Fulbourn Primary School Class Saved

The number of classes in a school is determined by the number of children likely to need them. This makes sense most of the time. There are a number of complex ways to work this out and by and large we do end up with the right number of classes in all our schools for the number of children.

Fulbourn Primary School numbers has been hit by the Windmill Estate being replaced with new housing. People have left the estate and have not been replaced yet in the new housing because they have not been built. In fact the rate of building has slowed because of the economic climate making this dip in school numbers worse and longer than expected. This means that for a short period school numbers would have fallen enough to lose the seventh class resulting in all the other classes getting much bigger and a teacher leaving.

Sometimes unusual factors threaten the formula and this is where people have to step in and make the correct decision even if it means bending the rules. I was asked to step in by a school governor who frankly did not believe that much could be done but was desperate to save the class.

I meet with the Head to discuss the matter. As a result I arranged for the County Councils School Organisation and Planning Officer and the County’s Schools Finance Manager to meet with the Head and me to see what could be done to manage this extraordinary situation.

The Head and I wrote a compelling business case for the retention of the seventh class which we gave to the officers at the end of our meeting. We argued strongly that this was an exception and that the class would be needed.

SUCCESS. Our case was made, understood and accepted. Against all our hopes the class is saved for another year. This felt good and reminded me why I stood as a county councillor.

 

Little Wilbraham March 2010 parish report

A14 Public Enquiry update

As you will know the consultation on the proposals to rebuild the A14 closed on the 6^th of January 2010. The Government have appointed the Inspector and his team. The full details of all the objections is likely to be made public in March. The Inspector is likely to hold the first meeting with objectors in mid May.

The full enquiry which is likely to take 10 /12 weeks is be in two parts, the first in June / July and the second in September / October. During this period the Highways Agency and their contractors will continue to seek to resolve objections.

Guided Busway

The County continue to hold the contractor BNL to its obligations under the design  and build contract for the guided busway. Unfortunately, this will result in a delay in bringing it into service.  The northern section is substantially complete but has six significant defects that the county require the contractor to put right before we accept it into service. If we accept it before the defects are sorted out the long term liability is likely to move to the county, which no one wants. A summary of the situation is as follows:

• Key defects need to be rectified
• CCC will not takeover until they are
• BNL are refusing that these items are defects effectively paralysing the process
• CCC can’t terminate the contract on this basis
• Need to continue seeking rectification of these issues

This is very frustrating and likely to end up in expensive legal action against the contractor but is necessary.

Fulbourn Library Access Point

The LAP service is under financial pressure with £30k of savings required. I have been working with the Fulbourn LAP to secure its future. We invited Sir Peter Brown, the responsible cabinet member, to a meeting to explain the good work being carried out. We are now a lot more hopeful after Peter gave a great big thumbs up toFulbourn LAP.

 

Guided busway update

This is complex and frustrating. Having looked into the matter and had officer briefings it seems clear to me that the council has by and large got things right. The issue seems to be the contractor has over run on its own costs and is trying a number of tactics to recover them from the council. At the same time, it might have failed to meet the specifications required in the contract.

The County continues, quite rightly,  to hold the contractor BNL to its obligations under the design  and build contract for the guided busway. Unfortunately, this will result in a delay in bringing it into service.  The northern section is substantially complete but has six significant defects that the county require the contractor to put right before we accept it into service. If we accept it before the defects are sorted out the long term liability is likely to move to the county, which no one wants. A summary of the situation is as follows:

•Key defects need to be rectified

•CCC will not takeover until they are

•BNL are refusing that these items are defects effectively paralysing the process

•CCC can’t terminate the contract on this basis

•Need to continue seeking rectification of these issues

This is very frustrating and likely to end up in expensive legal action against the contractor. Lets hope there is a “pint and a pie” solution to this problem but I don’t think it very likely.

Transport Innovation Fund Scrapped

Briefing note on the Department for Transport announcement of the Urban Challenge Fund and the scrapping of Congestion TIF

On Tuesday 2 March 2010, Sadiq Khan, the Minister of State for Transport announced the setting up of an Urban Challenge Fund, which would replace the Congestion Transport Innovation Fund. This fund would require…

“…Local Authorities to be bolder and more innovative in developing transport strategies.”

Money from the fund will be available to support packages which deliver a wide range of transport improvements:

Improve journey time

Tackle congestion

Improve safety

Lower carbon emissions

Promote healthier lifestyles through better air quality and more walking and cycling

Urban transport planning must be embedded in broader economic and spatial planning.”

It is notable that Cambridgeshire’s Congestion TIF proposals would deliver against all of these criteria, and they are certainly bold and innovative. There appears to be no firm requirement for Congestion Charging or alternative fiscal demand management in the new fund as discussed; however, there is a strong emphasis on innovation, challenge, demand management and value for money.

Government has published a discussion document and is seeking views on how the Urban Challenge fund might work by 4 June 2010. The discussion document states:

“The Transport Innovation Fund was established to support local authorities that wanted to tackle the problems of congestion in their areas through a combination of public transport improvements and congestion charging. Work by a number of authorities showed that a combination of measures was necessary to tackle the problem of congestion and could deliver wider benefits to local communities, the urban economy and environment. TIF also encouraged new thinking in a number of areas, for example on a phased and incremental approach to demand management. Its weaknesses lay in its too narrow a focus on the issue of congestion, the failure to win public acceptance for the more challenging proposals and inability to transform governance at the same time as delivering radical change. The key lessons from TIF are that building acceptance for the more challenging proposals involves recognising the importance of wider economic, social and environmental objectives, having a clear vision and planned step-by-step approach to delivering change and strengthening partnership working between the Department and cities.”

The Minister stated that Cambridgeshire and Reading had received letters on their TIF proposals.  Our letter was actually received by email at 7pm on the evening of 3 March, said very little, but pointed to the announcement and the value of the work undertaken for TIF.

This was reflected in the DfT line to the press that there…

“…is clearly an opportunity for Cambridgeshire to use the TIF experience to their advantage in putting forward proposals to the new fund.”

They have also stated that they expect authorities to draw on TIF models, DaSTS work and other recent transport studies when drawing up proposals under the new fund.

Cambridgeshire appears to be well placed through its work on TIF and the Greater Cambridge DaSTS study, and through its wider work on the growth agenda, should it choose to submit proposals under the new fund.

This is the emphasis of the press release we have issued.  Clearly there is disappointment at the failure to secure the TIF investment.  However, we must now concentrate our energies on securing funding for Chesterton Station, and for the moment, we will anticipate doing this through the new fund.

The proposal of the Minister is that funding for the new fund would be top sliced from the Department for Transport’s budget following the next Comprehensive Spending Review. It is unclear how much funding would be available, but the indications are that for any individual authority, funding would be less than for TIF.

There is of course uncertainty as to whether a change in government would lead to a review of the proposals for the Urban Challenge Fund in period beyond May / June 2010.

Department for Transport web links

Urban Challenge Fund
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/localauthorities/funding/fundingstreams/urbanchallengefund/

Discussion Document
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/localauthorities/funding/fundingstreams/urbanchallengefund/discussion/

Ministerial Speech
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/speeches/khan20100302

Ministerial Statement
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/khan20100302a

 

Lib Dems still demand congestion charge ????

So, the transport innovation fund is dead. We have all spent a lot of time running around preparing bids for up to £500m to improve the transport infrastructure. And now it has been taken away by this bankrupt labour government. I resented being told we could only have the money we were rightly due, for our roads, if we accepted the congestion charge. I’m not sure if that was blackmail or bribery but which ever I don’t like it which is why I am proud to be one of only 7 county councillors to vote against the TIF application, which included congestion charges, last year.

Well, I am not sad. Because the congestion charge has also gone away I can’t help but smile (large grin actually). Yes we are still left with potential congestion, yes we still need to find money for a new station and yes this will involve lots more hard work, but ………. that is the same for all cities in England.

We have been saved from the blight of a congestion charge. We will remain competitive in the world market place. We will continue to be know for our technology, world class university and our flat landscape and not for being  “that city with a congestion charge”

How odd then that the Lib Dems continue to argue for a congestion charge. Only a party out of touch with the needs of business could possibly think that a congestion charge would benefit this county. Madness.

A fine, fine day.

Horningsea Reservoir – Improved Safety

A local Horningsea resident was concerned that there were no warning signs nor life saving equipment at the Horningsea reservoir. Having been alerted to this by the parish council I arranged for signs to be installed along with a couple of life belts.