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)

The next meeting of the Chisholm Trail "local liaison forum" - the public facing meeting about the project is on the 15th May at the Shirley School.

On Tuesday 1st May Cllr Anna Bradnam and I took time out of our election campaigns to talk to Network Rail about Fen Road Level Crossing.  Along with local business owner Ian Litterick we asked them about barrier downtime, the effects of crime and anti-social behaviour on the crossing, and how they see the crossing's future.  They have made some improvements in the area, will be trialling others, and are committed to keeping us informed about changes.

There is a planned workshop, run by Cambridge Hack, on the City deal Local Liason Forums.  It asks attendees to answer a number of questions, and I'm interested in what resident attendees think.

We're publishing a series of videos featuring our fantastic new intake of passionate, pro-European City Council candidates.

Lib Dems are getting things fixed for you all around the city.  Here a collapsed wall on Mortlock Avenue in East Chesterton that some of you had let us know about is now being repaired. The resident had been trying to get it fixed for several months, but after intervention by local Lib Dem Owen the area has been cleared up and repairs are in progress!

A resurgent, motivated party.

A resurgent Cambridge Liberal Democrats are fighting May’s City Council elections on the city’s three key priorities: local housing, tackling congestion and improvements to basic council services.

This week sees new charges being imposed by the City Council on users of Cambridge’s Shop Mobility Service. Yet the so-far unpublished results of the council’s public consultation show uniform hostility to the scheme.

The responses to the consultation were obtained by Lib Dem Cllr Tim Bick who has been campaigning against the new charges.

Campaigner Colin McGerty today visited Homerton Children’s Centre to thank staff as they clear out their office and move away from Holbrook Road.