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)
Where should the Council make more space for walking & cycling, for physical distancing?
CycleStreets, a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Cambridge, has created an interactive map for residents to suggest where safer provision for cyclists and pedestrians is needed. You can add your own idea for your village or a nearby village or town, or upvote an existing idea.
I’ll be encouraging the Council to consider these suggestions, as well as the results of its own recent bus, cycling, and walking surveys.
Today I joined Liberal Democrat councillors from across Cambridgeshire in a virtual demonstration of support for Black Lives Matter.
The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police has caused many of us to ‘check our privilege’ and to stand up with people of colour around the world against racism, prejudice, and discrimination.
It was particularly shocking therefore to see on this very day footage emerge from not seven miles away, of a law-abiding black man being stopped by police in King’s Avenue Ely five years ago and asked to provide identification, on the grounds that ‘young black men were coming up from London’ to deal drugs.
My colleague Cllr Matt Downey in Ely has taken up the issue, and I wrote to the Chief Constable, who replied to say that he and his team will be reviewing the circumstances. I await the outcome of that review with interest.
Scammers are already on the prowl purporting to be from the forthcoming Track & Trace system, and trying to part people from their money or personal data.
In some cases they are calling people saying that they’ve been in contact with someone with COVID-19 symptoms, and need to pay a large amount of money for a test by giving their credit card details over the phone.
Having seen a number of messages on social media describing these attempts, I’ve alerted the County Council’s community protection manager.
A message will be going out to Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Against Scams Partnership (CAPASP), supporters, No Cold Calling Zone coordinators, and on social media to warn about this and with advice to avoid becoming a victim.
Remember:
The genuine Track & Trace is free of charge.
Look out for these coronavirus scams (from Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert web site).
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries raised eyebrows a few days ago when she claimed that it would be obvious that calls would be from the official Track & Trace operation because they would sound ‘professional’.
Scammers are professionals too, and very skilled at what they do.
Cambridgeshire County Council registration services team is set to re start birth registrations from next week, in a way which meets coronavirus restrictions and keeps parents, their young babies and registration staff safe.
From today (Friday 5 June), parents will be able to call the Council’s Contact Centre on 0345 045 1363 to arrange a 30-minute birth registration appointment at Cambridge, Huntingdon, Ely or March.
Opening hours are 8:00AM – 6:00PM Monday to Friday and 9:00AM – 1:00PM on Saturday. Initially all bookings will have to be made by phone. All appointments must be booked in advance with dedicated time slots, to ensure that social distancing and hygiene measures can be assured for everyone who attends.
Appointments will be available from Monday (8 June) onwards. Once booked you will receive a confirmation email giving you your dedicated time slot and the process to follow on arrival, which will include waiting outside the building. It is advised that everyone attending wears a facemask or other suitable face covering while on site.
Priority will be given to parents of babies who were born in February, March or April, and the registration service will seek to offer them an appointment as soon as possible, over the next four to six weeks.
Parents whose babies were born in May or June will be booked for mid-July onwards. If you are one of these the council would ask you to wait for at least a fortnight before phoning to book your appointment.
The baby and any other children should not be brought to the registration offices. If you are married, only one parent should attend; if you are not married and the mother wants to include the natural father’s details then both parents will need to attend.
If either parent is in the shielded group, or you have no-one to look after the baby and any other children, you will need to book an appointment for August. You can use the NHS number given when your baby is born to claim child benefit and other government benefits until the registration can take place.
If you book an appointment and begin to display coronavirus symptoms, or are contacted by the new Test and Trace service and are asked to isolate because you have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, you must call and move your appointment.
Staff will be able to deal only with customers who have a pre-booked appointment and at the time offered, so you will need to be prompt, and not arrive without an appointment.
As a safety precaution, the service will not be handling cash so only card payments for certificates (£11 each) will be accepted. You can get someone else to do this on your behalf if you have no debit or credit card.
More details can be found on Cambridgeshire County Council’s website
From Sunday 14 June Stagecoach will be making further changes to its timetables across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The changes are part of a phased process as more people return to work and other parts of daily life re-open. They include changes to the 39 service, which will revert to something similar to a pre-COVID timetable, and to the Guided Busway.
Further information and timetables can be found on the Stagecoach website
At last! A laboratory in Milton has been contracted by the Department of Health and Social Care and can now provide testing services for Covid-19 to care homes in Cambridgeshire.
Cambridge Clinical Laboratories (CCL) will initially be offering its services primarily to Cambridgeshire care homes. The test will determine whether a person has an active COVID-19 infection and should be isolated, and can be ordered weekly.
This service is not available for private individuals or the general public but is excellent and much-needed news for local care homes.
Cambridgeshire’s Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) will open their doors from Wednesday to vehicles requiring e-permits.
When the sites re-opened on Monday 11 May, the decision was taken to delay access to permit holders due to concerns over the time it would take them to unload larger capacity vehicles, affecting levels of traffic and the ability to adhere to strict Covid-19 social distancing measures on each site.
The first visits for vehicles requiring permits will take place from Wednesday 3 June. Access will initially be only allowed for permit holders pre-booking visits via an online booking system.
The online booking system for permit holders is a temporary measure and will allow the Council to stagger access for these vehicles at each site throughout the day, helping to limit queues and ensuring continued access to everyone who needs to make an essential visit to their local HRC. The Council has contacted all residents holding permits directly to inform them of these arrangements so they can book a slot at an HRC to use one of their annual twelve permitted visits.
As the Government starts to release lockdown, seemingly against the recommendations of many of its advising scientists, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Lucy Nethsingha has written to the County Council’s chief executive and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough’s Director of Public Health. She says:
“Given the sudden delegation by Government to local authorities of responsibility for Covid-19 track and trace, alongside the collapse of public trust in public health guidance arising out of Government’s condoning of lockdown transgressions by its own senior advisor, we seek answers to the following questions:
Is the council fully prepared to meet its new track and trace responsibility? What additional resources has the council received from government to meet its new obligations? Are these sufficient? What more is needed?
How widely across the council will new, additional track and trace responsibilities draw staff resource (including secondments from outside Public Health), and what will be the impact on other council functions and services?
The public will rightly expect clarity on the mechanics of track and trace systems, given the fundamental role of every community in playing its role in public health protection. We would expect answers to the following practical questions to be provided within the forthcoming Health Committee Covid-19 update.”
How can the council help people keep up with rules that are complex and ever-changing with arbitrary dates attached, and which may vary from place to place?
To what extent should we be telling people to apply common sense in making their own interpretation of the rules?
How will members and the public be kept informed of local hot spots of Covid-19 in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, including all settings, as this information may influence their behavioural decisions including whether to send their children to school?
What powers of local enforcement does the county council have?
We are told that PHE is taking a leading role in tracking and tracing, and that the district councils are being mobilised to support this—to what extent does Cambridgeshire have the ability to allocate resources to make sure that the process operates effectively?
What role does the Countywide Hub have in this?
Do local authorities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have the resource to play their part? What additional resource if any has been offered?
What potential is there for overlap and confusion between national support and local track and trace identification of outbreaks, and how is it planned to resolve this?
What instructions have been prepared for local community response groups which are playing a vital role on the ground?
We are told that if the infection statistics move in the wrong direction then local tightening of lockdown rules is possible. Are we able to determine and direct this within our borders?
Given the time lag between becoming infected and displaying symptoms how can we ensure that we can respond sufficiently quickly to any change?
How will those responsible for monitoring statistics locally receive the necessary information from schools, workplaces, and care homes?
How far will delays to the launch of the tracing app affect our ability to keep the R number down and reduce it further?
What update do we have about the technical issues with the app which may render it ineffective in certain situations?
Many people—including Jennifer Arcuri who ‘gave the Prime Minister IT lessons’—have said they will not download the app because of the unresolved security issues. To what extent will this reduce the effectiveness of the app?
Take-up of the app will be low among certain groups anyway such as the elderly who are most at risk and may not have the right sort of phone. How will they be protected?
SAGE has said that even if every adult with a smartphone downloaded and used the app, only 50 per cent of contacts would be identified. Is this enough to keep the virus down to manageable numbers?
Who are the human tracers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, are there enough of them, and is there a role for volunteers in this?
Have enough human tracers been trained?
Are human tracers already working and are they getting enough data to work with?
To what extent is their work impaired by delays in getting test results returned?
SAGE has said that keeping the R number below 1 would require 80 per cent of contacts to be found within 48 hours. How is this feasible?
How are residents being advised to protect themselves against the inevitable scam callers pretending to be government ‘track and trace’ workers, and how can human tracers demonstrate their credentials other than simply by sounding plausible?
Are there still problems accessing Covid-19 tests in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough?
How quickly are test results being returned?
A number of people nationally have reported tests being mislaid, or indeed being given the result of their test before the sample has been collected. How can the logistics of testing be improved?
If a contact of an infected person is told to isolate for fourteen days, who covers their loss of earnings?
Does the Government advice that from Monday 1 June ‘shielding’ residents may leave their homes mean that they will no longer be eligible for food boxes or priority for supermarket delivery slots?
The removal of many previously ‘shielding’ people from the ‘shielding’ list presumably means that responsibility for assisting them will pass from the Countywide Hub to district hubs and local community groups. How is the council liaising with districts and communities to facilitate this handover? What problems are expected with this process and how will they be overcome?
What plans are being made for staff moved to the Countywide Hub to return to their day jobs? How is the timing of this being optimised? Will there be the ability to recall staff to the Countywide Hub swiftly in the event of a significant escalation in cases?
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
20/00632/AGN Little Downham Poplar Farm 2 Fourth Drove Little Downham Construction of agricultural building for housing cattle.
20/00630/FUM Mepal Site south and west of The Bungalow Brick Lane Mepal 55 dwellings, new access, estate roads, driveways, parking areas, open space, external lighting, substation and associated infrastructure.
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’s Public Health intelligence team has been collating statistics on Covid-19 in the county.
Here are some of the headlines this week, with figures to 25 May 2020 unless otherwise stated.
There have been 1,122 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Cambridgeshire. That’s 172.2 per 100,000 population, which is considerably less than the England average of 267.6. East Cambridgeshire has the lowest rate in the county, with 112 confirmed cases – and has had the lowest rate in Cambridgeshire since the week beginning 2 March. (Of course this only relates to tested and confirmed cases).
The week starting 6 April 2020 had the largest number of new cases of Covid-19 in Cambridgeshire. In the most recent three weeks, numbers have continued to decline. The highest number of new cases in Huntingdonshire was later, in the week beginning 27 April.
365 deaths related to Covid-19 occurred among Cambridgeshire and Peterborough residents between 27 March and 15 May. The lowest number of those (45) was again in East Cambridgeshire.
For the week ending 15 May 2020, all districts except Cambridge have experienced a greater number of (all-cause) deaths than their 2014-18 averages. In East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and South Cambridgeshire, the number of deaths is greater than their 2014-18 averages, even with Covid-19 deaths excluded.
48.9 per cent of care homes in Cambridgeshire have reported a suspected or confirmed outbreak of Covid-19. Once again, East Cambridgeshire has the lowest in the county, at 33.3 per cent.
The Care Quality Commission was notified of 277 deaths from all causes in Cambridgeshire care homes between 10 April and 22 May 2020. 88 (one-third) of those deaths were Covid-19 related.
