One of the major issues that City Council is currently facing is the status of the boats moored on Riverside.
This issue was the focus of a public meeting on Friday, 22 February, which was attended by representatives of the rowing community, the boats moored along that stretch of the river, residents of the Riverside area, Pip Noon of the Cam Conservators and Rod Cantrill as Executive Councillor. The meeting was reported in the Cambridge News; you can read more about it here.
A national campaign by the homeless charity Shelter to protect tenants from rogue landlords is being backed by Cambridge City Council.
Cambridge City Council is among dozens of councils across the country which have signed up to the Shelter campaign Evict Rogue Landlords.
The move comes after the council set aside £40,000 in its budget for a landlord liaison officer so that it can get tougher on rogue landlords by increasing the number of inspections on rented properties.
The Shelter campaign was launched after the charity discovered that local authorities nationally were aware of around 1,477 serial rogue landlords; yet in the past year only 270 were prosecuted and tough enforcement action was only a small proportion of local authorities’ work.
Cambridge City Council, however, has been taking a tough stand against rogue landlords and has prosecuted those breaking the law.
But with so many people having to rely on private landlords in Cambridge, the council wanted to be able to react when complaints were made so that it could carry out immediate inspections.
Catherine Smart, Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Housing said: “We want to make sure tenants across Cambridge are given good living standards and treated properly by their landlords. Most do take great care to ensure this but there are substandard landlords whose practices are suspect.
“We want to identify when things are going wrong before they get critical and get them changed. Law breaking will continue to be prosecuted but also we will promote best practice.
“The Shelter campaign puts the onus on local authorities across the country to rid the rental industry of those landlords who are not following the regulations and improve standards all round. This is so important especially as more and more people are renting from private landlords.”
Cllr Andrea Reiner brought forward a motion at full council yesterday evening calling for a ban to the trade in shark fins. The motion was brought about by a petition signed by more than 3,000 people, which two members of Fin Free Cambridge presented to the meeting last night. Earlier this month City MP Julian Huppert also tabled an Early Day Motion drawing attention to the issue.
In support of the motion, Cllr Reiner said:
This motion comes at a time when many of us are thinking more carefully about what we eat.
The petitioners and Cllr Gawthrope have set out the strong case for banning the trade in shark fins on conservation grounds.
This is an important point because shark fins are a traditional food for an ethnic group that is a minority in Cambridge. In considering this petition we need to be sensitive to this, and be careful not to stray into illiberal intolerance.
However the case for conservation is overwhelming, so much so that many jurisdictions across the US and Canada have banned the trade in shark fins. There is also noteworthy movement in Hong Kong and China on the issue.
To be sure, the trade in Cambridge is not large.
But Cambridge is a world class city, and a centre of conservation.
So the aim of this motion is for Cambridge to add its voice to this global dialogue,
to bring moral pressure to bear on the issue,
and lead the UK in doing so.
Thank you
The motion passed with the support of all councillors present, save for one abstention.
The next West/Central Area Committee Meeting is on Thursday, 28 February. Planning items begin at 7 pm and main agenda items begin no earlier than 7:30 pm. The upcoming meeting wil be at Selwyn Diamond (Corner of Grange Road and Cranmer Road CB3 9DQ).
In addition to the usual Open Forum, here are the agenda items:
Planning
37 City Road
27 Benson Street
13 Oxford Road
Environmental Improvement Programme: Report from the Delivery and Environment Manager on the 20 mph Signage on Maids Causeway/Newmarket Road consultation.
We hope to see many of you there.