East Cambridgeshire District Council has received a planning application for an extension to front and garage conversion at 22E High Street.

Full details of the application are online on the district council’s planning page: the reference number for the application is 15/01201/FUL.  If you would like to respond formally to the council about the application, any comments should be addressed to the district council and not to me.  Comments may be made by 2 December

• 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.

East Cambridgeshire District Council has received a planning application for a single storey extension and car port at 27 The America.

Full details of the application are online on the district council’s planning page: the reference number for the application is 15/01354/FUL.  If you would like to respond formally to the council about the application, any comments should be addressed to the district council and not to me.  Comments may be made by 2 December

• 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.

There are still a couple of days left for local residents to respond to Cambridgeshire County Council’s consultation on its future spending.

Cuts in funding from central government coupled with increased demand and inflation means that the county council needs to save £100 million over the next five years, on top of the £200 million in savings it has already made. Next year the county council needs to save £41million – that’s 9 per cent of its entire budget.

The county council is the level of council responsible for services including

• education
• transport
• planning
• fire and public safety
• social care
• libraries
• waste management
• trading standards

The consultation closes on Sunday 8 November.

Balfour Beatty have written to advise that they have programmed in the street lighting upgrade for the High Street for the week commencing Monday 16 November, subject to this date being satisfactory to the parish.

A planning application has been received by East Cambridgeshire District Council for change of use of Crown Yard Depot on Station Road, near Whizzle and Bow Cottages. The application is for a change of use to B2 (general industrial) and B8 (distribution and storage).

The applicants, S&G Cars, want to keep the present office building in the centre of the site, which operated as a coal yard until it closed in June 2009, and to build two steel-clad storage units.

S&G Cars would like to store cars on the site, where they can be cleaned and prepared for sale on their existing forecourt in Ely Road.  Part of the site including the storage units would be used for storing materials for a separate construction business.

Full details of the application are online on the district council’s planning page: the reference number for the application is 15/01283/FUL.  If you would like to respond formally to the council about the application, any 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.

Yesterday afternoon I met Ely resident Poppy Pearce and her colleague Stefan Haselwimmer from Cambridge to hear more about a new local campaign to involve residents in supporting the resettlement of refugees caught up in the current humanitarian crisis.

A Cambridge resettlement group has already been established, and Poppy is now working with Stefan to set up an Ely branch which will cover not only the city of Ely but also surrounding villages including Sutton. The group aims to help members of the public coordinate support for refugees, and to volunteer their skills, accommodation and other resources.

Any Sutton residents interested in getting involved can find the the Ely Refugee Resettlement Campaign

• online at www.elyrefugeeresettlement.co.uk
• on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ElyRefugeeResettlementCampaign/
• or contact the group by email at elyrefugeescampaign@gmail.com

I’ve just received an email from the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, delaying the announcement of the new county council boundaries for Cambridgeshire.

Unusually the Commission wants to reopen consultation – but only on a very small part of the proposal, relating to some of the boundaries in the city of Cambridge.  This would suggest that it is not proposing to make any substantial changes to its original proposal for the rest of the county.

If the Commission has not changed its mind about its draft recommendations for the rest of Cambridgeshire, that means that Sutton will be included in a very large county council ward with two county councillors covering not only Sutton but also Coveney, Little Downham, Haddenham, Mepal, Stretham, Little Thetford, Wentworth, Wilburton, Witcham, Witchford, and parts of Littleport and Ely.  It’s a proposal that has few friends outside the Commission.

No doubt all will become clear in February.

The email from the Commission says:

A copy of a letter to the Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council and the map can be found on our website at: http://www.lgbce.org.uk/current-reviews/eastern/cambridgeshire/cambridgeshire-county-council.  The letter outlines the Commission’s intention to undertake further limited consultation in Cambridge. Given this, our final recommendations will now be published on 9 February 2016 rather than 17 November 2015 as originally planned.

I’m very pleased indeed that the district council has bowed to public pressure and scrapped its proposals to charge for use of the public toilets in Ely.

The council now needs to move forwards and decide how it is going to proceed to ensure public toilets are kept up to an acceptable standard.  I’ve suggested that the council consider the use of ‘Section 106’ contributions from developers, as the growth in Ely’s population will have an effect on many public amenities including toilets.

But in the meantime it’s good to know that residents and visitors won’t have to be scrabbling around for change if they need to use the facilities in our cathedral city.

Two new planning applications have reached East Cambridgeshire District Council, both with deadlines of 5 November for response.

(1) Proposed 3 bedroom dwelling
Adjacent To 2 Tower Road Sutton Cambridgeshire CB6 2QA
Reference: 15/01154/OUT

(2) Construction of a single storey side extension
1 Stewards Close Sutton Cambridgeshire CB6 2NQ*
Reference: 15/01150/FUL

If you have any representations to make about these applications, please comment directly to the council’s planning department: see the council’s website (‘How do I make comments?’) for details of how to respond.

*Note in the interests of full disclosure: I rented 1 Stewards Close from a friend for four months in 2012, but have no financial interest in the property, and am highly unlikely to be involved in determining the application anyway.

At Ely Library this Thursday, 22 October, from 10am until noon, organisations providing services for people with sensory impairment will be showcasing their offer and promoting volunteer opportunities.

Those attending include Camsight, Isle of Ely Society for the Blind, RNIB, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, Cambridge Hearing Help, Living Paintings, Fenprobe, Optelec, County Council Sensory Services and the Library Service itself. Other organisations are sending material for display.