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

20/01020/FUL
Little Downham
Site north west of Woodlea Cophall Drove Little Downham
Construction of new chalet style property (resubmission of approved application 16/00537/FUL).

20/01045/FUL
Little Downham
Site adjacent to Thistle Croft Pymoor Lane Pymoor
Agricultural shed.

20/01011/FUM
Sutton
Faerch Plast Ltd Elean Business Park Sutton
Additional six material storage silos, plant enclosure extension, new loading area canopy, and pallet storage enclosure.

20/01057/ADI
Sutton
20 Ely Road Sutton CB6 2QD
One set of halo illuminated letters on rails and non illuminated sub text, two sets of halo illuminated letters on rails, and one internally illuminated double sided totem sign.

20/00951/FUL
Witchford
12 Manor Close Witchford CB6 2JB
Single storey dwelling.

20/01040/FUL
Witchford
The Old Milking Parlour 20 Main Street Witchford
Detached double garage with gym and home office space above.

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.

Some of the latest statistics from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Public Health Intelligence Team.

• 66 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough between 3 and 9 August (down 10 on the previous week)
• Declining trend overall in COVID-19 cases in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, though with increases in Cambridge (+5), Huntingdonshire (+2), and Cambridgeshire (+3) in the most recent reporting week.
• No COVID-19 related deaths in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in the week ending 31 July (down from one in the previous week).
• All-cause deaths numbers remained the same as the previous week for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (96 deaths). Peterborough had an increase of 1 death.
• East Cambridgeshire (+5) and South Cambridgeshire (+1) had an increase in all-cause deaths between the last two reporting weeks.
• The last notifications of a COVID-19 related death in a care home setting were 15 July for Cambridgeshire, and 8 July for Peterborough (data as at 11 August).
• The number of all-cause deaths is below the 2014-18 average in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Numbers in Huntingdonshire remain above the 5 year average. All other districts are below/similar.
• The number of all-cause deaths in care homes is similar to the 2014-18 average in South Cambridgeshire, and below in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, and the remaining districts.

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

20/01013/FUL
Little Downham
Kevlin 70 Ely Road Little Downham
To convert existing garage to ancillary living accommodation for the main dwelling.

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.

I’m one of the signatories on this letter to sixth form heads in Cambridgeshire.

Dear Cambridgeshire Sixth Form Head,

We have been horrified by the scandal of marked down grades for A level pupils, and the astonishing reinforcement of educational inequality which the system chosen by the government has produced.

We know you share this horror at the downgrading of many of your students.

We are deeply concerned that a similar impact will be felt by many GCSE students, who will be receiving their grades this coming week. 

We are writing to ask that you do everything in your power to take students on the basis of the Centre Assessed Grades, rather than those they are allocated by the government’s algorithm. 

We know this may prove difficult in some cases, as some sixth forms are over subscribed.  We would ask that in these cases you work together to try to ensure that every Cambridgeshire student is given a suitable place, with as many as possible offered their first choice, and where this is not possible that judgements are made in consultation with schools, rather than in using the flawed grades produced by the OFQUAL algorithm. 

We recognise that the chaos caused by the government’s exam results are not your responsibility, and wish we did not have to write to you asking for your help to fix the problems it will cause for many students:  that should lie with the government. We also know the great strain that has been placed on schools over the last few months and the extreme challenges you are facing in preparing to re-open in September. We offer our thanks to you and all of your staff for the incredible work you have done, and wish we did not need to ask more of you at this time.  We will do all we can to support you with the practicalities of making this offer and are writing to the Cambridgeshire MPs in the hope they will offer the same.

Yours sincerely,

Aidan Van de Weyer
Liberal Democrat Candidate for Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Lucy Nethsingha
Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cambridgeshire County Council

Cheney Payne
Teacher and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cambridge City Council

Ian Sollom
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for South Cambridgeshire

Pippa Heylings
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for South East Cambridgeshire

Lorna Dupré
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cambridgeshire County Council

A number of Cambridgeshire homes and premises were flooded in the storms on Thursday 13 and Sunday 16 August.

The risk of heavy summer rains isn’t over just yet, so with that in mind here are some handy hints for residents in East Cambridgeshire based on material from the County Council’s Flood & Water Team.

Prepare and protect

• If you are concerned about being flooded, phone Floodline 0345 988 1188 for flood warnings currently in force, or for advice on how to stay safe during a flood.
• If there is an imminent risk to life contact the emergency services on 999.

Useful advance preparations include

• Preparing a Household Flood Action Plan
• Protecting valuables and important documents
• Listening to and acting on the advice of the emergency services
• Moving upstairs or to higher ground as soon as possible, and keeping warm.

More information is available at https://nationalfloodforum.org.uk/about-flooding/preparing/checklist-action-plan/

Emergency response

Again, if there is an imminent risk to life contact the emergency services on 999.

If you need to leave your home due to flooding and need help relocating or you require emergency response or recovery advice, contact East Cambridgeshire District Council 01353 665555 or 07710 978900 in an emergency.

Reporting flooding

• You can report ponding or flooding to roads and footways online at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/roadworks-and-faults/
• If you have already experienced flooding within the living space of your home, or wish to make the Council aware of external flooding to outbuildings, gardens and private paths please use the flood reporting form at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/planning-and-development/flood-and-water/report-a-flood/

The County Council may be able to investigate the cause of flooding and offer advice about reducing future risk.

Useful links

• http://www.floodadvisoryservice.co.uk/
• https://nationalfloodforum.org.uk/
• http://www.knowyourfloodrisk.co.uk/
• https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/
• https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/map

Having already had the last key months of their studies disrupted by the pandemic, young people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough now find themselves failed by the government in the issuing of their A-Level results.

Grades that young people have worked diligently to achieve have been unfairly stolen from them by a flawed system put in place by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson.

“It’s simply not good enough,” say Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Aidan Ven de Weyer and Liberal Democrat county council group leader Lucy Nethsingha.

“We call upon Mr Johnson to listen to the voices of the people of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough who demand our young people get the grades they deserve, not the grades that the government seem to think they can force upon them.

“Students who achieved top grades across the two years of their courses, who were given final teacher predictions that meant they could get on their chosen university course or higher level apprenticeship, cannot simply be left with broken dreams.”

Aidan and Lucy are calling on local residents to sign a petition to demand that the government:

• apologise for the unfairness and failure to acknowledge the extreme situation faced by students;
• award students the fair grades they deserve and do not penalise them for the school they attend;
• guarantee university places unjustly lost by students who have had grades unfairly downgraded

The petition is at https://www.cambridgeshirelibdems.org.uk/fair_a-level_grades

A reminder of the consultation being held by the Environment Agency on when to close the Welney Wash Road for flood barrier installation.

The consultation began in March (just before lockdown) and has been extended to the end of September. The Environment Agency says:

“We are asking for your views on when to close the road to build a concrete foundation slab across the Welney Wash Road. This work will allow us to install the demountable flood barrier in, if needed, to help protect the communities from any water spilling from the Ouse Washes.

Please be mindful this barrier (see below schematic) will be installed across the Welney Wash Road only when the Ouse Washes flood and the water level at Welney reaches a predetermined level.  When the Ouse Washes flood the Welney Wash Road is and will  remain impassable to traffic. This is a flood barrier that will protect against any water spilling from the washes and becoming a flood threat to the village.  

We appreciate that closing the Welney Wash Road will have considerable impact to the local community. We want to reduce that impact as much as possible by working with you to identify the most appropriate time of year to close the road for the construction works. There are times of the year when we are unable to carry out this work, due to bird overwintering and breeding on the Washes (November to March).

We expect that the total construction time will be 14 weeks. Out of these 14 weeks, we will need to close the road for 6-8 weeks.”

The consultation can be found at https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/east-anglia-c-e/welney-wash-road-barrier-work-timings/

The test and trace system is to ‘go local’ as the Government appears to have finally admitted that its ‘world beating’ national system simply isn’t up to the job.

On Monday this week, the Government’s Department of Health & Social Care announced the NHS Test and Trace programme will now provide local authorities across England with a dedicated team of contact tracers to ensure that as many people as possible are being reached.

Last week’s figures showed that thousands of people are still not being reached by the test and trace programme and the head of outsourcing company Serco, which employs over 10,000 of the tracers, admitted up to a fifth of contacts may be untraceable.

National call centres were struggling to reach contacts, with only 56 per cent of close contacts handled online or by call centres being reached and told to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus.

In stark contrast, a local contact tracing system set up in Blackburn with Darwen Council had reached 90 per cent of the people the Government’s national system was failing to contact in an area with one of the worst COVID-19 infection rates.

It was clear from the beginning that this initiative should have been locally led and delivered, yet the Government ignored local councils which said this. As a result, we saw yet another multi-million pound contract awarded to the private sector, which once again couldn’t deliver what was needed.

Councils now need some of that Government funding to support this activity as they help clear up this mess. And it seems there will be 6,000 fewer tracers overall.

We need an inquiry now so that all levels of government can learn from the mistakes that have been made, and ensure they work together as effectively as possible to prevent further spread of the virus.

Cambridgeshire County Council has now submitted its planning application for a community heating scheme for the East Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Prior.

The application (20/01016/CCA) is for ‘Creation of an Energy Centre to serve the village of Swaffham Prior via a heat supply network. Centre will include a small visitors, education and exhibition space within an existing agricultural building. Erection of solar photovoltaic PV Panels, a borehole ground source heat collector with associated pumps and machinery, landscaping and associated works.’

Details of the project can be found here https://heatingswaffhamprior.co.uk/

This is a hugely exciting project which hopes to take the village off oil and onto a more sustainable energy supply, and county council officers and the village community have put in a huge amount of work to bring it to this stage.

There’s still a long way to go to make this a reality, but as a member of the County Council’s Environment & Sustainability Committee (and its Green Projects Investment Internal Advisory Group) I’ll be taking a close interest and wishing the scheme well.

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

20/00965/FUL
Mepal
Site north-west of 11 Bridge Road Mepal CB6 2AR
Temporary change of use for siting of a mobile home.

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.