Cllr Sarah Whitebread met with local residents and representatives from Streetworks, the Highways department, EDF and the Varsity Hotel today to discuss the problems of the uneven stretch of road on Thompson’s Lane outside the entrance to the new Varsity Hotel.  The camber of the road is currently very uneven, causing drainage problems.  There is also concern that the double yellow lines which should run right along the road by the entrance to the hotel have never been replaced.  This makes it difficult to enforce restrictions on cars stopping there.  At the moment cars frequently stop there, forcing passing vehicles onto the wrong side of the road to meet vehicles travelling the other way from the New Park Street junction.

The Highways department have agreed to resurface the stretch of road outside the hotel and also replace the double yellow lines.  The resurfacing will happen in September, with the double yellows possibly sooner.

Cllr Sarah Whitebread commented “It was a useful meeting and good to get residents and representatives from the hotel and council staff together to talk things through.  I’m very pleased the highways team have agreed to carry out the resurfacing work and repaint the yellow lines – this should go some way to resolving the problems at this junction.”

The County Council is proposing to reduce the opening hours at Cambridge Central Library by one hour each day, apart from on Sundays.

Full details of the proposed changes can be found in the online consultation, here.

Market ward County Councillor Sarah Whitebread is keen that residents submit their views to the County Council before the consultation closes on the 18th June 2011. She commented “The Liberal Democrat group have consistently opposed cuts to the Library Service, but sadly the Conservatives in control have not listened.  It’s important that as many residents as possible complete this survey to let the County know how much we all value the library service, and want funding for it to be maintained.”

A petition has been organised against the cuts to the service which can also be signed online here.

Your local councillors are continuing to work on the long running problem of the shortage of parking spaces for cars in the Kite area of the city centre.  City Councillor Colin Rosenstiel and County Councillor Sarah Whitebread yesterday met with County Council staff at Shire Hall to discuss some possible steps forward.

One proposal being looked at is the removal of the 30 minute waiting bay on Earl Street and replacement with a streetcar bay.  There is already one streetcar easily accessible for Kite residents in Adam and Eve Street car park, but demand is such that an additional car seems a good idea.  The hope is the change could be advertised in the Autumn, with the streetcar going in next spring if the response from residents is positive.

Councillors also urged Council staff to remind student residents of the University’s rules on car ownership, to which they are bound by contract.

Cllr Sarah Whitebread pressed the council officers on the issue of the abuse of visitors permits, but was assured that the numbers issued are monitored closely and any abuses are followed up.  If any resident has evidence of abuse of the visitors permits scheme they should contact Graham Lowe at the county council via email to graham.lowe@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Cllr Rosenstiel is keen to investigate a proposal that single yellow lined areas should be used as residents parking at weekends (except in narrow streets like Elm Street and Orchard Street that should soon have double yellow lines), but this proposal is in the early stages as it may not be legal to sign such an arrangement.  Colin and officers are researching this plan.

In the meantime, Cllr Whitebread will be speaking at the County cabinet meeting in June against the proposed increase in residents permit charges.  Any resident wishing to make a formal objection to the proposals should contact Graham Lowe on the address above before 31st May.

Cambridgeshire’s Tory-run county council has abandoned its commitment to tackling climate change.

Its three main priorities for next year make no mention of the strategic objective set last year to “meet the challenges of climate change”.

Despite the omission, councillors had been told that the commitment to tackle climate change still stood.

In an email yesterday, however, to members of the council’s Enterprise, Growth and Community Infrastructure Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Chief Executive Mark Lloyd confirmed that “former strategic objectives no longer apply and have been replaced”.

The new priorities make no mention of sustainability or tackling the council’s huge carbon footprint.

This decision follows a string of moves to limit the activity of the council on environmental issues including:

• removing climate change sections from all cabinet papers;
• cutting £500,000 from the environment team at Shire Hall;
• removing the word “environment” from any of the cabinet positions
• changing the relevant scrutiny committee name from “environment and sustainability” to “enterprise, growth and community infrastructure”

Sarah Whitebread, Lib Dem climate change spokesperson and your local County Councillor, said: “This is the final nail in the coffin for hopes of serious action on climate change from the Conservatives at Shire Hall.

“The grim reality is that these councillors do not care about the environment or protecting this area for future generations. Cambridgeshire is a low lying county vulnerable to changes in temperature.  We need to take serious action on CO2 now, before it’s too late.”