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)
Entrance to the Grafton Centre – geograph.org.uk – 939875.jpg by Keith Edkins licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
The Grafton Centre in Cambridge is to launch this week as a Large Scale Vaccination Centre for residents to attend for their COVID vaccination as and when they are called up.
This is an additional option for residents, and does not replace existing venues such as Doddington Hospital.
Letters are being sent out by the national booking service initially to people aged 80 and over (widening to other age groups in the coming weeks) who live up to a 45 minute drive from the centre, inviting them to book an appointment either online or over the phone.
As usual, residents should wait to be contacted by the NHS about their vaccination, and should not contact the NHS to seek a vaccine. Nor should residents turn up to the vaccination centre without an appointment as they will not be able to be vaccinated.
Further details about the new Large Scale Vaccination Centre can be found here.
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
21/00048/FUL Little Downham Head Fen Farm Head Fen Pymoor Convert existing outbuilding to games room, office and workshop (no external changes).
21/00074/FUL Sutton 10 Ely Road Sutton CB6 2QD Erection of a double garage with annex above.
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);
To report an emergency related to flooding please call the Police.
Other urgent flooding issues on roads and pavements
Call the County Council’s Contact Centre 0345 045 5212 during operational hours (Monday to Friday 8:00AM to 6:00PM, Saturday 9:00AM to 1:00PM). The issue will then be passed onto the appropriate team for investigation and action.
For other urgent flooding issues on roads and pavements outside of Contact Centre hours, dial 101 and the Police team will pass the query onto the appropriate team for investigation and action.
Please remember that East Cambridgeshire District Council does not routinely supply sandbags. If you know your property is in a location where it is at risk of flooding, you can purchase empty sandbags and bags of sand at local builders’ merchants, or even make your own (there is some useful advice on how to do that here).
The applicants for the proposed development of 55 homes at Brick Lane (planning reference number 20/00630/FUM) have submitted changes to the plan.
These changes are
Amended proposed site plan
Refuse Vehicle Tracking information in response to the Local Highways Authority comments
The amended information is on the Council’s Public Access page https://pa.eastcambs.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=QAL35AGGL0600
East Cambridgeshire District Council has published details of three new government business grants which aim to help eligible businesses severely impacted by Tier 4 and current lockdown restrictions.
The schemes
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed), to cover the Tier 4 Restrictions from 26 December 2020 to 4 January 2021
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed), to cover the National Lockdown from 5 January 2021 to 15 February 2021
Closed Business Lockdown Payment, a one-off payment to cover the period 5 January 2021 to 15 February 2021.
The funding for all three schemes is available only to businesses with a business rates account that were required to close because of the formal publication of lockdown regulations under Public Health legislation. The funding is not available to businesses who have chosen to close for other reasons.
Businesses required to close under national restrictions include all non-essential retail, indoor and outdoor leisure facilities, entertainment venues and personal care facilities. A more detailed list of the businesses required to close can be found on the gov.uk website.
Qualifying businesses
East Cambridgeshire District Council has identified eligible businesses using the ratings list and will be contacting businesses by email and post.
To be eligible for this funding, a business must be in East Cambridgeshire, and must have been open as usual in the week before Government restrictions required them to close, either through tier-based restrictions or national restrictions.
For wet-led pubs, this is from 2 November 2020, and for all other businesses this is from 21 December 2020.
Businesses must also have been providing services in person to customers from the premises, and must have been registered as the occupier for business rates on 26 December 2020.
Businesses setting up ‘click and collect’ services and restaurants providing a takeaway service are still able to claim grants as their substantive business was closed.
Businesses that chose to close but were not required to, and businesses that have already received grant payments that equal the maximum levels of EU State Aid permitted, are not eligible for these grants.
What if my business doesn’t qualify?
Businesses that do not meet the criteria, but have still been severely impacted by Government COVID-19 restrictions, will be considered as part of the Council’s discretionary scheme, which is currently being set up. More information on this will be published as soon as possible.
The grants that will be awarded to businesses are based on the rateable value of their premises on 26 December 2020.
Businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or below will receive £476.43 for the ten days they were put into Tier 4 restrictions, £2,001 for the six weeks they were placed under national lockdown restrictions, and £4,000 from the Closed Business Lockdown Payment, resulting in a total of £6,477.43 in Government support.
Businesses with a rateable value of over £15,000 and less than £51,000 will receive £714.29 for the ten days they were put into Tier 4 restrictions, £3,000 for the six weeks they were placed under national lockdown restrictions, and £6,000 from the Closed Business Lockdown Payment, resulting in a total of £9,714.29 in Government support.
Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or above will receive £1,071.43 for the ten days they were put into Tier 4 restrictions, £4,500 for the six weeks they were placed under national lockdown restrictions, and £9,000 from the Closed Business Lockdown Payment, resulting in a total of £14,571.43 in Government support.
These grants will be issued as one-off payments to cover the period from 26 December 2020 to 15 February 2021.
Eligible businesses will get one grant for each property liable for business rates.
Applying for the grants
Eligible ratepayers will be contacted by the Council, who will ask you to complete a declaration confirming that your business meets all the eligibility criteria and that by accepting these grants it will not exceed the relevant State Aid threshold.
Please read the eligibility criteria before completing the application form. The closing date for applications to be returned is 31 March 2021.
If you experience any issues when completing the form, or require further help or advice, email covid19businessgrants@eastcambs.gov.uk or telephone 01353 665555.
A Supreme Court ruling could mean an insurance payout for tens of thousands of small businesses to cover losses from the first national COVID lockdown nine months ago.
This decision could prove a lifeline for some businesses who did not receive payments against their business interruption insurance policies.
In the lockdown of last spring, many small businesses made claims through business interruption insurance policies for loss of earnings when they had to close. But many insurers refused to pay.
The Financial Conduct Authority brought a test case, with eight insurers agreeing to take part. The court accepted the arguments from representatives of policyholders and dismissed appeals from insurers, potentially affecting 370,000 small businesses.
The Financial Conduct Authority, the insurance sector, and the Financial Ombudsman will all use the judgement to guide their decisions in other cases.
So if you have a small business with business interruption insurance cover, and were refused a payout last spring, it’s worth checking again.
The Acting Police & Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough is asking for residents’ views on a proposal for an increase in the police share of Council Tax of £1.25 per month (at Band D).
The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DNTBBTX and is open until 5:00PM on Tuesday (19 January).
The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
21/00019/FUL Little Downham Bramley House 100 Main Street Little Downham Construction of one three-bedroom, two-storey detached dwelling and one four-bedroom, two-storey detached dwelling and associated site works.
21/00015/FUL Mepal 22 High Street Mepal CB6 2AW Demolition of existing rear extension with erection of new ground floor rear extension and infill side extension and first floor extension above existing garage.
21/00030/FUL Sutton 35 St Andrews Close Sutton CB6 2QU Proposed loft conversion with rear dormer window and four roof lights to front elevation to form habitable accommodation within existing roof space (retrospective).
21/00042/FUL Wentworth 10 Main Street Wentworth CB6 3QG Two storey extension to an existing cottage.
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 decision on the planning application for 55 affordable homes at Brick Lane Mepal will now not be taken by the Planning Committee next month.
The application will now be considered by the committee on Wednesday 3 March, as various issues including drainage and biodiversity are still outstanding.
Meanwhile the Lead Local Flood Authority (Cambridgeshire County Council) has objected to the application, so applicants Havebury will also have to address its concerns. These are
Flood risk to adjacent areas not sufficiently addressed
Watercourse condition and capacity
Insufficient treatment of highways drainage
Insufficient SuDS (sustainable drainage system) for amenity and biodiversity
