Your County Councillor

COUNTY COUNCIL LETTER

 Mid June / July  2001

ELECTIONS

The County Council's election was overshadowed by the national contest to such an extent that it is difficult to find all the details within the press.

After all the campaigning around Cambridgeshire very little change happened. The Conservatives-will control the County Council for the next four years having boosted their power base from 33 seats to 34. The Liberal Democrats stay unchanged at 16 and Labour lost a seat leaving them with 9.

Around here there was very little change except inn the number of votes. In common with the rest of the country our local turnout went down -in our case by 9% to 65% compared with the national decline of 13% to 59%.

The voting figures for the Burwell/Bottisham Division which includes all our villages was as follows:

Susan Coomey (Lab) 761

Lavinia Edwards (Con) 1.781'

James Fitch (LD) 2.732

majority 951 or just under 52% .

May I take this opportunity to thank those of you who voted for me and reassure those who did not that I will continue to do my best for everyone regardless of their political views. If a higher than average number of people take the trouble to cast a vote, then I consider they are entitled to a higher than average level of representation. This is what I shall continue to try to achieve.

Once again, thank you for your support and friendliness on the doorstep. I could not get round to all 4.100 dwellings in the Division but I met a lot of you.

The County Council on 15 May decided to introduce new executive arrangement on 19 June 2001. Under these the Council will elect a Leader (probably Keith Walters) with a Cabinet of up to 10 councillors. It will be the function of the remaining councillors to scrutinize and if appropriate question the Cabinet's actions.

Overall,. the full Council will be responsible for deciding the Annual Budget and major policy. The Cabinet members will then carry out these policies in the same way as we do at national level.

The Annual Meeting of the County Council takes place on 19 June.

I shall continue to keep you informed of matters of interest to this locality through magazine articles and attending parish council meetings as I have done over the last eight years.

Do you know what your elected councillors do? The reason why I ra,ise this is that in a recent national MORI poll two-thirds of the people asked claimed to know little or hardly anything about what their local councillor does:

In the light of that sobering opinion it is only a slight relief to find that the same survey shows that the public think local councils generally perform better than Westminster:

Over half of those polled said councillors should be active, listen to their public, be available and deal effectively with their complaints.

So how do I respond to these disturbing national opinions?

As most people who have tried to contact me already know -

I am available on the 'phone (01223 - 811425) any reasonable time. If out I'll ring back on request. You can always leave a message on the answer phone or with Harriet.

When at home, I will see you any time you call although a bit of warning helps.

My e-mail address is: James.Fitch @Cambridgeshire.gov.uk

I regularly attend and report to parish council and all annual parish meetings.

If you want to discuss anything when you see me in the street, the Legion, the pub or wherever, please do so.

I always write an article for your parish magazine and contribute to the Lib. Dem "Focus".

I try to reply to letters or other approaches within two days, although sometimes there may be delays if a contribution from the council officers is needed

Apart from the above, I pick up your opinions or information from Bottisham Village College Governors, Burwell House managers, Bottisham Swimming Pool Association and one-off meetings such as traffic or environment meetings.

I wish I could think this is enough, but I was alarmed to read that MORI's boss Bob Worcester declares that "only one in ten people across the country say they have spoken or written to their local councillor in the last two to three years".

In response I would just point out that there are at least 4250 houses and over.ten thousand people living in the Burwell - Bottisham county division. How do you get round that lot?:

I have received the County draft School Organization Plan 2001/2006. You may be interested in the projected pupil numbers for our local schools (subject to change in final report).

All the above depends on continuing growth in Cambridgeshire.

It is the fastest growing county in the country.

Also East Cambs. is the fastest growing district. in Cambridgeshire.

James Fitch

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