The latest full council meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council took place this morning at the Burgess Hall in St Ives. Lots of absentee Conservative councillors, and Cllr Sebastian Kindersley in the chair replacing Cllr Derek Giles who was unwell.

There were five motions from councillors up for debate.

1. A motion from Conservative councillor Mark Goldsack from Soham & Isleham on surface water flooding. I spent a lot of time with Cllr Goldsack in the days before the meeting to turn this motion into one which reflected current facts and could be agreed by all sides – which it was.
2. A motion from Independent councillor Tom Sanderson from Huntingdon West on welcoming refugees from the terrible situation in Afghanistan – again passed unanimously.
3. A motion from Labour councillor Richard Howitt from Petersfield in Cambridge on the failure of the Government to fix the crisis in social care – passed by a majority, with Conservative councillors voting against.
4. A motion from Lib Dem councillor Lucy Nethsingha from Newnham in Cambridge proposing to work with partners to set up funding to provide reduced cost access for children from low income families to out of school activities – passed by a majority, with Conservative councillors abstaining.
5. A motion from me supporting the development by partners including the County Council of a Land Use Framework for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – passed by a majority, with Conservative councillors voting against.

The meeting also agreed various changes to the council’s Constitution, and adopted a parental leave policy for councillors. We received the annual reports of the Pension Fund Committee and the Local Pension Board, answered a question about East West Rail, and also (in confidential session) agreed the appointment of a new Chief Executive of the County Council to replace the retiring post-holder Gillian Beasley.