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)
Liberal Democrats on East Cambridgeshire District Council have launched a debate on the bid for UNESCO Biosphere status for the Fens.
“East Cambridgeshire is at the heart of the proposed Fens Biosphere zone, which includes the core zones of the Ouse Washes, Wicken Fen, and Chippenham Fen,” explains Cllr Mark Inskip.
“Biosphere status is awarded by UNESCO to unique and valuable landscapes such as the Fens. Biospheres bring the opportunity to improve the natural environment, using new ideas, science, and technology to explore new ways of living every day in ways that solve global challenges.
“Local and national stakeholder bodies, campaigners, and enthusiastic members of the public have achieved Candidate Status for the Fens Biosphere, and there has already been a high degree of public participation in this initiative, including a conference in January.
“But to achieve designation, the proposal must demonstrate the widest level of local support, including the formal endorsement of local authorities.
“The time for East Cambridgeshire District Council to start engaging with this initiative is long overdue, so Liberal Democrats have put this on the agenda of the District Council meeting on Tuesday 23 February to begin that process.”
Today’s meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority provided the opportunity to quiz the Director of Delivery and Strategy, discussed the advice being given to local businesses about the challenges of Brexit, and decided to wind up the work of the Committee’s Task and Finish Group on the Combined Authority’s Bus Review.
Our conversation with the Director of Delivery and Strategy ranged from the effect of COVID on public transport, to the proposal to run diesel trains on the new East West Rail line, and the cost of managing the Authority’s various transport projects.
We were somewhat surprised and disappointed to hear in the Brexit discussion that there was no feedback mechanism in cases where advice was offered to local businesses struggling with the new red tape, and revealed issues that were more than teething problems, which required attention by central government and other agencies. A number of us said this should be a role of the Combined Authority and other tiers of local government.
The effect of the pandemic on local public transport has significantly delayed the Combined Authority’s work on reviewing bus services. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee, which had set up a Task and Finish Group to scrutinise this piece of work, therefore decided to disband the Group and wait until there was sufficient progress to warrant re-establishing it in the new municipal year.
Our next meeting – the last before the local elections – will take place on 22 March, when we look forward to being joined by Baroness Brown to discuss the first interim report of her Climate Change Commission. We will also be considering the impact of the COVID pandemic on the Combined Authority’s activities.
A new Digital Technology Grants for Business scheme to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has launched this week.
The scheme aims to increase the number of local SMEs making productive use of digital technologies to boost their business, by helping them to invest in digital equipment, systems and support.
Connecting Cambridgeshire has secured just over £1million funding from the European Regional Development Fund and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority to run the scheme from February 2021 until the end of August 2021.
SMEs in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough with plans or ideas to grow, improve or sustain their business using digital technology can now apply for a grant of between £2,000 and £10,000 to cover up to 80 per cent of their total project costs.
The scheme will support a wide range of businesses who want to develop more sustainable business practices, including remote working and more efficient business models using digital technology.
For example, businesses needing better IT systems or equipment to support staff to work remotely could use the grant towards this to help their business continue to grow or diversify. Businesses looking to develop their on-line presence can submit projects that include consultancy services, equipment and training to develop their skills.
East Cambridgeshire District Council has published details of the third round of the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme, with wider eligibility criteria to support more businesses affected by national restrictions.
The ARG scheme is designed to support businesses impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions in place from 26 December 2020 to 15 February 2021 that have not been eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant.
The ARG is a discretionary funding scheme managed by the district council to support businesses during periods of lockdown relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grants will be paid as one-off grants and are for businesses who experienced a loss of income of over 30 per cent that was directly related to, or as a result of, the Tier 4 and national lockdown restrictions in place between 26 December 2020 and 15 February 2021.
These businesses must be
either a customer-facing business whose primary activity is the sale of goods or services to the public on a face-to-face basis that were able to remain open during restrictions and lockdown but were severely impacted,
or a business that does not have a business rate account that was legally required to close during Tier 4 or national lockdown restrictions.
Ineligible businesses include those allowed to be open that do not rely on offering in-person services; businesses that have chosen to close but not required to; and businesses that are unable to demonstrate a significant loss of income of at least 30% due to COVID-19.
A full list of businesses that were required to close can be found on the gov.uk website.
As part of the ARG scheme, closed businesses that do not have a business rates account may be entitled to
£5,000 if they are a community facility such as a village hall,
£5,000 if they operate from a domestic property
or £6,000 if they operate from a commercial property.
Open customer-facing businesses, with or without a business rates account, that were allowed to be open during Tier 4 restrictions and the national lockdown but were severely impacted, are eligible for a £4,000 grant.
Businesses are invited to submit an application to the District Council if they meet the eligibility requirements for the ARG scheme, can prove that they were open for business as usual before 26 December, have suppliers or customers that were required to close from 26 December, and can demonstrate a loss of income of 30 per cent or more, .
The Government has announced its allocation of highways maintenance cash for the forthcoming year – and it looks like bad news for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
That’s nearly £7.5 million less this year than last year. We’re told that the figures in the ‘incentive’ column ‘are at this stage indicative’, but that accounts for only a very small part of the difference.
The £27,695,000 will initially go to Mayor Palmer’s Combined Authority, and will then be split pro rata between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, with Cambridgeshire getting the lion’s share because of its greater size.
But this reduction will more than balance out the £4 million extra that Conservative county councillors in Cambridgeshire said they would be putting into pavement maintenance this coming year. And the proposal currently on the table to reclassify the A1123 from an A road to a B road could lose Cambridgeshire another quarter of a million pounds a year for road maintenance, as this is based on length of roads of various classifications.
For all the talk about the current Council leadership fighting for fairer funding for Cambridgeshire, it looks as if the outcome is the complete opposite.
Notes
The highways maintenance allocation consists of a number of elements, as shown in the table above.
HMB is ‘highways maintenance block’: the ‘needs’ element comes from a formula, and the ‘incentive’ element comes from a self-assessment questionnaire.
ITB is ‘integrated transport block’, for highways schemes costing under £5 million.
The figures in the table are taken by me from the two web pages linked above, but I have checked them with the Combined Authority who say they agree with my interpretation of them.
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
21/00178/FUL Little Downham 2 Third Drove Little Downham CB6 2UE To change home heating from LPG to air source heat pump.
21/00167/FUL Little Downham 19 Bishops Close Little Downham CB6 2TQ Garden salon studio.
21/00174/FUL Little Downham Jubilee Cottage Pymoor Lane Pymoor Convert existing outbuilding into two holiday lets.
21/00220/FUL Sutton 65 High Street Sutton CB6 2NL Change of use of existing café to sui generis (hot food takeaway) in conjunction with alterations & additions to form one first floor flat, access, parking and site works (approved and extant permission 19/01635/FUL).
21/00197/FUL Witchford Briary View 41 Sutton Road Witchford New access and driveway.
Further information can be found on the district council’s planning pages. If you would like to respond formally to the council about any planning application, comments should be addressed to the district council and not to me. Comments may be made
online using the council’s public access web page (the link above);
The NHS has offered the first COVID vaccinations to all care homes in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and contacted all local patients in the top priority cohorts too, with the vast majority having had their first jab.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough now have 23 Primary Care Sites, four Hospital Hubs, six Large Scale Vaccination Centres, and two Pharmacy Vaccination Sites open.
All vaccination sites that are currently live are now listed on the CCG website here. Click on the blue tab labelled ‘Which vaccination sites are now open in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough?’
Latest vaccination figures
215,034 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough as at 14 February. More than 90 per cent of residents aged 70 or over in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.
Advice for patients over 65 or clinically extremely vulnerable
If you are aged 65 or over, or Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (previously on the shielding list), and haven’t had your first dose yet, please come forward now and make an appointment at www.nhs.uk/covidvaccination, or by phoning 119 if you can’t use the internet.
Information for carers
Carers are included in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice to Government regarding the priority groups for the COVID-19 vaccine. Carers should be included in cohort 6 for COVID-19 vaccination if they fit the definition of ‘adult carers’ in the Green Book chapter on COVID-19 vaccination.
This definition is: “Those who are eligible for a carer’s allowance, or those who are the sole or primary carer of an elderly or disabled person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore clinically vulnerable.”
Eligible adult carers will be contacted via the National Booking System (NBS) to receive an invitation to book a vaccination once a list has been compiled by NHSE/I in conjunction with local authorities.
Information to patients added to the Shielded Patient List
A number of patients are being added to the Shielded Patient List because they have been identified through the COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment as potentially being at high risk of serious illness if they catch the virus.
The COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment is based on a model known as QCovid, which was developed by a group of researchers led by the University of Oxford. It combines data on a number of factors to estimate the risk of catching and then being hospitalised by or dying from coronavirus. The model has been used nationally by NHS Digital to calculate risk assessments for a group of individuals in England who are likely to be at high risk, based on patient data that is held centrally.
More information on the COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment can be found on the NHS Digital website.
If you have been added to the Shielded Patient List, the NHS will contact you to offer you the vaccine as soon as appointments become available. The NHS may contact you via text message, letter or a phone call to offer an appointment.
You can find answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Shielded Patient List here.
Finally
NHS staff are doing an incredible job to deliver the vaccination programme, at the same time as continuing to be there for everyone who needs care.
We the public have an important part to play to help them do this.
Unless you are over 65 or Clinically Extremely Vulnerable, please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine. The NHS will contact you when it is the right time.
When the NHS does contact you, please attend your booked appointment at exactly the time you’re asked to, to avoid queues in the cold weather.
And whether you have had your vaccine or not, please continue to follow all the guidance in place to control the virus and save lives.
The Census comes every ten years (every year ending in a 1) and this year’s Census Day is Sunday 21 March.
The Census is organised by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and gives us the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales.
These estimates are vital for our communities as they help decide Government funding and priorities for public services. Under-counting of local populations could mean districts like East Cambridgeshire missing out.
The Census used to be carried out on paper, with a Census enumerator visiting every household. This year for the first time the Census will be predominantly online. Whilst Census day will be on 21 March, households in Cambridgeshire will receive a letter with a unique access code, allowing you to complete the questionnaire online from early next month.
Paper questionnaires can be requested for those that need them, and the ONS is also issuing paper questionnaires in areas where it has identified residents are highly likely to need them.
Around the end of February you should receive a postcard about the Census. Then in early March you should receive a letter with a unique access code so that you can complete the Census online. You will also be advised what to do if you cannot complete the Census online.
The former Deli@65 at 65 High Street Sutton could become a hot food takeaway, if an application for change of use is approved by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
The application is reference number 21/00220/FUL and details can be found here on the District Council’s planning portal.
The deadline for comments to the Planning Department on this application is Thursday 18 March. Comments may be made
online using the council’s public access web page (the link above);
Action Fraud has received over 750 reports in the last week about Bitcoin-related phishing emails that use fake celebrity endorsements to try and lure victims into investment scams. The links in the emails lead to fraudulent websites that are designed to steal your money, as well as personal and financial information.
How you can protect yourself:
Investment opportunities: Don’t be rushed into making an investment, legitimate organisations will never pressure you into making a transaction on the spot.
Seek advice first: Speak with a trusted friend or family members, and seek independent professional advice before making significant financial decisions.
FCA register: Use the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) register to check if the company is regulated by the FCA. If you deal with a firm (or individual) that isn’t regulated, you may not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if things go wrong and you lose your money.
Forward suspicious emails: If you have received an email which you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk
To see examples of the Bitcoin-related phishing emails that have been reported to Action Fraud, follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
