During the recent consultation on East Cambridgeshire District Council’s Further Draft Local Plan, landowners and developers have submitted a further 69 sites for consideration as possible land for development.

Most of these are additional sites which have not so far been considered as part of the Local Plan process. Others are not new sites, but are sufficiently different from previous proposals to be considered afresh – for example if the proposed land use has changed from housing to employment, or if a revised boundary makes the suggested site larger.

At this stage the council is not committed to any sites identified in this new list. The inclusion of a site in the list does not represent any decision by the council and does not provide the site with any kind of planning status. These are sites promoted to the council, not by the council.

The full list of new site suggestions is at https://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/local-development-framework/local-plan-review.

In the Sutton area, these include:

Mepal

• Site/20/03: 93 dwellings (estimated) south of Witcham Road, across the road from Chestnut Way
• Site/20/04: 66 dwellings (estimated) between New Road and Witcham Road, to the east of Mepal

Pymoor

• Site/16/09: 273 dwellings (estimated) at Mount Pleasant Farm on Main Street
• Site/16/10: 70 dwellings (estimated) at Straight Furlong, adjacent to Broadlands Farm
• Site/16/11: 3 dwellings (estimated) at the former Memorial Hall, on the turn of Hundred Foot Bank

Sutton

• Site/26/11: 349 dwellings (estimated) at former Mepal Airfield
• Site/26/12: employment land on the Cambridge Machinery Sales auction site at the Elean Business Park
• Site/26/13: 10 dwellings at Millfield – this is the site that has been cleared and is already the subject of a planning application
• Site/26/14: 60 dwellings east of Garden Close – this is the extended site already subject to consultation by Endurance
• Site/26/15: 20 dwellings (estimated) north of Bellairs

Wentworth

• Site/29/04: 74 dwellings (estimated) south of Witcham Toll, opposite the turning to Witcham and west of the turning to Haddenham
• Site/29/05: 12 dwellings at the end of Marroway Lane, immediately south of the A142

Witcham

• Site/33/02: 15 dwellings east of The Slade, opposite Slade Farm

Witchford

• Site/10/29: 840 dwellings in Witchford, either side of the road into Witchford from the Lancaster Gate roundabout
• Site/34/11: 50 dwellings south of Sutton Road at West End Farm
• Site/34/12: 11 dwellings (estimated) at 223 Main Street
• Site/34/13: 295 dwellings (estimated) rear of 223 Main Street
• Site/34/14: 245 dwellings (estimated) at Common Road, bounded by the A142 and Manor Road
• Site/34/15: 32 dwellings (estimated) on garden land rear of Needham’s Farm Barn
• Site/34/16: 55 dwellings south of Main Street, between Mills Lane and The Rackham

The Boundary Commission has been tasked by the Government with reducing the number of MPs.  This means losing one MP from the East of England – and re-drawing all the areas the new MPs will serve to equalise the number of voters.  The Commission says:

We published our initial proposals on 13 September 2016, and consulted on them for 12 weeks.

We then published all the representations we received during those 12 weeks on 28 February 2017, and we are asking for people’s views on what others have said until 27 March 2017.

The Commission’s current proposals include moving Littleport out of North East Cambridgeshire into a different parliamentary constituency that is mostly Norfolk, including Thetford, Downham Market and Swaffham.

You can see the current proposals for new constituency boundaries in the East of England, and comment on what other people have said about them, here.

I’ve just written this email to the county council’s Chief Executive:

I feel it’s sometimes a good idea to do a bit of mystery shopping to see ourselves as our residents see us. So when I received an enquiry from a resident today (‘Can I still renew my bus pass at the post office?’) I thought I’d use the council’s systems to find out.

The council’s website shepherds people very firmly towards online renewal. It also says you can get help to renew your pass at your local library. But it doesn’t say anything about the post office, so I rang the number on the page to find out what would happen.

The telephone menu once again shepherds people very firmly to the website. If that fails, it then offers at least seven different options, saying that ‘some of these options will enable you to speak to an operator’. I listened to all the options, and as none of them did that, I waited in silence. Instead of defaulting to an operator, as any decent system would, there was a recorded message basically saying I had reached the end of the process so goodbye, and the call closed.

I called again, listened to the seven options all over again (which took three minutes), and having confirmed that there was no ‘to speak to an operator’ option, and none of the options I heard was likely to lead to an answer to my query, I decided I would just have to choose an option at random and hope. Most of them sounded as if they would just need to another lengthy recorded recital, but the ‘lost or stolen’ option seemed to me to be the one that would be most likely to lead to a human being, so I chose that.

When I finally got through, the operator was very helpful and said that the resident could not renew at the post office, but would have to rely on friends or family, or make an appointment at the library.

I’m genuinely shocked that a council service – particularly one which is the sole preserve of those aged 65 and over – should render itself so inaccessible. If there has previously been an option to renew at the post office, and that is no longer available, the website should say so. For the telephone recording to say ‘some of these options will enable you to speak to an operator’ without saying which ones, is really quite unkind; and for its default to be to close the call if you feel frozen by the process is unforgivable. The whole experience felt like the council deliberately using the internet to throw up walls, and I’m a fairly confident person (though I do loathe the telephone). I dread to think what it must feel like for an elderly person who may be much less confident with computers and council procedure.

Are you involved with a local community group or organisation and looking for funding or support?  Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service is a charity funded to help and support local community and voluntary groups.  They are running two free events for local community and voluntary groups on Wednesday 8 and Wednesday 15 March:

• A briefing about The Big Lottery on Wednesday 8 March at the Braza Club in March, from 12:00 noon to 3:00pm http://www.cambridgecvs.org.uk/training-events/view/167
• A training session on Running a Community Group on Wednesday 15 March at the Arkenstall Centre in Haddenham from 10:00am to 1:00pm http://www.cambridgecvs.org.uk/training-events/view/159

Please follow the links above to book your place.

UK Power Networks has issued the following note about what to do if you experience a power cut tomorrow during Storm Doris.

You may have seen that bad weather is on the way and we are likely to see high winds in parts of the East of England tomorrow (Thursday, 23 February).

Our electricity network is built to be resilient but extreme weather can damage overhead power lines resulting in some customers losing their electricity supply.  Where this happens we work to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, and we have organised for additional staff in our contact centre and more engineers on the ground to be available to help customers whose electricity supply might be affected by the predicted weather.

You will be able to find regular updates on our website www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk and social media @ukpowernetworks throughout this period.

Anyone experiencing a power cut should:

• Call 105 to report power cuts and damage to the electricity network
• Visit ukpowernetworks.co.uk for the latest update
• Visit ukpowernetworks.co.uk/powercut and type in their postcode to view our live power cut map
• Tweet @ukpowernetworks to report a power cuts or to receive updates

UK Power Networks has a Priority Service Register for customers who may be more vulnerable and require extra assistance in a power cut. You can find out more information on our website: ukpowernetworks.co.uk/priority.

We advise people to stay clear of power lines and report damaged power lines immediately by calling 105 – free to call from a landline or a mobile phone. If they see electricity lines that are down or causing significant risk to the public they should call 999.

Preparing for a power cut

Below is some additional advice on how you can prepare for a power cut:

• Keep our freephone number handy
• See the website for some useful videos offering you advice during a power cut.
• Keep spare batteries for radios and torches – local radio stations often broadcast helpful information
• Keep an old-fashioned corded phone which you can plug in, as cordless phones won’t work in the event of a power cut
• Take care if using candles, tea-lights and other naked flames
• Keep fridges and freezers closed, with a blanket over as they will stay cold for many hours
• Switch off all your electrical equipment, except one light which will let you know when the power comes back on
• Remember the street lights may also be off so take care if you go out
• Look out for elderly neighbours and other vulnerable people; please consider taking them round a flask of hot water or hot food

Crime reduction officer Sue Loaker, police sergeant Phil Priestley, and community safety officer Charlotte Homent gave a very useful presentation tonight at the Pavilion in Sutton about staying safe at home.

Sue Loaker started by explaining what makes a property a target for criminals: high walls and hedges in front so that it’s not obvious if criminal activity is in progress, and easy access to the back of the house.

So do go for

• low fences and planting in the front of the house
• a good lockable gate (at least 6ft) to deter entry to the back
• motion sensor lighting as high as possible on the building
• ‘dusk till dawn’ bulbs in fittings
• padlocked sheds and outbuildings with obscured views of the contents
• trellis which is difficult for intruders to climb on, and which snags fingers and fabric.

Home CCTV can be a deterrent, though often intruders will just pull up their hoodie.  And burglar alarms can also work, provided you actually use them.  But the most important thing you can do to keep your home safe is to deny unwelcome visitors easy access to the back of your home.

Doors and windows need good locks (remove the keys), and you can also obtain window shock alarms from Sue at the police station for a small charge.  They can be fitted for older residents through the Bobby scheme.

Intruders will visit the bedrooms first, looking for items including cash, jewellery, photography equipment, and small TVs.  Sue can supply useful solutions for keeping items safer at home; but the best place for large amounts of cash is always the bank.

If you are worried about a nearby premises which looks as if the occupants might be vulnerable to crime, the new Community Eyes and Ears scheme is worth a visit.  Phil Priestley also recommended following ‘Policing East Cambridgeshire’ on Facebook, and you can also sign up to eCops to receive regular email updates from the local policing team.

Charlotte Homent from the county council gave a useful over view of scams: unsolicited contacts from people making false promises to con you out of money.  This can be on the doorstep, by phone, by email.  On the doorstep, it can be rogue traders or distraction burglars, using time pressure and plausible patter, arriving in unmarked vans, with no landline phone number to give out.  Watch out for neighbours who may have fallen for their wiles, and call 101 if you need to.  Scammers can be persistent, aggressive – and it’s not rude for you to refuse to answer the door, or to put the phone down on them.  If you’ve been tricked before, it’s more likely that your number will be on lists circulated among dodgy dealers.

Only about one in twenty scams is reported, whether through embarrassment or just that the victim doesn’t realise they have been scammed: through text messages or ‘phishing’ emails allegedly from your bank, or people posing as Microsoft or BT Openreach.  Every year between £5 and £10 billion is lost in the UK to scammers, and half of over-60s have been targeted.

Keep your door locked, and if someone knocks, use the chain before opening, and check the ID of visitors (don’t phone the number on the ID card as it could be bogus).  Many utilities offer a scheme whereby they will agree a password with you which their staff must give when they visit.

If you really do need work done on the house or garden, get three quotes, and use workmen from schemes like Buy With Confidence, Trusted Trader, or Rated People.  Don’t pay up-front.

If you’re being pestered on the phone, one member of the public recommended BT Call Guardian.

Charlotte and her team can help local residents set up ‘Good Neighbours’ schemes to help communities look out for themselves and each other, and can supply door stickers, leaflets and other materials.

But for all this, we were reminded that East Cambridgeshire does have one of the lowest rates of crime in the country. So while we need to be vigilant, we should try not to have nightmares.

The following local applications have been published recently by East Cambridgeshire District Council:

17/00184/FUL
Mepal
Site west of Broadmead, Witcham Road, Mepal
Construction of 2no bungalows.

17/00167/FUL
Sutton
14 West Lodge Lane, Sutton CB6 2NX
Single storey extension.

17/00108/FUL
Sutton
1 Bury Lane, Sutton CB6 2BB
Construction of single storey log cabin style annex.

17/01790/FUL
Wentworth
Denbigh House, Ely Road, Witcham Toll
Single storey rear, front and side extension and garage conversion.

17/00187/FUL
Witcham
Park Farm, Market Way, Witcham
Demolition of existing dwelling plus outbuildings and erection of a four bed detached dwelling, garaging and associated site works.

17/00177/FUL
Witchford
123 Main Street, Witchford CB6 2HP
Single storey rear extension.

17/00153/SCREEN
Witchford
Land South of Main Street, Witchford
Screening opinion – proposed development of 46 dwellings.

17/00093/FUL
Witchford
17 Sutton Road, Witchford CB6 2HX
Ground floor extension for sun room and new internal layout.

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