Liberal Democrats have today published their budget proposals for Cambridge City Council, calling for cleaner, greener and fairer policies and claiming that, with Labour having their chance to run something locally, their walk is falling short of their talk.

An update you on progress on parking schemes in West Chesterton;  this covers: 

• the Hurst Park Area (Hurst Park Avenue, Highfield, Orchard, Leys Road & Avenue, Arbury Road, Mulberry Close & Highworth Avenue) - in the County Chesterton division so under County Councillor Ian Manning's remit
• the "Chesterton Triangle" (Springfield Road to Hawthorn Way and those streets inbetween (ie Herbert, George, Chesterton Hall Crescent) - in the County Chesterton division so under County Councillor Ian Manning's remit
• The Ascham area - outside the County Chesterton division
• The Victoria road area  - outside the County Chesterton division

The latter two were subject to decisions to go ahead with schemes we do not believe are adequate at the CJAC meeting of 2018-11-27.

The authors of a major local report on rough sleeping and street life issues have re-issued their call for action to unite the city to reduce the numbers of people sleeping and begging on the city’s streets.

I'm posting this as a few queries have come in recently, and although we did feature this in newsletter update, thought it worth adding another post here.

As you'll be aware there is a City Deal project to bring in parking controls across Cambridge City.  We alerted people to this last year https://www.cambridgelibdems.org.uk/east_chesterton_parking_further_notes .

After consultation online and on the doorstep, there was clearly no desire overall to bring in controls, so we've decided to not consider them further for now.  The only reason for saying "for now" is that other nearby areas are progressing, so we may want to reassess if there is a knock on effect of displacement parking.

With our politicians in continuing disarray - surely it is time to ask the people if this is what they voted for.

Cambridge Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate, Rod Cantrill has warned the Tories’ ‘botched Brexit’ will leave people poorer and Jeremy Corbyn's Labour will still deliver BREXIT, just under a different name.  He called for MPs to give the public a final say on the deal.

The Cambridge City Council Liberal Democrat Group's amendment to the Housing Budget that will be tabled at the Housing Scrutiny committee on Wednesday 16th January provides much needed help to address the major issue of the provision of housing in Cambridge.

Councillor Rod Cantrill, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Spokes commented:

"The Liberal Democrat housing amendment last year had the support of the Housing Scrutiny Committee including the housing tenant representatives, but was rejected by the ruling Labour Group.  It is good, therefore, that a number of our proposals have finally been adopted by Labour in their Housing Budget proposals this year. Our amendment this year seeks to build on our proposals last year by providing much needed help in three areas. 

“Firstly, investing in resources to lay the foundations for a medium term council housing vision for Cambridge, “Our Cambridge 2030 – housing for all”.  Our goal is to build up to 1,000 additional council houses, materially reducing the number of households currently waiting for a council house and in parallel explore a comprehensive council house replacement programme.  This work is critical to ensure that the Council continues to deliver on new council housing, once the current building programme is completed.  The work will include how we take advantage of the government’s proposal to allow councils to borrow in their housing revenue account. 

“Secondly, providing much needed help for existing and new council housing tenants. Many tenants, particularly new ones, have told us about not being able to make ends meet and they continue to worry about the changeover to Universal Credit, despite the changes that the government has announced.  Our proposals will help large families renting one of the new 500 new council houses to save up to £2,000 per year. In addition, we will create a specific fund to provide discretionary housing payments to council tenants impacted by the transfer over to Universal Credit.  We also propose to invest in dedicated officer resource to ensure the successful delivery and support of the council’s proposed Housing First accommodation for a number of entrenched homeless tenants.

"Finally, we propose to provide support for tenants impacted by the Council’s new zero tolerance policy on items kept on communal areas and landings by providing funding to assist them in purchasing noncombustable door mats and plant pots outside their homes.

"Like last year, our amendment reflects the concerns that council tenants across the city have voiced regarding the cost of living in a new council property, the impact of the introduction of Universal Credit and the impact of the council’s zero tolerance policy."

Latest update: Arbury Road likely to be closed until Friday 2019-01-18 - three way temporary lights will go in at the Milton Road junction from today/tomorrow and crews are working overnight to fix the leak.

I've asked for some analysis to be done on the effect of traffic elsewhere in the City on the closure.

Cllr Tim Bick, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cambridge City Council said in response to the news of the death of Cllr Nigel Gawthrope, current Mayor of the city:

“This sad news is a terrible shock to us all.

The County Council publishes a highlights newsletter each month, this is the latest - please bear in mind this is the County's own view, not mine or a Liberal Democrat view on the Conservative-led Council!

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/briefings/member-newsletter-january-2019/