Contractors repairing a sewer in Cambridge’s Jesus Lane have come under fire for dragging their feet just a week into the 12-week job.

Cllr Colin Rosenstiel claims it has taken the team five days just to remove tarmac and dig down only a few inches.

He has accused the contractors working for Anglian Water of showing a serious lack of urgency over the job which is causing traffic disruption in the city centre.

“We are facing disruption until the end of March and yet there seems to be no sense of urgency in getting this job underway,” said Cllr Rosenstiel.

“I have had cause to complain about these contractors before. They have been working for a week and they have very little progress to show for it. I will be taking this matter up with Cambridgeshire County Council and Anglian Water.”

The team has to dig a hole five metres wide by eight metres deep to carry out the sewer repair and the road has been closed between Victoria Avenue and Maids Causeway and Manor Street with diversions put in place.

Cambridge city centre has faced weeks of disruption over the last few months as work has been carried out to lay new gas mains in East Street and on Hills Road.

County Councillor Sarah Whitebread won the support of councillors for her suggestion that utility companies should face daily charges to close roads to carry out work across the county.

She claimed the idea would encourage fast, efficient work and give companies an incentive to finish jobs on time.

Cambridgeshire County Council and the West/Central Area Committee of the city council is proposing to improve the signing and lining of the existing 20mph speed limit on Maids Causeway and Newmarket Road to make the restriction more visible to all road users. £7,500 of joint city and county council funding has been allocated to this work.

Proposals include measures to increase the prominence of 20mph limit signage at the entry points on Victoria Avenue and the Elizabeth Way roundabout. This includes: colour treatment to the road surface at the entry points, ‘on road’ 20mph roundel markings, and yellow backing to the 20mph signs. 20mph roundel markings are also proposed along the section of road in question.

If you would like to comment on the consultation, or download more information on this project, please go to the online survey here.

Alternatively, you can write to:

Cambridge City Council
PO Box 700
Cambridge CB1 0JH

Email: ben.bishop@cambridge.gov.uk

The consultation will close on 10/02/2013.

Here is a round up of highlights from yesterday’s West/Central Area Committee.

Planning: Despite opposition from Market Ward councillors, the committee approved the planning application for the development to the rear of 21-28 New Square. Amongst other things, ward councillors raised concerns about the impact of parking the development would have, especially given that 12 garages would have to be demolished for it to go forward.

Police and Crime Commissioner: PCC Sir Graham Bright spoke to residents about his vision for Victim Support, Neighbourhood Watch, and other matters. Residents questioned the commissioner on the way the PCC election was run, E-Cops, crime reporting and other matters. Members welcomed Sir Graham’s support for the 20-mph speed limit in Cambridge; residents applauded his comments on the subject.

Policing and Safer Neighbourhoods: Sgt Jane Drury and Insp Steve Poppitt attended the meeting on behalf of the police, and Lynda Kilkelly, the City Council’s Safer Communities Manager, also attended. Sgt Drury presented the police report.

Cllr Tim Bick stated that he was pleased in particular that the police were helping with the review of the premises licence of Norfolk News & More. He said that the review function under the Licensing Act was important, and should be used when needed. He said that residents often feel that if a licence is granted there is no recourse to deal with problems that may crop up later.

Insp Poppitt agreed to liaise with a resident regarding the enforcement of the 7.5T weight limit in Maids Causeway.

The committee agreed to adopt the following priorities:

– Cycle crime, including anti-social cycling and cycle theft
– Anti-social behaviour in the area of the Grafton Centre and Christ’s Pieces
– Taxi Over-Ranking in St Andrew’s Street

Bus shelters: The committee approved the allocation of 3 new bus shelters along Madingley Road and Castle Street.

Future meetings: Members agreed the dates for upcoming meetings. The chair noted that two meetings had been taken out of weeks that fell in the school holidays.

Timing of future meetings: The committee agreed to change the timing of future area committee meetings. Previously planning items would begin at 7 am, and main agenda items no earlier than 8 pm. However to avoid having a long gap between planning and the main agenda, members agreed for future meetings to begin planning at 7 as usual, and go on to the main agenda items no earlier than 7:30 pm.

This post paraphrases information sent out by FeCRA (The Federation of Cambridge Residents Associations):

FeCRA is jointly organising a meeting with Sara Saunders, Planning Policy Manager, City Council Planning Department on the Local Plan.

When: 14 January, 7.30 to 9.30 (latest)
Where: Small Hall, Guildhall

Light refreshments will be available from 7.00.

The meeting follows a public exhibition on the consultation which will also be held in the Small Hall, so FeCRA attendees will also have the opportunity of looking at the exhibition boards either before 7.30 and/or in the second part of the meeting.

The actual consultation is about the Development Strategy and Site Options and is split into 2 parts.

Part 1 is a joint consultation with South Cambs DC on the development strategy for the wider Cambridge area and for six specific site options for housing or employment on the edge of Cambridge on land currently in the green belt. The report contains information about the 2012 Green Belt Study Review. It also looks at site options for a possible community sports stadium.

FeCRA are pleased that the consultation is joint with South Cambs. Their consultation Part 1 is identical in content and duration to City’s.

Part 2 is a City consultation on specific site options within the urban area of Cambridge. (South Cambs have an equivalent part 2 focussing on options within the rural area of South Cambs). City’s part 2 also contains a consultation on residential space standards and car and cycle parking standards.

The meeting on January 14 will mainly focus on Part 1 and will consist of presentations followed by Q&A. The presentations will be made by City and South Cambs planning staff. A representative from the County Council Transport Department will be present to answer questions on transport / infrastructure issues. We expect this session to last for 60-80 minutes.

After this, the meeting will break up to allow attendees to look at the exhibition board on Part 2.

The consultation runs from January 7 to February 18 2013, and the consultation documents will be available from January 7. You can, of course, see them online but the City planners are making one hard copy of the full consultation document available for each RA on their mailing list.

FeCRA asks that residents please advise them if you or colleagues from your RA intend to come to this
meeting on January 14, so they can get a feel of numbers. At this stage they are not limiting the numbers per RA.