I’m not in principle opposed to a non-elected Upper House under certain circumstances, but today’s announcement of yet another bloated peerages list of Conservative Party cronies and Labour Brexit cheerleaders really did rather churn my stomach.

The Hive leisure centre on the A10 near Ely is planned to reopen tomorrow. Saturday 25 July. For obvious reasons a number of systems have changed.

• The activities on offer at this stage will be limited to swimming, exercise classes, and fitness suite. 
• Fitness equipment will have been moved or relocated, and classes moved for maximum space.
• Pool capacity will be set to four double lanes only, and the spectator area closed.
• All visits will need to be pre-booked and pre-paid; there will be no reception, coffee point, or cash payments. Staff will be available to guide visitors, assist with enquiries, and exceptionally take contactless payment.
• Visits will be limited to one hour including arrival and departure, with swimming and gym slots spaced at ten-minute intervals, and classes scheduled to avoid groups arriving and leaving at the same time.
• A one-way system will be in place throughout the centre. Visitors will be able to use different activities successively (eg gym and exercise class) if they wish, but will need to pre-book in each case and leave and re-enter the building separately for each activity.
• No changing facilities will be available, except for pool users post-swim; and lockers will not be in use.
• A standardised national pricing structure is being adopted for this period, because payments are online and company-wide across the country.

I’ve removed an earlier post on child malnutrition in Cambridgeshire, which had been prompted by a report in the national media quoting an alarming number of children with malnutrition admitted to hospital at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH).

It’s now apparent that those figures were overwhelmingly incorrect, and CUH has published a clear statement on the correct figures:

“Figures reported in some national and local media on the number of children admitted to hospital with malnutrition at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are inaccurate.

“The correct number of young patients admitted between January 2015 and January 2020 is 33, and not 915 as has been reported. This has understandably caused considerable concern to many.

“We fully recognise that malnutrition in children is an important public health issue that should be subject to public scrutiny and open debate, but it is equally important that this takes place on the basis of the correct facts.”

This evening (Thursday 23 July) Liberal Democrat councillors on East Cambridgeshire District Council proposed a series of measures to address racial inequality and fight racism in East Cambridgeshire. Conservatives amended this motion to remove the declaration that “Black lives matter”.

Cllr Matt Downey, who proposed the motion, said: “I’m appalled that the Tories cannot bring themselves to declare that Black lives matter. We tried our best to come to a compromise, but they were determined to avoid saying that Black lives matter. The people of East Cambridgeshire deserve better.”

Cllr Charlotte Cane, who seconded the motion, said: “Racism is a real and serious problem for people in East Cambridgeshire. We are glad we managed to pass some measures to improve things tonight, but we are all stunned that the Conservatives couldn’t even say that Black lives matter.”

This follows similar motions being proposed at Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, and Cambridge City Council by Liberal Democrat councillors, all of which passed with cross party support, declaring that Black lives matter, and taking practical action to stand up to racism. A further Black lives matter motion is being proposed at the City of Ely Council on Monday 27 July.

The following planning application in the Sutton division has been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.

20/00866/FUL
Coveney
Wolvey House Wentworth Road Coveney
Residential annex and garage.

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);
• by email to plservices@eastcambs.gov.uk;
• or by post to the Planning Department, The Grange, Nutholt Lane, Ely, CB7 4EE.

A long meeting tonight, even more so because of the Council’s YouTube feed being abruptly suspended half an hour in because the Council was ‘violating YouTube’s Terms of Service’.

Well done to the team behind the petition for a children’s Splash Pad for Ely in getting well over 1,200 local signatures – I hope this gets active support and encouragement.

A motion by the Liberal Democrats to support moves for encouraging a market in community renewable energy, and another one stating that Black Lives Matter, were clearly too much for Conservative councillors who kicked them into the long grass of two different council committees rather than standing up and being counted.

By contrast, Liberal Democrats co-operated to support a Tory motion on the dangers of helium balloons and sky lanterns.

I asked a question about the Council’s plans for Mepal Outdoor Centre, which was stated not to be a priority just a few weeks before it was set on fire. I was told that this would be considered by the Council ‘very shortly’.

The Conservatives’ Corporate Plan was subjected to some rigorous challenge from the Liberal Democrat team, including on ‘affordable’ housing that isn’t really, and the need for greater ambition on the environment.

Somewhat taken aback to hear a Conservative councillor tell us “It’s really good to see the work going on at the Witchford roundabout now” – which is certainly not what local residents have been telling me after three days of chaos!

Some determined efforts by the Lib Dem team to get the Council to send back the financial report about the effect of COVID-19 on the Council’s finances, because of the quite incredible paucity of information in them. We asked for recorded votes on these very important issues. Props to Cllrs Alison Whelan and Charlotte Cane for some significant and well-informed contributions to this debate.

We opposed (unsuccessfully) a constitutional amendment that proposed amendments to the Council budget should be submitted at least 24 hours in advance. While this sounds sensible, it ignores the experience of councils where there is no one party in total control of the council, and where budget amendments can be negotiated at the last minute and there’s a deadline which mustn’t be breached for setting a legal budget.

And Cllr Alison Whelan asked a very sensible question about the Combined Authority’s risk register (75 per cent red on the red/amber/green scale) and what East Cambridgeshire District Council’s risk register looked like and what we could learn from the Combined Authority’s experience, which was brushed aside.

The meeting started at 6:00PM and concluded well after 10:00PM.

Just been on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire talking about the complete and utter horlicks that is the A142 roundabout works at Ely.

Massive traffic jams mean short journeys such as Witchford to Ely taking 45-50 minutes, at a time when people are trying to get to work, perhaps for the first time since lockdown in this currently fragile economy. Signage isn’t all it could be. And there’s been totally inadequate communication with residents or local communities—it’s no wonder people are livid.

I’ve written to the County Council’s Assistant Director to ask him to review working methods to try to relieve the jams; to look at better signage; and to communicate and engage properly with neighbours and communities, particularly those affected by unusual volumes of traffic cutting along rural roads to avoid the worst of the bottleneck.

I’ve also written to the relevant Director to ask him to review the communication and impacts of these works.

Surprisingly, absolutely no-one from the County Council’s administration was free to go on the radio and talk about it, not even those most enthusiastically promoting the scheme.

My question to East Cambridgeshire District Council for this Thursday’s full council meeting about Mepal Outdoor Centre:

“Members of this Council will be aware of the fire at Mepal Outdoor Centre on Sunday 12 July. The Centre was handed back to the Council in February 2017, since when it has lain empty and deteriorating, at some considerable cost to secure, and subject to ongoing incidents of trespass. An exercise to sell or let the Centre to an external bidder in 2018 failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion. What are the Council’s plans now for this important but declining asset?”

The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.

20/00849/FUL
Little Downham
29 Orchard Estate Little Downham CB6 2TU
Two-storey side extension.

20/00835/OUT
Sutton
The Grove Barn Bury Lane Sutton
Outline planning application (all matters reserved) for a change of use application C1 (2 detached outbuildings used as B&B) to be joined with an extension and converted into a C3 dwelling house.

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);
• by email to plservices@eastcambs.gov.uk;
• or by post to the Planning Department, The Grange, Nutholt Lane, Ely, CB7 4EE.

A virtual exhibition on seven possible options for the A10 between Ely and the A14 closes on Tuesday at 5:00PM – and residents have the opportunity to comment on what’s afoot.

The options include various mixtures of dualling all or part of the A10, dualling on the existing alignment or changing the line of the road at some points, junction improvements, a completely new road sweeping across fields from Milton to Ely, or the junction improvements alone with no dualling at all.

The survey for residents to comment on the options is here.

My view?

The priorities for East Cambridgeshire need to be to increase safety, reduce vehicle traffic, improve air quality, and promote public transport, walking, and cycling. It is difficult to walk or cycle along the A10, or to cross it safely, and this needs to be urgently addressed.

Traffic on the A10 has been worsened by the opening of the Ely Southern Bypass, and by the number of vehicles including HCVs that this has attracted. The dualling options would make the A10 a more attractive route for motorists which would encourage even more vehicle traffic onto the road.

All the available options show the A10 continuing to join the A142 at the BP roundabout at Ely. Encouraging more private motor traffic onto the A10 would make the existing queues at this location worse not better. (And what happens when all these additional vehicles arrive at the A14 at Milton?) Options involving dualling would cost up to half a billion pounds, and take many years to complete.

Junction improvements (Option G) could be carried out quickly and cost effectively, and solve many of the problems people face. They would need to be accompanied by significant improvements to public transport between Cambridge and Ely, encouraging future residents of the new settlement in Waterbeach to travel sustainably to new jobs at the Lancaster Way Enterprise Zone not just into Cambridge; and by the installation of safe crossing points for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders at the A10/A142 junction and other junctions along the route.

I am very disappointed at the failure to indicate important sustainable travel features in the proposals, including the promised accompanying infrastructure for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders; the promised new segregated Park & Ride route from Waterbeach into Cambridge; and the promised safe route for people to cross the A10 at or near the Witchford Road BP roundabout. These should all have been given as much priority as the attention given to provision for private motor vehicles.

Any changes to the A10 must be accompanied by good public transport alternatives, in particular improved rail capacity, with longer platforms and Ely North junction improvements to allow longer and more frequent trains.