March 2020

Buckden Roundabout

March 2020

District & County Councillors

From your County Councillor

In my article for last month’s Roundabout, I provided the back-

ground against which the County Council has to make its deci-

sion on services and council tax levels.

The essence of the challenge is that:

levels of demand are increasing, while central govern-

ment support to local authorities has been declining

over recent years and

the amounts by which local councils may increase tax

are capped by central government. Not an easy situa-

tion to deal with.

Another variable is Boris Johnson! Anything might happen!

Even while the February County Council meeting was taking

place, he was announcing extra money for local bus services

and cycle ways and by the time

Roundabout

reaches you, he

may well have announced something else.

The County Council met early in February to make a decision

for the coming year April 2020 – March 2021. I won’t bore you

with an account of a tetchy meeting but if anybody is really

interested in the detail of the arguments put forward by the

different political groups, I can tell you about them.

Because the Conservatives have a majority on the County

Council (in 2017 they won back all the seats stolen from them

by UKIP in 2013), in the end all the huffing and puffing by the

opposition parties makes no real difference.

So, the first decision was to raise the council tax by the per-

mitted 2% towards the extra costs of adult social care, and all

sides agreed that was both desirable and essential. The ill-

tempered argument was over the other permitted increase of

1.99% towards other Council services. Both the opposition par-

ties, Labour and Liberal Democrats, made the case for using

the full 1.99% so that the services people want and expect can

be protected from further reduction. The ruling group, under-

standably anxious to keep their low tax credentials, proposed

1.59% increase. The difference between the two, if you live in a

Band D house, amounts to a saving of 11 pence a week. The

1.59% decision reduces the income to the county by about

£1.5 million.

The ruling group insisted that they are finding new ways called

‘Transformation’, of delivering services more cost-effectively

without harming those in greatest need. They also emphasised

that the County Council is making strenuous efforts to increase

income by commercial activities. It will shortly be moving its

HQ out of Cambridge to Alconbury Weald where a new energy-

efficient building will reduce running costs. The present Shire

Hall will be leased to a hotel company and will therefore gener-

ate income.

Attending the Buckden Parish Council meeting on the same

evening as the Council Tax decision day served as a salutary

reminder that, at grassroots level, there is a sense of frustra-

tion about how slowly highways improvements are agreed and

acted upon. I know that this view is widely shared across the

county and is indicative of the pressures on CCC staff.

I will continue to do what I can to keep the Parish Council fully

informed and will continue to remind fellow county councillors

in Cambridge that, in spite of their claims that all is going really

well and services are being ‘transformed’, that is not how it is

always perceived at local level.

Peter Downes

From your District Councillor

Transformation

I wrote about this a year ago, and since then this programme

has been developing at National, County, and District Council

level steadily. Transformation is the term for a large scale re-

alignment of Government, Local Government and Voluntary

sector bodies to provide better and more focussed Social Care

and better delivery at a local level.

In Cambridgeshire one of several programs is called “Cambs

2020, Community Hubs and Spokes” Basically this means that

that various functions currently centred in or near Cambridge

City will be re-located to different population centres to the

north or south. As many already know the County Council will

relocate to Alconbury and will then be supported by at least

one main community hub building in each of the of the five

district council areas.

These administrative and delivery centres will be supported in

turn by a network of satellite community hubs – Libraries, Par-

ish and Village Halls, GP Surgeries, possibly Churches etc.

Staff will be drawn from across the public sector to provide

multi-skilled locality teams that are able to meet the needs of

our communities. Improved data networks will help to identify

the vulnerable and needy. Establishing links with existing vol-

untary sector organisations will be a priority for these teams.

Funding is probable, and while plans have yet to be finalised

and agreed, it is expected that the voluntary sector will benefit

in some form.

So, what does this mean for Buckden? Firstly, the Library, a key

part of our civic infrastructure, will have key swipe card access

and longer opening hours to provide a place for people to con-

nect, to learn new skills and be part of the community. This

will be supported by organised events and activities, business

briefings for local trades to support skills and employment,

stop social isolation and promote the growth of new communi-

ty enterprises. The Village Hall will play a large role in sup-

porting this and may be able to become a base for the various

specialist teams located in the area.

A1/ Transport

I have had several useful discussions with our MP and urged

him to review arguments for a Western bypass for Southoe

and Buckden, from Ellington to the revised Black Cat. He has

kindly responded by saying he will pick this issue up with the

new Transport Minister, once the Cabinet Reshuffle is over. In

the meantime he has had talks with Richard Fuller, the new MP

for North East Bedfordshire, and a further meeting was held

with Simon Amor, Regional Director of Highways England. At

this time, the Road Assessment Scheme only allows for com-

mitted Development - Development within the Local Plan - to

be considered when assessing road schemes and the Govern-

ment has been clear that this is tied to delivery of new housing

projects. That said, there is evidence in the last few days on

bridges and hybrid cars, that Government policy can rapidly

change.

Hamish Masson