Cambridgeshire County Council is advertising for new tenants for seven council-owned farms, part of the council’s 33,000 acre rural estate.

The council’s estate – the largest public sector estate in the country – is divided into 226 holdings, with 160 different tenants. The seven farms up for application,1,800 acres in total, are in South Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Littleport. Interest is already high, with 67 viewings booked.

The estate brings in £5M in rent to the council council each year, to support local services. It contributes to the local economy, enables the council to put its environmental commitments into practice, and ensure public access to the countryside with permissive paths and bridleways.

The council is looking for innovative, entrepreneurial applicants with new ideas for developing their own businesses on the land. These could well be arable or livestock farming, but there are also opportunities for ancillary enterprises such as livery, farm shops or engineering.

Applicants will need to demonstrate that they have the necessary skills and a viable three-year business plan and budget. They will also need to show that they understand the council’s expectations for the farms estate, and in particular are keen to farm in step with nature and do their bit to help tackle climate change and increase biodiversity.

Interviews will take place in March, and tenancies will be ready to take up from October onwards. The council has published a brochure about this opportunity, which can be downloaded here.

This morning I was on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire telling Richard ‘Spanners’ Ready about this terrific opportunity. You can hear the interview here.

I’ve just been asked how to make regular donations to the Sutton food bank.

Firstly, there isn’t any longer a ‘Sutton food bank’ as such, in the sense of a location in the village to go and receive food boxes. Food bank deliveries to Sutton residents’ homes are carried out discreetly by volunteers from outside the village.

There are however still distribution centres in nearby towns and villages https://ely.foodbank.org.uk/locations/ These are coordinated by the Ely food bank https://ely.foodbank.org.uk/

Donations for the food bank can be left at the Sutton One Stop and the Co-op.

You can make regular donations of money rather than food here https://ely.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-money/ (Very useful for those of us who do our shopping online.)

And there are also opportunities for local businesses to partner with the food bank, as a number of firms have already done https://ely.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/partner-with-us/

Yesterday I was on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to promote the second round of Cambridgeshire’s group buying scheme for solar energy.

Registration is now open to join a large group of people across Cambridgeshire buying solar panels or battery storage from pre-approved installers. You can find more information about the scheme here.

Homeowners can register online now to express interest free of charge and without obligation.

Pre-approved suppliers will take part in an auction on 15 March, bidding to supply and install the panels and batteries for the whole group. They can offer competitive prices because of the number of installations close to each other.

After the auction, you will receive a personal recommendation specific to the details in your registration.

If you accept your recommendation, the details will be confirmed with a technical survey and an installation date set.

Telephone and email helpdesks are on hand throughout, along with pre-installation information sessions.

The effects of climate change are becoming ever more obvious, and energy bills are rising astronomically. This is a great way to reduce carbon emissions, and energy costs over the longer term.

Today I proposed the new Climate Change Strategy for Cambridgeshire, which was overwhelmingly agreed, with only three votes against.

“On taking office in May 2021, this Joint Administration committed to put climate change and biodiversity at the heart of this Council’s work.

The updated Strategy referred—unanimously—to this meeting by the Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee is an ambitious step on that journey.

We are starting from a strong place. In May 2019 this Council, under the administration of members opposite, committed to the development of a Climate Change and Environment Strategy. Following the repeated urging of my colleague Cllr Susan van de Ven this was widened to include declaring a Climate and Environment Emergency.

The first Strategy was adopted by Council in May 2020. It was a crucial first step for the Council to raise the profile of the climate and biodiversity crises in Cambridgeshire. And it recently achieved second place in an analysis of the strategies adopted by County Councils across the UK.

The new Joint Administration set to work early on to initiate a review of the Strategy, with the aim of acting faster to address the climate emergency, and bringing forward targets towards 2030 where they were later than that. We committed to complete that review by December 2021, and indeed on 16 December the Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee considered the draft of the revised strategy.

Since that meeting, the proposed strategy has been revised to include a definition of Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions early on; to include non-motorised users, particularly equestrians, in the low carbon transport section of the technical report; and to strengthen communications opportunities, in particular with reference to the Council’s Single Equalities Strategy.

Since the original 2020 Climate Change and Environment Strategy, there have been a number of significant developments at national and international level.

• A commitment to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 based on a 1990 baseline—reflecting the recommendation from the UK’s Independent Climate Commission Sixth Carbon Budget, and supplementing the existing ‘net zero by 2050’ target, ensuring alignment with the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 2°C and preferably to 1.5°C.
• The publication of a Heat & Buildings Strategy, Net Zero Strategy, the Environment Act 2021, Agricultural Act 2020, and the Transport Decarbonisation Plan 2021.
• And of course COP26 in Glasgow.

Local authorities across the country are sharing best practice to speed up learning for everyone and turn this into action to reduce carbon emissions. So much learning on climate change has taken place during the last two years, and the review of the Council’s strategy has provided the opportunity to reflect on that learning and make changes according to the latest thinking..

The sixth IPCC Report, published in August last year, described how critical the next ten years will be in the race against the biggest impacts of climate change. COP26 showed for the first time how financial institutions and large organisations are getting behind the transition to a low carbon future, and we are now seeing the impact this can have.

Large companies are really starting to look at supply chain carbon emissions to understand the risks companies are carrying and pushing suppliers to cut emissions. We are also seeing new financial mechanisms such as green bonds being explored and used more commonly.

Locally, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Commission on Climate has published its Final Report and recommendations to guide our area to deliver net zero by 2050.

The recommendations of this expert panel highlight the urgency of the action needed, and the increased severity of climate impacts if this action is delayed. They also recognise the importance of protecting the most vulnerable in society, and delivering a just transition to ensure no-one is left behind as we decarbonise our communities, businesses and homes.

Updating our own Climate Change and Environment Strategy is an opportunity to reflect these developments, and to move forward faster and with increased ambition—matching the increased enthusiasm from the public sector, businesses and communities to engage in climate action and speed up change.

Since the May 2020 Strategy the scale and extent of the climate and environment crises have become more apparent as we have seen severe weather impacts here and abroad, and the devastation that results from inadequate action. Public awareness is at an all-time high.

Now is the time to reflect on the learning of the last two years, assess new evidence, and agree an updated strategy that can harness the pace and scale of those changes to minimise the severity of future impacts of climate change on our communities here in Cambridgeshire.

The revised strategy is the product of ongoing dialogue with councillors, officers, our district council partners, the Combined Authority, communities, businesses and the third sector. A series of webinars and meetings has helped to share understanding of the issues and integrate our proposed actions with those of our partners, while maintaining our own ambition.

The new Joint Administration has taken a new approach. Using the strategy to Increase the pace and scale of carbon reductions in Cambridgeshire requires organisations, businesses, communities, and residents to collaborate and cooperate. Our focus is therefore on

• being clear with communities and business about what is needed and how we are going to do it
• providing reliable and trustworthy information and signposting businesses and communities to good practice
• working together to deliver the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Climate and achieving change at lower cost for everyone in Cambridgeshire
• ensuring ownership of the challenge is apparent in every part of the Council. The strategy has been designed to provide a framework within which all Council activities can sit—a structure for officers and members to develop activities within services that fit into the wider net zero ambition.

We have also restructured the proposed strategy to consist of three parts.

1. Firstly, a high level strategy summarising our ambition and approach, providing the framework to manage the changes we face, and intended for the wider public, businesses, and partners.
2. Secondly, a technical report for those that want or need greater detail on targets and priorities to inform their work.
3. And thirdly, a dynamic action plan which guides the actions needed to deliver the strategy, and which can be updated in the light of fresh information and further developments.

These elements of the strategy will be supported by additional documents.

• The Annual Carbon Footprint report we saw in January.
• A Communications and Engagement Plan.
• And a Net Zero & Improving Nature Programme & Resourcing Plan.

This strategy now has a new ambition for Cambridgeshire as a county to reach net zero emissions by 2045 through mobilising action to attract investment and increase the pace and scale of delivery.

For the council itself our target is to reach net zero by 2030. This is now a whole-Council endeavour—all services will need to build knowledge and skills to deliver carbon emission reductions.

Over half of the carbon reductions we need to achieve depend on the choices communities and businesses make in their everyday lives—heating buildings, travelling to work or leisure, buying food and clothing. The strategy therefore focuses heavily on the need for the Council, and others, to engage, support and collaborate widely, inspiring ourselves and others to make positive change.

There is much to do, and a need to do it urgently. It will cost less if we take action early, and more if we delay.”

My budget speech as Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee

It is an enormous privilege to speak today as Chair of this Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee in support of this first Joint Administration budget.

Our Joint Administration agreement committed us to work towards a greener, fairer, and more caring Cambridgeshire. I believe firmly that our budget proposals today are a significant step on that journey.

Flooding and the risk of flooding has been very much on the minds of Cambridgeshire residents, particularly since the events of December 2020. Much of that work sits in Highways but the Environment & Green Investment Committee also has a major role to play.

I have already spoken today about the cooperation that is needed across public and private bodies to take effective action on flood protection. This spirit of cooperation is reflected in the draft Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, and its associated draft Action Plan with tasks assigned to many of those bodies. These documents have been issued for public consultation, comments have been received, and we are currently reviewing these, prior to finalising the plan. Councillors from the Group opposite will be involved in that work.

And that cooperative spirit is also evident in the ongoing work of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Flood & Water Partnership, which I chair. Now that the revised Local Flood Risk Management Strategy is approaching completion, I have opened up discussion with other members of the Partnership  about the potential to refocus its work towards overseeing the schemes in the Action Plan.

Shared planning and priorities will enable the best use to be made of every partner’s resources, including our own. Our new £14M Just Transition fund will be a key part of this process.

We have included £150,000 for the coming year in our budget to continue the Community Flood Action Programme beyond its initial year, and allow this excellent initiative to expand, engaging more residents in working alongside us to protect their communities. During this year, I attended the first visit of the Floodmobile to the community of Alconbury Weston, and on Thursday next week I look forward to its visit to my own village of Sutton.

Our Joint Administration agreement also undertook to look for ways to promote biodiversity and increase Cambridgeshire’s natural capital. Cambridgeshire is one of the most biodiversity-deprived counties in the country. We inherited a commitment from the outgoing administration to a 20 per cent biodiversity net gain, but no baseline from which to measure it.

We moved quickly in-year to allocate £109,000 towards staff capacity, a biodiversity audit, and site repairs; and we have now added £105,000 to the budget for the forthcoming year to develop the actions required for the biodiversity commitments in our Climate Change & Environment Strategy, and to ensure the best biodiversity and natural capital benefits are gained from the council’s own public assets.

We will also be funding an investigation into establishing an Active Parks Unit within the council.

I have mentioned climate change. Our revised Climate Change & Environment Strategy was referred unanimously from the Environment & Green Investment Committee, and I hope it will receive unanimous support here later today. Our budget includes a commitment of £340,000 in this coming year, and reducing sums for the two years after that, to support the delivery of that strategy and help reduce carbon emissions on the part of the council and of Cambridgeshire more widely.

Our capital budget sees work progress on the many excellent energy schemes in Cambridgeshire—from those currently under way, to those in their exploratory stages. Swaffham Prior’s Community Heat Scheme. Smart Energy at St Ives, Babraham, and Trumpington. Energy projects at Stanground and Woodston. Solar at North Angle and Fordham. Support to get schools and communities off oil, and to improve the carbon efficiency of council assets and services. And continuing significant investment in decarbonising 69 council owned and occupied buildings. All council buildings will be taken off fossil fuels, and low carbon heating solutions installed, with investment expected to be recouped in full from savings delivered on the council’s energy bills.

This council also continues to work with the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority on improving fixed and mobile internet connectivity.

I also want to say a few words about the council’s County Farms working group, which I chair and which reports into the council’s Strategy & Resources Committee. The budget reflects the hard work the farms team is doing in securing increases in rental income, along with capital investment at Lower Portland Farm at Burwell in particular, and potential opportunities across the county. The county farms team have had a challenging few years, and I very much hope the council corporately will continue to support them and recognise their valuable and much appreciated work.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the absolutely excellent officers who report to my committee. They have been quite frankly a joy to work with. And I would of course also like to thank my vice chair and Independent lead member, Cllrs Nick Gay and Stephen Ferguson, and the members of the Environment & Green Investment Committee for their commitment to this vital area of the council’s work.

This is what I said about council tax in the debate at Cambridgeshire County Council today.

“As Government financial support for local authorities has been cut, councils have had to turn increasingly to council tax to help plug the funding gap and keep those services going. Indeed, Government actually expects them to do so, and includes council tax increases in the ‘increased spending power’ it keeps telling councils it has given us.

We are all acutely aware of the current pressures on household budgets. Far from the promise that after Brexit we would see cheaper fuel for our heating and hot water, £350M a week for the NHS, and cheaper food in the shops, residents across the UK are facing frankly terrifying utility bills, a nine per cent rise in National Insurance, and an onslaught of food price rises.

In Fenland, residents can expect an average increase in their energy bills of £600 this coming year. Remove the £150 discount for homes in Bands A to D, and the Government’s £200 enforced loan, and that’s still a rise of £4.80 a week.

A man on the average Fenland male salary will also pay around £4.80 a week more in National Insurance this coming year, and a woman on the average Fenland female salary will pay over £2 a week more.

And while inflation is quoted officially as 5.4 per cent, this grossly underestimates the real cost of inflation for people with the lowest incomes. Prices of ‘value’ product ranges in supermarkets have soared. Rice, for example, has increased from 45p to £2 per kilo in the last year—a 344 per cent increase—while the number of value products on the shelves has shrunk.

(Huge credit for exposing the real levels of inflation for poorer households to campaigner Jack Monroe, whose ‘Vimes Boots Index’ of the real cost of inflation for low-income families has been picked up by the Office of National Statistics who are now considering how to present inflation figures more realistically.)

When Government punishes lower income families like this, no-one relishes adding a council tax increase to residents’ burdens, but the financial situation we have inherited from the Group opposite is dire. The Joint Administration is proposing an additional £1.19 a week in council tax for those living in Band C homes. The group opposite supports three-fifths of this increase. The point of difference is therefore is the remaining two-fifths—48p a week.

But nearly two thirds of residents in Fenland live in Band B or Band A homes. That 48p a week will be 42p per week at Band B. 36p per week at Band A.

For those with single person discounts, or local council tax relief, the increase will be even less, and we have done our best to compensate lower income households with our household support fund and commitment to free school meal vouchers in school holidays.

While protecting lower income families from the worst of the council tax increase, we will therefore at the same time be more likely to be able to protect the council services on which they rely, as we continue to work to resolve the horrendous financial situation we were bequeathed by the previous administration. That’s fairness in action.

By contrast, the Conservative amendment makes the budget gap in future years even worse, and puts council services at greater risk for residents who need them most.

This Joint Administration committed to a greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire, and we are delivering that.”

Cambridgeshire County Council’s Full Council today set its budget for the year starting in April.  

The budget closes a projected £22.2 million gap using efficiencies, savings, and the government’s one-year financial settlement. It also starts to address a projected gap of more than £80 million over the next five years.

The County Council share of council tax will increase by 4.99 per cent – 1.99 per cent for general services, and a 3 per cent rise for Adult Social Care. This will mean an extra charge of 90p per week for a Band A household, £1.04 per week for a Band B household, and £1.19 for a Band C household. The increase in Band D is £1.34 per week, which will still leave the County Council’s council tax share below the average for shire counties.

The increase comes at a time when many families are struggling with increases outside the council’s control, such as National Insurance, energy bills, and food price rises. The council’s budget therefore offers a safety net for those least able to pay.

The budget offers support through

• The Household Support Fund – a one-off £20 payment open to all 39,000 Cambridgeshire people on universal credit, as well as extra help for specific bills or replacement of essential items such as cookers, washing machines or fridges.
• Continued funding for Free School Meals throughout the school holidays – £15 per week for each eligible child.
• A 100 per cent council tax rebate for care leavers until they reach the age of 21, and a targeted fund to support them, if they need it, until they are 25.
• A £1 million ‘catch up’ fund to help children catch up on activities which help them learn skills, build self-confidence and make friends.

In addition, the council’s business plan pledges to deliver a ‘just transition’ towards a more equal and sustainable Cambridgeshire. 

The council’s business plans also includes:

• A £2.9 million countywide programme to support older people living in their own communities and homes for longer – part of a proposed investment in a new vision to create a fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire.
• Increased investment in projects which support biodiversity and access to open spaces.
• More investment to improve safety on roads, and the accessibility of footways and bridle paths.
• A continued roll out of the Real Living Wage, not just for lowest paid council staff but working with contractor and supplier organisations to make this aspiration a reality as soon as possible.

You can watch the full recorded debate on the council’s YouTube channel here.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority are considering changing one journey on the existing Ely Zipper bus timetable. They have written to Haddenham, Stretham, Wilburton and Witcham parish councils with three options.

The first Zipper journey into Ely currently leaves Witcham at 06:52. It is scheduled to arrive at Ely Tesco at 07:15, but normally arrives at 07:12. This leaves only two minutes before the train departs from Ely railway station at 07:14.  If the bus arrived at Ely Tesco at 07:07, there would be seven minutes for passengers to catch the 07:14 train. 

The options are as follows:

1. Zipper to start from Haddenham at 06:45 but no longer call at Witcham Monday to Saturday.
2. Zipper to start from Haddenham at 06:45 and no longer call at Witcham Monday to Friday, but the existing journey starting from Witcham at 06:45 would operate on Saturday.
3. Leave the journey as it is at present and make no change.

All other journeys would remain the same and the bus would continue to call at Witcham as it does at present. 

The Combined Authority says that continuing to serve Witcham on the amended journey would lead to an increase in the contract cost, and there is not enough money to do so at present. The three options would not increase the cost of the contract. 

The bus company has advised that it is exceptionally rare for any passengers to join the bus before the Spar Shop in Haddenham High Street (Hop Row) on the first journey of the day. Last year they very occasionally picked up one passenger in Witcham on a Saturday morning. During the week they never collect anyone there.

If you use the Zipper from Haddenham, Stretham Wilburton or Witcham, and have a view about the options for the first journey of the day, please do let your parish council know.

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

22/00103/FUL
Little Downham
Land rear of 47-53 Ely Road Little Downham
Demolition of the existing agricultural barns and erection of two dwellings and associated works.

22/00106/FUL
Sutton
44 Bellairs Sutton CB6 2RW
Proposed front extension (part single storey and two storey).

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.

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

22/00085/FUL
Sutton
35A The Row Sutton CB6 2PD
Proposed demolition of existing conservatory and erection of single storey flat roof extension and associated works.

22/00098/FUL
Sutton
Durnford House 7 Station Road Sutton
Single storey rear extension.

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.