District and County Councillors’ Report

A few local and wider issues which we hope will be of interest. As always, please feel free to contact us with any concerns, gripes, ideas, observations – thank you!

High Street Road Deterioration

Susan has been out with the head of maintenance to look at a trial method of repair which could work well along the High Street, characterised by trench seam failure. We are awaiting confirmation that this can be brought to Meldreth.

Royston Recycling Centre

Productive discussions are ongoing between Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire County Councils regarding access by Cambridgeshire residents at Royston recycling centre. It’s estimated that the majority of users there are Cambridgeshire residents, but funding comes entirely from Hertfordshire County Council so there is a large-scale financial question to be worked out. Hoping for resolution soon.

Foul Water/Plumbing Problems?

We’d be really to grateful to hear from anyone who has been experiencing foul water plumbing problems at home – and especially if you have reported these to Anglian Water (which is really important to do). We are aware of some problems but don’t know the extent of them. Just drop any of us a line with your address, any reference number and a brief description. We would then follow up in our discussions with Anglian Water.

Meldreth Road Level Crossing

Thanks to Councillor Roger James for the invaluable contribution to the Public Inquiry. On behalf of the Community Rail Partnership Susan has written in support of representations by Meldreth and Shepreth Parish Councils.

Very Localised 2021 Census Results and Public Data

Cambridgeshire County Council hosts Cambridgeshire Insight, a rich source of open data including 2021 census results. Search for detailed demographic information by village, or thematic issues arising from the Census. https:// cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk.

SCDC Four Day Week Trial

You may have read about South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) running a four-day week trial for office-based officers. Results of the trial have been published. All local authorities across the country are facing huge problems in recruiting and retaining staff. It is impossible to compete with the private sector especially for planning and environmental services officers and so councils have to offer something other than money. The cost of having to use agency staff for unfilled posts is currently running at £2m per year - which is a lot of money for a District Council like South Cambridgeshire. For these reasons SCDC has had to think laterally, hence the Four Day Week trial. During the trial, officers have had to work very differently and in a more focused way, in order to do 100% of the work in 80% of the time to receive 100% of the pay. The results have been enormously encouraging: performance, which has been independently assessed, has been maintained and in some instances improved. Staff who were thinking of leaving are now likely to stay. Officer feedback was 88% positive; and satisfaction feedback from residents was not impacted. The recommendation is to extend the trial for a further year.

Councillors are also to be asked to include the refuse collection services in the Four Day Week trial as of this summer. Many councils already do not collect bins on a Monday because of the disruption caused by bank holidays so this is being looked at as a way of extending the benefits to more staff.

Right to Buy

Council house tenants have long had the ‘right to buy’ their home at a discount. What has been frustrating for councils who own the houses is that the government takes most of the money from these sales which makes it really hard to replace sold homes with new ones. Finally, it appears that Government is allowing us to keep our Right to Buy receipts but only for two years. We sell about 30 properties a year and this will mean that we have to borrow less when we build new houses.

Community Group Funding

A total of eleven voluntary sector groups have received SCDC funding including Home Start Royston & South Cambridgeshire (£13,711), Royston & District Community Transport (£7,000) and Citizens Advice (£100,000). The grants are given at the start of each new financial year and the Council makes a pledge to continue that support for the next three years, subject to satisfactory progress reports.

Paying Council Bills

Most people pay their council bills online or by direct payments. However, we know some people are not able to do this. Council house rents can be paid on the phone - if for some reason this is not working for you please let us know. We closed the cash payment office at South Cambridgeshire Hall ages ago because payment of invoices in cash was declining. However, provision was made to offer customers the opportunity to pay by cash at the Cambridge City Council cash office which remains open. There is also the facility to have a payment card issued which enables customers to pay at banks and post offices by cash or cheque.

Transport Needs and Background Costs

Recent challenges from residents about ‘what my Council Tax is used for’ led us to think it’s useful sometimes to remember how wide CCC services are. So for example, residents of Cambridgeshire have many and varied passenger transport needs: travel to work, travel for leisure, travel for health, travel to school and these are all met with a variety of transport solutions. For example, the Home to School Transport Budget this year costs the taxpayer) £29.3 million. Travel for health is provided in the case of patients who can’t use public transport by the Cambridgeshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) which costs £6m per year. All other transport needs are met via commercial bus services and community transport on which roughly £60 million is spent per year as well as £9m on all bus services through concessionary fares and supported bus services at £7.1m. This totals roughly £111.3 million being currently spent per year in Cambridgeshire on meeting the passenger transport needs of residents.

Zoom Cuppa – Mondays 5.00-6.00pm

We hold a weekly Zoom cuppa on Monday afternoons. Please let us know if you’d like to join and we’ll send you the link – or we are happy of course to meet in person or to talk by phone any time.

District Councillor Sally Ann Hart, sallyannhart@riskingonpurpose.com, 07791 233303 District Councillor Jose Hales, Josehales@gmail.com, 07703 262649 County Councillor Susan van de Ven, susanvandeven5@gmail.com, 07905 325574

Planning Matters

Meldreth Parish Council

The minutes of the Parish Council Planning Meetings of 2nd February and 6th April were still not available at the time of going to press. When available, minutes may be viewed on the Parish Council’s website, www.meldreth-pc.org.uk.

The following items have been taken from the minutes of 20th April:

Meldreth Road Level Crossing, Meldreth Road, Shepreth 22/05204/FUL PC recommended rejection, with detailed comments (see minutes online).

43 Whitecroft Road 23/01248/HFUL

Single storey front extension. No recommendation with no comments.

25 Oakrits 23/01169/HFUL

Single storey side and rear extension; loft conversion with side facing dormer windows and associated alterations. No recommendation with comments: “It is not clear from the diagrams if there is an overlooking issue at the new dormer windows level.”

Recent Planning Authority Decisions

Valley Farm, Station Road, Meldreth SG8 6JP 22/02850/FUL

Permission granted for the construction of a replacement dwelling house

Details of all applications and all Planning Authority decisions may be viewed online: https://applications.greatercambridgeplanning.org/online-applications.

The Meldreth Matters Team

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