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District and County Councillors’ Report

from Meldreth Matters, November 2023

from Meldreth Matters, November 2023, page 29

Shepreth Spitfires

Lots of Highways issues here, not just getting roads fixed but important safety concerns of those who depend on pavements to get around.

Thank You Mr Reader

We are very grateful to James Reader, who with his wife visits Meldreth twice every week to see his daughter at Orchard Manor, and who took the trouble to ask a formal question at the October County Council meeting about the state of Meldreth High Street’s pavements for all wheelchair users, both the camber that forces wheelchairs toward the road, and in many places, the badly uneven surface. As Meldreth residents will know all too well, only piecemeal pavement repairs have taken place over the years.

Mr Reader also mentioned the problem of cars parked on pavements and the serious obstruction this causes for those in wheelchairs, mobility scooters, buggies etc. Please, could drivers avoid parking on pavements?

He also asked whether a 20mph speed limit might be possible for Meldreth, as fast passing traffic is very worrying for vulnerable wheelchair users. As it happened, Meldreth Parish Council’s application had just been approved.

Meldreth High Street Repair

We hardly dare mention it lest something unforeseen should happen, but funding has been approved for a proper repair to Meldreth High Street. As you know the surface of the road is too high for adding another layer and allowing it to become flush with pavements. A ‘thermal repair’ method, designed for repairing outward from the seams of the trench that runs all the way along the High Street is to be used.

20 mph Schemes

The County Council is looking to augment its funding pot for 20mph schemes, in which there is a huge interest. There were 88 applications this year; Meldreth scored 5th overall. The funding pot stretches to the top 20 schemes. [See page 39.]

Road Markings

The junctions at Whitecroft Road/Station Road and Fenny Lane/Kneesworth Road are still in the queue at the time of writing. Chasing!

Meldreth Station

From GTR: ‘We now have three staff members in our mobile assistance team, providing a full range of assistance (including ramp deployment) to the three village stations [Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton], from first to last train. Recruitment is ongoing to provide four permanently rostered staff members.’

Please keep an eye out next time you use the train and let us know your impressions.

Bus User Group

Thank you members. It was so helpful to have input from the Bus User Group on Meldreth’s needs, as we make the case for the continuation of the 17 service. [See page 45 for the current timetable.]

Making Connections

To the satisfaction of some and the sadness of others, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has decided not to proceed to the next stage of the Making Connections scheme, due to a collapse in political support. As we’ve reported, the scheme is a combination of Cambridge city road charging to free up road space, to allow buses to run to schedule and a new revenue source for sustained improved bus services. It would also have created a building block toward bus franchising and triggered an immediate £50M investment (government funding) in bus services as step one, a boost to many existing services; this is now lost. The scheme had been significantly redesigned to meet residents’ concerns.

There remains the overall challenge of providing workable transport infrastructure for mandated growth for our area. Officers will now focus on other areas of the ‘City Access’ programme, looking at issues such as resident parking, road hierarchy (and closures) and freight consolidation. This is in addition to the other infrastructure projects which include 150km of Greenways, busway schemes from Waterbeach to Cambridge and Cambourne to Cambridge, as well as the significant improvements to key congested roads in Cambridge, Milton Road and Newmarket Road. There is some question now as to the future funding for some of these projects especially the busways, due to the next GCP government gateway review on which the next tranche of government infrastructure funding depends.

The implications for our area are firstly that improved bus services across South Cambridgeshire will not be delivered as the road charge was going to pay for this. Secondly, large scale developments such as at Bourn Airfield which need to demonstrate that future residents will have access to high quality public transport before any further planning consents are issued, are looking problematic.

This in turn puts the targets of the Local Plan in doubt, with the implication that we could conceivably see an inability to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply. This means policies designed to restrict growth fall away, especially in villages.

Finally, it underscores that local government in this part of the county badly needs reform. We have a confusing and dysfunctional mix of Parish, District and County Councils plus the Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership.

Free Electric Blankets

South Cambridgeshire District Council will shortly be offering 532 residents the opportunity to claim a free electric blanket (also known as a heated throw) as a cost-effective alternative to central heating.

Residents selected to qualify will be those who are (as of 1st July 2023) claiming Council Tax Support and at least one of the following:

 Attendance Allowance.

 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) mobility element at the enhanced rate.

 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility component at the higher rate.

Parish Profiles – Cambridgeshire Insight

A reminder that the County Council hosts this website containing demographic detail about our communities from parish to parish, drawn from the census. This helps to inform local authority decisions particularly in relation to the wider determinants of health. It’s very user friendly and offers a close up look at our area village by village, and helps us to understand the ways in which some people’s lives are easier or harder than others. Please search ‘Cambridgeshire Insight.’

Zoom Cuppa – your questions or concerns

We hold a Zoom Cuppa surgery on Monday afternoons, or can meet or talk with you at a time that’s convenient. Please contact us any time and we’ll do our best to answer your questions or concerns.

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