It should hardly need saying, but we need a well-respected police force to ensure public confidence in the enforcement of the law. Generally, our police do an excellent job, and we should all be grateful to them for that.

These coronavirus times are unusual, and I don’t envy the police their job. We have been told we need to maintain ‘social distance’, and the Government has laid down the circumstances in which we may legitimately be out and about. I am becoming increasingly concerned that Cambridgeshire Police are over-interpreting these regulations, and as a result are in danger of losing the confidence of the public.

Three days ago it was a misconceived Twitter campaign encouraging people to report their neighbours online https://twitter.com/CambsCops/status/1247589993071226884 Following sustained public criticism, this message was reworded, but the comparisons with nastier and less democratic political regimes had already been made.

And today, an extraordinarily ill-thought out Twitter message congratulating themselves on policing Tesco at Bar Hill and welcoming the empty ‘non essential aisles’.

The response was entirely predictable. What is a ‘non essential aisle’? Who decided what was ‘non essential’ (that’s certainly not laid out in the Government rules the police are supposed to be enforcing)? Are biscuits essential? Wine? Baby clothes? Birthday cards? Why can’t you pick up those things if they’re on the supermarket shelves when you go in for bread, milk and apples? This outbreak of making-it-up-as-you-go-along zealotry has been rightly mocked.

Cambridgeshire Police need, in the popular phraseology, to wind their necks in on this. They also need to be held effectively to account – and of course following the resignation of the county’s Police & Crime Commissioner last November, we are left with a temporary Commissioner who even the chair of the panel that appointed him admitted wouldn’t be up to the job on anything other than a stop-gap basis. His term has been extended for a further year by the coronavirus outbreak, and the new law scrapping all elections until May 2021.

The operation of law enforcement in this country is assessed against three ‘PEEL’ criteria – Police Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Legitimacy. Legitimacy is assessed in relation to whether the force operates fairly, ethically and within the law.

There is also a concept known as ‘policing by consent’, which is well described here. This recognises that in a functioning democracy, ‘the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect’.

The ham-fisted actions of Cambridgeshire Police in response to the coronavirus are very much in danger of losing that public respect. And if we here in Cambridgeshire reach a point when we can no longer respect and trust our local police, we will be in a very dangerous place indeed.

Update: while I was writing this, it looks as if Cambridgeshire Police has withdrawn the tweet snapshotted above.

If, like many people, you’re finding the current coronavirus pandemic taking its toll on your mental wellbeing, help is at hand.

A number of services serving Cambridgeshire residents have launched, or have reorganised their provision, to help those of us who may be struggling at this difficult time.

• Mind has launched a local online wellbeing service called Qwell. Qwell provides a range of materials to help with psychological wellbeing, including educational and self-help articles and forums. Adults can also receive help from qualified counsellors through online chat sessions.
• Lifecraft (here) has extended its Lifeline mental health helpline by five hours each day. It’s now available on 0808 808 2121 from 2:00PM to 11:00PM. 
• How Are You Cambridgeshire? A new Facebook page is connecting people with activities in their local communities that promote positive mental wellbeing.

Sport England are making financial help available to support sport and physical activity during the coronavirus outbreak.

This includes a £20m Community Emergency Fund for small clubs and organisations. Sport England say

The types of organisations eligible include local sports clubs forced to close at short notice but who are facing ongoing  costs  around  maintenance and utility bills, and voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or enable sport and physical activity.

A specific example might be a grant to support a local boxing club pay costs for their facility when no activity is taking place, or a grant to support a league who have paid for equipment to run a competition which has now been cancelled.

More information is available at https://www.sportengland.org/news/195-million-package-help-sport-and-physical-activity-through-coronavirus

Due to the Coronavirus emergency, the County Council’s 1 May Innovate & Cultivate Fund application round has been cancelled. Any grant applications submitted for this round will be deferred to the 1 August funding round.

Cambridgeshire Coronavirus Community Fund
Cambridgeshire County Council is supporting the new Cambridgeshire Coronavirus Community Fund. This fast-track emergency fund is offering grants to help local charities, community groups, local authorities and parish councils, to deal with issues affecting older and vulnerable people in our community as a result of the continuing threat of Covid-19. Grants between £1,000 and £5,000 are available for projects that aim to tackle the impact of financial hardship, potential for hunger, lack of shelter, health issues, loneliness, and isolation.

You can find more information about the fund, including eligibility and how to apply at https://www.cambscf.org.uk/cambridgeshire-coronavirus-community-fund.html

Please donate to the appeal
There is also a crowdfunding appeal to increase the size of this fund – you can donate at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Coronaviruscommunityfund

Register your local Covid-19 support group
The County Council is also urging organisations that are offering community support with Covid-19 to register on the Cambridgeshire Directory so that people can find them. You can register your organisation at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/coronavirus/covid-19-coordination-hub-your-community-needs-you

If your charity, community group or organisation is offering support with Covid-19, please register on the directory and use the tag ‘Covid-19’.

HMRC is running webinars for businesses about the support available to them to help deal with the economic impacts of coronavirus.

To find out more, or to sign up for a webinar, visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-and-support-if-your-business-is-affected-by-coronavirus-covid-19

The County Council will be micro-asphalting a number of our smaller roads in the next eighteen months.

In the Sutton division, the roads on the list are

• Laurel Close, Mepal
• Silver Street, Witcham
• The Orchards, Witcham
• Westway Place, Witcham

This programme is for unclassified roads only, and other resurfacing programmes will be published in due course for our busier roads.

The programme is highly dependent on the weather at the best of times, but is currently on hold anyway due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Information about micro asphalting is available here, which is also where updated day to day programme information will be published when work does eventually start.

UPDATE Tuesday 7 April: In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this programme is being suspended due to concerns over not being able to meet guidance for social distancing. Once this period of uncertainty is over, the programme will be rescheduled. In the meantime, the county council’s contractor is removing all advance warning signs relating to these works.

Meanwhile, while everyone’s attention is taken up with coronavirus, the planning application for yet another contentious ‘Community Land Trust’ in Wilburton has been lodged.

The application is for up to 115 dwellings, with a mere 35 (barely 30 per cent) ‘affordable’. Once again, this is no more than would be expected of a commercial developer building inside a village development envelope.

(A reminder of what the council’s own Local Plan says about this:

“Many community-led schemes are likely to be located outside development envelopes, where open market housing is not normally permitted. However, in certain circumstances it may be appropriate for an element of open market housing to be provided as part of a community-led scheme where the applicant can demonstrate through a financial appraisal that the inclusion of the open market housing is required to enable the delivery of affordable housing or other community assets, with significant benefits accruing directly to the community organisation through cross-subsidy. In addition, applicants will be expected to demonstrate that the community benefits of such a scheme (such as the level of affordable housing or open space) are significantly greater than would be delivered on an equivalent open market housing site.”

‘It may be appropriate for an element of open market housing to be provided’ sounds very different from nearly 70 per cent full price market housing, on this and most other ‘CLT’ sites.)

Once again too, the Combined Authority’s favourite developer Laragh Homes is involved. Laragh have been chosen for a number of such schemes, including projects in Stretham, Ely, and most recently Cambridge.

Two of the three endorsements on Laragh’s website are related to East Cambridgeshire CLTs – former East Cambs council leaders Mayor James Palmer and Charles Roberts.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Residents of Cambridgeshire who are in the Government’s ‘shielded’ (extremely vulnerable) category for coronavirus should have received a letter from the NHS. If you are in this group and have a mobile phone, you may also have received a text message.

It is very important that when you receive this letter or text, you register yourself here https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable

Help and support will not be given automatically. Even if you have had the letter, you still need to register.

You should be contacted by the NHS, and be asked to register, if you are in one of the following groups:

1. People who have had an organ transplant who remain on long term immune suppression therapy.
2. People with specific cancers – people:
   • with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer 
   • with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment 
   • having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer 
   • having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
   • who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs.
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD. Severe asthmatics are those who are frequently prescribed high dose steroid tablets.
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
6. People who are pregnant with significant congenital heart disease.

Those who have received a letter are asked to go to: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable where there is an online form, or to call 0800 028 8327 which is the dedicated government helpline.

You can register yourself, or register on behalf of someone else such as a relative or friend.

If you have not received the letter or text, and think you should have, you should speak to your GP or specialist. Only your GP or specialist medical team can add you to the Shielded Patients List.

If you have received the letter or text, but are not in one of the patient groups listed above, you can ignore it. If you are not sure whether you are in one of the groups listed above, contact your GP or clinical specialist for advice.

Image: Felipe Esquivel Reed licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. 

The following Cambridge Park & Ride services will be suspended from tomorrow (Thursday 2 April) until further notice:

• Madingley
• Newmarket
• Trumpington
• Milton

BABRAHAM PARK AND RIDE TIMETABLE CHANGES

• Monday – Friday buses will run every half an hour in the morning and afternoon peaks, and hourly throughout the day. The 13 service will be diverted into Babraham Park and Ride for some afternoon journeys.
• Saturday – Sunday there will be no Babraham Park and Ride services. The 13 service will be diverted into Babraham Park and Ride.

Trying to keep a business going in these difficult times?

Information from East Cambridgeshire District Council about Covid19 support for businesses is available at https://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/business/covid-19-support-businesses

Meanwhile this guidance from HMG sets out details and eligibility criteria for:

• the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF)
• the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF)

It informs local authorities about the operation and delivery of the two funding schemes.