District Councillor report to Parish Council March 2023
Consultation on Bottisham and Swaffham’s Greenway
I attended a briefing on the Bottisham and Swaffham Greenway which is one of the 12 cycle greenways on the spoke of a wheel that will enter Cambridge from outside villages. As you know I have been very disappointed with the slow progress of the cycle greenways projects which have been discussed since 2014, then got funding in 2016 and there seems to have been endless amounts of engagement resulting in very little benefit to the public over the last 8-9 years. There are three cycle greenways that impact the Fen Ditton and Fulbourn Ward, the Horningsea cycle greenway, the Fulbourn cycle greenway and the Bottisham and Swaffham Greenway which will benefit both Stow-cum-Quy, Fen Ditton and adjacent villages like Teversham and The Wilbraham’s that are not directly on the route but would be accessible for cyclists.
An open, online public event will be held on 9 March with two more events on the 14 and 16 March in Stow-cum-Quy and Bottisham, respectively.
For more information and to have your say in the online survey before midday on 27 March visit: https://consultcambs.uk.engagementhq.com/gcp-swaffham-bottisham-greenway.
Branded maps and signposts will eventually line the route to help people find their way to their destination – with a ballot now open so people can decide what the signposts will look like and feel like.
Public to choose the look and feel of Greenways wayfinding signs in poll
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has opened a ballot where people can decide what maps and signposts will look like and vote for one of two colours.
The public are invited to choose between ‘Cambridge blue’ and ‘rural green.’ The blue reflects the city’s coat of arms, and the green reflects the natural environments many of the Greenways will travel through.
The poll will be open until midday on Friday 17 March. To cast your vote visit https://consultcambs.uk.engagementhq.com/gcp-greenway-wayfinding
I find it disappointing that the GCP is wasting time on going out to polling / consultation on the colour of signs along routes. Surely this is something that could have been done in previous consultations regarding these cycle greenways and it really isn’t something I think there will be huge passion for given the long delays and inaction on cycle greenways.
Budget 2023-24
The District Council has now set it’s budget for the forthcoming year. The council has agreed an Authorised Limit for total external debt of £447.673m and forecasts external borrowing to be £315.1m by March 2026. The budget has a significant gap with £2.79m of savings/income identified. Council tax is to be increased by the maximum, unfortunately the amendment (that I seconded) to freeze council tax was voted down. I raised concerns over the increased borrowing and council tax rises alongside the potential reduction of service quality as a result of the amount of savings made, I did not support the budget. Below I have copied the amendments that the Conservative group put forward to the budget.
Conservative Group Budget Proposal for 2023/2024
Freeze the council tax
It has been a difficult couple of years for residents dealing with the pandemic and on top of what feels like ever increasing household bills particularly in relation to heating and fuel costs which have hit people hard. It is proposed to freeze the council tax at 2022/23 levels to assist residents struggling to meet their living costs. The income forgone in 2023/24 as a result will be around £336,650.
Additional funding for fraud prevention and investigation
Local Authorities have in recent years seen increasing amounts of attempted fraud against them and if anything the Pandemic and cost of living crisis has seen this sort of activity increase further. It is important to tackle this growing trend and preventative work is seen as a key element to achieving this. It is therefore proposed to invest £50,000 in further fraud prevention work and raising fraud awareness in the community. This could be achieved by employing a fraud prevention officer and providing resources to support them in this work.
Additional planning enforcement (compliance) officer.
There is a need to bolster resources in the planning enforcement team and it is proposed to add an additional officer at a cost of £45,300 to provide for the growing demand to investigate breaches of planning conditions and consent.
Funding.
It is proposed that the amount required of £431,950 be funded in part from a saving by discontinuing the current policy that allows councillors to receive more than one Special Responsibility Allowance, this will save around £14,000. Also reducing the number of South Cambs Magazines from 4 to 2 which will save around £26,000 with the remaining difference (£391,950) to be met from the transformation reserve.
Housing Budget
I was pleased to support the Council’s plan to increase the amount of council housing stock across the district. There was also a review of the Council house rents and shared ownership properties rates. The Council has decided to increase the rents and charges by 7%, this is the highest increase possible as the government has set a 7% cap. This is something that I did not support especially in the current climate with rising costs. This would mean a Council tenant paying £600 a month rent would pay an additional £42 per month. I am not personally saying there shouldn’t have been any rise at all but if we had opted for a 3% rise it would have meant an £18 per month rise. I am fully aware that it is costly to maintain Council houses and make sure they are as green as possible i.e. solar panels, insulation, PVC windows etc, (much of which has already been done). But given that often Council tenants are the most vulnerable people in society a 7% rise (the maximum allowed in this financial year) is a mistake and was the main reason I couldn’t support this element of the budget.
Accounts 2019-2020
On the 21st February the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee met to approve the 2019-2020 accounts. It is yet unknown what the final auditors fee for this years accounts will be.
Scrutiny and Overview
I was the vice chair at the February Scrutiny and Overview committee where we scrutinised the Investment Strategy and cost of living support. On the Investment Strategy, the Lead member for Finance and the Lead Officer for Finance were asked a number of questions around risk by the committee but my questions were around training in that the Council should make sure that any councillors involved in making any decisions, whether this be around buying residential properties, office blocks, the Council’s business partnership with Balfour Beatty or Hill or investing in overseas banks should have the relevant training. These are very complex decisions that could potentially have unforeseen outcomes for the Council and it is important that Councillors making these decisions have the knowledge and the training to be able to fully scrutinise and assess decisions around investments. This has been taken on board by the Lead Member of Finance going forward.
On the cost-of-living support, my question was around warm hubs and if data could be collected as to who is using these facilities. Anecdotally I wonder how many people are going to warm hubs with a view to save money on their heating bills or keep warm or are these warm hubs actually being used more as community facilities i.e. people using them because they are isolated or seeking company. I am not necessarily saying it is a bad thing if these warm hubs are being used for social isolation as clearly this is still a benefit to the community, but it might help us shape these going forward.
Thank you for taking the time to read my report; if you have any questions or want to discuss any of the issues raised email me on graham.cone@councillor.online or ring 07595 361 285 (please leave a voicemail if I am unavailable) Councillor Graham Cone