VAT change notice 'wholly inadequate'

Following the pre-budget report and local government settlement, the City Council has been looking into the effects of the changes announced by Chancellor last week. On the VAT change, the City Council has commented:

"VAT – the standard level of VAT will be reduced from 17.5% to 15% for a 13-month period from 1 December 2008 to 1 January 2010. The Council is able to reclaim VAT, and so there is no impact on it’s spending. Whilst it is not clear what effect, if any, this will have on the Council’s income, the period of notice to implement the changes (4 working days) is wholly inadequate to effectively deal with the practical issues involved; and costs of making the associated changes are being reviewed."

So despite being leaked the weekend before to the papers (for which no government minister yet seems to have been raided by counter-terrorism police) the short notice of this panic measure by the Government is going to cause problems to the City Council, as it will doubtless to many small businesses up and down the Country as they struggle to change systems in time. I wonder if any retailers have seen lower sales this last week as people wait until monday before spending again in the expectation of lower prices, and if they can expect to make up for such lost sales later.

But if the measures proposed last week to try boosting the economy such as the VAT cut are causing problems, they are nothing to the problems that will be caused when we have to start paying back all the money Labour has borrowed on our behalf, and taxes rise.

Shadow Chancellor George summed up where we are best in his pre-budget statement response: "It is confirmation of the time- old truth that in the end all Labour chancellors run out of money and all Labour governments bring this country to the verge of bankruptcy. Stability has gone out of the window, prudence is dead, Labour has done it again. Massive borrowing, rising unemployment, tax giveaways for Christmas paid by tax rises for life, giving with one hand, taking with the other - everything we have come to expect from this prime minister."

By expanding public sector spending at unsustainable levels over a number of years, despite a growing economy, we have had both rocketing taxes (many by stealth) and increasing borrowing. Because they have failed to reform how many of the public services are run, much of the increased investment has been wasted, with little to show for it - but we do have an army of nannying public servants, dedicated to telling us what to do in every area of our lives, like how to play with tiddles.

As when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, getting the public finances back into a sensible shape will be the key priority of incoming Conservative government. This will again be painful, but the alternative, Gordon Brown's approach of trying to borrow his way out of a debt crisis could destroy the UK's economy for a generation. Already the market is rating defaults on UK government debt as more likely than some company debt, and as the government tries to borrow more, the market will be less and less willing to lend, and will demand higher and higher interest rates. Confidence in our currency could collapse. Gordon Brown's incompetence has got this country's economy into a terrible mess, and they are now showing every sign of making the situation worse.

Tescopoly

Tesco have submitted three planning applications related to their proposed new store on the Cambridge Leisure Park site.

08/1533/ADV - Illuminated Tesco Signs
08/1532/FUL - Formation of covered service yard and associated plant works including the erection of a 2m fence
08/1531/FUL - Shop front alterations and installation of ATM machine

Closing date for comments is 3rd Dec (Standard consultations), 9th Dec (neighbour consultations)

Tesco's plans for Mill Road are problematic due to the problems of coping with Tesco delivery lorries in narrow streets, and the threat to the diversity of shops on Mill Road. It is far from clear to me that these arguments apply to this latest store - and competition is usually good for consumers. I've already had one resident contact me to express support for this store, but if there is significant opposition, then the decisions should be made by Councillors rather than delegated to the officers. If you have strong views one way or the other, please comment on the planning applications and let us know.

Whippet Bus 114

I've been looking into the arrangements for Whippet bus service 114 - which always causes a large number of complaints when I speak to residents on Lichfield Rd. No-one can understand why such large, noisy buses are run down a small residential road - particularly as they don't appear to be very well used.

It appears the situation is complicated to say the least - Whippet run the basic service (hourly) on a commercial basis. The County Council contributes to run a tendered service hourly during the week, and the City Council contributes some funds to allow the route to operate half hourly on Saturdays. On the figures I've been told, the average subsidy per passenger on the tendered service is about £3 - although I don't know how this works out, as presumably if there was no tendered service at all, some of the passengers using the half hourly service would just use the hourly service that is run on a commercial basis.

The good news is that the County Council is retendering the service in April, and I have requested that they also ask for tender offers to operate the service in smaller, quieter buses that have low level access that would be better appreciated by some Lichfield Road residents - although these tender offers are expected to be higher. When the offers come in, we can see what the best solution is for taxpayers and Lichfield Road residents.

Objections raised to Coleridge Planning Applications

As ward Councillor I raised objections to two Coleridge planning applications considered at this evening’s East Area committee.

In the first application, an extension for the care home on Cherry Hinton Road at the junction with Kelvin Close was turned down by the committee, citing the reasons given by objectors, including myself. There are existing problems with delivery lorries blocking narrow Kelvin Close, which would be exacerbated by the larger premises, and the increased distance from the new car parking to the main entrance. The plans also called for the demolition of two family houses on Kelvin Close, and local residents who turned up to the meeting in numbers were clearly delighted.

In the second application, a bar on the Cambridge Leisure site was asking for permission for late night opening (to 2am) seven nights a week. There have been concerns for some time about alcohol related anti-social behaviour originating from the site, and the cumulative effect of bars is a concern. Having heard considerable complaints from residents in neighbouring roads about late night anti-social behaviour, often some distance from the site, but which are likely to have been caused by users of the Leisure Park site, I don't think this application is in the interests of residents and objected to it. Fortunately the committee also agreed, and the application was turned down.

As ever, I didn't take part in actually making the decisions which I think are better made at a central planning committee, so that I was free to stand up for local residents in these cases. The final decision was made after 11pm, surely not in the interests of good decision making - when are the Liberal Democrats going to listen to complaints about how crazy their Area Committee arrangements are for deciding planning applications.

Lichfield Road Set for Protective Planting

Some Lichfield Road residents have been suffering from damaged cars after people using the footpath through to Perne Road then used resident's car parks as an inappropriate cut-through. I raised this as an issue with the Council some time ago.

Following a consultation with affected local residents, and securing a small grant from the Councils 'Safer Stronger City' funding pot, the Council will now be taking some action. An order has been placed for new planting to be provided at the end of the garage block and for a temporary fence to be put up to protect the planting until it is established. This work should be completed by the end of January.

Not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, but this type of action can be controversial so it is good to see resident involvement and some action that hopefully will go a long way to fixing the problem. Many thanks to the City Homes staff involved.

Fire at new mosque site

There has been a serious fire at the old John Lewis warehouse on Mill Road. The site has been purchased by the Muslim Academic Trust with the intention of building a new mosque, so the building was due for demolition anyway, but the fire has caused Mill Road to shut between Perne Road and Coleridge Road, and this is likely to remain the case for a couple of days.

As our pictures show, damage is extensive, and the building is likely to be demolished on safety grounds. Police are treating the area as a crime scene, and forensic science experts were still working there this morning.

Taking a Punt

I like punting, and indeed take it very seriously as this picture demonstrates:

I've been looking into various issues related to punting, which plays an important role in tourism in the City, but has its problems. The Council is faced with nuisance issues from punt touts, and health and safety issues such as the serious incident recently reported in the CEN.

Independent punters claim these problems come about because the Council is making it hard for them to operate safely - see http://www.cambridgerivertour.com/developments.html. There are some complex issues involved, but generally speaking I think we need to have some sensible and well regulated competition in the Cambridge punting market. The City Council certainly seems to have it in for independent punters - and there was controversy at the last Strategy and Resources committee over the Council's use of CCTV cameras to monitor their activities on Jesus Green, where the City Council has banned them from operating. Despite partially concealed (if signposted) cameras, and the fact that the Council was aware of the identities of at least some of the people it was spying on, it maintains that the cameras weren't covert, and were directed at stopping unlawful activities not spying on individuals, so didn't need authorisation under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Dubious in my opinion, and certainly enough for me to conclude that a precautionary approach to compliance with RIPA was not followed in this case - I take back all I said about big brother is generally well behaved.

The issues surrounding punting in Cambridge aren't about to go away any time soon, and I'm not sure the behaviour of the Council is helping things.