Susan van de Ven

Residents of the Chishills are creating a trust to ensure the care and improvement of Great Chishill’s iconic windmill, following the County Council’s decision to sell this historic property.

You can find out more, and support this endeavour, by becoming a Friend of Great Chishill Windmill.

http://www.greatchishillwindmill.com/

To sign this petition just click on the link.

http://epetition.cambridgeshire.public-i.tv/epetition_core/view/Buses

We the people of Cambridgeshire are opposed to the Conservative County Council’s decision to scrap 100% of funding for subsidised buses, which led to an application for Judicial Review.

Socially necessary bus services are vital to the whole of Cambridgeshire, especially for young people who need to access to centres of employment, those with mobility issues who wish to access the wider community and its resources, and for tackling the root problem of “rural isolation”.

We also believe that the “Cambridgeshire Future Transport” project, to which half of bus funding has been transferred, is fundamentally flawed and not capable of delivering an adequate replacement for the existing public transport network, never mind the improved system that has been promised.

We call on the Conservative administration to reinstate 100% of the cuts to bus funding and to conduct a systematic view of Cambridgeshire residents’ transport needs before making any changes to it.

A flagship Tory bus replacement project which no one wants has already cost Cambridgeshire taxpayers £120,000 with another £40,000 committed.

Since launching a pilot for the planned countywide scheme, only one passenger has travelled three times between Sawston and Whittlesford Station. The traveller didn’t have to buy a ticket as the route hadn’t been registered so the journey was free.

The pilot for the Cambridgeshire Future Transport scheme has been running for seven weeks across 11 villages in the Duxford area.

It is the brainchild of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Tory administration which wants to sink £1.5 million of taxpayers’ money into it, as a replacement for £2.7 million worth of subsidised buses across the county.

A website has been set up to allow residents to book journeys, but there has been no take-up.

The Conservatives claim their new project will be a model of efficiency but in seven weeks it has transported one passenger at a cost of £120,000.  This is is a disastrous waste of taxpayers’ money.

The project has not been thought through: a year ago, the administration  saw bus subsidies as an easy way of clawing back money to bolster finances.  Council leaders didn’t want empty buses running round the county – and now they have used taxpayers’ money to buy new minibuses which are standing empty.

Decision-makers won’t understand what people want until they have done their research.  What the administration does with £1.5 million had better be effective.  Cambridgeshire Future Transport’s ill-conceived project is not the answer.

Cambridgeshire County Council has announced the results of its bus consultation, and its intention to follow through on the withdrawal of all bus subsidies, totalling £2.7 million over the next three years.  Simultaneously, the council says it will invest £1.5 million in new transport arrangements through a project called Cambridgeshire Future Transport.

The bus consultation confirms that the people most affected by the cuts will be the disabled, the elderly, and those getting to work.  37% have no other means of travel.  Subsidies will be withdrawn in six monthly phases, starting in September 2012.  Some currently subsidized buses may be retained in a pared down form, if commercially viable. The Chishills’ 31 bus service featured prominently in the consultation; the 128 service through Shepreth, Meldreth and Melbourn to Royston is also affected. Thanks go to all those who took the trouble to respond to the consultation.

Cambridgeshire Future Transport seeks to establish localized mini transport franchises in areas where subsidized buses are withdrawn – so profitable transport where commercial operators have not found a market. Over the course of a year of experimentation, a handful of pilots have failed to get off the ground. One is now being trialled in the Duxford area – please see www.cambridgeshirelocal.co.uk to get an idea of how it works.

It is welcome news that the principle of support for public transport has been reinstated; we are concerned that the new approach may not meet people’s needs and feel that much stronger consideration should be given to supporting established community transport providers in our villages.

Earlier this school year Susan asked the County Council why it was charging a £15 per head for Bikeability, a professional-standard cyle training programme for schools fully funded by Government.  The council has also been charging £15 per head for those who opt for Safer Cycling, a county-sponsored but volunteer-delivered cycle training scheme, something that has always been offered free-of-charge.

(See http://susanvandeven.mycouncillor.org.uk/questions-and-motions-to-council)

This new charging system has produced confusion and dismay for schools and parents operating on shoestring budgets, and some have been completely dissuaded from taking up cycle training.

Today the council’s cabinet has at last announced its intention to scrap the Bikeability charge – better late than never.

I’ve been contacted by several local residents who are concerned about conditions on the incline of the A10 approach to Royston during snowy and icy weather: quite simply, it can be impossible to get over the hill.

This road is treated by Cambridgeshire County Highways, but  services are spread thin across a wide network and it can be that after treatment, more precipitation and low temperatures cause the road to become impassable.  If one vehicle gets stuck , this can trigger tailbacks on the A10.  County Highways agree that this is a problem, and that while this stretch of road is treated, it sometimes needs more attention than it gets.

If a local farmer were to be found who would be able to help with snow clearance, remuneration in the form of a reasonable hourly rate is available from Highways.  The farmer would need his or her own snow plough and public liability insurance.

Please let me know if you are interested in helping out, and I’ll put you in touch with the officers.  Many thanks.

When the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group was established two years ago, part of our aspiration was to be well prepared for the re-franchising of our line, currently operated by First Capital Connect.

FCC’s franchise comes to an end in September 2013.   Prospective new franchisees  - which may well include FCC – are now looking to talk with local rail user groups to hear their wish lists.

This week Arriva, a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn, is coming to visit.  I’ll be meeting their representative and taking him to see each of our three stations.   Our Rail User Group has built up a number of campaign points, which are listed on the Rail User Group posters at our stations.

If you have any specific items you’d like raised please let me know: susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk.  And please help support the rail campaign by joining the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group –  our leaflet and application form will be available this week at Meldreth Station booking office, or I can send you an e-version by email.

A legally challenged Tory decision to cut millions of pounds from bus services across the county has resulted in Cambridgeshire losing a £5 million government transport grant.

Cambridgeshire County Council has been told that its latest bid to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, to help schemes such as Cambridge Dial a Ride, could not be justified in light of the decision to cut bus subsidies.

This fund would have injected badly needed cash into community transport schemes which ironically were identified by the Tory administration to fill the gaps resulting from bus subsidy cuts.

This decision to cut bus subsidies has cost the county dearly. The government has made it quite clear that it has no intention of making up the money taken away by the Tories to plug holes in their budget caused by years of financial mismanagement.

This ill-thought out decision is preventing the county council from securing government money which could have helped some of the county’s most crucial services survive.

Jessica Matthew, Deputy Director of Sustainable Travel at the Department for Transport invited the council to put in another bid but warned in a letter: “The community transport component was not felt to be justified in the context of other local decisions and the revised bid should not include this component.”

The publication of this previously unseen letter is the first evidence that the government explicitly rejected the bid for £5 million of transport funding because of the Conservatives’ local decision to scrap 100 per cent of bus funding.

A sustained campaign by Liberal Democrats against last April’s decision to cut £2.7 million from bus subsidies led to the Tories making a dramatic reversal and calling a public consultation.

This is the first clear-cut evidence that the local decision to scrap 100 per cent of bus funding is costing Cambridgeshire money. I urge the Conservatives to reinstate in their forthcoming budget funding for buses in whatever form, otherwise the council risks missing out on further funding opportunities from central government.

The Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group has been searching for opportunities to help less mobile people access rail service from Meldreth’s London-bound platform, which is accessible only by steps – whether from the other platform or from the adjoining footpath. One of many accessibility issues is the need for passengers arriving from the Melbourn footpath to cross over the bridge to purchase a ticket.

The Rail User Group was not able to secure a second ticket machine for the London platform, but First Capital Connect offered to move either the ticket vending machine, or the permit to travel machine – both now on the Meldreth side – to the London platform. For a number of reasons, the Rail User Group decided unanimously that it made most sense to move the permit to travel machine.  This means that passengers accessing the station from the Melbourn footpath, but unable to cross the bridge, can simply purchase a permit to travel ticket, which will entitle them to board the train legally.  Any outstanding balance in ticket cost can be paid at their destination.  A permit to travel ticket can be bought with as little as a 20 pence coin.
The November footfall count held at Meldreth Station showed that the majority of train journeys from Meldreth are in the direction of Cambridge.

Meanwhile, please remember whenever possible to buy your tickets from the booking office!

We would like to think that our station master and booking office will be in place forever.  Using the booking office as often as possible is the best thing that people can do, if they want to help protect this service.