Your District Councillor

Charlotte Cane Tel. 742509

District Council Notes (Dec/Jan 2001)

East Cambridgeshire District Council has joined with Forest Heath District Council to provide a community bus service, called the Community Buzz. It is based in Newmarket and serves the villages around Newmarket including Reach. At the moment it is a pilot scheme travelling to and from local hospitals so that you can visit friends or family. The Buzz visits Addenbrookes on Wednesdays and the West Suffolk Hospital on Fridays. They aim to give 2 hours visiting time at the hospital. There is also a door-to-door service, providing transport links between the villages and Newmarket during the week. Passengers will be able to dial-a-ride along any of the three bus routes, which will be serviced by three minibuses that have been adapted for wheelchair use. The pilot scheme will be flexible, routes being developed or modified according to passenger need. Passengers will have to be members of the scheme, paying an annual £5. Most return fares to Newmarket will cost £4.50. It is more expensive than Cambus, but it provides a door-to-door service at a time to suit you. If you want to use this service, please ‘phone 01638 608080. The more people in Reach who use this service the more services will be offered locally. The scheme depends on volunteer drivers. If you think you could help by driving a Community Buzz please ‘phone Belinda Metson, the co-ordinator on 01638 608080.

The District Council faced a very difficult budget round this year. If we are to continue to provide services at the level which people have told us they want, we will have to increase the Council tax nearer to the average for similar Councils. This year this average is £91. This is for many reasons, but the main reason is that for years the services have been funded largely from interest on our capital reserves. But as we have spent these reserves on capital projects the interest earned has decreased. The consultation carried out this year showed that most people did not want a significant rise in Council Tax, but nor did you want any cuts in the services and activities on which we asked for views. So we have restricted the increase in Council Tax for 2001/2 to 5% - 26p per week for a Band D, making the total to £64.21. This will raise one and a half million pounds and we will need to take a further £677,000 from reserves. This rise is slightly above inflation but still leaves East Cambridgeshire as one of the lowest taxing authorities. Over the next year we will be carrying out a fundamental review of the Council’s budget to look for further savings. We will also carry out a more in-depth consultation to find out how much people are prepared to pay for the services which the Council provides so that we can decide which, if any services to cut; which, if any, to enhance; and what level of tax to charge.

This year there will definitely be a County Council election and probably a General Election. If you are to vote, you need to be on the Electoral Register. If you are not already on the register locally, you have a second chance to be included on this register, which will be used for all elections between 16 February and December 2001. If you have moved house since you completed your registration form on 10^th October 2000 you can complete a claim form now and move your right to vote to your new address, this will take effect from 16^th February 2001. Please call Mrs Human or Mrs Gawthrop, in the Electoral Services Section, who will answer your questions and can send you the necessary paperwork to complete (01353 665555).

The auditors have given us their comments on how the Council was run in 1999/2000. They have commended members for actively monitoring the Council’s spend against budget, which lead to a much better delivery of services during the year and to a spend which was much closer to budget than it had been in previous years. They also highlighted the ‘sea-change’ in the use of information technology, which I hope will enable our staff to offer a better and more responsive service to the community.

As part of this ‘sea-change’, the District Council’s web site was launched on 2^nd January. The address is http://www.eastcambs.gov.uk. This will allow you to access information about Council services and send in your comments.

(Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Swaffhams and Reach)