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5

Buckden Roundabout

October 2017

FROM YOUR COUNTY COUNCILLOR

County councillors are now back at work planning for the next financial year as well as keeping a close eye on what is happen-

ing at the moment. Our immediate concerns are possible reductions in services to young children by the closure of some chil-

dren’s centres and further changes to the library services. Then there are the almost daily complaints from residents about the

council’s failures in relation to verge and tree maintenance, pot-hole repairs and reduced bus services.

Looking ahead to next year, the council has to find a further £35 million of savings from the expenditure budget. This is on top

of the £215 million saved since 2011. To give you a perspective on that, the County Council’s annual expenditure is about £580

million. By 2022 the County Council will have had to save £305 million. These huge figures in themselves make little sense to

residents. What you see is a reduction in services, less attention to highways and footpaths, fewer services to vulnerable young

people and adults, reductions in bus services, to name but a few.

Why is this happening?

Government grant to local councils has been systematically reduced over the last few years as part of the current gov-

ernment’s austerity programme.

At the same time, the government has capped the % increase a council can make to its council tax at 2%. If they go over

that, they have to have a referendum (which in itself costs a lot of money!) Last year, the government permitted an extra

2% but Cambridgeshire rejected that option, one of the few councils in the country to do so. That decision saved the

average household 40p per week but deprived us of nearly £5 million we could have used to offset the service pressures.

The demand for the services provided by the County Council is increasing each year. There are more children and the

number of those needing to be taken into care is increasing every year. More people are living longer (which is good!)

but that increases the demand for social care for the very elderly.

I know that some of you will say that the council should be more economical in the way it organises itself. I can assure you that,

over recent years, there have been many changes which have reduced central office staff; for example, nearly all our major post

-holders are shared with Peterborough and our legal and IT teams are shared with Northamptonshire and Central Bedfordshire.

Many council buildings have been taken out of council use; the council is investing in energy-saving schemes. Technological

advances are reducing expensive staffing costs. In spite of all that, it is extremely difficult to find enough financial resources to

meet the increasing demands. You may find a message like this unpalatable but I would be failing in my duty to you if I did not

report bluntly and frankly on the seriousness of the situation.

Many of you contact me directly by e-mail when you have a concern and I do my best to respond as quickly as I can. If you wish

to raise any matters with me personally and would welcome a face-to-face conversation, I come to the Aragon Room in the

Village Hall at 7 p.m. on the evening of the parish council meeting, the 2

nd

Tuesday in the month. At other times, please ring me

on 07765 833 486 or write to me at peter.downes@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Peter Downes, County Councillor for the Brampton and Buckden division

FROM YOUR DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

Plans for future of A1. I continue to work with the District Council officers to influence the report on the future of the A1 which

is due to be published at the end of the year. We are emphasising the need for local improvements including the possibility of a

Southoe relief road and a Buckden Bypass.

Combined Authority. As I have previously reported I am vice-chairman of the Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny (O and

S) Committee. At the end of July we ‘called-in’ a decision made by the CA Board relating to the size of the budget for the CA

support staff. This meant that the decision had to be put ‘on hold’ until our views had been expressed to the Board and they

had the opportunity to reconsider and vote again. Our decision was based on the fact that the budget had been increased by

nearly 25% and we felt that insufficient debate and discussion had taken place before the decision was made. The Board met

again on Monday 4

th

September and after a more detailed briefing from the CEO and more considered debate and discussion

agreed to a revised proposal with one vote against. It was agreed that the Committee had been right to call-in the decision and

that there should be more information provided and more serious debate before future decisions were made.

Local Public Rights of Way (PROW) I have often emphasised how lucky we are to have such a good local network of PROW and it

continues to be important that we use them and report any problems to our very energetic and pro-active Parish Council ROW

and Trees WG. Please ensure that you use this local facility sensibly and please make sure that you don’t stray onto land not

open to the public.

Please do not hesitate to contact me about these issues or any others that you would like to discuss. I am available on 01480

810974 and terry.hayward@huntingdonshire.gov.uk

With best wishes, Terry Hayward, District Councillor for Buckden, Stirtloe, Diddington, Southoe and Midloe

From Your Councillors