The council has decided to make no change to the way our recycling is collected, following a review of whether it would be ‘technically, environmentally and economically practicable’ to move (back) to collecting recyclable materials in separate containers.

The review is the result of an EU directive on recycling, adopted into UK law. The directive says that recyclable materials should be collected separately from each other unless it is not ‘technically, environmentally and economically practicable’ (‘TEEP’, in the jargon) to do so. East Cambs District Council has carried out a review that shows that it’s not ‘TEEP’ to collect them separately, so it won’t be.

It’s clearly technically possible to collect recyclable materials in separate containers – East Cambs used to do so, and many other councils still do. However, it’s likely that making recycling harder work for households would increase the amount of recyclable waste just being put in with the general rubbish – remember how much our recycling rate improved here after the introduction of the wheelie bins – so it’s not environmentally practicable. And collecting all the different materials separately would cost more money – a lot more money – so it wouldn’t be economically practicable either.

So it’s no change. Carry on. As you were.

A study is to be carried out for the council of the condition of housing in East Cambridgeshire – private as well as social.

This won’t however mean people in muddy boots trudging into our living rooms to inspect the radiators. It’ll be a desk-based study by BRE Ltd (formerly the government’s Building Research Establishment), done by gathering together existing data from a variety of sources in a way that establishes relationships between them. These sources will include the English Housing Survey but also information such as census and credit rating data.

The report will provide useful information on the state of our district’s housing, from disrepair and inefficient heating to fuel poverty and fall hazards.

The council has a legal obligation to review the condition of its area’s housing from time to time – and the last survey, done in a very different way, was in 2009. This one will cost half as much, but provide better quality information which can then be updated by the council in real time.

The Government has announced that schools across Cambridgeshire will receive £32.7 million in 2017 to fund new school places, a rise of £28.9 million.

In contrast, this coming year the county will receive just £3.7 million, and in 2016 they will get only £3.8 million.

This extra funding will make a big difference to schools across Cambridgeshire. It means the County Council will be able to plan early for the number of school places it needs and hopefully we can also avoid the situation we have seen in the past where we have too many children starting school and too few places for them. Not only will this result in more schools being built across the county, it will allow the expansion and improvement of existing schools too.

This evening I attended the latest meeting of the group which is trying jointly to address the problem of heavy vehicles thundering through our villages.

As I’ve reported before, the group consists of parish councillors and others from villages including Sutton, Haddenham, Earith, Bluntisham, Cottenham and Hilton.  Its primary aim is to achieve a traffic regulation order restricting lorries cutting through the villages.  It’s been meeting now for over seven years.

I’m very pleased that there appears to be some progress towards the group’s goal, with a lot of evidence prepared.  I’m keen to ensure that the momentum continues, which will require the support of the various parish councils.  However, as many of these have elections on 7 May, the next stages will need to wait until then, so that the group can engage with the newly elected councils.

Concerns were expressed by the group at two planning applications in neighbouring areas: one at Dimmock’s Cote, Wicken which runs the risk of more than doubling the movement of heavy vehicles along the A1123 through Wicken and Stretham, and the other at Latta Farm in Colne which will add to the traffic joining the A1123 at the T junction in the middle of Earith.

A new series of drop-in sessions in Ely for people with a learning disability and the family and friends who care for them has started.

The drop-ins, which will be run by the county council’s Learning Disability Partnership East Team, will be held on the first Friday of the month at Ely Library, and anyone requiring information or advice is welcome to come along.

A planning application has been received for the demolition of the existing timber extension to the pharmacy in the High Street, and its replacement with a new permanent structure and additional extension to create a single-bedroom flat. The reference number for the application is 15/00067/FUL and as usual the application details can be found online at the district council’s website.

Deli@65, in the High Street in Sutton, is applying to extend its hours of business.  The owners would like to open from 7:30am to 10:00pm Mondays to Saturdays and from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Sundays.  The reference number for the application is 15/00091/VAR and the application details are available on the district council’s website. To submit any comments you may wish to make to the council, you can use the council’s planning pages, or email the Planning Department.

Very pleased to have succeeded today in getting East Cambs District Council to remove Saudi Arabia from its list of ‘approved countries for investments’.  A régime that executes its own citizens, and those of other countries, brutally and in public; inflicts barbarous punishments on people simply for expressing their views; and routinely represses women, is not one we ought to be having any truck with.

A planning application has been received by East Cambridgeshire District Council for an extension to an existing annexe at 35A The Row.  The reference number for the application is 15/00037/FUL, and as usual the details are online or can be viewed at the District Council offices in Ely during working hours or at The Glebe by arrangement with the parish clerk.

At last night’s parish council meeting, parish councillor Graham Redman drew my attention to this piece of news, about a reported fraudulent email claiming to come from Anglia Revenues Partnership.

Anglia Revenues Partnership collects council tax and other monies from residents in East Cambridgeshire on behalf of the district council.

The advice from the council is very sensible.  Treat any email, however official looking, that asks for any personal information with deep suspicion.  The council (and Anglia Revenues Partnership) will never ask you to supply personal data by email.