County Council should do more on air quality

Cllr Sarah Whitebread had a letter published in yesterday’s edition of Cambridge News, calling for the County Council to take firmer action to improve air quality in the city centre.  The text of the letter is below.

“It is time for the County Council to get serious on air quality and be more ambitious in its targets for bus operators.

At a council meeting earlier this week, the “Quality Bus Partnership” led by the County Council presented its annual report, outlining its efforts to improve the emissions standards of its vehicles. Or rather it didn’t; no-one from the board and no County Council Cabinet member turned up to defend it.

The report was extremely feeble.

In 2010 a parliamentary report showed that poor air quality in the UK could be responsible for up to 50,000 premature deaths per year. Yet in Cambridge, the Conservative County Council is still allowing old buses, dating back to before 1998, to belch out nitrous oxides and particulates across the city.  This is in stark contrast to the City Council which demands that new taxis be no more than four years old.

What works for taxis should work for buses too. Air pollution in the city centre is way above national objectives.  The County Council should listen to residents, workers and shoppers in Cambridge concerned about the air they breathe, and take firm action on emissions now.”

No more clatter, clatter!

An update from our colleagues in West Chesterton:

If you are one of the hundreds of cyclists crossing the footbridge over the Cam at Fort St George every day you may have noticed it has suddenly become silent. Cllr Damien Tunnacliffe thought it was time the clatter, clatter of the loose metal plates needed something done and he managed to persuade the County highways department to fix rivets instead of the broken or inadequate screws.

One lady immediately said, “Oh!, how nice it is crossing the bridge now,” while another was less pleased: “But I liked the clatter. It told me someone was coming up behind me.”

Which just shows that a councillor can never, ever please everybody!

Next West Central Area Committee: Thursday 1 November

The next meeting of the West Central Area Committee will be on Thursday, 1 November. The meeting will be at Castle Methodist Church, Castle Street, Cambridge.

The meeting will begin at 7 pm, with planning matters attended to first. All
other agenda items will begin no earlier than 8 pm.

In addition to the usual open forum, the following items are on the agenda:
– Consideration of a planning application for 99 Grantchester Meadows, Cambridge, CB3;
– Applications for Comunity Development and Leisure Grants; and
– Importantly, the committee will consider projects proposed at the 13 September workshop, as part of the decision-making process on how to spend developer contributions.

We hope to see you there.