Susan van de Ven

A motion to Cambridgeshire County Council by Cllr Kilian Bourke yesterday, passed by all the minority parties acting together, marks the end of the Cabinet system that came into being under Labour’s Local Government Act 2000.

The Cabinet system has seen the Council Leader and a small group of executive councillors from the same political party group making all the big decisions about how the council spends taxpayers’ money.

In May 2014, this will cease and a committee system will take its place, with all councillors playing a role in council decision-making.

In yesterday’s debate, the Conservatives, who form the largest group on the council (32) but who lack the majority necessary to carry a vote, rejected the motion and proposed to keep the Cabinet system. The other parties (Lib Dems 14, UKIP 12, Labour 7, Independents 4) together carried the motion.

For legal reasons the change cannot happen until May 2014, so the Cabinet remains for one more year. The Conservative group won a three-way vote for the council leadership. The new Leader, Martin Curtis, appointed his Cabinet, all from the Conservative group.

The outcomes of Council votes are no longer predetermined. It should be an interesting year.

From Matt Gooding of the Royston Crow:

With the rise of UKIP, the issue of Europe is rarely out of the news these days.

In or out? In or out? David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nigel Farage and the rest spend much of their time talking about what sounds like a political version of the Hokey Cokey – I for one don’t want to see any of them shake it all about.

But moreover, I think anyone who believes we can survive on our own is living in the past. Improved technology and greater communication is making the world smaller and smaller, and as a country we should be looking to form stronger bonds with others, not break them down.

Age UK have just published a study entitled, Missed opportunities: the impact on older people of cuts to rural bus services

The A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign held its first Cycle Ride event today to highlight the need – and support – for improved cycling conditions along the A10. A brilliant event from start to finish.

About 60 people started from Royston Station and navigated the A505 roundabout, the most dangerous feature of the Royston area of the campaign. Another 75 or so started from Trumpington Park and Ride in Cambridge, and were lucky to have the yet-to-be completed Trumpington-Hauxton off-road path open to them for the occasion. This meant avoiding the M11 roundabout – and a diversion into stunningly beautiful countryside.

We were delighted to have the County Council Cycling Officer, Patrick Joyce, along for the ride. Marshals along the route ensured safe passage across the A10 at all tricky points and the entire ride convened at Phillimore in Melbourn for refreshments. The a10corridorcycle.com website and Facebook page have some great photos.

We are hoping that Grosvenor’s, the Trumpington Meadows developer, will expedite the opening of the Trumpington-Hauxton path in time for the start of the new school year in September.

Meanwhile the campaign meets next on 19 June.

The big ride is this Sunday – from Trumpington Park and Ride or from Royston, to meet at Phillimore Garden Centre in Melbourn for refreshments at 11:30.

If you’d just like to come just for refreshments to meet our friendly cycling crowd, please do.

All details at a10corridorcycle.com.

See you then, and yes we’ll still be riding if it rains!

If you go down to Shepreth Station you will see a marvellously tidied up area abutting the Cambridge Platform.

A large skip was quickly filled up on a big work party day – and thanks to First Capital Connect and Network Rail who provided a small army of people to do the really hard work of picking up broken glass, old bits of scrap metal, and litter – from sweet wrappers to broken bottles to bits of old furniture.

Shepreth Wildlife Park, South Cambs District Council and the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group rounded out the working party. This has been supplemented by volunteers from the Shepreth Station Gardening team who are going out with Rob Mungovan, the South Cambs Ecology Officer, to plant the poppy seeds.

We just need some warm weather now to allow the seeds to germinate.

If you are planning to come to the village fete on 29th June, please stop in for a cup of tea at the station to celebrate – provided by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, who helped kick-start this project in the first place.

The next meeting of the A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign, which has been very active since its launch just four months ago, is Tuesday 14 May, 7:30PM, at Elin Way Community Room Meldreth.

Doors open at 7:00 for a 7:30 start, to give people a chance to chat over a cuppa. Newcomers especially welcome.

Our agenda and much more information – including details of this Sunday’s A10 Cycle Ride event – are posted at a10corridorcycle.com.

Anyone walking along Meldreth High Street may have noticed the badly damaged pavement in the Flambards/High Street area, which was caused recently during a visit by the South Cambs District Council street cleaning vehicle. The same scenario occurred in Orwell not long ago, and then occurred in Fowlmere Road Shepreth a few days later – clearly an unhappy mismatch of the District street cleaning device and poor quality County Highways pavements.

The two councils are talking to each other about how to avoid a repetition of this problem in future. Quite an indictment of the quality of our pavements and underscoring the need for a long-term strategy.

Though the elections last week revolved around County Council seats, the issue of Europe had an impact on the results.

An excellent opportunity to hear the case for Britain’s place in the European Union is coming up:

Graham Watson, MEP and Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament will be at Foxton Village Hall on Saturday 18 May, 1PM, for a talk and lunch. Tickets are £15 – please contact Susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk or timothystone1@virgin.net if you would like to come along.

Thank you very much for the support of residents in the elections last week. I have had a great deal of help from people who deliver my leaflets all year round, and who provided extra support during the run-up to the election.

The results are as follows:

County Council

Susan van de Ven: 1875
UKIP: 475
Conservative: 440
Labour: 207

District Council

Susan van de Ven: 607
UKIP: 112
Conservative: 101
Labour: 89

After a short break this weekend I look forward to getting back to work.