Our first Full Council meeting to be held outside Ely went well. About 40 members of the public came to the meeting at Bottisham Village College and two people asked questions in the Public Question Time. One questioner raised the problems with contacting the Police on their non-emergency line. We have written to the Police to raise this issue and hope that we can work with them to bring about improvements in communications. The other question related to making public transport accessible to people with disabilities. We will raise this matter at the Joint County and District Committee and with Cambus.

The presentation by Mr Eden, the Managing Director of Cambus, was very interesting and encouraging. He picked up on the question about access to buses for people with disabilities. Saying that as buses were replaced they were being replaced with the sort of buses which can get down to kerb levels, making it easier for people in wheelchairs, with pushchairs, and with difficulties walking to board the bus. He also talked about the commitment to future investment in buses and drivers to make the service more reliable. And he undertook to consider carefully any suggestions for new services. He does, however seem to think that our Cambridge-Newmarket/Ely service is more reliable than it really is. It is therefore important that you register complaints with Cambus if your bus is too early, late, does not run or is too small for the number of passengers.

Planning issues have been causing concern, locally and across the District. To improve the service given by our staff we have recently increased their numbers and provided them with modern computer technology. The next step will be to provide them with computer based maps which can more easily be kept up-to-date than their current paper based maps. People sometimes make their planning applications retrospectively. Usually this is because they have misunderstood the planning rules, which are very complex. We cannot take account of the fact that the application is retrospective, simply judging the case on its merits. If we refuse the application then the building must be taken down or modified in order to comply with planning regulations.