Market Liberal Democrats

works on east road

Utility companies could be charged a daily fee for road closures while they carry out work across Cambridgeshire.

The idea has been put forward by Liberal Democrat Councillor Sarah Whitebread and would apply to companies laying new gas or water mains or carrying out similar work in the county.

Cllr Whitebread, who represents Cambridge’s Market Ward on Cambridgeshire County Council, claims the move could prevent lengthy closures such as the one which brought the city’s East Road to a virtual halt for weeks while new gas mains were laid.

She made her suggestion during Question Time at the county council meeting today (Tuesday, May 15) and it was agreed to look into such a scheme.

A similar idea, approved by the Department of Transport, will allow Transport for London to charge companies in the capital up to £2,500 a day for closing major roads. Companies will face lower charges if they carry out work outside of peak times.

“The county system at the moment has no incentive for speedy work, or to encourage work outside peak times” said Cllr Whitebread. “Given the frequency with which utilities companies need to carry out road works in Cambridge, I think a charging scheme of this type needs serious consideration.

“I also pushed the council to look at ways to encourage utility companies, when carrying out works, to keep roads open for cyclists. Often there is road space around the works that could be made available, but instead cyclists told to wait with cars or dismount and walk. In a city where so many people travel to school and work by bike, this clearly needs addressing.”

The county council’s Cabinet Member for Community Infrastructure, Tony Orgee, agreed to look into such a scheme.

The results of this week’s City Council elections were declared in the early
hours of Thursday morning.

The result for Market Ward was as follows:

TIM BICK 615
Labour. 505
Green. 349
Conservative. 257

We are delighted that our Lib Dem City Centre team member Tim Bick was
successfully re-elected. To all those who supported Tim, a big thank you!

Tim is committed to work for the whole ward as before and the team will press
on with the agenda of the priorities and concerns that have been
well-advertised and well discussed elsewhere.

With kind regards,

Your City Centre LibDem Team

Andrea Reiner – Tim Bick – Colin Rosenstiel – Sarah Whitebread

Strawberry Fair is to launch a poetry slam competition for young people age 13 – 25 from across Cambridgeshire. The competition will be free to enter and prizes include a prime performance slot at the Fair and opportunities to be mentored by critically acclaimed poets.

If you write poetry, love poetry and want to share your poetry, then they would love to hear from you. You can use beatbox, rap, mc-ing, polyvocal or acapella, as well as poetry and spoken word.

All you need to do to enter is:

1. Go to www.strawberry-slam.org.uk
2. Follow the instructions to post a clip of yourself reading or reciting your poem.
3. Wait to hear whether you have been selected as one of 12 finalists to go through to compete in the Strawberry Slam final on Saturday 2 June.

Deadline for entries: Saturday 26 May 2012

The entries will be judged by five professional poets from London’s Point Blank Poets Collective and the 12 finalists will be announced on Tuesday 29 May. The final will be held in the brand new Strawberry Slam stage at the Fair on Saturday 2 June, 7 – 10pm. The Slam will be hosted by the formidable Hollie McNish (a former UK Slam Poetry Champion) and emcee Inja, with guest performances from renowned spoken word artists Bridget Minamore, Sabrina Mahfouz, Dean Atta and Deanna Rodger.

To find out more visit www.strawberry-slam.org.uk or get in touch with amy@strawberry-fair.org.uk

Tim Bick and the Liberal Democrat team have a record of action that is second to none in the city centre.

Tim Bick and the Liberal Democrats
fighting for better Post Office facilities	getting trees planted	protecting Midsummer Common	fighting against overdevelopment
The Liberal Democrat team works hard all year round for the city centre

A vote for Tim Bick on Thursday will make sure that the city centre is served by a hard working local team. Tim has been a strong champion for this area since he was first elected four years ago. He has stood up for this area time and time again on matters ranging from local Post Office improvements to championing trees and open spaces.

Labour have let this area down over the years. They have repeatedly tried to cut back street cleaning in the city centre.

The Conservatives have no councillors in Cambridge, they cannot win here, the only way to stop Labour taking the council is to vote for Tim and the Lib Dem team.

If you would like help getting to the polling station on Thursday, please get in touch with Tim on 07720 413 173 to arrange a lift.

3 good reasons to vote for Tim Bick Tim has a local record that other parties cannot match. Tim has stood up for the city centre time and time again: from residents parking to local bus services; from trees to Post Office improvements, Tim has fought for a better deal for this area Tim and the Liberal Democrats have won £90 million from the County to improve roads and pavements.

3 things to remember about Labour: Labour have repeatedly tried to cutback street cleaning in the city centre. It was the Liberal Democrats who built this service up to its current levels. Labour wants to raid Council repair budgets to make its sums add up. Labour refused to support the Liberal Democrats’ extra investment in much needed pavement maintenance.

Developers have come forward with new proposals for Lion Yard which retain a redesigned walkway to Fisher Square.

The plans will be discussed in depth at a meeting of the Lion Yard Toilets Working Party in May. In the meantime, work will start on reconfiguring some of the shops in Lion Yard, while allowing walkway and the toilets to remain unaffected.

The new proposals have been welcomed by Cambridge City Council Leader, Sian Reid who said: “The city council’s working party and I have expressed real concern about closing the walkway and I am very encouraged that developers are responding to this.

“The working party will be discussing these new plans in depth and will discuss how best to consult again with residents.

“I am very pleased that the developers, who planned to close the walkway, have listened to residents’ views and the concerns of Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council and proposed to retain it.

“I believe that it is vitally important to connect the central market area and Fisher Square with other parts of the city; and retaining the walkway makes it easier and quicker for people can get from the Lion Yard to the toilets

“The county council has given informal advice reflecting this too.”

Cambridge City Council refused permission in 2011 for the developers to move the toilets to the first floor; their future on the ground floor is assured.

Liberal Democrats will tonight (Thursday, April 19) call on their city council colleagues to reject a Labour move to restrict the number of shared houses in Cambridge.

They will also ask for rejection of Labour’s demands to look at options for regulating houses in multiple occupation.

And they will advise the council that smaller shared houses, where three or more people live in two or more unrelated households, cannot be licensed because conditions required to meet the legislation are not present in Cambridge at the moment; the situation will continue to be monitored.

The Lib Dems have raised an amendment to a Labour motion calling for the restriction and will ask the city council to “recognise the vital contribution that well-run houses make in providing homes for family, students, professionals and migrant workers”.

Catherine Smart, Romsey Councillor and Deputy Leader of Cambridge City Councillor said: “Without shared housing many people living and working in our city would not be able to do so. Property prices make home ownership unaffordable for many in Cambridge but they can live in the city by sharing the cost of renting.

“We are fortunate that we have a diverse mix of people in our city and we don’t want to discourage that. This could be bad for our economy and our community in general.

“It is vital, therefore, that we make sure we support the contribution made by these properties and the people who live there. But at the same time, we do acknowledge that not all of them are run as well as they could be and sometimes there are problems as there are with all types of housing. We have procedures in place to deal with this.”

Lib Dems will ask for an annual report to be brought to the council’s Community Services Committee detailing the number and type of complaints received by the Environmental Health Department in all types of housing in the city and how they have been dealt with, including the number of prosecutions.