Your District Councillor

Charlotte Cane Tel. 742509       e-mail ccane@cix.co.uk

District Council Notes (June / July 2002)

The Council continues to have success in attracting new businesses to the area. Our two purpose built office spaces in Ely and Littleport are rapidly filling up and we have been given a grant from the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership to carry out a feasibility study on opening a third set of offices in Ely, Soham or Burwell. These are aimed mainly at start-up businesses where you can rent anything from a desk with a ‘phone and modem line to fully managed offices. The leases are for short periods so companies can change the amount of space rented as their business develops.

The Council elected John Abbott as our new Chairman and Donald Adey as our new Vice-Chairman. John was Vice Chairman last year and represents the nearby Fordham ward. Donald Adey represents Ely South ward.

Marshall Aerospace Ltd applied to build a new passenger terminal at Cambridge Airport, in order to attract modern jets. It is expected that this would lead to flights increasing from 2,000 per year to 10,000. East Cambs were not consulted on this application. But when we heard about it we expressed our concerns primarily over possible increased noise for those under the flight path, increased traffic on the Newmarket Road into and out of Cambridge and increased damage to the environment. Although we recognise that the new terminal could lead to an increase in employment, we asked for the decision on the application to be deferred to allow for further consultation and environmental assessment. Many others also expressed concern, and the decision was deferred. East Cambs is now being involved in discussions with South Cambs (who will make the decision), Cambridge City Council, Cambridge County Council and Marshalls. When more detail is available, we hope to organise a public meeting, probably in Bottisham, where people can hear the plans, raise queries and make comments.

As you have probably heard on the news, many Council staff across the country are taking industrial action. The first strike day was on Wednesday 17^th July. The Unions have rejected the 3% pay rise that they have been offered and are claiming a 6% rise. Pay for Council workers is negotiated at a national level and the dispute will have to be resolved nationally. But the strike action will affect us locally. East Cambridgeshire District Council will try to ensure that local services are not affected, but we will be unable to take cash payments at our offices on strike days.

The Government is reviewing the way that Councils are funded. This review is long overdue, but could mean bad news for East Cambs residents. For years Cambridgeshire has been arguing that we need a higher grant to recognise the higher cost of living in the County.

Some of the options that the Government is considering would increase our grant, but other options would decrease it. Worse still, the Government is intending to take money from Councils, like East Cambs, which are debt free to give to Councils that are in debt. They are proposing to pass a Bill that will allow them to take a percentage of any income that we make from the sale of capital assets, such as land. This Bill will have to go through both houses of Parliament. The Bill will allow the Minister to adjust the level of this percentage through Secondary legislation. This means they can increase the percentage without taking it through Parliament. Losing money in this way will make it harder for the Council to attract investment into the area and will mean that we will find it increasingly hard to remain a debt free Council. We shall therefore be pressing the Government hard not to proceed with this plan.

Volunteers from various departments at ECDC have been taking part in a training programme on energy efficiency. The Centre for Sustainable Energy, who were the consultants on our recent energy audit and resulting action plan, took the training which looked at ways the participants could monitor and promote energy saving techniques at the East Cambs offices. The new Energy Stewards will now be reviewing the information from the training, and looking to begin a pilot project to encourage energy savings and the environmental benefits and cost savings using less energy brings.

I am on maternity leave through to the end of August. If you want to raise any queries or concerns about East Cambridgeshire District Council during that time please contact Caroline Coates on 01353 616354 and she will help.

Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Swaffhams and Reach

Next Page