Your Coleridge Conservative Action Team

New Mosque: Public Exhibition

2011-08-11T11:15:00.002+01:00

I have just received details of a public exhibition for the planned new mosque on Mill Road:

There will be a public exhibition of pre-planning application proposals for the new Mosque building. Please join us to view the detailed plans, learn more about the project and ask project leaders any questions you may have.

The exhibition will take place on Wednesday 7th September, 2011 from 2pm to 8pm at Ross Street Community Centre.

Click Here for more information and to download the exhibition leaflet.

East Area Committee today

2011-06-23T08:28:00.002+01:00

It's the first meeting of the East Area Committee since the local elections tonight, 7pm at the Cherry Trees Day Centre. The Labour party will back with a majority on the committee after defeating Raj Shah in May in Romsey Ward. It'll be interesting to see if his replacement is any more effective.

The agenda is online. There are three planning applications affecting Coleridge: a proposal to convert some retail space at Adkins Corner into residential space, a proposal to change 171 Coleridge Road from a guest house into student accommodation and the reappearance of a garden-grabbing application for the rear of 163 and 165 Coleridge Road that was approved last year but due to incompetence in the planning department was inadequately consulted upon. All three are recommended for approval.

The other main issue tonight will be environmental improvements. There's good news regarding progress on agreed improvements such as Cherry Hinton Road shop forecourts and the completed Rustat Road footpath. New proposed schemes include verge parking prohibition for Perne Road and tree planting on Chalmers road, which I think will be good things.

More care will need to be taken over other proposals to tackle commuter parking in the ward - I welcome the efforts but as with the now defunct Ashbury/Golding cycle path proposal the true consent of residents must be sought. The more 'live and let live'-inclined residents who might not want anything changed but are also unlikely to make a fuss at consultation need to be sought out and involved. Aspects focusing on safety ought to be the least controversial.

Welcome David Campbell-Bannerman MEP

2011-05-24T10:13:00.004+01:00

Welcome to David Campbell-Bannerman MEP who today has returned to the Conservative Party from the UK Independence Party of which he was formerly chairman.

Mr Campbell-Bannerman will join the East of England's excellent team of Conservative MEPs, Geoffrey Van Orden, Vicky Ford and Robert Sturdy and sit with the only practical and effective Conservative grouping in the European Parliament that opposes ever-greater political integration, the European Conservatives and Reformists.

It is well known that UKIP MEPs are often absent and fail to stand up for British interests in the European parliament.

UPDATE: David comments on his own move on the Blue Blog and Cambridge Conservative Deputy Chairman Timothy Haire welcomes David as a new member of Cambridge Conservatives.

Coleridge Labour's own Mr Busway?

2011-05-14T11:19:00.003+01:00

On this post-election Saturday morning while waiting to see if there's any news coverage of today's Rally against Debt, here's a fun snippet from the past pointed out to me by ex-Lib Dem activist Phil Rodgers.

Coleridge Result

2011-05-06T15:48:00.003+01:00

Well done to Labour's Cllr Jeremy Benstead for winning Coleridge yesterday in the city council election.

Thank you to all the enthusiastic supporters in Coleridge - sorry we didn't delivery a victory this time. And thank you to everyone who helped in any way, particularly Tim and Chris.

Jeremy Benstead, Labour, 1346, 47%
Andrew Bower, Conservative, 869, 30%
Valerie Hopkins, Green, 368, 13%
Tom Yates, Lib Dem, 285, 10%

Now off to the Guildhall to scrutinise the referendum count. Enjoy the sun!

Cambridge Cycling Campaign Survey

2011-05-03T12:17:00.009+01:00

Each year the Cambridge Cycling Campaign runs a survey of election candidates on their views on cycling matters relevant to their potential role as councillors. I think this is an excellent idea and am always keen to take part.

My answers are reproduced below. My apologies to anyone who was looking for them earlier when I hadn't yet submitted them.

# Question 1

Our new Cycling Vision 2016 report, available on our website and as featured in the local media recently, outlines a range of proposals for increasing the rate of cycling in the area. Do you give Cycling Vision 2016 your backing, and what are you most keen to see implemented?

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

Cycling Vision 2016

The vision is an impressive report. A core of high quality cycling backbones across the city would really make a big difference. Some of the junction improvements are badly needed.

I also like the idea of removing substandard cycle lanes - we need all road users to be fully aware that cyclists do belong on the highway and not on substandard cycle lanes.

# Question 2
There is a major shortage of cycle parking all around the city. Cycle theft is over 10% of all reported crime in the County. Do you have any suggestions for locations for cycle parking? Would you be willing to see a very small proportion of on-street car parking being replaced by on-street cycle parking in your ward? How will you work towards a situation where every resident and every worker in every ward can keep a bike safe?

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

Photo: Bateman Street - hundreds of insecure bikes
Gallery of cycle parking problems from the Campaign's 'Photomap' system
Newsletter 67: Cycle parking in the Local Plan

I do support this idea. I think it is particularly relevant to neighbouring wards, such as Petersfield and Romsey around pubs, shops and terraced houses practically fronting the highway and in the city centre. Kingston Street’s cycle parking is an excellent example, albeit insufficient! I am not sure where in Coleridge the take-up would be quite so high (except from cycling canvassers of course!) but would be interested in any suggestions.

In critical areas it may also be worth converting the odd verge for this purpose - perhaps one that is already mutilated by car parking.

I would like to see more rigorous enforcement by city council planners of our minimum cycle parking standards for developments.

See my blog for further comments on cycle parking and theft:

http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/search/label/Cycle%20parking

# Question 3

Do you support our view that traffic policing (including fining of cyclists without lights or using pedestrian-only pavements) should become a greater police priority?

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

Position paper on responsible, legal cycling
Newsletter 71: Examining legality
Newsletter 58: Mandatory Cycle Lanes: some progress

I do support this view.

I campaigned for proper police enforcement of speeding on problem roads in the area, including holding police officers to account at the council’s East Area Committee. I persuaded my colleague who was Conservative councillor to get police enforcement of speeding made a priority in our area, which was eventually successful despite being opposed by councillors from different parties all along the way.

One of the advantages of using police to enforce speed limits is that they can also tackle other motoring and cycling offences at the same time.

http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/2009/05/surprise-victory-on-policing-speeding.html

I organised a survey of bicycles on Mill Road over a couple of nights to gauge the extent of the problem of cycling without lights and found that 50% of lights were missing. I achieved some publicity as a result of this survey and consequently found police paying attention to the problem. It is important that policing of cycling is not just confined to a token annual check on Sidney Street.

http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/2009/10/bicycle-lights-on-mill-road.html

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Half-of-cyclists-snub-law-on-lights.htm

http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/2009/11/police-respond-to-unlit-cyclists-on.html

We should be trying to increase the total amount of policing by cutting out police bureaucracy, doing more patrols individual rather than in pairs and allowing the public to elect no-nonsense police chiefs directly, something I am delighted to note that the new government is planning.

Cycle offences such as riding in the dark without lights and using pedestrian-only pavements, which intimidates pedestrians, should be taken more seriously. I think the prevalence of shared-use footpaths as part of a box-ticking culture towards cycling provision has created uncertainty and led many to assume that cycling on footpaths is always permitted.

# Question 4

We believe that 20mph should be the norm for local streets in residential areas (as distinct from main connecting roads). 20mph would: greatly encourage walking and cycling; improve the quality of life in an area for residents; and would not delay car journeys significantly (because only the start/end of a journey would be affected). Do you agree that 20mph should become the norm for local streets in Cambridge and surrounding villages?

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

Newsletter 90: 20 mph in Portsmouth
Residential Speed Reduction - Cycling Vision 2016

I certainly agree that many such streets in our area are not suitable for higher speeds (over 20mph) most of the time. It is worth reading speed reports for places like Mill Road - most of the traffic was already limiting itself to this speed most of the time. We shall have to see if anything actually happens about those who used to go too fast now that the 20mph speed limit is in place there...

However, I do think the obsession with 20mph zones detracts from wider arguments about safety and by being unnecessarily broad in cases can undermine support for traffic restrictions. Safety measures should certainly be deployed for safety reasons only, not social engineering.

# Question 5

There have not been enough cycle stands at the station for at least a decade now. Given the level of cycle theft, congestion and growth in the city, what steps will you take to solve this and in what timescale?

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

Photo: the scene greeting visitors to Cambridge at the railway station.
Newsletter 88: Station switchbacks

I support the cycling campaign's continued pressure on railway companies to release parking spaces for cycles at the station. But this should not be the only avenue as the financial incentives may not be aligned there to see action... Regular removal of unused cycles is also important but also cannot be seen as a panacea. New developments nearby really should have been required to include much more cycle parking with them - we must not allow that to happen again.

# Question 6

Will you give your active support to the proposal to construct a proper cycle path linking Ashbury Close to Golding Road?

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

Photo of the area

I have already given active support to this proposal:

http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/2010/08/connecting-asbury-close-golding-road.html

I have put the case strongly to local residents as to how the scheme is a good one but in final decision making I will only support the scheme if we have been successful in gaining the support of local residents when it eventually goes to consultation. They have to live with the consequences either way.

# Question 7

Do you support our proposal for 'The Chisholm Trail', a cycling super-highway that would run roughly along the railway, joining up the Science Park to Addenbrookes? More details are in our Cycling Vision 2016 document. This high-profile scheme would cut journey times, give people a genuine, realistic alternative to car use and help the city cope with the population increase which will take place in the coming years.

Relevant links (each opens in a new window):

The Chisholm Trail - Cycling Vision 2016

I do support the Chisholm Trail and would do what I could to get rail companies and any other relevant bodies to facilitate the scheme.

The Conservative-controlled county council is open to the idea of the trail and Cambridge Conservatives have supported it for many years.

# Question 8

Do you have any other general cycling-related comments or points? And what support have you given for cycling and walking, or sustainable transport more generally, in the recent past?

Cycling has been my primary mode of transport for many years.

I have promoted cycling with lights, defensive cycling, the need to open up what I call value-added cycle paths (not the same as a splash of white paint on the road/pavement) which open up new options for cyclists, adequately sized cycle lanes (many in the city are not) and have campaigned to get speeding vehicles under control.

I oppose road measures that make life more difficult for cyclists, such as road humps. I have been sceptical of the culture in government of painting white lines on the road or sharing pavements and calling that a cycling facility. Cyclists need to feel confident cycling on the main highway, through promotion, law enforcement and training.

I recently wrote some notes about commuter cycling in Cambridge:

http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/2010/09/commuter-cycling-in-cambridge.html

East Area Committee

2011-04-13T21:55:00.004+01:00

East Area Committee is back this Thursday, 14th April at 7pm, Cherry Trees Day Centre, St Matthew's Street.

Neighbourhood policing is on the agenda. None of the policing priorities for the last period covered Coleridge and all are recommended for discharge and there are no recommended priorities for the next period so councillors will be working from a blank sheet.

Without Conservative Chris Howell to push the case for the speeding priority that was dropped a while ago although it's worth reading about the traffic policing session that the policy undertook in Coleridge as part of their 'beat sweep' across the east area.

Friday also saw 4 officers from the Roads Policing Unit (RPU) assist us. Their task was to deal with speeding through Coleridge, the anti social use of vehicles and other road traffic related matters. The following is a breakdown of their results:
1 driver reported for speeding
13 drivers prosecuted for driving whilst using a mobile phone
4 drivers prosecuted for not wearing seat belts
1 driver reported for not having current road tax
2 drivers reported for the condition of their vehicles
2 drivers reported for no insurance
1 vehicle seized as there was no insurance policy in place
2 drivers reported for vehicle defects
1 driver reported for driving through a red light
1 person arrested for the offence of going equipped to steal
1 vehicle stopped in relation to rogue trading intelligence

A lot of work on drugs was also reported - it is good to see the police following leads from the local community - often residents feel that they are being ignored on this sort of thing.

The controversial item on the agenda will be libraries, when fervently ideological opposition (to the Conservative cabinet on the county council) councillors will whip up outrage over plans to make the library service viable in a tough fiscal environment. I hope that they will engage with trying to save the libraries instead, otherwise it'll just be a waste of time - I could write out the script right now if that's the case.

Elsewhere in Coleridge the 28th Cambridge Scout Group and St Martin's Church look set to receive significant capital grants towards the scout hut and hall respectively. These are worthwhile causes.

There are no planning applications up for decision at this meeting in Coleridge.

Debating the Alternative Vote

2011-04-10T18:37:00.006+01:00

Coleridge Conservative Branch Chairman Richard Normington will be putting the case for First Past The Post in a public debate on the AV referendum on Monday evening, 7.30pm at St Luke's Church, Victoria Road.

Say no to mediocracy—rule by the mediocre!

Don't let Labour do to your council what they did to the country

2011-04-05T19:00:00.006+01:00

David Cameron's party political broadcast for the local elections:

Saving Rock Road Library

2011-03-02T08:10:00.003Z

There is a public meeting organised by the 'Friends of Rock Road Library' tonight at 7.30pm, Wednesday 2nd March 2011, at the library to explore the future of the library.

As we reported last year, the Conservatives at the county council are determined to keep open local libraries in Cambridgeshire and so are looking to find ways to continue the service despite needing to rationalise spending. Any ideas raised by the community at the meeting will be helpful.

South Cambridgeshire District Council retained

2011-02-18T08:33:00.006Z

Yesterday voters showed their support for a low-taxing Conservative council that has already got its house in order and doesn't need to make significant reductions to service this year.

Neighbouring South Cambs District Council was held by the Tories by one seat as voters in Bourn and Cambourne elected Clayton Hudson with 56% of the vote.

It's great to have a good example nearby of what a Conservative council can do. City Conservatives will be making the case at the forthcoming city council elections for a more efficient council that gets the basics right.

Meanwhile the latest from the Department of Communities and Local Government: Stop the non-jobs!

One day to complete 'community safety' survey

2011-01-13T11:01:00.002Z

The sham consultation for the 'Cambridgeshire Community Safety Partnership' and its priorities for 2011 to 2014 closes tomorrow.

The options available, to councillors and members of the public alike, are to select three of the following five priorities. That is it:

Repeat incidents of anti-social behaviour
Cycle theft
Re-offending
Alcohol-related violent crime in the city centre
Repeat victims of domestic violence

An earlier, very unscientific, prefiltering exercise eliminated other possible priorities like burglary (a high priority to city residents).

Lib Dems confirm loony parking policy

2011-01-07T20:11:00.006Z

Today's Cambridge News carries confirmation from the Liberal Democrats running Cambridge City Council that they remain intent upon exacerbating Cambridge's parking chaos with every new development that is permitted.

Referring to not changing the current hierarchy of road users (pedestrians > cyclists > public transport > private motorists) Cllr Clare Blair said,

I think that makes sense in Cambridge because it is a historic city which is very constrained, but we do recognise that people need to use their cars.

What we need to do is provide for people to be able to use their cars where necessary, but to use alternative modes of transport wherever possible. I see this as an opportunity to look carefully at what we are doing and see whether it suits the needs of our residents.

But this is a classic straw man. No-one ever suggested changing the relative priority of road users - the most vulnerable types must come first and be promoted.

Frankly I can see no evidence that the Lib Dems do "recognise that people need to use their cars", despite driving them themselves; they seem to have an ideological obsession that leads them to make perverse decisions like that on limiting parking for new developments when they should instead be requiring it to safeguard our future infrastructure.

She has also missed the point by focusing on the use of cars rather than the possession of cars - it is good for car usage to go down but that doesn't mean that car possession rates should go down, and if it is at the expense of those of more limited means then it probably would be a bad thing, too. When people do have them they will park them, whatever it takes - it's a shame the Lib Dems are unable to grasp this simple fact of life.

Relieving parking pressure

2011-01-03T22:34:00.004Z

Welcome news for Cambridge today:

Limits on car spaces for new homes and guidance encouraging higher parking charges are being abolished ending the war on motorists, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced today.

The former Labour government's policy of maximum parking spaces for new developments (1.5 per dwelling), gold-plated (page 134 - 1 per dwelling) by the ideologically-obsessed local Liberal Democrats, have been creating huge structural problems for Cambridge.

Coleridge residents have been hit badly by the impact of inadequate parking on new developments, such as those off Rustat Road, compounding commuter parking problems and soon to be made much worse by the cb1 development.

Time after time, when developments should have been rejected due to lack of parking such as cb1 as well as all over the city and most recently the former Texaco petrol station on Castle Hill, councillors have been unable reject on that basis, even if they would like to.

The Liberal Democrats are taking a very short term view on this subject: limiting parking does not stop people from owning cars it just causes parking chaos, while future technological developments may lead to more sustainable personal transport solutions. They would be doing more good for the city if they focused their efforts on enforcing minimum cycle parking standards, which are often ignored.

Parking problems are one of the biggest issues in this city but the Lib Dems have done nothing but make it worse. Conservatives won't stand by on this issue and will be standing at the local elections on a policy of scrapping this bonkers rule from our local plan.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T23:44:00.002Z

Happy New Year from Coleridge Conservatives!

David Cameron's new year message set the tone for 2011 - tough times and the government focusing on "enterprise, aspiration, public service reform and national security".

I agree with the Prime Minister that if the government holds its nerve on getting the public finances in shape, reforming our often counter-productive welfare state and creating an environment for enterprise - in business and in the big society - that the country will be on track for a happier future.

Guido Fawkes' quote of the day today from Matthew Parris (presumably from behind The Times' paywall) sums up brilliantly the political battle facing the government's supporters:

“People will embrace retrenchment in principle then lament any cut affecting them. Shrouds will be waved, illiteracy and infant malnutrition predicted, and in the opposition imagination old people will be starving or freezing to death in countless wretched hovels. The demise of theatre, ballet, museums and day care centres, the fine arts, mountain rescue and the Battersea Dogs Home will be pronounced imminent. Charities, think-tanks and academics will write to The Times to call ministers deaf to reason. Long-term savings will be claimed to be achievable only by maintaining current spending. The whole lexicon of short-termism, scorched earth, vandalism and philistinism will be ransacked. Howls of indignation from co-ordinated bands of identifiable losers will drown out quiet murmurs of approval among the ungalvanised majority.”

We have seen this consistently since the election: scaremongering, misleading figures, exaggerations and special pleading aplenty. That's not to say that there is never a good point behind many claims, and that no mistakes will be made, but no-one should be surprised when vested interests whip up a fuss over everything, often without revealing their interest.

Of course it is quite right that local representatives should try to get the best for our area - that is their job - but it doesn't help to make ridiculous and unsubstantiated claims such as Labour's that the housing benefit cap would be lead to an exodus from Cambridge.

I suspect we won't have a boring year...

Community Right to Buy

2010-12-11T09:27:00.005Z

Eric Pickles' long-awaited 'localism' bill is on its way. The Big Society is coming to a town hall near you!

One measure announced to day is the Community Right to Buy for vital community assets under threat, giving a window to allow a community bid to be put together.

Cambridge - and the rest of the country - has seen failing pub companies sell currently unprofitably pubs for housing, claiming that they are impossible to run profitably, just because they have failed to do so. New owners could in many case make a big difference but don't get an opportunity.

While Cambridge city is still well served for pubs, rural areas being much worse affected, it won't survive losses going on at the current rate. Recently we've had the Duke of Argyle and The Jubilee go and the Queen Edith and Portland Arms under threat. There are more.

It's not just pubs that could be saved by this new right - shops and community centres could be helped too. It's no panacea, planning changes are also needed - the Lib Dems in Cambridge must take responsibility for shaping our local planning rules badly - and communities will inevitably not always be able to get exactly what they want, but it is a welcome innovation.

By the end of this parliament could Eric Pickles shape up to be the best thing to have happened to local civic life in Britain since Joseph Chamberlain?

Conservation area for Romsey?

2010-11-30T08:56:00.002Z

The city council is consulting on a possible 'conservation area' for Romsey Town or a link with the existing Mill Road and St Matthews Conservation Area to cover the whole of Mill Road.

There will be a public meeting and exhibition in St Philip's Church, Mill Road, at 7.30pm on Thursday 2 December including a talk by Allan Brigham. The exhibition will also be available between 10am and 4pm on Friday and Saturday.

The report on the scheme and response form are not yet online but should appear shortly. Call the City Council Historic Environment Team on 01223 457168 for more information.

A conservation area would extend existing planning restrictions to require permission for a range of demolition and alteration work and tree works that otherwise would not require it and requires full rather than outine applications to be made so that it will be possible to judge an application on the basis of whether they will fit into their surroundings.

Snow and Rustat Avenue collections

2010-11-29T15:45:00.001Z

It was good to see that the city's refuse collectors managed to get out this morning. A couple of exceptions were Rustat Avenue and William Smith Close where the blue bins could not be collected due to ice. They will attempt collection tomorrow (Tuesday) instead.

Mill Road Winter Fair

2010-11-28T11:43:00.004Z

Mill Road Winter Fair is back on Saturday!

Mill Road will be closed to traffic from Tenison Road to Coleridge Road during the hours of the fair, 10.30am to 4.30pm, 4 December.

Personally I'm looking forward to my old favourite of one (or two) of Andrew Northrop's hot dogs. Let's hope it's a nice crisp day like today - blue skies and no wind!

If anyone would like to help the organisers, such as by stewarding, get in touch with them through their website.

Civic Affairs Committee

2010-11-16T07:04:00.007Z

The fight for transparent local government was taken up yesterday evening at Cambridge City Council's Civic Affairs Committee.

I had sought and been granted permission to film the committee meeting. Thank you to the committee chairman, Cllr Boyce.

Cambridge City Council Civic Affairs 15 November 2010 from Andrew Bower on Vimeo.

The main business of the meeting was agreeing the calendar for the year's council meetings and the outcome of a review of polling district boundaries. Top psephologist Cllr Colin Rosenstiel was in his element at this point, although fortunately we were spared a treatise on the single transferrable vote. The polling district boundary review is important to ensure that it is convenient for everyone to vote and that excessive queueing leading to people not being able to cast their votes is avoided. Some changes were agreed.

There are also knock-on implications for candidates' tellers when overlapping sets of polling numbers are in use at the same building but the chief executive made it clear that she would only consider the impact on voters, even though tellers play an important role in increasing turnout at elections.

The interesting part of the meeting, however, was a public question from Cambridge resident Richard Taylor. Mr Taylor had been influential in getting a recording protocol put in place at the city council and sought to ask why he had been singled out in being banned from filming meetings while a complaint against the council was being investigated and to offer some insights into the restrictive nature of the agreed filming protocol and how that is likely to put off broadcasters and other journalists from participating.

I fully support Mr Taylor's campaign for openness and transparency in the way that the proceedings of meetings are recorded. As he points out, the minutes often omit key factors in deliberations such as which councillor said what.

I also believe that members of the public who seek to influence public policy by addressing such meetings should be accountable for their contribution; if they wish to raise a confidential concern that can be done directly with their councillor but the determination of policy ought to be public. However, as with Mr Taylor, I was of course willing to take all direction given by the chairman of the meeting. In this case I was allowed to film public questions although Cllr Boyce kindly advised me not to for the sake of not being dragged through the courts by members of the public. As the only public speaker Mr Taylor indicated his willingness to be recorded, although having agreed a position for the camera in advance I didn't have an opportunity to pan to capture Mr Taylor's contribution visibly.

The Chief Executive's answers to Mr Taylor were not entirely satisfactory and the ruling Lib Dems had little to say on the matter although he was supported by helpful contributions from opposition councillors.

I hope that we will see more meetings recorded in future - turning up to long meetings to hear individual items is a time consuming occupation so we should find ways such as this to increase participation in local politics.

Also available: Higher bitrate Flash video download (Main - 449MB) (End - 49MB)

Local Planning Document Defective

2010-11-12T10:23:00.009Z

In a rare case of them actually turning down a development Lib Dem councillors are crowing at how they appear to have 'saved' the Queen Edith pub from demolition at yesterday's South Area Committee.

Normally they hide behind the rigidness of the planning rules, the quasi-judicial planning process and their fear of the (exaggerated) cost of rejections going to appeal and being awarded to the appellant. However, in this case the Lib Dems seem to have rejected the application (10/0815/FUL).

Planning decisions currently can only be made with reference to national and local planning guidelines. The Lib Dems in Cambridge are responsibile for our own local plan but the plan is defective. It offers:

No protection for pubs.
Inadequate defence for Cambridge's distinct heritage and low skyline.
A crazy rule limiting the number of parking spaces permitted per new dwelling to less than one.

This last rule is building in huge transport problems for the future, when we've got enough parking problems as it is. The new development in the station area will introduce no new parking, causing even greater problems around Rustat Road while new developments across the city are making local parking problems worse and worse all the time.

This is just the start of the problems. With 'affordable housing' quotas limiting housing for those in the middle band Cambridge is quite simply a planning disaster zone. Conservatives have been battling the Lib Dems over planning for years, both centrally and in clashes in Lib Dem-held wards like Trumpington. We won't stop holding them to account.

Meanwhile we'll see if the Queen Edith really is saved or if a new application is forthcoming or an appeal is lodged. It is frustrating when large pub companies and breweries try to argue that planning permission for housing is justified on the basis that they haven't been able to run a good business - let a smaller business or independent publican have a go!

Realism and Denial at the Guildhall

2010-11-08T22:21:00.004Z

I don't think much of the way the Lib Dems run Cambridge City Council; their approach to growth, planning and transport are wrecking the city and their fortnightly bin collections, relentlessly-increasing council tax and approach to 'affordable' housing are not helpful.

But the realistic attitude towards the need to rationalise public spending they have adopted since the formation of the coalition is commendable. It's certainly a refreshing change from the fantasy economics of just a penny on income tax to solve all ills that we are used to from the Liberal Democrats.

The mantle of denial about public finances is taken up by Cambridge Labour, whose budget amendments have often attracted Conservative approval in the past. Sadly today's debate on the Medium Term Strategy descended into national party political point scoring by Coleridge's new Labour councillor and other Labour councillors.

Labour councillors presented no alternatives and made no constructive suggestions for improvements to the strategy, except possibly on homelessness, but that sounded more like a scaremongering dig about changes to housing benefit.

We really do need better debate than this at the city council, and I urge Cambridge residents to support Conservative candidates at the next local elections to ensure a centre-right common sense voice on the council.

So I support the plans in the main, but would entreat the council to look afresh at all parts of spending, making sure we are only doing what benefits residents - start by dismantling apparatus focused on satisfying former government targets.

Drugs raid on Tiverton Estate

2010-11-05T12:51:00.003Z

Yesterday police reported via E-cops a drugs bust on Trevone Place, off Tiverton Way:

A few weeks ago we received an email from a concerned resident saying that they thought drug dealing was going on as they had seen cars stopping and people using their phones. A few minutes later someone would turn up on a cycle and things were exchanged through the window. The resident was so concerned that they took a photo and emailed it through to me.

After showing the photo around the station we eventually identified the alleged dealer and kept an eye on them adding intelligence onto our system. Yesterday, a warrant was carried out at a house in the Trevone Place and four people were arrested for possession with intent to supply drugs. After a good search a large quantity of what we believe to be class A drugs were found and if this does turn out to be the case then the street value of the drugs runs into the thousands of pounds.

If it wasn't for the resident contacting us we wouldn't have known it was going. This is another really good example of how using e-cops can help to solve crime and keep us safe. If you have any information please either ring in on 0345 456 456 4 or contact us through e-cops.

Good work. Now will they start to act on other known hotspots?

By-Election result: Lab gain

2010-11-05T10:10:00.004Z

The result of yesterday's by-election was:

George Owers, Labour, 900 (44%)
Andrew Bower, Conservative, 734 (36%)
Sarah Barnes, Lib Dem, 223 (11%)
Valerie Hopkins, Green Party, 137 (7%)
Albert Watts, UKIP, 53 (3%)

(or as seen from the city council's fancy new online election result reporting page).

Well done to George for winning the election and best wishes to the other candidates. I'm sure Cllr Owers will have his work cut out for him for a while - there's plenty that needs doing around the ward.

We will be back. The lack of a centre right voice on the city council is bad news for the city and Conservatives will keep working to regain representation.

Thank you to everyone who helped in this campaign, particularly my long-suffering agent, Tim Haire.

Special thanks to Chris Howell for all the work he did as a councillor and his support in my election campaigns. Chris was an excellent example of what a good Conservative councillor can achieve - he will be a hard act to follow for his successor on the council.

Vote Bower this Thursday!

2010-11-03T12:17:00.006Z

It feels like an age since I resigned from the Council - I've only had a very limited role in the by-election planning, but know the huge amount of effort being put in by the Conservatives, as I currently share a house with the Conservative candidate! I would like to share my thoughts on the campaign.

There are only two serious parties contesting this election - the Conservatives and Labour.

The Green party leaflet I read made me amused and cross in equal measure - amused at the (frankly actionable) libel that I had abandoned my belief in small government, and had resigned because I opposed coalition attempts to bring the budget deficit under control. Angered at the suggestion they alone were fighting on issues like protection of grass verges, and the implication that they somehow support police enforcement of speed limits. At East Area committee, the Green party leader fought all the way to _stop_ the police enforcing speed limits, describing it as a scandalous waste of resources.

Local Conservatives disagree with the Greens on that issue - but you would never guess the Greens position from their leaflet in this campaign. For the record, I have never seen any evidence of actual Green party campaigning on the ground in Coleridge on any local issue.

When it comes to the Lib Dems, Coleridge residents really need to know what policies they stand for in Cambridge - the more you learn about them, the less reason people in Coleridge would have to vote for them. They support development on the airport, which would result in massive increases in traffic in Coleridge, that they would like to see mitigated by the introduction of a punitive congestion charge designed to force Coleridge residents out of their cars, regardless of the suitability of any alternatives.

As if that wasn't enough, they oppose the upgrade to the A14 as well - which could have been a key reason why the government couldn't support the plans - thanks a lot Mr Huppert... As the people responsible for local planning in Cambridge at the Guildhall, it is their policies that result in poor quality new buildings, garden grabbing, lack of open space on new developments, lack of car parking and poor local transport networks. Finally, they made the disastrous decision to sell Tiverton House to the highest bidder, despite our warnings appeals beforehand of the chaos that would follow.

The Lib Dems normally pop up in by-elections, bring in resources from miles around and claim that a candidate you never heard of before the campaign is the hardest working local campaigner ever. They really don't deserve residents support in Coleridge.

UKIP will likely again be pulling up the rear - appealing to Conservative voters, who like the Conservative candidate hate the waste, corruption and lack of accountability of the EU, but as in previous elections, UKIP's only possible contribution in this election will be to help Labour get elected to the City Council (where, trust me, very few of the decisions at all have an EU aspect...)

And so to Labour...

Labour got the public finances into a mess, planned for huge cuts before the general election without telling us where the axe would fall, and now they still have no plan, whilst claiming to oppose pretty much every attempt to reduce the deficit. This is nationally, but parties do matter in local government - it gives you some idea how your Councillor is going to represent you, particularly when the Labour candidate appears to be a Labour activist first and foremost. When the difficult decisions are being made at our local Councils, they need proper scrutiny from Councillors who are working from the basis that cuts to public spending are necessary, and it is about making difficult choices. I fear the approach of another Labour councillor, if elected on Thursday, will be to oppose every measure to reduce spending to make political capital, and avoid real Councillor scrutiny of decisions when it is most needed.

I very much enjoyed working with the Labour Councillors in Coleridge - some you saw more than others in the ward, and we obviously disagreed at a policy level at the Council on many an occasion (like when they voted in favour of introducing congestion charging!). But they were clearly committed to local, community politics, and being good local representatives. It may well have been a democratic choice (albeit new Labour style democracy), but I can't help feeling the some in the Coleridge Labour team may be disappointed with the candidate they ended up with. A contoversial student politician, studying in Cambridge on a relatively short term course, and living in the City Centre, who seems to see politics as a tribal battle of ideas, and not the role that local Councillors are most involved in - that is standing up for local residents in the ward you represent, and trying to get the Councils of whatever political persuasion to get action on the local issues.

One of the reasons why I decided to resign mid year, rather than wait until the local elections next May is that I think it is really important that residents have active Councillors looking out for their interests - I simply couldn't have remained in office knowing I wasn't giving my best.

Andy Bower is by far the best candidate at this election to make sure this work continues, and Coleridge residents concerns are put to the top of the pile at both the City Council and the County Council. It made an immense difference to the vigour with with Coleridge interests were represented having Councillors from two different parties elected for the ward.

Andy has played a very active role in Conservative campaigning in Coleridge over the last three years - he knows the issues, and has been persuasive in moving them forward, with myself, and at the County Council.

Cambridge City needs a Conservative voice - to stand up for lower taxes, smaller, better run government, development of Cambridge with the consent of local residents - that makes sure we have enough transport of all types, and preserves and enhances the quality of the City - in short it needs someone like Andy Bower.

He is the only candidate in this election with a track record of action in Coleridge - I would urge residents of all partys and none to support Andy this Thursday.

Bike recovered

2010-11-02T18:22:00.000Z

I now have my bicycle back after it was stolen a month ago!

On Saturday afternoon afternoon I spotted my stolen bicycle being ridden along Coleridge Road and followed it to Cherry Hinton Road, where the rider stopped outside Wilco. After I indicated a string of identifying features the person was keen to hand my bike back to me. I have given details to the police.

The bike has suffered a lot of wear in the month and will need some attention but it is great to have it back!

Thank you to Labour's George and Dan for looking out for it - I guess it can't have been very far away all along. Now having had two recovered from six stolen I wonder how common a 33% return rate is?

The photograph has been edited to protect the guilty.

Spending review and the city council

2010-11-01T12:29:00.005Z

Next Monday there will be a special full meeting of the city council to agree the council's annual revision of its four-year rolling medium term (financial) strategy.

Normally the MTS would be approved at a normal meeting of the council but the meeting on the 21st October was presumably deemed to be too soon (one day) after the HM Treasury's spending review. Also given how many politicking motions were introduced at that meeting it's probably a good thing that this important consideration wasn't dwarfed.

The council operated on cautious assumptions when devising the strategy so overall there are, fortunately, no nasty surprises for the city.

One notable assumption was that there would be no compensation for the council tax freeze, but as I expected, the original promise is being kept and the funding will be to match what would have been a 2.5% council tax increase. It would therefore be scandalous for the city council not to take advantage of that multiplier; it does seem that the Lib Dems have at last listened to sense on this one.

The budget for next year won't be set until the spring; I hope councillors can be relied upon to follow through on the council tax freeze. Of course I hope they go further and fund a reduction through councillor allowances.

On the debit side it seems that 'front-loading' of reductions to the formula grant will create a corresponding vaccuum at the beginning of the spending review period, which in the case of an indebted government and a debt-free council is probably the right way round.

Overall this review is undoubtedly the right thing for the country. If we stayed in denial of the need to eliminate the structural deficit we would just be adding more and more to the final cost of fixing the public finances. Some things will be difficult but in the long term welfare reform will be good for our society and a slimmed-down public sector will help the private sector grow.

In Cambridge I urge the ruling group to concentrate on providing good value for money. We are being freed from swathes of government targets and ring-fenced budgets and should be able to afford high quality basic services if we take a good look at what we should and shouldn't be doing. It's time for zero-based budgeting!

Making Coleridge Brighter

2010-10-27T23:17:00.007+01:00

Coleridge Conservatives have long planned to do a cycle survey of streetlights in the ward so this evening I set off on my bicycle (a different one) and filed reports of 31 broken streetlights on 19 streets.

Hearing regular sirens I did wonder if I was about to receive an "'ello 'ello, 'ello, what do we 'ave 'ere? Suspicious cycling with intermittent use of pen and paper? Ever 'eard of 92 days' detention?"

In my experience the county council has always reacted promptly to reports of broken streetlights.

Brackyn Road
Corrie Road
Rustat Road - opposite a candidate's place of residence
Coleridge Road
Suez Road
Hobart Road
Taunton Close
Birdwood Road
Chalmers Road
Langham Road
Gisborne Road
Kelvin Close
Derwent Close
Sycamore Close
Bullen Close footpaths
Missleton Court
Cherry Hinton Road
St Thomas's Square
Lichfield Road

Our earlier reported streetlight failure on Brackyn Road has been fixed.

The tally of public reports so far this campaign:

Tories: 32 reports
Labour: 0 reports
Others: 1 report

Forecourt improvements to go ahead

2010-10-22T11:03:00.002+01:00

Last week's East Area Committee brought good news for the Cherry Hinton Road shop forecourts. Plans for improvements to the parking spaces and good demarcation with the pavement will make the area safer for all and be welcome support for local traders.

After the popular plans were agreed by the relevant businesses the council committee decided enough consulting had been done and the improvements should start. The £70,000 had already been committed at an earlier meeting.

Grilling East Area Committee: The Forum

2010-10-21T11:13:00.003+01:00

With no Conservative councillor to fight the corner for common sense at Last Thursday's East Area Committee I went armed with questions.

First off was The Forum on Tiverton Way.

There are a number of local issues on which local Conservatives and Labour ward members agree and this is one of them; we warned the city council of the issues early on but were ignored by the Lib Dems.

The previous committee's papers indicated that Anglia Ruskin University had at last agreed to have a meeting about issues with the student accommodation, which is sited amidst bungalows predominantly occupied by older residents. My own request for a meeting with ARU a while ago was refused. Knowing that a meeting was held a long time ago with council officers but without councillors I was keen to make sure that there was democratic accountability and so suggested that ward members should be invited (if they weren't already).

At this committee I asked what the outcome of that meeting was. It seems progress is going to be slow but with continued pressure on the owner and the former polytechnic small positive changes do get made, such as the night porter, who is still not up all night but it's a start.

In the context of low to nil reporting of problems last term with the council, not surprisingly resulting in the council claiming there were no problems, I asked if reporting had increased this term (knowing that residents have reported problems). The exact answer wasn't known at the time although the chairman did refer to a specific major recent incident - I would like to find out from the new officer handling such complaints. I hope that reporting reflects the incidents so that the council has no excuses not to be involved.

As a postscript it's worth reminding ourselves not to scapegoat all the student residents of the premises - as this comment on the earlier Cambridge News story confirms. Other blocks like Sedley Court seem to run a tighter ship and students benefit.

Alana, 19/09/2010

I have been at The Forum for a week and i just want people to know that not all students are like these despicable ones mentioned above. My friends and i were discussing only last night that some of the people make us feel unsafe. I was aware this used to be an elderly home and as my nan lives in one i am used to knowing to keep the noise down. I hope that i dont cause any disturbance to anyone as i would feel really bad. I try to keep my music or tv down after about 10pm and i would just like to say to all the residents that we arent all bad guys, all the people i have met so far have been lovely and quiet and kind but there are rumours of a "select few" which are causing a disturbance. It sickens me as i am fed up of getting a bad name for a being a teen/student when i dont drink or party i dont do drugs etc, so please people if you are angry about the noise just remember we are too and we are living with it and its horrible. I hope it will die down now as lessons start monday so i hope they will go to bed!!

Disappointing news on A14

2010-10-21T10:46:00.004+01:00

Yesterday's Comprehensive Spending Review deserves a thorough analysis in its own right and I certainly think that overall George Osborne did a good job with the dire hand which Gordon Brown's spendthrift government bequeathed him.

But the big disappointment for Cambridge is the absence of the A14 in the list of infrastructure projects to go ahead.

I blame four people: Cambridge's MP Julian Huppert, former MP David Howarth, city council leader Cllr Sian Reid and former city council leader Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith. All four campaigned vigorously against the vital proposed enhancement to the A14 and they can now toast their success in holding back local, regional and national economic development.

Their opposition to the scheme was ideological and slightly batty (apparently the new 'superhighway' would have engulfed Cambridge with new visitors).

All the surrounding Conservative MPs supported the plan. If we had presented a united front perhaps we would have got the upgrade, but divided it was obviously a prime candidate to be dropped when there were other schemes with better support.

I hope that the scheme can be considered again in the future.

Green verging on the ridiculous

2010-10-20T08:10:00.004+01:00

Thanks to the Green Party for adding some entertainment to the Coleridge by-election campaign with their recent newsletter.

Outgoing councillor, Chris Howell, has provided us with his fisking of their newsletter:

Their stuff on the East Area committee ranges from confused to grossly misleading.

On speeding

The vote at East Area committee was only won on a recount, after fierce opposition from Green party Councillor Margaret Wright who described the use of police resources to enforce residential speed limits as a scandalous waste of resources. You wouldn't guess that from the Greens' newsletter.

On verges

The Greens claim they wanted to make verge repairs the number one priority at East Area committee, and this "did not get any support from Coleridge's currently elected Councillors". This point is utterly misleading - it's debatable if it is even factually accurate, as the vote that Adam Pogonowski forced was a nonsense amendment proposed for the purpose of political points scoring and I think I made that point at the meeting, whilst confirming that I agreed it should be top priority.

The committee had over many meetings narrowed down the projects to be funded by the Council's environmental improvements budget. At the last meeting, there was enough money left to implement all the remaining projects under consideration except one, so we picked a project that in the unlikely event all the projects proved to be technically feasible and supported in public consultation would be dropped on lack of budget grounds. That was not grass verges, which had therefore been allocated funding.

Adam then put forward an amendment seeking to set a priority for funding amongst the projects that we had just agreed full funding for - as there was no further contention for funds between these projects as they were all fully funded, this didn't actually result in any additional priority - all funded projects were to be moved forward as quickly as possible.

On the reason for the by-election

"Conservative Councillor Chris Howell ... Perhaps ashamed of the savage cuts the coalition government is undertaking, he resigned."

This is a completely false accusation designed to imply to the electorate that I resigned because of a disagreement with the coalition government's policies on the deficit - for the record, overall I am delighted with the direction of the coalition, both because of their firm but considered approach to tackling the budget deficit, and in the related area of how they are seeking to roll back the patronising, expensive, bullying top down government that is blighting so many local services and local communities.

Specifically, on the budget, my view is that if you borrow beyond your means and give every impression that you aren't that interested in repaying the debt at any point - which appears to be this week's policy from both Labour and the Greens - investors will only lend you money if you offer very high interest payments, and eventually they will stop lending altogether, as the risk of the government failing to repay the debt becomes too high. The firm action of the coalition has already ensured that the immediate crisis has been averted, and interest payments on UK government debt are already lower than they would have been under a Labour (or Green) government.

I certainly don't support the argument that the risks to the economy are lowered by delaying action on the deficit, rather if the coalition government hadn't taken the steps it has, it really would have had a devastating effect on the government's ability to provide essential services in future, and would have left our children with a horrible mess to fix.

If my blog post wasn't enough for them, and they wanted to confirm my position, they could have asked and I would have made it clear what they wrote was false.

East Area Committee today

2010-10-14T08:57:00.002+01:00

This evening at 7pm is the city council's East Area Committee meeting at the Cherry Trees Day Centre, St Matthew's Street.

There are no planning applications for Coleridge this time.

Richard Preston from the county council will be present to talk about highways, with a Q & A session which should be fun.

Environmental improvements are on the agenda as usual, as are community grants.

Council meetings are public. Full stop.

2010-10-12T18:25:00.007+01:00

I wrote this letter to the Cambridge News in response to a strange outburst objecting to private recordings of public council meetings.

Dear Sir,

The letter from Lil Speed, 7 October, misses the point about council area committees. They are public meetings on the public record to determine public policy, not police surgeries. It is questionable whether the city council even has a right to restrict recording; it certainly should not.

Any confidential matters should be taken up directly with the police.

It is a shame that the Liberal Democrats (whom Mrs Speed endorsed at the recent by-election in East Chesterton) are so cagey about the recording of public meetings. It would be better if they lived up to their party name and encouraged this enhancement to local democracy.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Bower
Argyle Street

I fully support the right of anyone to record council meetings, which are public. I am glad that the city council relented in allowing any recording to happen at all and welcome the fact that they are considering doing it routinely. If it can be afforded then it would be a very welcome enhancement to local democracy.

Meanwhile I do not buy their justifications for making it difficult to record the meetings - the recording of meetings makes it much easier to hold representatives to account than is currently possible based solely on the necessarily-terse official minutes.

The future of Mill Road

2010-10-12T16:46:00.004+01:00

Three organisations, The Mill Road Society, No Mill Road Tesco Campaign Committee and Milly Card Scheme have come together to hold a public meeting about the future of Mill Road on Thursday, 14 October at 7.30pm at Ross Street Community Centre.

Unfortunately, as the meeting clashes with the city council's East Area Committee there are unlikely to be many local councillors present.

This is the message from the organisations:

Dear Mill Road Supporter,

As you’ve probably seen, Cambridge recently topped the list of Britain’s clone towns. There are still areas of the city where independent shops survive, but they are under pressure. We’d like to get together to discuss ideas about how the Mill Road area can be promoted and improved for local residents, and to support and encourage independent traders.

At present the Grand Arcade and the Grafton Centre get most of the attention/money/support from the City Council and there is a real need to get the council to focus attention on the Mill Road area as well. There are things that the council could do which would make a great improvement.

We’ve been talking to some of the local traders to get their views but we want to get as many ideas and as much support as possible. We will be meeting with local councillors to talk about what the council can do to help the area, and we’d like to know what you think. We care about our area and together we can improve it.

A meeting has been arranged at Ross Street Community Centre [map] at 7.30pm on the 14th October. If you want to protect independent trading in Mill Road and the unique area and community that we have, please come along and give us your views and ideas. We’ll also be giving an update on what the Milly Card Scheme and the No Mill Road Tesco campaign have been up to over the past year.

We hope to see you on the 14th.

The Mill Road Society
No Mill Road Tesco Campaign Committee
Milly Card Scheme

Conference round-up: making work pay

2010-10-07T07:21:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday I sneaked away to Birmingham for one day of the Conservative party conference and made a beeline for Iain Duncan Smith's speech on reforming welfare.

If the Conservative party has any point in existing it is to fix the broken society, in particular the problems emanating from a welfare trap with marginal tax rates that stop work from paying. And if there's any doubt about the party's seriousness in fixing the problems which government after government have ducked then just look at the warmth of reception that Duncan Smith gets whenever he addresses our conference.

Tony Blair's labour party was elected in 1997 to reform welfare but ducked the challenge, and his successors in Ed Miliband's union dinosaur-dependent Labour party are in denial about the problem.

The financial cost of welfare is clearly a problem but the social cost is higher. As ever, the Conservative solution revolves around 'more for less', but that dividend will only come in the long term. With a brave commitment from the chancellor to fund higher short term welfare costs we can break out of this local minimum and make work pay.

The 'universal credit' will make sure that it always pays to work, will simplify benefits and in the long term reduce the cost of welfare. It is being introduced by extending benefits as people get work to eliminate those massive marginal tax rates - that is an extra cost initially to the treasury.

Iain Duncan Smith has launched three 'contracts' (abridged):

A contract with those out of work - who should be in work.
I am delighted to announce the introduction of the Universal Credit, which will, I believe, restore fairness and simplicity to a complex, outdated and wildly expensive benefits system. A real time system which will also help cut the cost of fraud and error

Today we are going to go further... I can announce that I will set up the New Enterprise Allowance... If you have been unemployed for 6 months and want to start your own business we want to support you. We will provide business mentoring and a financial package worth up to £2000 to get your business up and running.

A contract with Britain's most vulnerable people.
I say to those watching today and who are genuinely sick, disabled or are retired. You have nothing to fear. For pensioners it is this government that has moved quickly to re-link the basic state pension with earnings - something we should all here be enormously proud of.

And a contract with the taxpayer.
I want to look every taxpayer in the eye and be able to say that their money is either going to people who are on the path back to independence or their money is going to people who, without question, deserve society's care.

As Duncan Smith said in 2007, "They want power to destroy us. We must want power to rebuild Britain and to care for British people," so it is for Labour in Coleridge - are they, as their by-election candidate is, just here to "smash the Tories"? If they think that Coleridge's working population has no aspirations and buys into Labour's narrative that where we are now is just down to the banks and not Labour's borrow-and-spend largesse towards what it perceived as its client groups then they clearly haven't been listening enough on the doorstep...

Parkside Federation's academy application

2010-10-05T16:18:00.004+01:00

Well done to the Parkside Federation, including Coleridge Community College, for voting to apply for academy status. I hope the application is successful and that as an academy it can flourish without the dead hand of the state!

It seems the Labour county councillor for Coleridge, who is one of the governors who voted against the scheme, is sticking with his party colours in opposing this move. That's a shame - David Cameron made sure that his MPs supported Labour's policies, such as the original academy programme, when he thought they were right for the country.

Calling all canvassers...

2010-10-01T19:05:00.005+01:00

To any canvassers roaming the streets of Coleridge, if you happen to spot my bicycle (pictured) around the ward I would be very grateful to hear from you! The frame should show signs of daily use, there are new handlebar grips and the lock holder is in the opposite orientation resulting in the lock having rubbed away a bit of the logo. Thanks!

Last seen on Brackyn Road last night...

City Council Tax U-Turn Welcome

2010-09-29T07:51:00.004+01:00

We tentatively welcome the news that the city council seems to be coming round to our way of thinking and is planning a council tax freeze for 2011/12.

Local Conservatives were delighted when George Osborne announced in Autumn 2008 that a Conservative government would provide for two years the funding to enable a council tax freeze for councils that keep their rises to just 2.5%. This good news was consistently rubbished by local Liberal Democrats despite Chris repeatedly calling for the city council to plan to take advantage of the offer. The county council, however, very sensibly signed up to the deal.

Unfortunately, not winning the general election outright, this pledge had to be watered down to one year only (with a second year as an aspiration), but the good news is that now the Liberal Democrats are part of the coalition they no longer feel the need to oppose it for the sake of it.

The council's medium term strategy currently in force plans for a 3.5% tax rise this year. Executive councillors agreed at a meeting on Friday to recommend a new strategy which plans for a council tax freeze this year followed by 2% increases. This is certainly an improvement and to be welcomed. The final decision on the strategy will be made by full council on 8th November and the budget and council tax levels for next year at meetings in 2011.

The new MTS slightly pessimistically assumes that the central government funding for the freeze will not be forthcoming. I was previously calling for a cut in councillor allowances to trigger this funding. If the council is looking to make the saving in other ways then I call on them also to reduce the councillor allowances by 33%. This would then enable a council tax cut of 1.25% - welcome relief to hard-pressed residents.

Everything that's wrong with Cambridge planning

2010-09-23T19:57:00.004+01:00

Everything that is wrong with planning in Cambridge is encapsulated in Richard Taylor's excellent article on redevelopment of Cambridge Fire Station.

Well not quite: there are other things too, like the Lib Dems' ridiculous and ideological maximum parking restriction which adds to parking chaos across the city. But the adverse impact of so-called affordable housing is a point well made.

Commuter cycling in Cambridge

2010-09-22T22:29:00.011+01:00

The Cambridge Cycling Campaign does an excellent job at raising awareness of the needs of everyday cyclists in Cambridge and promoting safe cycling. One of the problems they face in a place like this is that a lot is said and done on behalf of cyclists by people who may have the best intentions at heart but don't themselves make a daily cycle commute.

As someone who often used to do a 14-mile cycle commute and now mostly cycles to work but over a shorter distance, I take a different view of what is helpful than council officials often do.

If a bicycle is to replace a car then it needs to enable good, direct, progress without excessive stopping.

Some of the solutions that get proposed, however, I believe actually harm cycling. In many people's minds the obvious cycling measure to be deployed is a cycle lane. I think these can have a place, particularly if they are wide, but they rarely are (or can be) and are often relegated to second class lanes, disappearing or moving onto the pavement. They can be worse than useless, putting cyclists into more danger.

Shared-use cycle paths are another love of well-meaning bureaucrats, but a look at Milton Road should scotch that. Cyclists on that path should stop at each junction, which horribly detracts from progress and the temptation is just to go for it. Knowing someone whose teeth were broken in a resulting collision I don't think this is something that should be encouraged and I know that pedestrians feel intimidated by cyclists on the pavement. Progress is much better on the road itself but users who do that often suffer the ire of drivers who think the cyclists should be on their 'facility' (or 'psychle farcility' as some cam.transport posters rather endearingly call them). I can't help thinking Milton Road would be better for cyclists if widened (possibly by removing the bus lane if it turned out not to be that effective but I am not that familiar with bus progress rates on Milton Road to be able to comment competently on that at the moment.)

A good use of cycle lanes, in my view, is contraflow lanes, such as in Downing Street. These add genuine value to the cycling network and should be encouraged. It does help if delivery vehicles aren't parked in them, though!

There's a lot to be said for the shared space concept - in town or village centres - with large vehicles giving way to smaller ones in turn up to pedestrians. The centre of town could be cited as an example. Unobservant pedestrians make cycle progress slow, but that should be expected and accepted - the only problem is inconsiderate (and going-the-wrong-way) cyclists, who can make life unpleasant; motor vehicles can sometimes also be a menace in the evenings but that is partly a cultural problem.

I do value investment in cycling infrastructure. Their merit should be judged on whether they add value for cyclists - opening up new routes, speeding travel or genuinely improving safety (and not just the illusion of such). Schemes such as the Shelford DNA cycle path, which is really nice, and Coleridge Conservatives' proposed cycle route between Ashbury Close and Golding Road are, in my view, really valuable. But I am very sceptical of plans to entrench cycling on the pavement on Cherry Hinton Road (although if the shared-use footpath is to remain that then the proposed plans could be beneficial for safety), 'cycling town' money which could perhaps be better spent on other cycling infrastructure.

An alternative view is taken by Lib Dem Market Councillor Colin Rosenstiel who has argued in favour of narrow cycle lanes, even in the 'dooring zones' to the right of parked cars. Colin says that some people are not so confident on the roads and really value these facilities. I don't agree with Colin but perhaps my views are skewed by being a confident and experienced commuter cyclist. Has Colin got a point? What do you think?

[Picture from after this year's London to Cambridge cycle ride]

UPDATE: The original version of this article may have given the impression that the cycling campaign promotes pavement cycleways - that was not the intention as I know this is not the case.

Why we should cut councillor allowances by 33%

2010-09-21T15:51:00.005+01:00

At the forthcoming city council by-election I will be standing on the Conservative manifesto for the recent city council election in May, where we argued for a 10% cut in councillors' basic and special responsibility allowances.

Since then the new government has opened the books and concluded that departments need to identify between 20% and 40% savings. It is only right that councillors should lead by example - we are all in this together - so we are now proposing a 33% cut in those allowances.

Councillor allowances are not a salary, honorarium or stipend but are intended to cover out-of-pocket costs. The distinction is important because if seen as a salary then a culture of rights and a sense of entitlement could accrue, as if it were paid employment. It is also not intended to be a backdoor mechanism for the state funding of political parties [search for received by 'Cambridge' and donor 'group'].

The saving of 33% in those allowances could fund a 1.25% reduction in the planned council tax rise. That would take the 3.5% increase which the Lib Dems are planning in their medium term strategy to 2.25%, triggering George Osborne's council tax freeze and allowing a net reduction in council tax from the city council of 0.25%. Good leverage, eh?

Selected for Coleridge by-election

2010-09-20T20:17:00.004+01:00

Local Conservatives have selected me to defend the Coleridge by-election on 4 November. I have stood in Coleridge at the last two local elections, coming a close second on both occasions. I will be putting the case for a Conservative voice on the city council.

When Chris Howell was elected to represent Coleridge in 2008 he took the number of Conservative councillors from nil to one and the beneficial results were immediately clear. At council meetings the debates were better for the presence of a Conservative voice (all the other councillors are from left-of-centre parties) and local ward councillors were not able to take the seat for granted.

I am in a good position to campaign for Coleridge residents having already been a key player working closely with Chris on campaigns such as against congestion charging, against the development of Marshall airport, for safe cycling, pointing out the problems of the 'Speedwatch' vigilante scheme, reporting many minor local issues to the local authorities, getting involved with the meetings aimed at mitigating problems around Tiverton Way and requesting resurfacing work on Mill Road and Cherry Hinton Road.

If you are a Coleridge resident please do get in touch with your priorities for the ward and the city council or if you could help our campaign then please give me a ring on Cambridge 750002 or e-mail me at andrew@bower.org.uk. Thank you.

More evidence that the A14 needs upgrading

2010-09-19T18:39:00.005+01:00

Four crashes on the A14 this weekend provide yet more evidence of the urgent need to upgrade the A14. The need for this road to be widened has been known for years but first it was cancelled by John Prescott and then the Lib Dems got their way with a public enquiry this February. Thanks to these needless delays the cost has rocketed to $1.3bn but that doesn't make it any less essential.

The new government's review of various projects was inevitable given the constraints on public finance (largely thanks to Labour's chronic overspending in earlier years) but I hope that this project gets through. Given the importance of the A14 for the local area as well as nationally and internationally it is no surprise that Conservative MPs and council leaders in the area are backing the project and lobbying the government for it.

It is somewhat disappointing that the local Lib Dems are letting their 'isolationist city' mentality guide their frantic attempts to stop this crucial work, with the MP even going so far as to call a Westminster Hall debate on the subject.

I agree that we can do more with getting freight onto rail but there's something slightly loopy about the Lib Dems' obsession with stopping the 'superhighway' into Cambridge - I hope they will think again and join local Conservatives in standing up for this crucial piece of infrastructure during the government's review. Coalition speaking unto coalition?

County Conservatives lead way on opening the books

2010-09-18T09:21:00.004+01:00

I am pleased to see that the county council has not dragged its feet over the government's call to publish online all items of expenditure over £500 and will start on 20 September. David Cameron had already opened the national books for spending over £25,000.

It is to be hoped that the city council will follow the Conservative lead and publish their expenditure ahead of the goverment-imposed deadline of January, as we had already some time ago been campaigning to get them to do, but the local Lib Dems do not have a good track record on openness.

This is very welcome news although we will have to wait to see how well the information is represented and in what detail.

Opening the books will help council taxpayers to get better value for money and help local firms to compete for council contracts.

County Councillor John Reynolds shows that the spirit here is not just to tick the box:

We are committed to being as transparent and accountable as possible. We were one of the first authorities to publish details about our senior management pay and I am pleased that we are in the first group of councils to put this information about spending over £500 on line. We have a good national record for managing finances and we are eager not only to publish this long before the Government’s deadline of January but to eventually exceed Government expectations by publishing spending below £500 as well.

Good news for Kelvin Close

2010-09-17T10:18:00.007+01:00

A rare item of good news has come to my attention in the form of the planning inspector's rejection of the developers' appeal on Kelvin Close.

Well done to local residents for securing this result through their representations.

The main issues considered by the inspector were:

Firstly, the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area.

Secondly, effect of the proposal on the living conditions of the occupiers of 24 Kelvin Close with regard to noise and overlooking and 21A Kelvin Close in relation to natural light and visual impact. Thirdly, the effect of the proposal on the provision of public open space, community development facilities, education and transport.

For once it is clear that someone in the planning system 'gets' it:

Clearly, the rhythm of development created by the symmetrical layout of semi-detached houses on the Close is an important feature of its character and appearance.

It seems that the government's removal of a "national indicative minimum density of 30 dwellings per hectare" was helpful here and will be helpful in the future when this perceived requirement may have tipped some applications towards acceptance despite other reservations.

It is a shame that area committee amateurs gave permission for the care home to be expanded - their case was clearly weak - as there is no appeal for successful applications, only failed ones.

By Election to be held in Coleridge

2010-09-16T16:40:00.000+01:00

With great reluctance, I have taken the decision to stand down from the Council, and have today resigned with immediate effect. It is expected that a by election will be called in Coleridge to be held in approx 6 weeks time.

Being a councillor should not have to be a full-time job - the last thing we want is a tier of relatively highly paid local politicians living off the taxpayer. But the time it takes to do it can come close. I always tried to be the type of Councillor who is accessible, keeps in touch with residents and is active in trying to solve local issues. As the only elected Conservative in Cambridge (let alone the only Conservative out of 4 Coleridge Councillors), I also tried taking on a remit including moving forward the case for a Conservative alternative for the future development of the City, as well as trying to scrutinise decisions across the City Council. This remit is always going to be a challenge, but over the last few months, for various reasons, it has been impossibly difficult to make any progress, and the commensurate 'job-satisfaction' in being a Councillor all but vanished.

My professional career has effectively been on hold since I was re-elected and for that reason I decided some time ago that I wouldn't stand for re-election at the end of my term in 2012, to focus on career development. Without the prospect of being able to make significant progress politically before this time, I came to the conclusion that I needed to bring forward that decision, step down now and let the baton be taken up by someone who can make progress in the longer term.

It has genuinely been an immense privelege and honour to serve residents in Coleridge over the last two and a half years as a City Councillor (as it was in Cherry Hinton from 2000 to 2004), and to be part of the democratic process scrutinising how decisions are taken affecting Cambridge now and in the future. I remain deeply interested in many of the key issues facing us in Cambridge - how we develop the local economy in a way that helps all local residents and supports the national economy, and how we can bring new and better housing and transport to the area with the support of local residents and without damaging the things that makes Cambridge special. Whilst I may continue to engage with the issues, I am retiring from party politics for the forseeable future.

Much of the our local campaigning in Coleridge has very much been a team effort - I thank those in the ward team who have given me unstinting help and support, and would urge residents to support the Conservative candidate at the forthcoming by-election - Coleridge and Cambridge desperately needs a Conservative voice!

Bradney on Bikeability and Cycle England

2010-09-13T17:06:00.001+01:00

Matt Bradney's views on the recent news about these cycling projects is worth reading:

http://eastchesterton.blogspot.com/2010/09/bikeability-and-cycle-england.html

£¼ million council grants allocated to Coleridge

2010-09-11T19:42:00.005+01:00

City councillors at last month's East Area Committee allocated more than £250,000 of council grants to Coleridge Ward.

First up was a one-off allocation of some accrued 'section 106' bribes funds, some of which the city council needs to spend soon to make sure that it doesn't have to be returned to developers.

Two very worthy voluntary projects in Coleridge were given a share of £400,000 along with three other projects:

Improvements to the Flamsteed Road scout hut.
Community facilities at the Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cherry Hinton Road.

A further £115,000 was allocated for future community facilities projects in the ward.

The second allocation was of the Environmental Improvements grants. This is from a pot of money that the city council created along with the area committees and is for capital projects. The aim was to spend all of the available money. It is not clear whether this fund for area committees will be replenished in future - it is something that the city council will have to decide based on its spending review.

The projects approved for Coleridge were:

A Crossing for Perne Road just north of the Radegund Road roundabout (£65,000)
The verge/parking/yellow line plan for Birdwood Road and Chalmers Road (£59,000)
Completing the gap in the Rustat Road footpath (£10,000)
The Ashbury Close/Golding Road cycle path consultation and plan (£34,500 or £47,500)

The last of these projects was given a lower priority and therefore will only happen if one or two of the other approved projects for the area falls through for any reason (and of course subject to a satisfactory outcome to the consultation, which will proceed anyway).

All of these projects will benefit Coleridge residents; I am particularly keen on the last three and all have been supported by local Conservatives with the last two being initiated by Chris.

Cambridgeshire Tories well represented in blog awards

2010-09-08T19:00:00.004+01:00

The independent 2010 Total Politics blog awards are out for the top Conservative blogs and Cambridgeshire Tories feature well.

This 'Cherry Hinton Road' blog has entered at number 74 while over on Perne Road Coleridge branch chairman, Richard Normington, has moved up from 90 to 64 (well done, Richard!)

The full local list is:

21 (27) Steve Tierney
40 (50) Steve Barclay MP
59 (88) Ellee Seymour
64 Richard Normington
67 (77) Tales from a Draughty Old Fen
74 Your Coleridge Conservative Action Team

(Today also marks four months since Labour's last local blog post.)

Chalmers verge plans emerge

2010-08-15T19:02:00.005+01:00

Good news on verges for residents of Chalmers Road and safer parking for everyone off Birdwood Road!

Following a recent verge 'walkabout' with councillors and council officers the city and county councils have worked together and approved in principle a long-awaited proposal to deal with the verges and parking in this area.

There is clearly a chronic shortage of parking spaces in this area yet well-kept verges can make an area much nicer. St Thomas's Square probably has the balance about right, with some bays and verges. Coleridge Conservatives have long argued that in places like Chalmers Road a combination of turning some verges into parking spaces and protecting others vigorously is the right answer.

The plan for Chalmers Road is to repair and reseed verges as approporiate but to turn two substantial sections of verge into hard standing: the low odds and mid evens.

The junctions of Birdwood Road with Gray Road, Ward Road and Chalmers road will have double yellow lines on the corners to discourage unsafe parking (it's a shame these are needed since the highway code is clear on this point as it is...), enforced by wooden bollards.

The Southern side of Birdwood Road as it joins Perne Road is to have its verge strengthened and reseeded.

We have asked the city council whether it is also possible to have trees planted to mitigate the effect of losing verges. Such planting would also help to enforce no parking on the verges.

Overall this seems like a great plan - I hope that it will be accepted by residents and councillors and that it will attract funding.

Improve our parks and open spaces - Ideas wanted!

2010-08-11T10:58:00.000+01:00

Having extracted loads of cash from local developers through 'section 106' agreements, the money is now burning a hole in the Council's pockets, and they are looking for ideas on how to spend it.

This money comes from cash payments made to the Council before planning permission will be granted, in theory to 'mitigate the effects of the development' but in reality is more like a 'developers tax' ultimately paid for by purchasers of new properties in Cambridge. Some of the payments are to mitigate the fact that insufficient open space has been provided on a new development, and the cash can then be used to 'improve' or provide facilities on existing open spaces.

Notwithstanding the fact that you can't really compensate for a lack of open space (i.e. overdevelopment) of a new site by enhancing existing open space, this does give an opportunity for the many recreation areas around Coleridge to benefit from some investment.

The Council says:

"We are seeking ideas from members of the public, councillors and stakeholders for potential new recreation and open space projects in the city, as part of the council's 'Improve your Neighbourhood' scheme.

If you would like to suggest an idea, please go to the website at this link to see how the scheme works and what type of projects can be funded:http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/community-and-living/local-communities/improve-your-neighbourhood.en"

The weblink gives examples of the type of schemes the Council has in mind - if you have any ideas, be in touch with the Council, and don't forget to let you local Conservative team know as well!

More misery for Mill Road

2010-08-10T12:20:00.002+01:00

There is more misery for traders on Mill Road, as inspection of the sewer during the current works has revealed a further collapse.

While Anglia Water were carrying out the repair works to the collapsed sewer in Mill Road they discovered another blockage 20 metres further along the Mill Road line.

They put a camera down the sewer and confirmed at a site meeting yesterday that the sewer has collapsed at that point and that there is a void under the road. The sewer is deeper than the one they are working on now at about 8.5 metres.

The estimated repair time for this is 9 weeks. A second team will deal with this repair whilst the first are dealing with the original collapse.

As traffic is already used to using the diversion that is in place Anglian Water has been instructed to continue immediately with the second repair rather than wait for the first to be finished in two weeks time. CCC highways team has told Anglian Water that even when Hobart Road is opened again it should not form part of a diversion route as it is a residential area. Instead it should be for access only.

Cyclists and pedestrians will still be able to pass the works at all times.

Developers Present Plans for New Hotel

2010-08-05T12:46:00.000+01:00

The developers of the Red House site on Station Road presented their latest plans to Councillors yesterday.

The site, on the north side of Station Road between Tenison Road and the station has been subject to two previous applications for hotels - a smaller successful application in 2006 (that wasn't implemented), and a plan for a larger 169 room hotel in 2009 that was turned down, mostly on transport grounds.

The site is next to Great Eastern House, which Microsoft wants to rebuild as its UK HQ. Whilst it isn't part of the area covered by the CB1 outline planning permission, the new plans seek to fit in with the CB1 proposals, which include a small open space behind the hotel site.

The developers, O'Callaghan hotels, are appealing against the refusal last year, but are also going to put in this new application to address the concerns raised (presumably in case the appeal fails). They are addressing the concerns by reducing the proposed height of the new building (which will be around 7 storeys), and putting in place a valet parking scheme.

Whilst the building itself looks to be a reasonable design for a business class hotel in an area destined to become more of an urban business district, I am concerned about the valet parking plans.

The new plans propose no on-site car parking, with those hotel customers who do have cars being offered valet parking - which will involve hotel staff transporting cars to the Leisure Park car park on Clifton Road. Even if, as developers claim, few guests will arrive by car - the valet parking will still create additional traffic on busy Hills Road and Cherry Hinton Road. It seems ironic that this scheme proposes to solve the problem of lack of parking on site by creating additional trips to the Leisure Park, when the lack of parking on CB1 was the reason given why such a large redevelopment wouldn't generate significant additional traffic. Even if the additional trips are relatively few, it will still add to an existing problem with the plans for the CB1 area.

The developers also claimed to have looked at parking restrictions around the site, and concluded there was nowhere that hotel customers could freely park for long periods of time. I asked if they had considered the Rustat Road area in their analysis, less than 10 minutes walk away - and as with the CB1 developer, the answer was no, this area, and its existing commuter parking problems had been forgotten. I don't accept that hotel users won't know about this, even guests who aren't on a repeat trip - all it will take is one comment about the valet parking and the Rustat Road alternative on a website like Tripadvisor and it could significantly add to the problems Coleridge residents are already facing and will face from commuter parking in the parts of the ward near the station.

East Chesterton Councillor Resigns

2010-08-04T15:47:00.008+01:00

Siep Wijsenbeek has resigned as county councillor for East Chesterton. A by-election is expected on 16 September.

The current make-up of the county council is:

42 Conservative
22 Liberal Democrat
2 Labour
1 Green
1 UKIP
1 Vacancy

But of the county councillors within the city boundaries:

10 Liberal Democrat
2 Labour
1 Green
1 Vacancy

This by-election will be a great opportunity to elect a Conservative onto the county council from within the city. It would be hugely beneficial for Cambridge residents to be represented by at least one councillor in the ruling group on the county council. All the other city-based councillors who were present at the TIF vote last year voted for congestion charging - they clearly cannot be relied-upon to stand up for Cambridge's interests.

Cambridge Conservatives' James Strachan gave the Lib Dems the closest run at the last county council election in East Chesterton while Kevin Francis has been a close second in recent city council elections there.

Connecting Asbury Close & Golding Road

2010-08-01T20:47:00.009+01:00

Coleridge Conservatives have supported a cycle route between Ashbury Close and Golding Road since 2007.

This is a scheme which Chris Howell requested for an environmental improvements grant. A plan has now been devised. See page 83 (87) of the agenda pack for the last East Area Committee for the details

Cycling is currently banned in the area but in practice this rule is barely followed, with people variously cycling on the pavement and on the grass, neither of which is ideal for residents.

A cycle path between the two, if well sited, could ensure that those who already cycle do so in a considerate fashion and open up the route to people who are currently penalised for following the rules.

If the path eliminates a couple of 4x4s from driving children to school and puts cyclists out of the way of pedestrians and children playing on the grass then it will have been a very worthwhile scheme.

We have generally found residents to be accepting of this idea, with a small amount of opposition. The concerns expressed have been:

It will increase cycle movements.
Not much – the current prohibition is widely ignored & some movements will be instead of vehicle movements clogging up nearby roads and parking.
It will bring antisocial behaviour.
I cannot see how this claim is supportable
Parking will be lost.
This is a risk but a good scheme would lose only two spaces and possibly fewer
The money could be better spent.
The proposed grant is from the environmental improvements pot and this is a capital project so comparisons with potential expenditure that would be recurring are not fair.
Cyclists will be a menace to pedestrians.
This should become less true than it currently is because the path will mostly run along the inside of the existing pavement and will mainly not be shared.
The path would otherwise dissect the greens and be a loss to an area for children to play.
The proposed plan has the path mostly adjacent to the path or nearly adjacent to the path. Of greater impact to children enjoying themselves must surely be the miserly 'no ball games' signs adorning the area?

The bottom line

I support this scheme but only on condition that:

1. No more than one parking space is lost at each end and options are investigated to reduce this to nil. (I think more work on the current plan is due in this respect.) It certainly would not be acceptable for council officers to introduce gratuitous parking restrictions by the back door through this proposal.

2. It is as much as is practical a separate rather than shared-use path.

3. The large grass area should not be dissected.

4. There is a proper consultation of local residents - and not the usual faux consultation.

At the city council's recent East Area Committee of 17 June Coleridge Conservative Councillor Chris Howell spoke in support of the scheme but stressed the importance of a proper consultation, which officers have promised to provide.

As a footnote, the record of what local politicians have said about this scheme in the past is available on the Cambridge Cycling Campaign website:

May 2010 District Elections (question 6; see also question 5).
May 2008 District Elections (question 8).

One day left to vote for your favourite blogs

2010-07-30T13:05:00.004+01:00

There's only one day left to e-mail your votes for your favourite blogs in this year's Total Politics blog awards.

The blog awards weren't on our radar last year until Richard Normington unexpectedly received one for the blog he wrote on the local association website. Richard's blog is a great read and highly recommended in its new location.

Green Car Park Madness

2010-07-29T17:00:00.005+01:00

Abbey Ward councillors are certainly providing good entertainment value at the moment for avid local politics watchers.

First we had the Labour councillor at full council a week ago claiming that zero-rated VAT goods included hidden VAT payments for the input costs of producing and selling the items. Hint: next time you waste council time debating national policies it's probably best to do your homework first...

Now the Cambridge News reports Green councillors wanting to replace Park Street car park with so-called 'affordable' housing. The car park, which also includes secure cycle parking, is in need of major work or replacement. Originally budgeted at c. £1m it seems the cost may now exceed £2m.

This call is plainly bonkers. Apart from the significant loss of amenity and the effect on city centre trade the loss of the car park would punch a hole in one of the city council's most lucrative sources of income.

The council's budget setting report doesn't appear to break down the figure by car park and doesn't make it easy to find all the associated costs but gives a projection of £7.5m in annual car parking income. Even at the higher end of the scale for the cost of sorting out Park Street car park it is hard to imagine that it wouldn't still be a good value investment. Of course, Coleridge Conservatives would encourage the city council to do its best to keep the costs down!

Just as crazy, however, is the suggestion that it should be so-called 'affordable' housing that the site is used for. How is it good value for council taxpayers and the purchasers of unaffordable housing (anyone not eligible for the 'affordable' stuff) to subsidise accomodation on a prime site in the centre of the city?

Cambridge Gateway and Hills Road

2010-07-26T17:45:00.006+01:00

Coleridge residents will already be aware of the latest works on Hills Road bridge. When the bridge was being restored after the recent guided bus works the opportunity was taken to trial new cycling arrangements over the bridge. Now the Cambridge Gateway project designed to create a new bus, pedestrian and cycle link to the railway station area is in progress and includes a new permanent layout for the bridge with more cycling provision.

There are traffic restrictions in place such as a ban on turns from Hills Road into Brooklands Avenue and no overtaking of cyclists on the bridge in the single lane on the bridge. All the work is expected to finish in February 2011 and work on the bridge is anticipated to be finished by Christmas.

We are anxious that the no overtaking restriction is observed. We previously secured CCTV for this purpose but to doubtful effect. It would be easier to solve the problem if cyclists had the confidence to ride in the middle of the lane in this situation but that rarely seems to happen.

More information is available on the county council website: layout and briefing note.

Personally I think the new layout is far too complicated and would be happier cycling over the bridge without any cycle lanes at all but I accept that is a minority preference. Let's hope when the work is finished that it proves to be worth the money!

Should Cyclists be forced to wear helmets?

2010-07-20T10:46:00.001+01:00

An argument that has been rumbling on for years hit the local press over the last week.

On wednesday, blog favourite Cllr Colin Rosenstiel was quoted claiming that wearing a cycle helmet makes you more likely to have an accident, and criticised the County Council over their attempts to compel staff to wear them.

But yesterday, the chief executive of Cambridgeshire head injuries charity Headway hit back, questioning the assumption that cyclists with helmets are more likely to be involved in an accident, and calling for a common sense approach, that those with helmets are more likely to have their skull protected in an accident than those who don't.

On this latter point, it is hard to argue that in the case of an accident involving a head impact, you wouldn't be better off with a helmet on, although the protective effect is nothing like as comprehensive as some might think, particularly in high speed collisions.

The issue of whether wearing a helmet makes you more likely to have an accident in the first place is more debatable. There are usually two parties involved in causing an accident, and usually through defensive driving or riding, either party can stop an accident happening. It is possible cyclists would ride less 'defensively' whilst wearing a helmet - an extreme way of expressing this is the argument sometimes suggested for preventing injury from car accidents - it would be safer to put a large metal spike on the steering wheel than an airbag - which rather graphically illustrates the point. Another factor that could cause helmet wearers to be more likely to be involved in an accident is the effect the helmet has on other road users, and in particular it is claimed that drivers are more likely to drive closer to cyclists (i.e. less defensively) if they have a helmet.

But there is a third argument why forcing cyclists to wear helmets might increase the accident rate (not to mention also increasing levels of traffic and obesity) - a second order effect, namely that forcing helmet usage reduces cycling as it is significantly less convenient, which it turn makes if less safe for all cyclists. Countries with very high rates of cycling like Holland don't insist on helmet use, and tend to have much lower accident rates amongst cyclists, as road users always expect high levels of cyclists and change their driving or cycling accordingly to reduce the risk of accidents.

Put all these arguments together, and I can easily believe that the protective effect of helmets in some accidents is more than outweighed by an increase in accident rates and reduction in cycling take up if helmets are made compulsory.

Add to this my natural scepticism whenever government tries forcing an individual to do something purely for 'their own good', even when that individual has taken a considered and informed view that they wouldn't otherwise do it, and I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing rather more with Cllr Rosenstiel that we shouldn't be forcing helmet use on cyclists - it should be a personal choice.

Usually around town I don't wear a helmet - but I hope I ride quite responsibly and defensively. Riding along the tow path this evening marshalling the town bumps I probably will choose to use my helmet...

Principles or Rules

2010-07-15T10:23:00.004+01:00

If you visit Ashbury Close in Coleridge, as I did last week, you are met with a pretty unwelcoming sight:

It is an example of a rules based approach to regulation - trying to set out in detail what is and isn't allowed.

There are many flaws in this approach.

It can lead to people putting in place restrictions that are unnecessarily restrictive. For example, the only principle I can think of behind 'no cycling' on Ashbury Close is that there might be conflict between cyclists and pedestrians causing alarm/distress or injury to one or other party that should be avoided. But the near complete lack of compliance with this rule, coupled with the lack of any record of problems is a key reason why I am supporting a proper cycle route being established here, and the removal of the no cycling sign - I think the principle that as long as it doesn't cause problems to others, we should be encouraging more environmentally friendly forms of transport, particularly on routes to schools, is more important - and almost all cyclists living in or using the close seem to agree.

With a rule based approach, it can be confusing to those enforcing the rules what is and isn't allowed, reducing the credibility of the system - I am struggling to see what law or regulation would actually be broken for at least two of the signs above if they were just ignored - its not as if Ashbury Close actually has any formal parking restrictions. As a Councillor, it can then lead to residents feeling let down when authorities are powerless to act, even if an apparent rule has been advertised.

But the big problem with a rules based approach is that we live in a complex world, and it is difficult to anticipate in advance every possible scenario, so rules quickly grow and become unwieldy to use as every new situation introduces a new rule, and even then there will be new situations not covered by the new rules.

The USA culturally has preferred a rules based approach in many situations - for example their accounting standards contain many specific rules, in contrast to the UK, which has an approach based more on principles and examples than rules. I wonder if this explains why expensive legal action seems so popular in the US?

The previous Labour government preferred a rules based approach to government - just consider how our tax system grew under the last government, or the number of criminal offences rocketed. The discretion of local authorities and other local bodies was reduced by central targets. Few people will agree that the sum effect of all these new rules was beneficial to the country as a whole.

Whilst rules sometimes have their place, in most cases I much prefer the alternative approach - principle based - where regulation sets out in broad outline what the regulation intends to achieve, and any constraints. And the key principles to me are responsibility, for yourself and those around you, and freedom in its broadest sense for those that are responsible.

If government of whatever form (or any other organisation for that matter) feels the need to set out in great detail what is and isn't allowed through a great set of rules, maintaining the principles of responsibility and freedom is all but impossible.

North West Cambridge Growth Area Forum

2010-07-12T12:46:00.001+01:00

A second community forum event is going to be held on 20th July to discuss the 5,000 homes and 2,000 units of student accommodation planned for Cambridge's northwest fringe.

The event is a meeting concerning transport and how the developments might affect local communities and the way in which we travel in future. There will be presentations covering different aspects of transport including, public transport, cycling, rights of way, policy and modelling. Local Authority officers dealing with the planning applications will also be on hand for a questions and answer session.

All Cambridge residents interested in these developments are invited to attend the Community Forum Event on: Tuesday 20th July from 6pm - 8.30pm at Mayfield Primary School, Warwick Road, Cambridge, CB4 3HN.

Planning website and Cherry Hinton Road vets

2010-07-09T20:51:00.001+01:00

The city council's new planning website is an excellent way to find lots of information about current and past planning applications in the city. However, there does seem to be a bit of a lag in updating the status of applications so watch out not to be misled! Let's hope the city council can get this apparent glitch sorted out soon.

Earlier this year we reported that due to an unfortunate set of circumstances the city council had lost the ability to make a local decision on the application to the inspectorate in Bristol. That appeal was unsuccessful. Looking up the application 08/1501/FUL on the public access web page it says "Appeal In Progress" although there is an attached document that shows that the appeal failed.

The prospective developer issued a new application, 10/0087/FUL in February. This new application was more acceptable to residents in neighbouring properties and was approved by the planning committee on 2nd June but the application is still shown as "Pending Consideration" on the web site.

In short, well done to the city council for a good new facility! Let's hope it proves to be good value for money and that its various issues can be sorted out.

Meanwhile many people will be in no hurry to see the vets disappear...

New Phone Mast Planned for Davy Road

2010-07-09T08:00:00.001+01:00

As part of their mast sharing agreement, Vodafone and O2 would like to install a new base station on Davy Road to improve 3G reception in the area. The base station would include cabinets and a 13.8m high mast, and be located on Davy Road near the recreation ground and the junction with Coleridge Road - there is an existing T-Mobile mast a few metres down from the proposed site.

The phone companies have contacted Councillors to ask is we have any questions or concerns, ahead of a planning application expected shortly.

Having looked at the evidence, I don't think mobile phone base stations pose a significant risk to health - and certainly not a significant additional risk to that from existing radio sources (or from mobile phone usage itself, which is now nearly universal).

People who don't like the idea of a new 13.8m high column on Davy Road may not be keen on these plans, those looking for better 3G coverage in the area on O2 and Vodafone will be more keen! As ever, let me know if you have any comments of specific concerns to raise ahead of the planning application.

Housing Targets Scrapped

2010-07-08T11:20:00.000+01:00

Housing targets are now officially dead. Councillors have been written to:

"As you may be aware, the Secretary of State announced the revocation of Regional Strategies with immediate effect on 6th July. Essentially this means that the East of England Plan (Regional Spatial Strategy) no longer forms part of the Development Plan for Cambridge and therefore should no longer be referred to in the determination of planning applications."

This is fantastic news, Labour's target driven agenda has gone, and there will no longer be pressure put on local authorities to build arbitrary numbers of houses - local Councils will now have to work with residents to get their consent to build more housing. This is an opportunity that should be embraced - the Cambridge sub-region desperately needs more housing (the CEN reported yesterday that last year prices increased by 26%, to £290k on average in the City, well out of reach of many families working in typical jobs in the City). We need our Councillors and Councils to change their mindset from compulsion regardless of local opinion to actively making the positive case for more housing - and it is inevitable that how we develop new housing will need to change.

New developments must bring transport improvements of all types to everyone (and not just more traffic and congestion charging, which was all that was on offer to Coleridge residents from the previous plans for development on the airport) - the mindset all too apparant at both the City and County Council that says all local transport problems can be solved by 'demand management' must be replaced by demands for more transport capacity. New housing must be much higher quality, and bring new high quality public open spaces and other facilities, such as post offices and pubs in communities that don't currently have them, and facilities such as an ice rink for the sub-region. Finally, existing residents need to benefit rather than be penalised by the increased council tax base. Some commentators have claimed the abolition of targets will stop house building in its tracks. This is nonsense - the targets of the last decade saw reductions in new house building at a time of booming house prices and availability of financing for residential housing that was lax beyond the point of recklessness for many of the financial institutions involved. This defies all economic logic, and can only be explained by the catastrophically unfit for purpose regulatory environment that was Labour's planning system. Put simply, the failure of planners and government to make sure new developments benefited local residents, meant there was always massive opposition to them, and quality family housing wasn't delivered.

I fear the planners have not yet understood this. With the regrettable postponement of the A14 upgrade, the current planning policies prohibit significant growth at Northstowe and the NIAB site in North West Cambridge. Even now, planners want to change the planning policies to allow these developments to go ahead even if the A14 isn't upgraded. That would be a major mistake - the urgent task is to get the A14 and other transport improvements back on the agenda as soon as possible, and only when these are being built, to consider building the houses. When we need to convince people that new developments will bring real benefits in areas like transport, the last thing we need is new developments that demonstrably fail this test.

Lighten up, Labour!

2010-06-30T23:57:00.012+01:00

Reading Labour's local, somewhat unmagnanimous, victory newsletter it seems that Labour councillors are a little rattled at the work we have been doing in the ward.

We are used to Labour councillors whinging at us for supposedly 'taking credit' for their work but in reality they are just having difficulty recognising how hard we have been working in recent years and how effective Chris is as a ward councillor.

Some of Labour's favourite areas for this complaint are:

Kelvin Close - Cllr Howell spoke out effectively against unsuitable planning applications and campaigned against the then Labour governments's garden-grabbing policies. Coleridge Conservatives took our concerns about the planning system right to the top in the Shadow Cabinet.

Charges for disabled adaptations - Cllr Howell had challenged council officers on this subject before speaking out on the issue at a meeting of the Housing Management Board.

In contrast, Coleridge Conservatives actually welcome the involvement of our political opponents in issues on which we have led such as City Homes South and the Ashbury Close/Golding Road cycle path - that is what voters deserve. There is no doubt that since Coleridge Conservatives came on the scene in force, making this a marginal ward, residents have benefitted from extra attention from both sides. (The Lib Dems ignore Coleridge.)

The two big campaigns of recent years, saving Marshall's Airport and congestion charging are areas where Labour have tried to paint local Conservatives on the wrong side of the argument in the knowledge that that did not reflect the truth.

Marshall's Airport - Conservatives were first to expose the dangers of Labour's housing targets over ten years ago but Labour dismissed our warnings as scaremongering before waging a long newspaper letter-writing campaign to claim we were for the development.

Congestion charge - City Tories have opposed congestion charging ever since local Lib Dems expressed their love of the concept but Cambridge Labour kept trying to pin the Labour government's congestion charge blackmail on local Tories. I would have voted against the TIF bid if elected to the county council in 2009 but Labour's county councillor actually voted for it, with a sycophantic defence of the Labour government!

If Labour want to claim dirty tricks we could remind them of their attempts to skew our residents' surveys with dodgy responses - not helpful for residents - or the rather amusing 'Tawrie Bluebird'. A bit of self awareness would help! We know it is often hard for died-in-the-wool socialists to acknowledge positive traits in Conservatives and they can tend to 'hear' what they want to hear but my advice for local Labour councillors is to lighten up... we have always been keen to work with our political opponents for the benefit of local residents and nothing has changed in that regard... so how about that pint, Lewis?

Cherry Hinton Care Home Redevelopment Begins

2010-06-22T12:31:00.000+01:00

Work has now started on the controversial extension to the nursing home at 369 Cherry Hinton Road. Two semi-detached houses have already been demolished, and the site is being prepared for construction.

There has already been an issue over the removal of some trees that were due to be retained in the approved plans, so this morning I was at a site meeting this morning including planners, the developers and local residents, to talk through this and any other issues.

The trees at the front of the site were removed in error - and the developer has reassured me that similar trees (and more) will be replanted when the work is complete.

Another issue of interest that has arisen (particularly for the planning appeal being held in July against the refusal of permission for a development at the other end of the close) is the level of the water table - apparently it is very high - a test hole filled immediately with water. Perhaps not unrelated to this, the road further up the close is currently very unstable - the developers have stopped lorries reversing there in case the road or pavement collapses.

I will be following up this issue with the highways department, and the developer has promised to keep residents informed about progress on the works (due to last 40 weeks). If there are any further comments about the site, please be in touch and I can pass them on.

Cherry Hinton Road Resurfacing

2010-06-19T08:00:00.003+01:00

Quick reminder - the long awaited resurfacing work on Cherry Hinton Road (Perne Rd to Cherry Hinton) is due to start at some point over the next week. Expect a few delays...

Have your say on Mill Road Festive Lights

2010-06-11T16:58:00.000+01:00

A message from the Mill Road Festive Lights Association:

"What did you think of Mill Road’s first ever Christmas Switch On last year?

What Lights do you want to see in 2010?

The Mill Road Festive Lights Association will be holding its first AGM at 7pm on Tuesday 29th June at Ross Street Community Centre – see the map below.

Everyone is welcome to come along, and free refreshments will be provided.

There will be a review of the first ever Mill Road Lights last year, and you can help us decide how and when we switch the Lights on this year – plus what new Lights you want to see for 2010.

We will also be electing officers to the committee, and we are looking to the local community to get involved. As well as the job of putting the Lights up and planning the Switch On, we need people to speak to Mill Road traders, and we also need help with fundraising and publicity. If you live near Mill Road, or if you care about the area, then we want to hear from you!

Please help us publicise this event by passing this information on, or print off our poster and put it in your windows -

http://millroadfestivelights.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/agm-poster-2010.pdf

To see the full agenda or read the proposed constitution, please go to our website: www.millroadfestivelights.co.uk"

Around Coleridge

2010-06-10T15:19:00.000+01:00

Been a busy of couple of days with on-site meetings looking at some of the long standing ward issues:

Grass verges
The East area committee has allocated £25,000 to each ward including Coleridge to tackle problems with grass verges. Last night 2 of our 4 Councillors met (in the rain!) with a City Council officer, to talk about how we can use this very limited amount to help in the main problem area around Chalmers Road and Birdwood Road.

It won't be possible to repair all the verges, and the suggestion was that some of the money could be used for some yellow lining on Birdwood Road (especially round the junctions) that could allow some verges to be protected, and for some of the (much narrower) verges in Chalmers Road to be tarmaced, but with some new trees planted as well. Whilst there isn't the cash to pay for additional dropped kerbs (and it would be unfair on those that have had to pay for this work themselves), I suggested we look into whether a bulk deal on dropped kerbs could be negotiated to see if any residents would like to pay for improved access to drives, with the Council then being able to repair the verges with some hope of them surviving. Very early days, but hopefully plans for some improvements (if not a complete solution) should be forthcoming in due course for public consultation.

Perne Road Shops
As previously reported, the developer has put plans for the Perne Road shops redevelopment on hold until the finance markets improve. They are however working on putting hoardings around the site, and have offered to contribute to some artwork on the hoardings and building. Working with one of our other Coleridge ward Councillors, there was an on-site meeting today with teachers from Coleridge Community College, and a representative from Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination, a charity who work on community public art projects. The plan is for the school to work with the community and produce some public art. Hopefully the school will be taking this project forward with CCI, and with the support of local Councillors.

Tiverton House
Finally, at 7pm this evening, there is a residents meeting at St Thomas' Hall, Ancaster Way to talk about Tiverton House, with updates on the current (much improved) situation, actions since the last meeting, and a plan for the start of the next academic year. All local residents (including Tiverton House!) welcome.

Councils told to publish expenditure over £500

2010-06-06T19:12:00.003+01:00

The Conservative decentralisation, or localism, plan does not just mean handing powers down from central government to councils, it also means handing power directly to people. Conservatives believe in treating adults like adults and understand that people will rise to the opportunity if given responsibility. That is why Conservative policy is being enacted by the new government to publish all items of expenditure over £25,000 and why Eric Pickles is requesting councils to publish all spending over £500. This ties in with another Conservative campaign on transparency and openness in general.

By publishing expenditure freely for everyone to see people will be able to scrutinise public bodies to such an extent that it will be difficult for the bodies to get away with wasting public money so easily as they currently do. The change will also make it easier for local suppliers to bid for contracts which will be great news for the small businesses which have been so badly hit during the recession and on which our recovery will depend.

Chris Howell had already urged the city council to follow the best practices showcased by Conservative-run councils like the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which already publishes all expenditure over £500.

It will be important that councils release the data in a format that can be manipulated systematically and I am sure that groups such as mySociety will be quick off the mark with interesting and useful tools for analysing the data.

It seems that the new policy is due to be effective by January, but why wait? Coleridge Conservatives call on Cambridge City Council to end its culture of secrecy and start publishing the data as soon as possible. The Openness motion of which Chris supported the strengthening last year already called for change but what progress has been made?

Growth in North West Cambridge - public meeting.

2010-06-06T14:45:00.000+01:00

There are a number of 'growth areas' for housing planned around Cambridge. The Southern Fringe around Trumpington Village has got furthest through the planning process, but plans are now also progressing for the North West of the city, including the NIAB site.

Its the opposite side of the City to Coleridge, but the local authorities have agreed to the establishment of the North West Cambridge Community Forum, which will be set up to discuss a wide range of issues that are of relevance to the whole of the North West Cambridge quadrant. Membership will include key community stakeholders, local authority officers, councillors and partner organisations.

The first Open Community Forum Event will be held on 19th June at the Meadows Centre, 1 St Catharine’s Road and will be open to all members of the public. Local authority officers will be in attendance, as well as developers, and this event is seen as the beginning of the longer term engagement process with local communities.

Blowing a Raspberry

2010-06-04T16:55:00.001+01:00

It was disappointing news to many, including myself, that the police decided to 'cancel' this weekend's planned Strawberry Fair. Yes, it isn't everyone's idea of fun, but for many people in Cambridge and elsewhere it is, and the police could (and should) have concentrated on those causing trouble, and leave the vast majority who like the festival and the music to enjoy their day in sun.

Instead, they decided to 'cancel' the event by withdrawing their support. The City Council didn't help either by changing the licensing arrangements this year. The outcome was that the strawberry fair organising committee concluded they couldn't continue with this year's event as planned.

Not surprisingly in today's world of social networking sites and the like, an alternative event is now planned for the common. The reaction of the authorities to this says a lot about how the police and government view their role at the moment. Their view seems to be that if a group of people want to do something, it is up to the authorities to graciously grant us their permission, and if people aren't prepared to concede to every bit of regulatory control on the grounds of health and safety or whatever else the government thinks is good for us - which in itself is a constantly moving target - the authorities will just say no and think that is reasonable. The City Council have been in emergency planning mode - I couldn't tell you much about what precautions they have taken (~~for some reason I wasn't invited to the Councillor's briefing~~ - UPDATE - it appears I was invited but only using my Council email address, which it turns out randomly stopped forwarding emails to me, so I didn't know about the invitation - apologies to those concerned for suggesting this was intentional - I give up completely on the Council's email system - I am now telling everyone to only use my personal address!). The police on the other hand were reported in the CEN as saying: 'Riot police will be on standby at an illegal gathering to replace Strawberry Fair' (my emphasis).

A letter in today's Cambridge Evening News makes the point I was thinking reading the CEN report: 'Since when was picknicking on common land illegal? What precise law are we breaking?'

The authorities clearly have a duty to protect public safety, and plan ahead where there are potential threats, but this whole episode illustrates the extent to which the police mindset is still very much in authoritarian New Labour mode - we don't like something, we'll stop it no matter what. My personal view is that as long a people behave responsibly and in accordance with the law, the police and authorities should be there to actively support them and protect them from those who don't behave in accordance with the law or with due responsibility for those around them. They can't be bothered to enforce the law in really very simple situations like cyclists riding at night without lights, or cars parked in mandatory cycle lanes - you would at least thought that they could police events like Strawberry Fair by concentrating on the small minority of law-breakers, rather than stopping everyone's fun.

Personally I don't plan to enjoy the sunshine on Midsummer Common tomorrow with friends, but I hope if lots of people do make that choice, they have a good time, but also think about the neighbouring residents and be responsible. If people do cause trouble, the police should focus on the troublemakers, and remember that they are partly responsible for the situation by regulating out of existence the formal organisation for the Fair - leaving behind an event over which they have much less control.

Councillors meet Network Rail

2010-05-25T10:04:00.001+01:00

Last night at a well attended meeting, three Network Rail representatives (covering commercial development and project management) talked to Councillors and Council officers about their plans for Cambridge Station.

The good news is that Network rail (or rather the government via network rail) is investing £17m in a new Island platform for Cambridge station - the main motivation being to support 12 carriage trains to help relieve overcrowding on the routes to London.

The main elements of the plan are to remove two of the underused lines at the station and to create a new island platform, approx 250m long and 9m wide in their place, with a track and platform on either side (to be called platforms 7 and 8). They are also planning a new footbridge to the island, from just north of the current station building (this seems to be the only place they can make it work). As well as supporting longer trains, the new platform will reduce problems with manoevering trains around the station, so could support more frequent services in future.

The plans could move forward quite quickly - Network Rail intend to seek planning permission next month - they don't usually need permission to develop on railway land, but do in this case as the station is a listed building. Construction would take 5-6 months next year - with small numbers of closures to the line hopefully coinciding with other engineering works. The new platform is planned to open on 12th December 2011, to coincide with the new winter timetable.

Less good news is that Network Rail really don't seem to understand just how many cycles use Cambridge station. We are in a unique situation nationally in terms of the high levels of cycle usage in the city, and failure to support journeys involving cycling and rail adequately (through lack of cycle parking and lack of support for bikes on trains) is holding back further takeup of cycling. If Network Rail doesn't get this right and lots of people go back to using their cars to get to the station, all commuters would suffer from increased congestion and longer journey times around the city.

Network Rail admitted they were using standard models for passenger movements through the station (to identify where the 'pinch points' like the booking office will be as passenger numbers increase), without taking specific account of the high levels of bike movements at Cambridge station. Their proposed footbridge is also a standard modular design that would require bikes to be carried up steps or put into small lifts. Along with other Councillors, I made the point that the new footbridge would need to be designed specifically to cope with high volumes of bikes and make it easy for people to cross the line with their bike. They have promised to let us have more details about their modelling of passenger movements for use of the new platform, and will have been left in no doubt that they need to rethink the footbridge. Councillors also urged Network Rail to work on this issue with Cambridge Cycling Campaign. It would be interesting to know how stations in places like Holland are setup to support cyclists...

Another topic of discussion was how a new entrance to the station could be created from the Coleridge side of the station. I support access to the station from this part of Coleridge, as long as it is mainly for pedestrians and cyclists - it would clearly need to be accompanied by some measures to stop commuter parking.

The area of land east of station is currently underused - mostly for the train washer, and the rail authorities are working on a longer term plan to redevelop this area all the way up to Mill Road. I would like to see a new Eastern access earlier than waiting for complete redevelopment of the area, but there are two problems - getting across the line next to the new platform 8, and the train washer (which apparently could cost over £1m to move elsewhere!). Hopefully network rail are going to think about possible solutions to this.

Finally, Coleridge Conservatives have been calling for much better communication from Network Rail about their plans for some time - it has taken a long time from when I first started asking Network Rail for a meeting for this meeting to be setup. I hope that in future they can be much more proactive in engaging both with locally elected representatives and the wider public about their plans to develop the railway network in Cambridge. I would like to see a new station at Chesterton, and the Chisholm Trail cycle route taken forwards. If the local Councils could find a way to raise funding for projects such as these (perhaps from existing developer contributions for transport), combined with funding from other sources, e.g. the government or train operating companies, these projects could happen earlier and issues like cycling facilities considered much earlier in the design process - all of this will require better channels of communication between all relevant groups, so hopefully yesterdays meeting was just the beginning.

Coallition Deal Published

2010-05-20T10:30:00.002+01:00

More details of the Conservatives-Lib Dem coalition deal have been published this morning, and it looks like many of the best bits of the Conservatives localism agenda will actually happen - with the following commitments from the coalition:

We will promote the radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups. This will include a review of local government finance.
We will rapidly abolish Regional Spatial Strategies and return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils, including giving councils new powers to stop ‘garden grabbing’.
We will give councils a general power of competence.
We will allow councils to return to the committee system, should they wish to.
We will abolish the Standards Board regime.
We will implement the Sustainable Communities Act, so that citizens know how taxpayers’ money is spent in their area and have a greater say over how it is spent.
We will freeze Council Tax in England for at least one year, and seek to freeze it for a further year, in partnership with local authorities.
We will cut local government inspection and abolish the Comprehensive Area Assessment.

In all, the potential for a radical shift of power to locally elected people, and a huge roll back of the powers used by central government to dictate in detail how local Councils operate. I can't wait to see some of this implemented...

Good news on Resurfacing

2010-05-19T13:55:00.000+01:00

Good news from the County Council! Cherry Hinton Road is set to be resurfaced from Perne Rd to Cherry Hinton. This has been one of Coleridge Conservatives long standing requests for action to improve the road surfacing, and we welcome this news (although there are some sections nearer Hills Road that also could do with attention).

The County Council adds: 'It is anticipated the programme of work will commence mid June and will take approximately 6 weeks to complete. As the process is totally weather reliant it is impossible at this stage to give precise dates for each site. However, notices to inform road users of the works will be displayed at each location at least seven days before any work is undertaken.'

Fix the Swings!

2010-05-15T11:07:00.000+01:00

The swings on the Neville Road recreation ground have been vandalised. When I first reported the problem over a month ago, only two of the swings had been removed:

Now all of them have gone - apparently removed by someone with bolt cutters. The Council have assured me they can be replaced relatively quickly, but one aspect of the Council's response to this problem does worry me - they don't seem to have reported the criminal damage to the police and obtained a crime number.

When I follow up problems like this with the police, the usual response I get back is that they haven't had any reports so don't think there is a problem. I always encourage local residents to report all incidents of crime or anti-social behaviour (even if it frequently doesn't look like anything is being done in response to these reports...), so it is particularly disappointing that the Council itself doesn't seem to be following this advice. I hope incidents like this are rare, but when they do happen, I hope the Council will in future not just spend taxpayers money fixing the problem without reporting it to the police to investigate.

Where all the money goes - part 92

2010-05-14T11:59:00.000+01:00

I was emailed details last week for a seminar being run by LGIU, the local government information unit, cost £250+VAT or £150+VAT for member organisations (i.e. tax payer funded local authorities). The title - 'Petitions – the new duty'. It goes on:

The government has produced its statutory guidance on the new duty for councils to respond to petitions. It comes into force on 15 June 2010, and the e-petitions requirements come into force on 15 December 2010.
The statutory guidance requires all councils to revise their handling of petitions to ensure that they meet the new duty.
This seminar will focus on key issues that authorities will need to consider in implementing the new duty and in designing and developing a petitions scheme:
Involving elected members
How petitions fit within the council’s engagement and involvement strategy and its engagement processes
Implications for overview and scrutiny
Implications for partners and co-operation
Implications for senior officers
The DCLG model scheme
Setting thresholds
E-petitions
Sharing knowledge and experience with each other delegates will be invited to consider how petitions and e-petitions can work.

In other words, the (thankfully now deceased) former government has discovered that people don't much like the ability of local councils to respond to their concerns, so instead of tackling the real problem - the way in which local councils are dictated to in minute detail by central government, they conclude it must be down to how local council's 'engage' their communities. People don't like what is happening, so they put together a petition. They don't like the response to the petition (usually because the Council's hand are tied), so the government placed a duty on local Councils to respond to petitions in a certain way - and as taxpayers we now all fund the training courses to teach councils how to do it.

I've no idea if this is going to be included in the strong localism agenda of the new government, but I suggest an alternative model:

Genuinely empower local Councils and local Councillors to decide what happens locally
If residents aren't happy, they can contact their Councillors, email them, petition them or use any obvious method to make their view known.
If they aren't happy with the response from their Councillors, they dump them out at the next election and replace them with Councillors that will respond to their concerns.

And we scrap the central targets, duties and controls, scrap the civil servants dreaming up these regulations, scrap the taxpayer funded courses to teach Councils about them and use the money saved to help pay off the enormous budget deficit. Efficiency saving or cuts to vital front line services? I know which category I would put this in - but I dare say Labour will still be claiming it is impossible to reduce the cost of government at all without cutting 'vital front line services'

Station Bus Interchange takes shape

2010-05-12T00:15:00.000+01:00

The County Council held a briefing meeting today to update Councillors on latest plans for the new bus interchange at the station.

Progress is being made - the current plan is for the whole of the station area south of Station Road to be developed by the end of 2012 - a planning application for the bus interchange should be brought forward in May. There is some urgency as the County Council has secured £4.5m of grants to develop the bus interchange and new bus link road to Hills Road, and the money must be spent soon.

View Larger Map

The good news is that this should bring significant transport improvements to the area:

- a new bus and cycle road from the Brooklands Avenue junction on Hills Road to the bus interchange
- a new bus interchange that will double the bus stop capacity at the station
- numerous new pedestrian and cycle routes in and through the site south of station road.

The details of the new bus interchange appear to be high quality, with good materials, and features such as real time bus information.

But my view remains that the station area plans are a wasted opportunity. The bus interchange will be surrounded close by on both sides by high density student accommodation - if nothing else it effectively rules out indefinitely using the station area as a significant new bus station due to space constraints - the whole area looks quite cramped - a problem that will be exacerbated when the new trees planned for the area mature. I fear it is too late now to change this.

In other developments, I have been trying to arrange a meeting with Network Rail to discuss a range of railway related transport projects - the City Council are currently taking this forward and trying to arrange a meeting for Councillors focusing on plans for a new island platform - giving local people a say in how these plans develop remains a key objective.

Coleridge Election Result

2010-05-08T13:22:00.004+01:00

Thank you to everyone who voted Conservative on Thursday in Coleridge and to the many people who helped my campaign for the city council election.

The result of the city council election was a win for Labour with the Conservatives again taking second place. The Liberal Democrats appear to have benefitted from their profile in the parliamentary contest. Adjusted for general election turnout the green performance was slightly down on last year's while the UKIP vote was squeezed.

1320 (32.3%) .. Lewis Herbert (Labour)
1160 (28.4%) .. Andrew Bower (Conservative)
1040 (25.5%) .. Thomas Yates (Liberal Democrat)
446 (10.9%) .. Valerie T Hopkins (Green)
118 (2.9%) .. Albert Watts (UK Independence Party)

Congratulations to my Labour opponent, Councillor Lewis Herbert, whose work for local residents has clearly been recognised. Coleridge Conservatives will continue to try to work with ward councillors from other parties where we share common ground.

Well done to Nick Hillman for moving us into second place in the parliamentary elections in Cambridge, building on the excellent work done by former candidate Richard Normington, who was personally responsible for reviving the Conservative campaign in Cambridge in the period since the last general election, resulting in us coming second in Cambridge in the European elections last year.

Special thanks to Chris Howell, Coleridge and Cambridge's top councillor and top Conservative campaigner, to Richard Normington, Coleridge branch chairman and to Tim Haire, Cambridge Conservatives' excellent new political deputy chairman. The work for 2011 begins now!

Bower's Contract: 4. Fixing Planning

2010-05-05T11:30:00.002+01:00

Local planning policies are broken. I want to see an end to garden grabbing, insufficient parking on new developments, the sacrifice of open spaces and the destruction of Cambridge's heritage.

Many of our problems derive from national rules, including effective maximum parking restrictions and crazy housing targets. Indeed the threat to Marshall was a consequence of Labour's housing targets, as warned by local Conservatives but dismissed as scaremongering by Labour councillors. Yet the city is suffering from a lack of family housing - a problem that the current mass development plans don't address.

However, the city council's own rules (the 'local plan') and the manner of their implementation make problems much worse.

If elected I would add my voice to that of Chris Howell's in calling for a rapid rethink of the plan, along with strategic development plans to take advantage of what we must all hope will be a new Conservative government's cancellation of Regional Spatial Strategies and reform of planning rules.

Even without a Conservative government, however, I would call for the city council to strengthen the plan to protect Cambridge's heritage, to remove the crazy tighter local requirement for maximum parking provision that is currently ensuring chaos for the future and to cut down on garden-grabbing developments.

Bower's Contract: 3. Working Hard

2010-05-05T06:26:00.000+01:00

My third pledge if elected at this election is to work hard for Coleridge residents throughout the year, keeping residents regularly informed by newsletters and on the blog and being accessible to residents.

There is currently only one Conservative on the city council in Chris Howell, who punches well above his weight at the Guildhall. Electing another Conservative would make us twice a effective. And with the Conservatives you don't just hear from the person who is next up for election - the whole team works hard.

Much of our work over the last year can be scrutinised on this blog.

A Conservative government would also be excellent news for Coleridge and Cambridge. I urge you to vote for Nick Hillman for MP to help us get the changes we badly need nationally as well as locally on issues like planning. However, when it comes to the crunch I will always put local residents first.

Bower's Contract: 2. No Congestion Charge

2010-05-04T01:08:00.003+01:00

My second main pledge to Coleridge if I am elected as city councillor on Thursday is to continue to oppose congestion charging for Cambridge.

Congestion charging is not the right answer for Cambridge. I have campaigned hard against the charge ever since it was proposed in 2007.

Cambridge badly needs funding for transport infrastructure to match the huge developments being forced on it but the Labour government's answer was to blackmail the county council saying funding would only be available if a congestion charge were implemented, via the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF).

Congestion charging would be a complete disaster for Cambridge, fail to raise enough revenue to pay for its network of spy cameras and adversely impact most those on low incomes who rely on motor vehicles for trade.

Many Conservatives on the county council voted against the TIF bid but Coleridge's Labour county councillor voted for congestion charging with a spirited defence of the Labour government. The Lib Dems and the Greens are also right behind this lunatic plan and are desperate to resurrect the now dormant plan for congestion charging.

Fortunately the TIF scheme has been proven to be unworkable and the government has found it necessary to replace it.

I will stay vigilant to the risk to Cambridge of any renewed attempts to introduce congestion charging.

Perne Road Shops Latest

2010-05-03T16:24:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I was at a meeting with the owners of the Perne Road shops (and one of our three Labour Councillors!), to find out the latest on redevelopment plans.

It wasn't good news for those looking for an early solution to the problem - redevelopment is currently on hold, due to lack of finance being available for this type of project. Whilst this could change any time, the owners have now offered to provide some funds to improve the site. They plan to put wooden boarding around the site, and will support some type of murals or artwork on the boarding. I have contacted the Council to find out if they could also provide some support, for example to allow local artists to work with the local schools to come up with some ideas for murals or some other type of public art.

It is still unacceptable that the flats on this site have been empty for so long, but in the meantime it would be great if we can get improvements to the site whilst development is on hold. As ever, let me know if you have any ideas.

Bower's Contract: 1. Lower Council Tax

2010-05-03T11:24:00.008+01:00

This is the first of a series of posts running up to the city council election on Thursday in which I will cover my five main pledges to Coleridge to which I would work if elected.

Every Conservative should put the taxpayer foremost when dealing with taxpayers' money. That means that every pound is spent well.

Cambridge City Council has been increasing council tax by 4.5% year on year. For this general election year only they are raising it by only 2.5% but have planned to raised it by 3.5% and then 4.5% in the following years. That means an Olympic-sized cumulative tax rise of 11% by the Olympic year of 2012.

I would push for the city council to keep council tax rises down to 2.5% or lower for the next two years so that they can benefit from the council tax freeze promised by the Conservatives nationally if, as we all must hope, they get elected. In contrast the Conservative-run county council is planning 2.5% rises for those years, meaning council tax bills would be frozen.

The graph above shows council tax rises after the application of the Conservative national council tax freeze for frugal councils that keep their rises below 2.5% by 2.5% matching funding.

The full Conservative policy on the city council for keeping council tax low is on pages 10 and 11 of our manifesto.

We need a new culture at the city council to keep council tax under control. Instead of incremental budget changes that are thoroughly opaque we should instigate 'zero-based budgeting' whereby all expenditure is justified afresh and the council doesn't just keep on doing things which may not be to taxpayers' benefit because they haven't been identified.

David Cameron has the right idea when he talks about Labour’s ‘carnival of waste’:

I know there are those who will hear us talking about cut waste and say "you'll be no different, you'll have your pet projects, you'll go native when you start living in the land of bureaucrats". So let me explain why we'll be different. We'll be different because we are different. First, our attitude is different. Conservatives loathe waste. Efficiency is in our DNA. We never forget that fundamental fact about public money, which is that it's public, it's yours, not ours. It doesn't undergo some magical transformation at the Treasury to become government money. Those are the same pounds that were earned by you on the factory floor, on the hospital ward, in the office and we will never forget that we have a moral duty not to spend your money but to save it where we can.

Good government costs less with the Conservatives!

I would do my best to keep council tax down, following the best practices of Conservative councils across the UK and taking a lead by calling for councillor allowances to be cut by 10%.

Tenants lose out in Digital Changeover

2010-04-28T14:15:00.001+01:00

The City Council has previously maintained communal TV aerial for its tenants - and most private sector tenants would expect the same from their landlords as well.

But I think they have a mess on their hands with their plans for the digital changeover. The Council plan for communal digital aerials on City Homes residences that are 3 or more stories high (i.e. very few in Coleridge), and have basically told residents in building 2 storeys high they need to make their own arrangements, and unhelpfully added that they will probably need planning permission.

I've followed this up with the planning department, and the situation on planning permission for aerials is far from straightforward - to be more precise:

"Part 25 Class B deals with buildings less than 15m in height and limits the number of antennas that can be put up without the need for permission to 2, of which only one may exceed 60cm in length and neither of which may exceed 100cm in length. Furthermore, any antenna

- attached to a chimney must not exceed 60 cm in length and must not exceed the height of the chimney; and

- must not have a cubic capacity in excess of 35 litres; and

- no part of an antenna installed on a roof without a chimney shall exceed the highest part of the roof on which it is installed; and

- an antenna installed on a roof with a chimney must not exceed the height of the chimney stack or 60cm above the highest ridge tile, whichever is lower.

The length of an antenna is measured in any linear direction and shall exclude any projecting feed element, reinforcing trim, mounting or brackets."

The Council just telling tenants they 'may need planning permission' and leaving them to get on with it when so many people are affected by this is not very helpful.

The Council needs to rethink its decision and arrange to make digital aerials available to all tenants - but at the very least where it would be better to have a smaller number of communal aerials on two storey buildings, City Homes should be making the arrangements and dealing with the planning complexities. The current policies are unacceptable.

Works planned for Station Road

2010-04-22T10:51:00.002+01:00

The contractors for the guided bus have provided notification of some road works and traffic management from 3 May for two weeks for the new bus/rail interchange at the station:

As part of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway scheme BAM Nuttall are building a new bus interchange at the Railway Station.

The final phase to complete the interchange is to carry out work to tie in the new interchange area with the roundabout outside Cambridge Railway Station entrance.

To carry out this work safely traffic management will be put into place on the night of Monday 3 May 2010. The works will commence on Tuesday 4 May and last for approximately 2 weeks, including working at the weekends.

The traffic management restrictions will be in place and operated 24 hours a day with works taking place between 7am and 8pm. The traffic management cannot be removed at night as it would leave the road in an unsafe condition.

Please find attached a detailed sketch of the proposed traffic management that will be in place for these works.

To explain in more detail. There will be traffic lights controlling the roundabout for the duration of the works. Buses will not be using the roundabout; instead they will carry out a U-turn in front of it when they are given a green light by the temporary traffic signals.

All other vehicles will use the roundabout as normal although the carriageway width will be restricted. Access to the car park, disabled parking, taxi ranks, cycle park and other buildings will remain as normal.

The footpath on the south side of the road will be closed, but access will be maintained to all buildings, part from the Railway Station. People wishing to access the Railway Station should use the path on the north side of the road.

Please expect some delays due to the volume of traffic in the area and allow some more time for your journey.

Should you have any queries regarding the works please contact BAM Nuttall on 01954 785200.

Conservative City Council Manifesto launched

2010-04-17T11:15:00.002+01:00

Today City Conservatives launched our manifesto for the city council outside City Homes South on Cherry Hinton Road.

A Conservative vote in Cambridge is a vote to set a path towards:

Lower council tax, with a focus on better basic services
A planning system that protects Cambridge's heritage, and puts local residents in control
More frequent refuse and recycling collections
Promoting sport in the run up to the Olympics
Supporting better transport of all types, public and private
Open and accountable governance

We recognise that when asking people to make sacrifices during tough times politicians should lead by example, that is why we are proposing to cut councillor allowances by 10%, contributing £25k towards cutting council tax.

Vote for Change in Romsey

2010-04-15T18:16:00.000+01:00

Why Government is so expensive, part II

2010-04-13T09:31:00.001+01:00

A few days ago I wrote about why government is so expensive, and why the Conservatives are right that it is not only better to reduce the cost of government (rather than increase taxes) to fix Labour's debt crisis, it is mandatory. I said:

'Partnership working' is another recent entry in public sector buzzword bingo - in theory, great, it means (I think) public bodies working together to try running services better. In practice, there are pots of money available from government for their pet projects, whole teams of project managers and press officers producing plans to demonstrate that the right boxes are being ticked to show people are working together - along with endless meetings and powerpoint presentations taking up vast amounts of time, and involving senior public sector employees

As if by magic, an example turns up. The Community Alcohol Partnership from the humble Councillor's point of view is simply the police working with trading standards to tackle underage drinking, and they had been working in Coleridge as part of a pilot project. They visited places like Coleridge Rec on a friday or saturday night in response to complaints about under-age drinking, so the police can confiscate alcohol and contact parents as necessary, and trading standards can work with the shops who sold the alcohol to find out how it came into the possession of under 18s, and try to stop those sales in future.

All very sensible - except all seemed to have gone quiet from the community alcohol partnership, so this week I made enquiries as to what had happened to it - here is the reply:

As you had observed there has been less activity in recent weeks.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, the Adult Alcohol Commissioning Group are now acting as the CAP Board to oversee the roll-out of all CAPs in the county (including the existing ones) This measure was put in place earlier this year primarily to address some of the issues that had arisen. For example, they found that, without any formal structure or agreements, the representation of some partners on the working group changed several times - and some new representatives did not consider CAP a priority. This made it difficult to undertake any activities requiring input of certain partners.

The CAP Board will oversee and commit resources to the CAP (i.e. influence the CAP on the ground - making sure the working group has the necessary resources to deliver the relevant activities) and by getting formal agreements signed by each partner (SLAs) of their contribution to the scheme. A Terms of Reference for the working group and the SLAs will be drafted shortly and we hope to have these signed ASAP.

In addition, there is currently an evaluation of the CAP's work by xxx Ltd which will identify how the CAP can be improved as they move forward. It is anticipated that some of the aforementioned formal agreements and structures will be among the suggested improvements going forward. Once the evaluation report is published the CAP Board can consider the findings and influence how the CAP continues in the city.

And to think that if you believe Labour, it is vital we have so much government and any cost cutting would immediately impact doctors, nurses and teachers on the front line - absolute nonsense. One Conservative policy I really like is the idea of a directly elected police chief. Someone local residents can hold accountable, and to thom they could say that they just want the police to work with other groups to tackle the problem of underage drinking in their neighbourhood, and if they can't do it without a commissioning group, an oversight board, contracts, service level agreements, and a consultants report, they won't be in charge for very much longer...

New Wine Merchants for Cherry Hinton Road

2010-04-12T14:29:00.000+01:00

The former Wine Rack shop on Cherry Hinton Road, that shut after the parent company went into administration last year looks set to reopen as a branch Cambridge Wine Merchants, who have just submitted an alcohol premises license application for the shop.

They are a local specialist chain with branches on Mill Road, Bridge Street and Kings Parade, and hopefully will be an valuable addition to shops on Cherry Hinton Road.

Meet the General Election Candidates

2010-04-12T12:06:00.001+01:00

Perhaps the public meeting is staging a comeback as part of election campaigning, as there seem to have been a number of debates already involving the main general election candidates. As a strong supporter of No2ID in Cambridge, I would particularly like to publicise the following debate on April 22nd:

Cambridge NO2ID is collaborating with Amnesty International Cambridge city group & Cambridge Oxfam Group to run an Election Question Time on Thursday 22nd April.

These Cambridge parliamentary candidates will be there to answer your election-time questions:

Daniel Zeichner (Labour)
Tony Juniper (Green)
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat)
Nick Hillman (Conservative)
Peter Burkinshaw (UKIP)

Andie Harper of the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire will be in the chair.

Attendance is open to all, and free (but donations are appreciated).

Time & Date: 20:00, Thursday 22nd April 2010 (Doors open 19:30)

Location:
Emmanuel United Reformed Church
72 Trumpington Street
Cambridge CB2 1RR

(Opposite Pembroke College, next door to Peterhouse)

Map: http://www.aardvarkmap.net/mape/D8VVUR2D

Poster: http://tinyurl.com/22AprEQT

Planning Reception moves to Mandela House

2010-04-10T10:47:00.000+01:00

At the start of this month, the planning reception on the second floor of the Guildhall closed, and queries on planning applications will now be dealt with by the customer services centre at Mandela House, who are now the first point of contact for the Council's environment and planning department.

There should be a separate check-in area for planning queries at the customer service centre and a duty planning officer - if residents need to contact the case officer for a particular application, they can be phoned, or a meeting setup in the Guildhall.

One definite improvement being rolled out from 1st April, is that plans, drawings and documentation for planning applications will now be available online at www.cambridge.gov.uk/planningpublicaccess

The plans will however involve significant headcount reductions in the planning department - with more straightforward queries being dealt with by customer services staff. I would be interested to know how the changes to the system are working for those that deal with the planning department.

Validly Nominated

2010-04-09T19:40:00.004+01:00

I have received formal notice today that I am the Conservative candidate for the Cambridge City Council election in Coleridge Ward on Thursday 6 May. The full list of candidates is available on the city council website.

It will be a busy month for the Coleridge Conservative team as we fight a marginal council seat and promote Nick Hillman, our excellent parliamentary candidate in Cambridge.

We'll be keeping the blog up-to-date during the campaign. If you'd like to help then please drop me an e-mail at andrew@bower.org.uk or give me a call on 07876 031832.

Let battle commence!

Does the City Council need a climate change officer?

2010-04-09T10:29:00.000+01:00

Just been listening to our hopefully soon to be ex-Chancellor, discussing how impossible it is to find any efficiency savings in government - so he would prefer to go ahead with his national insurance rise that business leaders agree would do serious damage to the low paid and cost jobs rather than risk 'front line services'.

It is hard to believe that the person responsible for running the nation's finances has so little clue as to what has been going on in the public sector.

Whole areas of taxpayer funded activity are happening now that didn't exist even five years ago. (And taxpayers in this context includes both current taxpayers and people currently too young to pay tax, who will be taxed more to pay off Gordon Brown's catastrophic public debt). So I have a question for the Chancellor - perhaps I can call it the 'climate change officer test'.

If Cambridge City Council gets rid of its Climate Change Officer, and most of its related budget (totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds, paid for by taxpayers), would this be 'an efficiency saving' or a 'cut to front line services'?

Don't get me wrong, climate change is a serious issue, that needs to be addressed with some major changes to how we generate, transport and store energy - I just don't see how the City Council employing someone to encourage self-flagellation over the damage we are probably doing to the planet can possibly help - it hasn't even persuaded the Green Party to turn the lights off in their campaign HQ!

Perhaps it is unfair to pick on one area. 'Partnership working' is another recent entry in public sector buzzword bingo - in theory, great, it means (I think) public bodies working together to try running services better. In practice, there are pots of money available from government for their pet projects, whole teams of project managers and press officers producing plans to demonstrate that the right boxes are being ticked to show people are working together - along with endless meetings and powerpoint presentations taking up vast amounts of time, and involving senior public sector employees, many of whom are now being paid over £100k a year to run a local Council.

And we haven't even got onto regional bodies - I get emails from some of them that I literally can't understand through all the public sector gobbledegook what they are even trying to add that is of public benefit. Many of these bodies could shut up shop tomorrow, and residents would be unaware they had gone. Some of these bodies, like the ones trying to force housing targets on us against local residents wishes (or in the case of Marshalls, against the wishes of the landowner!), need to be disbanded before they do any more damage. The list of things the state could stop doing to avoid doing any more damage is not short - for example ID cards and a big database to track everyone as they negotiate their way through public services, or the layers of managers and administrators in the NHS whose sole job - as a doctor friend of mine explained - is to try and stop doctors allocating resources according to their judgement of clinical need, and start allocating resources to meet whatever the latest announced NHS target is - the list goes on.

And my answer to my own question - neither - there are whole areas of activity where it is not the case that they are being performed inefficiently (although many undoubtedly are), or that they aren't a front line service (although in many cases nobody would care if the 'service' wasn't provided) its just obvious that the business of government has grown too large, not slightly, but massively - we can't afford it, and in many cases it isn't even helping people. It will be possible to stop many activities of government, whilst simultaneously tackling the debts Gordon Brown has built up, stopping the tax rises that will cost jobs and damage the economy, but also actually improving people's lives and opportunities as the state stops trying to control from Whitehall so many aspects of our lives. It is definitely time for change in Government.

Lights on but no one in, Comrades

2010-04-08T23:33:00.008+01:00

Pictured is the Green Party's 'shop' on Mill Road, taken at 11.20pm tonight, with the lights blazing. There didn't appear to be anyone in at the time.

The Greens are always trying to tell everyone what to do - perhaps as socialists they think it's one rule for the party elite and another for the rest...

More seriously, we do all need to do our bit and cutting out obvious wasting of energy like this is the right place to start, not mosquito farming, wacky protectionist economics and ideological opposition to nuclear energy etc.

Police Investigating Coleridge Murder

2010-04-08T18:28:00.000+01:00

For those that don't read the Cambridge Evening News, police are investigating an apparent murder that occurred at around 7am this morning in Fanshawe Road, Coleridge.

It is because such events are thankfully so rare in Cambridge, there will doubtless be many shocked local residents, but I understand from police that although it may take some time to thoroughly investigate this incident, they don't have reason to believe at this stage that there should be a wider community impact.

Celebrating the Olympics in Cambridge

2010-04-07T14:30:00.000+01:00

Our local Councils are currently planning how to celebrate the Olympics in 2012. Cambridge has a proud sporting history, and it is likely that the Olympic Torch relay will pass through the City.

But from what I have heard so far, I am disappointed that the Councils are not planning to do more to use the Olympics to do more to promote more participation in mainstream sport, and will be taking this up with the Council.

Sport has the potential to address many of the policy areas public bodies spend a fortune of taxpayers money tackling the symptoms of - health problems, obesity, anti-social behaviour, lack of community engagement etc. It is also the area where most voluntary work is carried out by individuals. And the Council is failing these volunteers. They tried to stop students using the public open spaces for training, and I know, for example, the rowing community in Cambridge feels very let down by the City Council - they are seriously under-represented on the Cam Conservators, and so have little formal say over river management - which is currently holding back development of rowing in the City. The Lib Dems seem to see rowing as elitist and irrelevant to Cambridge, despite the efforts being made by clubs such as St Radegund, which I am involved in, to introduce more people to the sport.

In this context, this week I met with the prospective organisers who wish to restart the Cambridge City Half Marathon. Every similar city to Cambridge seems to have a half marathon - the previous successful Cambridge event stopped around 1995 - I understand due to lack of support from public bodies. They have setup a Facebook group, and I am meeting with Council officials and lobbying Councillors to support its return. Whether this support is forthcoming will be a key test to me of whether the Lib Dems running Cambridge have any intention of supporting my vision of Cambridge as a place renowned for its fit, healthy and sporty residents.

Annual survey flies off the presses

2010-04-06T01:04:00.005+01:00

Coleridge Conservatives' annual residents' survey for 2010 was flying off the press this Easter. Look out for it through your letterbox soon! Coleridge residents are welcome to complete the survey online.

We really value the feedback we get from these surveys, so thank you to everyone who has taken part in the past.

Coleridge's Labour councillors are of course very welcome to send in their own answers, but please avoid spoof answers as it doesn't help in our common cause of working for residents effectively...

Finally, do get in touch with us if you would like to help stuff some envelopes!

What next for the station area?

2010-04-05T18:03:00.000+01:00

View Larger Map

A period of exciting changes to the station area are planned for the future, that could be vital to transport infrastructure for the City.

To the west of the station, the Council finally signed off the s106 agreement for the CB1 development at a recent planning meeting. This gives the development permission to go ahead. We have blogged previously on the merits of the scheme as a whole, but the arguments go on about the financial viability of the whole scheme, what the Council knew about the previous developers Ashwells financial problems, and why even now their is a risk that only parts of the development will be built (like the student accommodation that appears to be most profitable), with some of the vital transport infrastructure never being built. The recent serious fire affecting listed buildings on the site only clouded the situation further.

But independently of the CB1 development, network rail has plans for the Coleridge side of the site. They would like to build a central platform, that will open up a range of options for accessing the station from Coleridge. They also have a vacant site that appears to be ripe for development, and could provide much needed housing in an area that is well served by transport links.

Further afield, we understand development of the former Cambridge Water site on Rustat Road could be about to be picked up again, and there is scope for improvements to the Leisure park.

What is the Conservative approach to the station and leisure park area?
Firstly, public consent - we need meaningful dialog with local residents before decisions are taken.

Second, we need high quality development - in such a key strategic part of the city, we must have a very high quality built environment. The Travelodge on the Leisure Park clearly fails this test - we mustn't make the same mistake with other sites.

Finally, we must develop the best possible transport links - and this means getting the agreements right when granting planning permission, and making sure developments are viable with the improvements to transport that must be provided to make the developments work without putting local residents in Coleridge to any greater inconvenience than they are already from problems such as commuter parking .

What are we doing about this?
I spent considerable time with network rail trying to setup a meeting to discuss a range of issues of public interest - what are their plans for a second platform? how will it connect to the main platform? How will it link to Coleridge? Will they help improve cycle parking at the station? Will they support the Chisholm Trail that could significantly improve cycle links from our ward? What are their plans for the vacant sidings? How can the public get involved? After emails with many people with 'communications' in their job title, I was no nearer speaking to anyone who actually had a meaningful role in decision making in these areas, and have asked the Director of Planning at the City Council to try setting up a meeting. It appears network rail, whilst enjoying all sorts of statutory protections and operating in many respects like a public body, operates outside of any type of democratic scrutiny. This needs to change!

We will be keeping up the pressure on the planning system at the Lib Dem run City Council - it isn't delivering quality, and we fear the station agreements will turn out to be a terrible deal for taxpayers - who have already funded much of the site through the bank bailouts prior to Ashwell's going bust, and who are now likely to pay for a lot of the transport infrastructure on the site as well. Our planning policies need to change, to ensure a quality build environment is not an unaffordable luxury after all the Council's other requirements have been met. Our planning policies also need to support and encourage better transport infrastructure, particularly on key sites like the station area.

Last week I also met with the owners of the Cambridge Leisure Park, along with other local Councillors. We pressed the case for better usage of the site, and talked about some of the transport issues - like how to encourage leisure park users into the multi storey car park rather than surrounding roads, and how to improve access to the site from the station area. I support some type of bridge (and/or possibly a connection to the new platform) - I could never understand why the Lib Dems allowed this to be taken out of the original planning permission for the Leisure Park in the first place...