District councillor for Sutton, Mepal, Witcham, and Wentworth (East Cambridgeshire District Council) and county councillor for Coveney, Little Downham, Mepal, Pymoor, Sutton, Wardy Hill, Way Head, Witcham, and Witchford (Cambridgeshire County Council)
With flood expert Mary Dhonau OBE in the Floodmobile at Alconbury
The Floodmobile commissioned by the OxCam Property Flood Resilience project arrived in Alconbury this morning, showcasing dozens of practical measures which can be fitted to domestic properties to reduce the risk or impact of flooding.
Pumps, flood doors, self-closing air bricks, non-return valves, and more were on show, and flood resilience expert Mary Dhonau OBE (@floodmary on Twitter) was on hand to demonstrate them.
With a large number of local properties in Cambridgeshire flooded at Christmas and New Year, and in many cases not for the first time, this information is extremely useful, not least when engaging with insurers and loss adjusters about what it’s possible to do to improve your home’s resilience after a flood event.
The Floodmobile will be a star attraction at a number of ‘flood days’ across the area between Oxford and Cambridge over the course of the year – and when it’s not required for these, it will be available to bring to local communities.
Meanwhile Mary Dhonau’s website includes an excellent e-book full of illustrated stories from homes and businesses who have made adaptations to help them recover more quickly after a flood.
I’m concerned and disappointed to be told that the East Cambridgeshire District Council Planning Committee meeting on 2 June at The Hive will not be streamed to YouTube for those unable to attend in person, or for those wishing to watch after the event.
During the time when we were permitted to meet virtually, some Council meetings had over 300 YouTube viewings, and Planning Committee meetings were particularly popular. There is still time to review this decision, and I hope the District Council will do so. I’ve written to the Chief Executive to ask for a change of heart.
East Cambridgeshire District Council is urging businesses to check their eligibility and apply for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) ahead of the deadline of 31 May.
The grant is available for businesses which
are in East Cambridgeshire, and
have a rateable value, and
were legally required to close between 16 February and 31 March 2021 due to lockdown restrictions.
The funding is not available to businesses who chose to close for other reasons.
Businesses that have already received previous LRSG grants will need to apply again to confirm their eligibility with the Council.
Businesses with a property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less may be eligible for a cash grant of £2,096 for the 44-day qualifying restrictions period.
Businesses with a property with a rateable value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 may be eligible for a cash grant of £3,143 for the 44-day qualifying restrictions period.
Business with a property with a rateable value of £51,000 or above may be eligible for a cash grant of £4,714 for the 44-day qualifying restrictions period.
Gravel Head Bridge, Downham Common will be closed (again!) for works on Wednesday and Thursday this week (26 and 27 May) for further works.
The closure will be in effect from 7:00AM to 7:00PM with a diversion for vehicles. The road will remain open outside these hours, and pedestrians and cyclists should still be able to access the site.
Highways officers explain that the surfacing has dropped due to a void under the carriageway, which they say is likely to be the result of settling ground combined with the high level of saturation when the original works were carried out.
A pilot scheme to address COVID-19 transmission in Fenland, Peterborough, and South Holland has been given the green light by Government.
COVID rates in these areas have been stubbornly high, and ‘enduring transmission’ means that the virus is embedded and spread across communities. Rates in Peterborough remain higher than the national and regional average, despite extensive work with communities; and the working age population has the highest rate of COVID-19 cases.
The Government is allocating £2.6 million to allow the pilot to proceed across the three areas over the next three months. It will focus on the food production, packaging and distribution, general warehousing, and construction industries, and, in particular, will target lower paid workers and those on zero hour contracts who have higher rates of COVID-19. These groups of workers often experience wage and job insecurity which affects their willingness to be tested and to self-isolate if positive. In addition, they often experience overcrowded accommodation and travel to work arrangements that are not COVID-safe.
The bid will enable a number of interventions.
Additional payments to workers which for some will be in addition to the £500 grant available to those on benefits, if they are able to demonstrate hardship. Many workers are not entitled to company sick pay and have to rely on statutory sick pay.
Payments to be channelled through a trusted third sector organisation with the support of local authority staff and systems.
Work with key regulatory agencies such as the Gangmaster & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) to engage with agencies and employers to support them to increase job security for workers self-isolating.
A limited network of COVID-safe public transport links to target workplaces for agency workers and those living in rural areas. Marshals will travel on buses and control queues at boarding points.
In certain circumstances, payments will be made to ensure rent or mortgage arrears are not incurred or homes lost.
COVID-safe accommodation will be available where needed for people who test positive to allow them to self-isolate, particularly if they live in a dwelling in multiple occupation.
Following Government approval, the councils concerned are now putting into place the different aspects of the pilot so that work can begin with employers as soon as possible.
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
21/00627/FUL Little Downham 19 Bishops Close Little Downham CB6 2TQ Revised scheme of previously approved 21/00167/FUL for garden salon studio.
21/00681/SCREEN Mepal Mepal Outdoor Centre Chatteris Road Mepal SCREENING OPINION for proposed construction of a crematorium and associated service and administration building, function building, memorial garden, natural burial areas, pet cemetery, car parking, new vehicular access from the A142 to the north of the site and landscaping.
21/00165/FUL Witchford Witchford Baptist Church Main Street Witchford Change of use from a Baptist church to a post office and convenience store with takeaway sandwich bar.
21/00166/ADN Witchford Witchford Baptist Church Main Street Witchford ‘Post Office’ standard signs displayed on front of building and projecting above the front doors. With additional ‘Shelley’s Shop and Sandwich Bar’ fascia sign.
21/00736/FUL Witchford Site to south of 7 Manor Court Road Witchford Detached dwelling and associated works.
21/00754/FUL Witcham 10A The Slade Witcham CB6 2LA Change of use of existing timber cabin from garden room to drinking establishment (bar).
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);
A ‘screening opinion’ application 21/00681/SCREEN for the Council’s proposed crematorium at Mepal Outdoor Centre has been posted up on East Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning portal.
No documents are associated with this application at the time of writing.
This application is the process for determining whether an Environmental Impact Assessment will be needed for the eventual planning application. It is not the actual planning application itself.
The deadline for submissions to the consultation is 4 June with deadline for determination (of the screening opinion) 7 June.
Pop-up rapid COVID testing is coming to East Cambridgeshire this coming week.
Free tests will be available
Monday 24 May 10:0AM to 6:00PM at Lancaster Way Business Park
Wednesday 26 May 9:00AM-4:00PM at Ely Market
Thursday 27 May 10:0AM to 6:00PM at Lancaster Way Business Park
Friday 28 May 9:00AM-4:00PM at Ely Market
You can also collect free testing kits to do at home. Find your nearest collection point at https://maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/ or order online at https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
More information at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19-rapid-community-testing
With the film crew in the barn at Swaffham Prior which will be rebuilt to house the energy centre for the village’s scheme to heat nearby homes sustainably. (Image courtesy of Janet Hall at Line Undrawn.)
A film crew came to the East Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Prior to record a segment about the village’s community heating project, as part of the run-up to the G7 meeting of world leaders in Cornwall next month.
Residents in Swaffham Prior have developed an impressive project to take around 250 homes in the village off oil and onto sustainable heating and hot water—and the County Council has been working with them towards making this a reality. A County Council-owned farm field will house 130 boreholes supplying heat from the ground, and a rebuilt barn will accommodate an energy centre from which heating will be delivered by a piped network to villagers who sign up to be supplied. County Council officers have also supported residents through the complex financial, legal, technical and other processes involved in realising this scheme.
Not only will energy be supplied in a more environmentally friendly way to these homes, but customers will avoid the high capital costs and complexity of installing their own technology, and will benefit from more stable energy costs rather than the fluctuating price of oil. The field housing the boreholes will be re-covered to return it to its agricultural purpose.
The film crew took several hours to hear about the project and interview the impressive Emma Fletcher, local resident and Chair of the Swaffham Prior Community Land Trust, along with Janet Hall from community engagement consultancy Line Undrawn which is working with residents on this project, and myself as Chair of the County Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee.
UK100 is the body representing local authorities ambitious to reach Net Zero by switching to 100 per cent clean energy by 2050. UK100 has chosen to film Cornwall Council and Cambridgeshire County Council projects to showcase as part of its pre-G7 event. Its Power Shift campaign is calling on the Government to release more powers to local government to enable more ambitious carbon reduction schemes like the one at Swaffham Prior.
Arriving early this morning at the Annual Meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council, at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford
At this morning’s Annual Council meeting, the new Joint Administration of Cambridgeshire County Council has been put in place, with councillors elected to key leadership positions.
Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (Lib Dem) is the new Leader of the Council, with Cllr Elisa Meschini (Lab) as her deputy. Cllr Derek Giles (Ind) is the new Chair of the Council, ably supported by Sebastian Kindersley (Lib Dem) as Vice Chair.
A number of changes have been made to the Council’s committee structure this morning, to enable the new Joint Administration to implement its policy priorities more effectively. The new committees and their Chairs and Vice Chairs are listed here. Noticeable is the much greater proportion of women in key positions than previously. I’m absolutely delighted to have been appointed Chair of the new Environment & Green Investment Committee, and look forward to working with Vice Chair Nick Gay (Lab) on the Joint Administration’s environmental agenda.
The new structure brings together health and adult social care into a single new Adults & Health Committee, of which I will be a member. The workload will be considerable, but it’s a real opportunity to consider health and care in a properly joined up way. As I said in my speech about this this morning, one of the earliest and biggest mistakes of the pandemic was the national decision to move large numbers of vulnerable people out of hospital and put them into care homes, enabling the coronavirus to take hold there and resulting in large numbers of deaths. Locally also the failure of health and care systems to be properly aligned leaves too many people falling through the cracks, and that must not happen.
The former General Purposes Committee (GPC) has been renamed Strategy & Resources, partly to make it clearer what its remit is, and partly to end the ongoing confusion of initials with the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP). The former Communities & Partnership Committee has been refocused on communities, social mobility, and inclusion. And the former Environment & Sustainability Committee is now renamed Environment & Green Investment, to highlight the committee’s role in a green recovery and in investing to enable the Council to meet its now more ambitious zero carbon targets.
The changes mean fewer committees, with consequently fewer Chairs and Vice Chairs claiming special responsibility allowances. They also mean an end to the ‘community champions’ instituted by the previous régime, where a few county councillors were arbitrarily chosen as ‘champions’ of their respective district areas, and paid a special allowance for this, despite not having been elected by the vast majority of residents in those districts and having no mandate to claim to represent them.
Two hours this morning have set Cambridgeshire County Council on a new path and I’m looking forward to playing my part in that.
