Speed limit at junction of A505 and Thriplow turn-off

The County Council are reviewing speed limits across Cambridgeshire over 30 mph, and are proposing a 50 mph limit further out along the A505 towards Fowlmere than currently exists.
The advantage is that this would capture the turn-off to Thriplow, which is currently pretty hairy, given that it is a right turn off a narrow road coming up to the brow of a hill with traffic streaming the other way. The map below shows what is proposed, the pic is the approach. We have to 14th December to comment.

South Cambs Village Energy Show Sat 27th November

Going to try to get along to the The Village Energy Show 2010 which takes place tomorrow, Saturday 27th November, from 1pm to 5pm at the Comberton Leisure Centre next to Comberton Village College.

There will be over 25 different stands covering different aspects of sustainable living. The main aim of the show is to invite everyone who lives and works in South Cambridgeshire to find out more about sustainable living – bringing more sustainable energy into our lives whilst reducing our carbon footprints and tackling climate change – it will be realistic demonstrating what CAN be done NOW and LOCALLY!

There will be talks throughout the afternoon covering issues of sustainable home energy, food and transport. We're catering for all the family with a real world, real South Cambs and real people focus. I'll report back.

Brrr - hope its not another cold winter for the elderly!

Dropped in to see Nicky, the very hard-working "warden" at the sheltered housing in Lettice Martin Croft in Whittlesford this afternoon.

As the winter starts to bite some of the elderly people in the houses there are feeling the chill - even though two years back we arranged for all the roof cavities to be insulated and for all the electrical controls and thermostats to be checked.

Anyway, because of the design of some of the accommodation, the heating isnt brilliant, and I was asked to make some enquiries if any more could be done. The council have sent out an assessor to take temperatures and assess the current heating arrangements, and the next step will be to see what additional or replacement heating can be put in place. It ain't fun being cold and old.

Affordable housing

A useful meeting at South Cambs District Council with a local charity and the council's officers exploring how we can have a level-playing field for village based charities who want to help fund and support affordable housing and not have everything run remotely by one of the very large - and probably very efficient - regional housing associations. Making progress, and we need it based on the numbers of potential people on the Whittlesford waiting list.

Blue bins discussion

At the parish council meeting there was general approval for the newdistrict supplied blue bins, and some discussion about what happens to the green bin, and if a group of people could if they wished club together to keep fewer bins rather than having the full three-bin set. Also discussion about the amount of paper in the new caddies.

It is making a difference though, in terms of what can be recycled, and is such a change from when everyone just put black bin liners out (for the foxes to tear open and snack on the contents!)

Planning success for Heathfield

I arranged for the planning committee of South Cambs District Council to visit the site at the entrance to Heathfield to see what for the themselves. This was on Thursday morning, and in the afternoon the committee considered and rejected the planning application to build two more houses there.