Last night, a petition calling on Cambridge Labour Party to scrap their unfair Shopmobility charges was presented to a meeting of the City Council.

Pictured above is local resident Sue Simms, who spoke on behalf of over 1000 petitioners.

Incredibly, Labour councillors again said no.

Last autumn the County Council consulted about a residents’ parking scheme in “Coleridge West” (the northern side of Cherry Hinton Road up to and including Coleridge Road, the southern side of Mill Road from the railway bridge to Coleridge Road and all streets in-between.)
The response rate was low & the majority in favour very small but the Council decided to press on and advertised a Traffic Regulation Order.
All representations received in response to the publication of the Traffic Order, will be reported to the Cambridge Joint Area Committee and published on the County Council website as part of the agenda for their meeting (CJAC - 24/07/18).

This committee has both City and County Council members and they will decide whether to go ahead or not at their meeting at Shire Hall, Cambridge at 4.30pm on Tuesday 24th July 2018. 

After decades of talk, the Chisholm Trail is finally beginning to take shape and work is actually starting on the northern part of the Trail.

The City Deal is pressing ahead with its proposals for residents' parking in East Chesterton.  This means marked bays on the road in which residents and visitors will need to buy permits to park.  To find out what's proposed in your street we've made the plans available by street.

After many months of campaigning by residents and the local school, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (City Deal) has agreed to think again on its plans for dangerous advisory cycle lanes on Nuffield Road.

Every year, the County Council provides funding for small-scale projects to improve our local highways. This is known as the Local Highways Initiative, and it provides funding for small projects costing up to £10,000.

Projects which are allocated funding must show that they improve road safety, create lasting improvement, and also have the support of the community. Examples of projects are new/improved signage, repairing road surfacing, new road markings and planting.

I've received notice that an emergency order has been applied to close Fen Road around the level crossing between 0030 and 0830 on the 27th May.

The full order is attached.  I've asked for an explanation of why, and I'm very conscious that this with a lack of notice could exacerbate the problems in the area.

Cambridge Liberal Democrats have launched a petition against charging vulnerable disabled people for access to Cambridge City Centre.

Lib Dem City Councillor and Parliamentary Candidate, Rod Cantrill has called for Cambridge to promote a Living Wage level which is specifically adjusted to the higher-than-average local cost of living in Cambridge.  The step would help address the high cost of living in the city that has continued to increase at unacceptable rates in the last few years.

Cllr Cantrill commented:

“For the majority of residents, particularly young people and families, the cost of living in Cambridge means that they struggle to make ends meet.

As Executive Councillor, I introduced the Real Living Wage into the City Council and started the process for the council to become an accredited employer with the Living Wage Foundation.  This step acted as a foundation stone for the council’s work on promoting the Real Living Wage in recent years.  But the cost of living, particularly in relation to housing has continued to increase, whilst wages have not kept pace for the majority of employees.

I believe that it is time for the council to look again at this important issue.  The Cambridge Living Wage would be higher than the Real Living Wage (that is currently at £8.75 per hour) and would be linked to the London Living Wage (currently £10.20 per hour).

The Cambridge Living Wage would not be unique, Oxford, a city that has very similar cost of living pressures, has promoted the Oxford Living Wage for a number of years (currently £9.69 per hour).”

Notes:

The motion will be tabled at the Annual Meeting of Cambridge City Council, Thursday 24^th May

The Oxford Living Wage is currently pegged at 95% of the London Living Wage (as determined by the Living Wage Foundation)