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)
Cambridgeshire Conservatives have voted through their budget for the County Council, with a council tax rise of 2.99 per cent.
Despite Conservative claims that their budget is ‘aimed at keeping the council tax burden as low as possible for local residents’, this 2.99 per cent consists of a 1.99 per cent increase for general services (the biggest rise permitted by law without a referendum) plus a 1 per cent rise for adult social care.
Councils are allowed to increase council tax by 3 per cent for adult social care over the coming two years, meaning that if re-elected in May the Conservatives will be able to double the adult social care tax rise next year.
The Conservative budget amendment concentrates totally on a £30M package of spending on highways, with no extra funding for helping communities cope with the effects of the pandemic, or reducing the council’s carbon footprint, both of which featured in the Liberal Democrat budget amendment.
What would the Liberal Democrats have done differently? I wrote about that earlier, at https://lornadupre.mycouncillor.org.uk/2021/02/09/cambridgeshire-county-council-budget/
My speech in the County Council budget debate is on YouTube and begins at https://youtu.be/W1cWwHra2vA?t=11096
Many congratulations to the Coveney Village Hall Support Group (COVID-19) on being awarded a Chairman’s Commendation by the Chairman of Cambridgeshire County Council for their support of local residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lib Dems focus on COVID, climate, highways and drainage
Support for communities battered by COVID, more speed in meeting Cambridgeshire’s climate commitments, and better maintenance of highways and drains are the three key priorities of Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats’ budget proposals.
At Cambridgeshire County Council’s budget-setting meeting today, the Liberal Democrats will propose
a £7.8 million programme over five years to help local people rebuild and strengthen their local communities after the pandemic
£200,000 this coming year, doubling from the following year, for support for small businesses and new green apprenticeships
£3.6 million extra into green energy over five years, and £1.8 million over five years for biodiversity and our natural environment
£11.3 million more over five years to improve maintenance of roads, pavements, cycleways and—crucially, after the recent floods—gullies and ditches.
“We know the impact the coronavirus has had on individuals, families, communities, and jobs,” says Cambridgeshire’s Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Lucy Nethsingha.
“That has to be our focus right now, and it’s astonishing that the effect of Covid doesn’t feature anywhere in the Conservatives’ budget proposals.
“At the same time, we also need to meet the climate crisis head-on, and maintain the county’s basic physical infrastructure. “We propose to do all that, while proposing a council tax rise that is lower than the ones in Tory Norfolk, Tory Suffolk, Tory Hertfordshire, and Tory Peterborough. And our budget also leaves a smaller budget gap for the years to come than the Conservative proposals, meaning less financial strain on the council for the next five years.”
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
20/01687/FUL Coveney Land adjacent 2 Gravel End Coveney CB6 2DN Four-bedroom detached family home and associated works.
21/00098/FUL Coveney 24 Main Street Coveney CB6 2DJ Oak framed external seating area with associated works. New air source heat pump external unit. Increase in northern boundary to 2m.
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);
Cambridgeshire County Council will be providing vouchers to all children who usually receive Free School Meals, for use during February half term.
The £15 supermarket vouchers will be issued automatically by 12 February ready for use during the half term week. Vouchers will be sent by email and text message to parents/carers.
It may be that in these unusual times there have been changes to your financial circumstances. If you have not previously applied for Free School Meals, or your name has recently changed, and you feel you now meet the below criteria, please visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals to apply.
Children will be automatically issued with free school meal vouchers if the parent/carer receives any of the following:
Income Support
Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Child Tax Credit – but no element of Working Tax Credit – and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)) that does not exceed £16,190
If you are supported under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
Working Tax Credit during the four week period immediately after your employment finishes or after you start to work less hours per week
Universal Credit with an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400
The vouchers will be provided through the council’s Winter Grant Scheme funding, which also offers other forms of support – with utility bills, for example, or other essential household spending. For further information about the Winter Grant Scheme and the support available, please visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/wintersupport
If you are eligible for a free school meals voucher but do not wish to receive one, please let your school know as soon as possible so that the voucher can be reallocated to someone else in need.
A reminder that this weekend is residents’ last chance to complete East Cambridgeshire District Council’s survey on its controversial plan to build a crematorium at the Mepal Outdoor Centre site, before the deadline of Monday 1 February.
The survey seeks views on a number of aspects of the proposal – but there is no option for residents to indicate if they would prefer to retain and restore the Outdoor Centre. You can however make additional comments in the last question on the survey. If you don’t agree with the Mepal Outdoor Centre site being re-developed as a crematorium you could use that question to express your views.
Despite its shortcomings the Public Consultation Survey is the only opportunity local residents currently have to express their views. Do take a few minutes to submit your thoughts.
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
21/00033/FUM Coveney Land at Coveney Byall Fen Coveney To divert existing Internal Drainage Board main drain to create a coherent contiguous block of lowland wet grassland to add on to the already created habitat at Coveney Byall Fen under the auspices of the Ouse Washes Habitat Creation Project.
21/00032/FUL Coveney Ebeneezer Farm West Fen Coveney Garage conversion and insertion of four new roof lights.
21/00053/FUL Little Downham Land adjacent Woodlea Cophall Drove Little Downham Construction of one four-bedroom, two-storey detached dwelling and garage with access and associated site works (extant permission 18/01515/OUT).
21/00085/FUL Little Downham 17 Lawns Crescent Little Downham CB6 2TT Single storey front and rear extensions.
21/00109/FUL Mepal Amber House 3 Laurel Close Mepal Conversion of existing store into one-bedroom annexe ancillary to main dwelling including the erection of a single storey orangery.
21/00101/ADI Sutton 20 Ely Road Sutton CB6 2QD One set of face illuminated letters on rails, one set of non-illuminated sub text, one set of face illuminated letters on rails, one set of face illuminated letters on rails, one-off non illuminated double sided totem sign.
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);
Rapid testing for key workers and those who cannot work from home is set to launch across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough from this weekend to help track cases of Coronavirus and drive down transmission rates.
A number of sites are being set up across the county offering rapid tests, free of charge, to people aged 18 and over who have no symptoms of Coronavirus. Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council have been allocated 100,000 tests in the next six weeks, with the potential for the pilot to be extended.
Around one in three people who are infected with COVID-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading the disease without knowing it. Broadening testing to identify key workers showing no symptoms will mean finding positive cases more quickly, which helps break chains of transmission.
Initially there will be six sites across the county, with the potential to set up pop-up sites in areas of high need if required.
The Hub, High Street, Cambourne CB23 6GW (from Wednesday 3 February)
Queen Mary Centre, Queen’s Road, Wisbech PE13 2PE (from Thursday 4 February)
Soham Town Rangers Football Club, Julius Martin Lane, Soham CB7 5EQ (from Friday 5 February)
The Coneygear Centre, Buttsgrove Way, Huntingdon PE29 1PE (from Thursday 11 February)
The Meadows Community Centre, 1 St Catherine’s Road, Cambridge CB4 3XJ (from Friday 12 February)
St Mark’s Church, Lincoln Road, Peterborough PE1 2SN (already open)
Each site will be open 8:00AM to 8:00PM, Monday to Saturday, apart from the Peterborough site which is open every day from 9:00AM to 2:00PM and 4:00PM to 7:00PM.
Everyone who takes a test, even if it is negative, must continue to follow the rules which includes leaving home only for essential reasons, limiting contact with people they do not live with, and ensuring good practice where contact has to be made, such as social distancing, wearing a mask or PPE, and hand washing.
As part of the pilot, the council will also be offering workforce testing where many staff are based on site and in key sectors such as food production. Groups who may be more vulnerable and therefore more likely to catch the virus will also be offered rapid testing.
Testing involving care home staff will continue to take place separately to the pilot.
People with symptoms will not be tested at the rapid testing sites. Anyone with one or more of these Coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature; a new continuous cough; or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.
Entrance to the Grafton Centre – geograph.org.uk – 939875.jpg by Keith Edkins licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
The Grafton Centre in Cambridge is to launch this week as a Large Scale Vaccination Centre for residents to attend for their COVID vaccination as and when they are called up.
This is an additional option for residents, and does not replace existing venues such as Doddington Hospital.
Letters are being sent out by the national booking service initially to people aged 80 and over (widening to other age groups in the coming weeks) who live up to a 45 minute drive from the centre, inviting them to book an appointment either online or over the phone.
As usual, residents should wait to be contacted by the NHS about their vaccination, and should not contact the NHS to seek a vaccine. Nor should residents turn up to the vaccination centre without an appointment as they will not be able to be vaccinated.
Further details about the new Large Scale Vaccination Centre can be found here.
