Your District Councillor

Charlotte Cane Tel. 742509

District Council Notes (Oct/Nov 2000)

We are launching our ‘Local Agenda 21’ Strategy on Sunday 10^th December at The Maltings in Ely with a Christmas Fair from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. As well as stalls selling local produce and crafts there will be face painting, music, clowns and circus and a children’s workshop. Entry is free and it should be a good day out with a chance to buy some Christmas presents.

There will be two Farmers’ Markets in December. The regular market will be on the 9^th December and there will be a Christmas Farmers’ Market on 23^rd December.

The Boundary Commission is reviewing the wards in East Cambridgeshire. Since the population of the District has grown so much and is predicted to grow further, this will be a major review and will probably alter most wards in the District. The Commission’s main aims are to equalise the number of electors represented by each Councillor, to divide wards where there are more than three Councillors and to link wards so that there are few, if any, single member wards. Parish boundaries will not be changed and nor will one Parish be split between two wards. As ‘The Swaffhams’ ward is a single member ward it is likely that this review will change our boundaries, even though I represent the average number of electors for East Cambridgeshire. The Council is asked to suggest how these aims can be met, and we will be consulting with Parish Councils and other local groups to try to find a consensus as to how best our boundaries could be reorganised. We will then put this to the Boundary Commission who can accept it, amend it or impose the solution of their choice.

By 1 November 1,213 budget questionnaires had been returned, with 88% of respondents saying that we should carry out more consultations of this sort. People felt that our highest priority for grants should be to provide more children’s play equipment with provision of leisure facilities for the elderly and home improvement grants for disabled people coming a close second and third respectively. 53% of people think our grants to historic buildings are at the correct level. 51% think that we should spend the same as we currently do on creating more local jobs, with 41% thinking we should spend more. Only 19% thought we should be setting up computer facilities in local shops and community centres. 76% were against us introducing car parking charges, and 69% would want the money raised from such charges only used to improve car parks and traffic control measures. 70% felt we should fund affordable local housing. 46% thought we should maintain expenditure on Local Agenda 21 initiatives, with 40% thinking we should spend more. 89% felt we should spend more on initiatives to tackle crime and vandalism. Only 30% of people thought we should provide extra services if it meant an increase in Council Tax. These results will be used as part of our budget setting process.

As well as answering the questions, many of the 27 people in Reach who replied also sent in comments. These included calls for increased recycling facilities, more subsidy for local transport, improved public footpaths and roads in the villages, more street lighting, less money spent on sports facilities, faster response to clearing cars and debris left by travellers, speed bumps through villages and consideration for people living alone with help with shopping or just some company. Some of these comments relate more to services provided by the County Council so we will pass the comments on to them.

Several people have echoed the complaint about abandoned vehicles and the Council taking too long to clear them away. The problem is that the numbers have overwhelmed us this year. In 1998 we cleared 120 abandoned cars, last year 248 and so far this year we have dealt with 360. The delay is caused because we have to identify the owner and contact them before we can destroy the car, identifying the owner takes about 4 weeks. In an attempt to clear cars more quickly we took on a contract with someone who had space to store the cars while we identified the owner, but his storage space is now full. We are now discussing with the police and other local authorities to see if we can speed up the process of owner identification and disposal so that we can clear the cars from the roadside more promptly.

As part of our exercise to reorganise the Council we will be reviewing the allowances paid to members. We have decided to set up an Independent Panel to carry out the review. The Parish Councils have already chosen one of the members, Cllr Richard Hobbs the Mayor of Ely. We are also inviting applications from the General Public and the other Panel members will select one person from these applications. If you would like to be on the Panel, please contact John Hill, the Acting Chief Executive, on 01353 668833 ext 271. Alternatively, if you want to give your views on members allowances please write to the Members Allowances Independent Review Panel ^c/_o John Hill, Acting Chief Executive, East Cambridgeshire District Council, The Grange, Nutholt Lane, Ely, CB7 4PL.

Jon and I are looking forward to our first Christmas with David, although he is too young to realise the festival’s significance. I hope that you all have a very happy Christmas.

(Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Swaffhams and Reach)