electricity supply contract with ESPO, the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation of which the council is a member;
• To retain the council’s three Outdoor Centres (at Grafham Water, Stibbington, and Burwell House) and put in place a business improvement plan to move them from deficit to surplus – a welcome reprieve when earlier options included the possibility of closure of one or even all the centres;
• To proceed cautiously with the next stages of the development of a proposal for North Angle Solar Farm – though we agreed to my colleague’s suggestion that we should also ensure the council’s new Energy Working Group kept this under review, in view of increasing connection costs and reduced expected returns;
• To approve a one-year extension to the council’s Energy Efficiency Fund.

We were concerned at the failure to set a date for the committee’s quarterly meeting with the council’s development company This Land. And Cambridgeshire Music attended at our request to explain their overspend on last year’s budget – a very large percentage overspend indeed, but of a comparatively small part of the council’s overall financial commitments.