The County Council is proposing to reduce the opening hours at Cambridge Central Library by one hour each day, apart from on Sundays.

Full details of the proposed changes can be found in the online consultation, here.

Market ward County Councillor Sarah Whitebread is keen that residents submit their views to the County Council before the consultation closes on the 18th June 2011. She commented “The Liberal Democrat group have consistently opposed cuts to the Library Service, but sadly the Conservatives in control have not listened.  It’s important that as many residents as possible complete this survey to let the County know how much we all value the library service, and want funding for it to be maintained.”

A petition has been organised against the cuts to the service which can also be signed online here.

Your local councillors are continuing to work on the long running problem of the shortage of parking spaces for cars in the Kite area of the city centre.  City Councillor Colin Rosenstiel and County Councillor Sarah Whitebread yesterday met with County Council staff at Shire Hall to discuss some possible steps forward.

One proposal being looked at is the removal of the 30 minute waiting bay on Earl Street and replacement with a streetcar bay.  There is already one streetcar easily accessible for Kite residents in Adam and Eve Street car park, but demand is such that an additional car seems a good idea.  The hope is the change could be advertised in the Autumn, with the streetcar going in next spring if the response from residents is positive.

Councillors also urged Council staff to remind student residents of the University’s rules on car ownership, to which they are bound by contract.

Cllr Sarah Whitebread pressed the council officers on the issue of the abuse of visitors permits, but was assured that the numbers issued are monitored closely and any abuses are followed up.  If any resident has evidence of abuse of the visitors permits scheme they should contact Graham Lowe at the county council via email to graham.lowe@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Cllr Rosenstiel is keen to investigate a proposal that single yellow lined areas should be used as residents parking at weekends (except in narrow streets like Elm Street and Orchard Street that should soon have double yellow lines), but this proposal is in the early stages as it may not be legal to sign such an arrangement.  Colin and officers are researching this plan.

In the meantime, Cllr Whitebread will be speaking at the County cabinet meeting in June against the proposed increase in residents permit charges.  Any resident wishing to make a formal objection to the proposals should contact Graham Lowe on the address above before 31st May.

Cambridgeshire’s Tory-run county council has abandoned its commitment to tackling climate change.

Its three main priorities for next year make no mention of the strategic objective set last year to “meet the challenges of climate change”.

Despite the omission, councillors had been told that the commitment to tackle climate change still stood.

In an email yesterday, however, to members of the council’s Enterprise, Growth and Community Infrastructure Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Chief Executive Mark Lloyd confirmed that “former strategic objectives no longer apply and have been replaced”.

The new priorities make no mention of sustainability or tackling the council’s huge carbon footprint.

This decision follows a string of moves to limit the activity of the council on environmental issues including:

• removing climate change sections from all cabinet papers;
• cutting £500,000 from the environment team at Shire Hall;
• removing the word “environment” from any of the cabinet positions
• changing the relevant scrutiny committee name from “environment and sustainability” to “enterprise, growth and community infrastructure”

Sarah Whitebread, Lib Dem climate change spokesperson and your local County Councillor, said: “This is the final nail in the coffin for hopes of serious action on climate change from the Conservatives at Shire Hall.

“The grim reality is that these councillors do not care about the environment or protecting this area for future generations. Cambridgeshire is a low lying county vulnerable to changes in temperature.  We need to take serious action on CO2 now, before it’s too late.”

It’s that time of year again!   The beer festival is 23rd to 28th May 2011 on Jesus Green

From the Beer Festival website: “The Cambridge Beer Festival is the [CAMRA] branch’s largest and its main beer festival. During its long run, the festival has had several homes but since 2001 has been held on Jesus Green in late May. The festival is the United Kingdom’s longest running CAMRA beer festival and currently the second largest regional beer festival. The festival features a wide range of local and national beers of all styles, as well as cider, perry, mead, wine and bottled & draft beers from around the world. The festival is also famous for its CAMRA Cheese Counter, where a very wide range of fine cheeses, together with locally produced bread, pork pies, ham and other savoury items are available.”

For more information, follow this link:  http://www.cambridgebeerfestival.com/