The County Council will be micro-asphalting a number of our smaller roads in the next eighteen months.

In the Sutton division, the roads on the list are

• Laurel Close, Mepal
• Silver Street, Witcham
• The Orchards, Witcham
• Westway Place, Witcham

This programme is for unclassified roads only, and other resurfacing programmes will be published in due course for our busier roads.

The programme is highly dependent on the weather at the best of times, but is currently on hold anyway due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Information about micro asphalting is available here, which is also where updated day to day programme information will be published when work does eventually start.

UPDATE Tuesday 7 April: In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this programme is being suspended due to concerns over not being able to meet guidance for social distancing. Once this period of uncertainty is over, the programme will be rescheduled. In the meantime, the county council’s contractor is removing all advance warning signs relating to these works.

Meanwhile, while everyone’s attention is taken up with coronavirus, the planning application for yet another contentious ‘Community Land Trust’ in Wilburton has been lodged.

The application is for up to 115 dwellings, with a mere 35 (barely 30 per cent) ‘affordable’. Once again, this is no more than would be expected of a commercial developer building inside a village development envelope.

(A reminder of what the council’s own Local Plan says about this:

“Many community-led schemes are likely to be located outside development envelopes, where open market housing is not normally permitted. However, in certain circumstances it may be appropriate for an element of open market housing to be provided as part of a community-led scheme where the applicant can demonstrate through a financial appraisal that the inclusion of the open market housing is required to enable the delivery of affordable housing or other community assets, with significant benefits accruing directly to the community organisation through cross-subsidy. In addition, applicants will be expected to demonstrate that the community benefits of such a scheme (such as the level of affordable housing or open space) are significantly greater than would be delivered on an equivalent open market housing site.”

‘It may be appropriate for an element of open market housing to be provided’ sounds very different from nearly 70 per cent full price market housing, on this and most other ‘CLT’ sites.)

Once again too, the Combined Authority’s favourite developer Laragh Homes is involved. Laragh have been chosen for a number of such schemes, including projects in Stretham, Ely, and most recently Cambridge.

Two of the three endorsements on Laragh’s website are related to East Cambridgeshire CLTs – former East Cambs council leaders Mayor James Palmer and Charles Roberts.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Residents of Cambridgeshire who are in the Government’s ‘shielded’ (extremely vulnerable) category for coronavirus should have received a letter from the NHS. If you are in this group and have a mobile phone, you may also have received a text message.

It is very important that when you receive this letter or text, you register yourself here https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable

Help and support will not be given automatically. Even if you have had the letter, you still need to register.

You should be contacted by the NHS, and be asked to register, if you are in one of the following groups:

1. People who have had an organ transplant who remain on long term immune suppression therapy.
2. People with specific cancers – people:
   • with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer 
   • with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment 
   • having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer 
   • having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
   • who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs.
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD. Severe asthmatics are those who are frequently prescribed high dose steroid tablets.
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
6. People who are pregnant with significant congenital heart disease.

Those who have received a letter are asked to go to: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable where there is an online form, or to call 0800 028 8327 which is the dedicated government helpline.

You can register yourself, or register on behalf of someone else such as a relative or friend.

If you have not received the letter or text, and think you should have, you should speak to your GP or specialist. Only your GP or specialist medical team can add you to the Shielded Patients List.

If you have received the letter or text, but are not in one of the patient groups listed above, you can ignore it. If you are not sure whether you are in one of the groups listed above, contact your GP or clinical specialist for advice.

Image: Felipe Esquivel Reed licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. 

The following Cambridge Park & Ride services will be suspended from tomorrow (Thursday 2 April) until further notice:

• Madingley
• Newmarket
• Trumpington
• Milton

BABRAHAM PARK AND RIDE TIMETABLE CHANGES

• Monday – Friday buses will run every half an hour in the morning and afternoon peaks, and hourly throughout the day. The 13 service will be diverted into Babraham Park and Ride for some afternoon journeys.
• Saturday – Sunday there will be no Babraham Park and Ride services. The 13 service will be diverted into Babraham Park and Ride.

Trying to keep a business going in these difficult times?

Information from East Cambridgeshire District Council about Covid19 support for businesses is available at https://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/business/covid-19-support-businesses

Meanwhile this guidance from HMG sets out details and eligibility criteria for:

• the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF)
• the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF)

It informs local authorities about the operation and delivery of the two funding schemes.

The following planning applications in the Sutton division have been published by East Cambridgeshire District Council.

20/00398/ADN
Little Downham
Head Fen Fishing Lakes Seventh Drove Little Downham
Proposed two roadside directional signs.

20/00387/VAR
Mepal
Site south of 20 Brangehill Lane Mepal
To vary Condition 1 (Approved Plans) and 9 (Access) of previously approved 18/01659/FUL for construction of two detached bungalows on former allotments.

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

There have been reports that some businesses have been increasing the prices of goods during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Whilst local businesses are free to set their own prices, the Competition and Markets Authority has set up a taskforce to examine the scale of the issue, and are asking people to report instances via an online reporting form or via email to covid.monitoring@cma.gov.uk

A new departure for the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, which met online rather than in person for the first time, due to the coronavirus restriction on meetings and gatherings.

The Combined Authority can use online meetings while councils cannot (until the law changes), because the Mayor has a ‘power of general competence’ which means he can do anything the Board can do, with a few important exceptions. The online meeting at least enabled Board members to give their views to guide the Mayor’s decisions – and a number of non-urgent items were deferred.

Technologically it worked rather well, and it will be interesting to see whether remote meetings in local government will be allowed to continue and become more common even after the present situation is over.

I was there as usual as Chair of the Combined Authority Overview & Scrutiny Committee, to ask questions put together by the Committee. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee itself also couldn’t meet in person as it usually does two days before the Board meeting, so we assembled our questions by email over the weekend. Clearly the question of Covid-19 was on everyone’s mind.

The Board received the Forward Plan – March 2020 and agreed the Designation of Monitoring Officer and Director of Angle Holdings Ltd and the Designation of Scrutiny Officer.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had asked for the Mayor to make a statement on Covid-19 and the Combined Authority’s response, which he did 7.1 Combined Authority Response to Covid-19 (7.1 – Appendix A, 7.1 – Appendix B, 7.1 – Appendix C).

The Budget Monitor Update – March 2020 item was deferred.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee asked how the Combined Authority’s Treasury Management Strategies 2020-21 (2.2 Appendix 1 – Capital Strategy ,  2.2 Appendix 2 – Treasury Management Strategy, 2.2 Appendix 3 – Investment Strategy, 2.2 Appendix 4 – Minimum Revenue Provision Statement) would be reviewed, as the shock to the economy of Covid-19 might mean they would need more frequent and in-depth review. This will be a matter for the Combined Authority’s Audit & Governance Committee in the coming year.

The Market Towns Programme – Approval of Masterplans for Huntingdonshire (3.1 Appendix 1 – St Ives, Huntingdonshire – Prospectus for Growth Market Town Masterplan, 3.1 Appendix 2 – Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire – Prospectus for Growth Market Town Masterplan, 3.1 Appendix 3 – Ramsey, Huntingdonshire – Prospectus for Growth Market Town Masterplan) for St Ives, Huntingdon and Ramsey were approved. I asked on behalf of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee why we had not received the information we had been promised two months ago, about how councillors and communities were being engaged in these masterplans, and was told this response would be given to us by the end of the week.

Two items from the Combined Authority’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee, on Lancaster Way A142 – A10 Roundabout Improvements and St Neots River Great Ouse Northern Crossing Cycle Bridge, were deferred to a future meeting. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had wanted to know which projects in the St Neots Masterplan would receive the funding which would have been spent on the abandoned crossing project. We were told a call was being put out for ideas.

The Board agreed a £100m Affordable Housing Programme (Non-Grant) – Cambridge City, Histon Road, Development Loan to Laragh Homes for a development including affordable housing in Histon Road in Cambridge. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had asked what the tenure of the affordable homes would be, and what accessibility standards they would be built to. We were told that the original plan of six affordable rent and four shared ownership had been amended to seven affordable rent and three shared ownership. The properties will be built to Part M4(2) accessibility standards, ‘accessible and adaptable dwellings’. One Board member drew attention to the total of £21.6M now spent by the Combined Authority with this particular developer.

The Business Board Governance Review was agreed.

On behalf of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee I asked about the Enterprise Zone Funding Utilisation report and which assumptions would need to be revisited in the light of Covid-19. The Combined Authority had information for businesses on its website at https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/news/issue-number-3-unprecedented-support-for-business/ which was current at the time of the meeting.

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Sector Strategy was deferred. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had asked how this would be reviewed in the light of the economic effects of Covid-19, and I was told that all strategies were being reviewed.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee has an online meeting scheduled for Monday (30 March), but we are still unsure whether we will be legally permitted to hold it. Strange and uncertain times.

The massive community volunteer response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been marvellous, with lots of genuine volunteers and ‘helping hand’ organisations setting up across the country. Disappointingly, however, nothing is beneath a minority of fraudsters who are seizing the opportunity of a worldwide virus outbreak to cheat people.

In Cambridgeshire, doorstep scammers are reported to have been visiting residents purporting to be from Red Cross or other legitimate organisations, and offering to provide coronavirus testing kits – for a hefty fee.

Other examples of coronavirus scams to watch out for are:

• Flight cancellation scam. If you have had a holiday cancelled, beware of individuals or organisations making contact asking for bank details to refund your money. Your travel agent or airline should refund directly by the original payment method.
• Fake email or website scams. Watch out for authentic looking websites or emails seemingly from official channels such as Public Health England or WHO (World Health Organisation). These may look very convincing and offer enticing information for a fee or a single click on a link or attachment. Clicking may install malicious software which can monitor the victim’s every move and provide the details to criminals. Recent examples include emails or websites claiming to be able to show local cases of Covid-19 but which are in fact designed to infect the victim’s computer with malware to steal banking and login information.
• Online offers for vaccinations. There are currently no vaccines, pills, potions, lotions, lozenges, prescriptions or over-the-counter products available to treat or cure Covid-19 coronavirus. DO NOT send money, buy bitcoin or vouchers to anyone offering this.
• Bogus charity callers. Fraudsters may pose as charitable organisations claiming to help individuals or businesses in these challenging times. Check the authenticity of any caller on the phone or doorstep by contacting the organisation on the number you know to be correct. If the caller was on the phone make sure you wait at least 10 minutes or use a different handset to conduct your authenticity check.
• Tax refund scam. Emails purporting to be from HMRC or gov.uk are being sent by scammers with the promise of a tax rebate ‘for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak’ at the click of a link. The link is likely to infect the device with malware and allow private information to be stolen.
• Good Neighbour scam. People in self-isolation have been approached by criminals offering to help with shopping who take the resident’s money and never return.

Remember, always check ID of people knocking at the door. Do your own independent research to contact the organisation in question rather than using any contact details on the ID itself. Stay safe and look after one another. And visit the CAPASP website for more help and advice on how to avoid scams.