Trumpington is Cambridge's largest ward in the south west of the city. It has several beautiful green spaces for recreation, exercise, bird watching or getting your children out to play. Trumpington has recently undergone several major housing developments, such as Trumpington Meadows and the Glebe Farm and Clay Farm Developments. Your Lib Dem Trumpington team is working hard to make Trumpington a great place to work and live for everyone.
Planning conditions for the new developments of Trumpington Meadows and Clay Farm required that they were fitted with modern solar panels when they were built. Many residents were told that they could save money on their energy bills, by creating renewable energy themselves. Apparently not! Our team members Ingrid Flaubert and Philippa Slatter have been investigating and have found that the solar panels in many new houses have not been registered to the grid or connected at all for several years. The builders who were responsible for the installation and BPHA, the housing association responsible for the affordable housing in the new developments, have so far not been able to clarify the situation. As local Lib Dem campaigner Olaf Hauk noted, not only are these solar panels not effective, they may even be a waste of money and - with bitter irony - of valuable energy. Not to speak of the lost trust of the residents in their developers and housing associations! The Trumpington Lib Dems are campaigning for a quick solution so that residents can benefit from the green energy they were promised.
The latest Trumpington Labour leaflet is a disgrace. In it, they claim an extraordinary variety of things were achieved by one labour councillor since 2018. This is not how local democracy should be!
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
The community, not Katie Thornburrow, planned the expansion of Trumpington.
The main claim is that the new developments around Trumpington, complete with their open spaces, play areas, skatepark etc. were the work of the Labour City Council. This is outrageous. It was a community effort, led by the Trumpington Residents’ Association (set up for this purpose) in partnership with councillors, planners, and many others.
The TRA then published its own ‘brochure’ to counterbalance the plans already being prepared by developers, leading up to the 2006 Cambridge Local Plan. It is an extraordinary document, showing a generous and far-sighted approach to the provision of homes that impressed all who read it.
The Trumpington Liberal Democrats have significantly shaped the development of Trumpington for several decades. Just as an example, there were many references to the issues raised by the new developments in our Focus magazine 2004 and for the following 15 years.
How dare Labour claim that they were even playing a useful part in it? Labour opposition councillors did their best to sabotage the plans to build on Marshalls airport; Cambridge East would have provided much needed public buildings (sports stadium, concert hall etc) as well as housing.
LABOUR CLAIMS THE CREDIT FOR COVID-19 COMMUNITY WORK Throughout the pandemic, a vital role has been played by a brilliant partnership of council officers, councillors and local volunteers. Support networks were set up in record time, but most of those involved have scrupulously avoided ‘playing politics’ in the process. Not Trumpington Labour. They print a photo of volunteers at the Pavilion Food Hub, and although Katie certainly took an effective lead in setting it up (as the Lib Dem County Councillor candidate Philippa Slatter did with the Trumpington Volunteer Service) it would have been nothing without the faithful work of many volunteers of all parties and none.
SPEED LIMIT ON THE BUSWAY We all know that it was the tragic death and inquest of the young father who was killed last year that prompted the introduction of a speed limit for the buses on the Trumpington section of the busway. No doubt Cllr Thornburrow supported the many voices of concern, but it is an insult to claim the credit for this improvement.
Nobody should be afraid to walk or cycle home at night. The Trumpington Lib Dem team is currently looking into ways to improve footpath lighting across Trumpington. Many people have raised concerns about a number of locations especially in the new developments and along the guided busway. The solutions will have to consider the concerns of local residents, environmental issues (e.g. protecting dark skies and wildlife habitats) and – last but not least – Council budgets. We have brought this issue to the attention of local councillors, and are looking into funding options such as through the Local Highway Improvement scheme as part of our road safety campaign. Please feel free to contribute to the Facebook thread on this issue started by our team member Ingrid Flaubert.
Over recent years the new footpath from the Trumpington Meadows Country Park to Grantchester Road has become increasingly popular with joggers, children riding their bicycles, parents with pushchairs, couples going for a walk, dog walkers etc. Amazingly, the path joins the road without a pavement so they have to cross over between two bends, at a place which is already dangerous because vehicles speed up on the short stretch between the 30 mph and 40 mph signs. When the pavement is crowded, pedestrians regularly have to step into the road to get out of each other’s way.
This is a dangerous undertaking as the road bends with poor visibility and cars coming from both directions. The current signage to alert drivers of crossing pedestrians is clearly insufficient, as residents of Woodend report that many cars pass this area at high speed. This is a deadly accident waiting to happen. The speed limit leading up to the bend on Grantchester Road is 40mph, and the small sign for 30mph is partly occluded by bushes and clearly ineffective. The fact that a vehicle crashed in the warning sign itself demonstrates this!
Ideally, we would like to see the 20 mph speed limit through Grantchester village extended to Trumpington, as well as better road signage. For example, we are looking into options to install electric signals that alert drivers of pedestrians crossing the street and encourage them to reduce their speed.
Liberal Democrat campaigners in Trumpington are calling on Cambridge City Council to take urgent action to fill empty shop premises on Hobson Square – and hopefully help local entrepreneurs in the process.
While the pharmacy, library, community centre, medical practice and general store are now open, Trumpington still lacks the local shops that were envisaged in the design of Hobson Square as of the new community facilities.
Local Lib Dem campaigner Olaf Haukcommented: “Two large shop premises have remained totally empty and unused ever since they were finished in 2018."
“Many of us will be working from home for some time to come. While town and city centres may be experiencing a retail crisis, we know that many people in our community are increasingly looking to local shopping facilities. For the benefit of our community and our carbon footprint, we want to make sure that the residents of Trumpington have access to a variety of shops, markets and services close to their homes.”
Fellow Lib Dem Ingrid Flaubert says: ”We are calling on the City Council to act so that new local shops and traders can bring a greater sense of community to this area.”
Local resident Alan Cox added: “This would be a perfect opportunity to support local business people!"
“We know that Trumpington residents are enterprising people - starting from fortnightly food vans at the Community Garden in the summer, we now have a regular menu of food from all over the world on sale in the new public squares every day of the week."
“I’d like to see the Council look into every possible option, including ‘pop-up shops’ or temporary leases, to get these properties in use and hopefully support small local businesses.”
The Trumpington Team Helped Local Residents To Register Their Bikes
One stolen bike may not look like a big deal (if it's not yours), but thousands of stolen bikes are organised crime. As Trumpington resident James Hems writes in the Winter Edition of Camcycle Magazine (pages 30-33), approximately 9000 bikes are stolen in Cambridge every year - 25 bikes per day! This is four times the national average, and twice as many as in Oxford. Only about 5 % of bike theft victims are reunited with their bikes - but this number could be significantly higher if more people registered their bikes. Importantly, this could also lead the police to the gang leaders who organise bike theft on a grand scale. Knowing that bikes in a certain area are registered may also put thieves off in the first place.
The Trumpington team raised awareness of this issue and helped local Trumpington residents to register their bikes in an event at Trumpington Meadows on December 19th. The organisers Olaf Hauk and Philippa Slatter as well as their team members got their hands dirty and turned a number of bikes upside down in order to find their registration numbers. Many passers-by were given more information on why and how to register their bikes and were pointed to the useful tips in the Camcyle article mentioned above. If this becomes common practice in the community, then the message to bike thieves is very clear: There is nothing for you to do in Trumpington!
Photovoltaic panel controls - do they actually serve a purpose at the moment?
Near Fawcett Primary School.
Along the Guided Busway.
