Just a quick update on weather.

Teams from the City Council’s Streets and Open Spaces have been applying grit to city centre footpaths, shopping precincts, sheltered accommodation sites and main parks and open spaces.

All areas are being checked starting at 6.00 am this morning and grit re-applied as required.

The County was gritting main roads and adopted cycle paths yesterday evening at 18.00.

This is a reminder that the 2013 Cam Cleanup will be taking place on Saturday 13 April from 10 am – 1 pm. We are once again calling for volunteers to give our much loved river a helping hand.

Last year more than 100 volunteers turned out for the event, filling many bags of rubbish, and we hope to exceed those numbers this year.

The cleanup will have much the same format as last year, with City Council staff placed on each of Sheep’s Green (near Mill Pond), Midsummer Common (near the Fort St George) and Stourbridge Common, to get volunteers started. City Council staff will hand out work gloves, litter pickers and litter bags.

We propose that volunteers meet up at the Fort St George after the cleanup to swap stories of the most outrageous items found.

If you are able to come, please confirm by emailing Andrea Reiner at andreareiner23@gmail.com, so that we have an idea of numbers. And please spread the word to other would-be volunteers! We hope to see many of you there.

The event is being organised by Mal Schofield, Becky Allen and Andrea Reiner.

Residents will be pleased to hear that the planning inspectorate yesterday dismissed the appeal lodged after the rejection of a planning application to extend the Doubletree Hilton Hotel.

Residents organised and collected more than 800 signatures on a petition objecting to the plans. Residents representatives spoke at against the application at the planning committee, alongside ward Councillor Andrea Reiner and Newnham Councillors Sian Reid and Rod Cantrill.

Next time you pop out of your workplace at lunchtime for something to eat, look out for a new food hygiene scheme recently launched in Cambridge by the council.

All food businesses in Cambridge are regularly inspected and rated so that residents can see how hygienic and safe they are. The Commercial Team has just launched the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme for the city, with every food business receiving a new green and black FHRS certificate and window sticker showing their rating from 0 to 5, with 5 being the better.

Although every business has these, they do not have to display them – but to help the customer, the information is available via the Food Standards Agency website food.gov.uk/ratings, where an app can be downloaded to allow you to check the rating before you eat.