A day in the life of...

Every now and then I take a day and really get stuck into district councillor work. Most days I am working and can get to evening meetings only. This is what I did one day recently.

My day started at 0900 with a kerbside meeting with a highways engineer from the county council and parish councillors in Whittlesford. We wanted his views on options to make a junction safer, including the possibility of a traffic mirror at the Guildhall junction. The County Council engineer was not keen, but at least we understand now what we have to do to take this foward.

1100 - I arrive at the District Council's offices at Cambourne for the first of a series of meetings. I'm vice chair of the Climate Change Working Group and we have secured a sizeable grant for a scheme working with parish councils. The scheme will help them reduce carbon emissions and establish some household examples of fuel efficiency. Together with the chair of the group and the climate change officer from the district council, we work on a project plan for the first year of funding.

1230 - I go and have a sandwich lunch with the chair of the standards committee - an independent person, a businesswomen in fact, not a district councillor. We discuss how we can work together, as I chair the corporate governance committee, which looks after audits and risks. That done, I go off and find another councillor to discuss the scrutiny committee and whether it should look into some grants. We decide, after working through a complicated diagram showing the links between the district and the county, that actually this issue is best covered by the county council - we conclude that there is no point in duplicating work!

1500 - I meet with the chief executive of the district council, and we go through the upcoming corporate governance meeting, and any particular issues that we should put on the agenda. I'm keen to make sure we don't miss anything out.

1600 - I call in on the planning section, because a resident has asked for some advice and I need to make sure of what I am saying in reply, so check with one of the experienced officers. I also pick up a copy of a section 106 agreement, which is where a developer agrees to make a payment for local amenities (play facilities is a good example) in return for being allowed to build. I have a meeting one evening next week with residents on this and I need to make sure I have the facts.

1700 - Leave Cambourne and drive through Cambridge, picking up one of my boys from school, and return home. Phew! But I've learnt some new things, resolved some problems, and that is what it is all about.

CCTV for Whittlesford Station - National Express say "no"

I've had a reply from National Express. No reason given but no CCTV plans for Whittlesford station.

The Group Station Manager says, in his reply to me:

"I am aware of all the individual crimes that have unfortunately occurred in recent months and have spoken with the British Transport police personally regarding these. The crimes that are subsequently reported to the BTP are also discussed on a regular basis at the areas Crime &
Disorder Reduction Partnership, monthly meeting."

The Crime and Reduction Partnership is a committee that the District Council is a key player on - so I shall be seeing what happens if I can get this issue raised there. And perhaps I need to up the ante a bit with some demonstration of local support!

The Guildhall junction - meeting with the county council highways engineer

A group of us, parish councillors and residents, met at the Guildhall junction this morning to discuss options with the county council's highways engineer - he was the one in the reflective vest! - on how best to "calm" or slow down the traffic coming along the Duxford Road and North Road so that people pulling out from the High Street have the time to do that without running the risk of being hit by traffic. As we pointed out, and we could see the evidence before us, you only have about two seconds to execute the manouvre before something coming along even below the speed limit reaches you, and that isn't very long. Two people present outlined accidents that had occurred to them or their significant others. I cycle and sometimes drive out of that junction in the morning and it is pretty chancy - in some ways being on a bike is easier because you can hear the cars coming, but still.

Our proposals for a mirror met with a number of objections from the engineer, because he and his colleagues consider them unsafe, but the other alternatives are, it seems to me, costly and unpalatable - speed bumps or cushions - and we don't think "slow down" electronic lights work. To be fair, as he pointed out volumes of traffic have risen about 15% in recent years, and there are other equally chancy corners across Cambridgeshire. But this is our problem corner, and we want to find a solution before there is another accident.

Thriplow Post Office - kind hearts and coronets

The group are continuing to explore all angles and routes towards saving the Post Office. No stone is being left unturned, and we shall see!

A traffic mirror at the Guildhall Junction?

Of course the Guildhall looks much different now, and so do the roads around it: faster and busier, especially the main road going past it. This makes it tricky for people turning out from the High Street because you can't see the traffic coming from round the corner.
The proposition is whether a traffic convex mirror near the Guildhall would be helpful, and meetings with County Highways are being planned. We may need planning permission, and I'm talking to the district.

The C7 bus route

This is the response that I have sent to the county council consultation on the C7 bus route - where they appear to want to drop the service to once an hour. I intend to ensure it is discussed at the parish council meetings this week.

"You have invited comments on the proposed running of the C7 bus route - although you have also at the same time invited tenders for a service every hour as well as every half hour, which is the current service.

The problem with this bus service, and the reason why it is under used, is because of the "loop" which means that while a journey into Sawston is relatively quick, the journey back is frustratingly long, sometimes 40 minutes, via the Duxford Airfield, and a rest point for the driver. This is a point that people whom I represent on the District Council living in Heathfield and Whittlesfield have complained about many times. My two sons both used to try to catch the C7 into school, but the long journey via Duxford at the end of the school day proved too long, and unpredictable, so they both moved to the train.

Clearly the bus service is currently under-used, even with the schoolchildren from Whittlesford and Heathfield going into Sawston Village College. If the service is cut back from three an hour, as it used to be, to one an hour, then this is a downward spiral which will not be improved in terms of passenger numbers unless the route is properly looked at.

I strongly oppose any reduction of the service below every half hour, and I recommend that you look at making the route more attractive. If this is not taken up, then we can only assume that the intention is to keep cutting services to villages, so that eventually the car is the only choice in terms of transport for villagers in south Cambridge. Whittlesford is lucky in that it has the train service, and one can see the numbers of young people using the service, both during the school day and at the weekends. The reason is I think very simple: it takes as long to come back as it does to get there.

Putting pen to paper - Thriplow Post Office

I have been reading through all the letters that people have written arguing the case for saving the Post Office - from all sorts of people, but all saying how much they value their Post Office. Here they are spread out on my kitchen table. I'm trying to see if the District Council can lend its support, on top of my own , as District Councillor.

Thriplow Post Office argues the facts

I've just been reviewing the case that Thriplow Parish Council is formally putting to the Post Office arguing against the closure of the village's branch.

It is a cogent, fact-based and forward looking document, and the Parish Council have really worked hard on all the angles - the letter-writing campaign by residents, the meeting with the PO managers, and now this. We just have to hope that common-sense prevails.