I recently attended an event hosted by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB to raise awareness of the launch of Consumerhub, which is a Cambridgeshire pilot of a national initiative funded by the CAB to campaign for better consumer rights and to raise awareness of illegal consumer activities. Cambridge City Council supports the CAB, and this year the CAB received a 25% increase in its funding over the next year to more than £200,000 – the single biggest grant from City Council to any voluntary organisation. The recent event shows the CAB’s resources are being put to good use.

The event included a number of short presentations, including one relating to the new Trading Standards initiative called Buy With Confidence, and an excellent presentation from a representative from England Illegal Money Lending Team who spoke about loan sharks.

Once again the anecdotes made the most impact to illustrate what we as a community are up against. The speaker on loan sharks told of a man who borrowed £250 from a friend of a friend, but due to threats and intimidation was forced to keep paying “interest” on the loan for years afterwards, with payments totalling £90,000. The highest APR seen, apparently, was 131,000%.

The last presentation was from Marilyn Baldwin, the founder of the charity Think Jessica, who told the harrowing story of her elderly mother who fell prey to scam mail. Marilyn’s mother Jessica was hounded by scam mail criminals over 5 years up until her death in October 2007. It started with one letter asking for cash, to which Jessica responded. Jessica’s name and address were then put on a “sucker’s list” of people likely to respond to requests for cash. According to Marilyn, Jessica received 30,000 scam letters from around the world in the 5 years leading up to her death and sent off some £50,000 to bogus lottery officials and clairvoyants. Her family tried to make her understand that she was being scammed but Jessica refused to believe it. In response to this ordeal Marilyn set up the charity Think Jessica to help other victims of scam mail.

If you know someone who could use the help of the Consumerhub, visit their website for more information.

– Cllr Andrea Reiner

Over the weekend I attended a fringe event at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Brighton which discussed the merits of Restorative Justice (RJ). As part of the panel, a victim spoke about her experience with crime and RJ. In addition to hearing all the glowing statistics surrounding RJ – the high level of reported victim satisfaction with the RJ process, the reduced rates of reoffending, etc. – it was the anecdote from the victim that made the most impact. She told of having been burgled and later coming face to face with the perpetrator at a RJ meeting. At that meeting she asked him whether, when he broke into her house, he thought of the family who lived there. Apparently he said that if he thought about the people involved, he wouldn’t be able to commit the crimes he committed. And that’s exactly the point of RJ. It puts a human face on victims, and lets perpetrators of crime or other wrongdoing see the affect their behaviour has on others. Many attribute RJ’s success to this.

For the unfamiliar, RJ is defined as the processes which “bring those harmed by crime or conflict, and those responsible for the harm, into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward.” (From the Restorative Justice Council website.)

When I sat on the Community Services Scrutiny Committee earlier this spring we approved a programme to further the use of RJ in Cambridge. RJ can take many forms, including the programme that my committee approved, which involves the use of neighbourhood resolution panels. In this model of RJ, a City Council employee will recruit, and arrange the training of, community volunteers to conduct the neighbourhood resolution panels. City Council is currently recruiting for the role of Neighbourhood Resolution Panel Co-ordinator now.

When we approved this new programme, I spoke at the committee meeting, praising RJ as an enlightened approach to dealing with an array of problems. I am pleased to be able to promote the use of RJ in Cambridge and I am hopeful that our new RJ programme will benefit the city for years to come.

– Cllr Andrea Reiner

From Cllr Reiner

I was so pleased to have been invited to present certificates and medals to young readers last weekend at the Cambridge Central Library. The children had all taken part in Story Lab, which challenges kids to read one book per week over each of the 6 weeks of summer holidays. The librarians who organised the reading challenge had done a great job of publicising it amongst local schools, and had arranged for the challenge to be completed even if a child was travelling for part of the summer holiday.

I was so impressed by the talented young readers who had put such effort into completing the challenge. I hope to see them – and others – again next summer after another successful summer of reading.

A resident rang me this week to talk about the importance of trees to the city. This reminded me of an excellent programme the City Council runs to give trees to families after a child is born. The City Council website says:

Anyone living within the boundary of the city who has recently become a parent is eligible. The tree must be planted in Cambridge. Ideally room should be found in your own garden, but if this is not possible perhaps a friend or relative, nursery or playgroup, school or employer could find a place.

For more information on how to apply for a tree, see the City Council website.