Once again, East Cambs has defied the odds and frozen our portion of Council Tax for the 13th year, with no debt, no cuts, free parking maintained in Soham and Ely and a whole bunch of community investments.
We can do this because we run efficiently, have income from our trading company and because it is deeply embedded in our culture that we should not take more money if we don’t need to.
I am pleased that a Motion I tabled in support of our Internal Drainage Boards was passed, and that we restructured our Community Infrastructure Levy funding, to allow for a new community grant scheme to be launched and to boost funding for healthcare projects.
I am, though, very sad that my Liberal Democrat colleagues refused to support any of these things.
The County Council’s budget really worries me; it raises Council Tax by the maximum again at a very difficult time for many. What’s worse, there is no proper funding for East Cambs highways, and the budget piles on to the existing hundreds of millions of pounds of debt. Now, 1/20 of the County Council budget is simply spent on interest.
This sells out my generation, who will get worse services as a result of a failure to grasp the issue now.
Despite this, Soham councillors have fought to get the A142 resurfaced, and works are ongoing here. I continue to chase repairs to Back Lane in Wicken, and various streets in Soham.
A final reminder that the Government’s consultation on Local Government Reorganisation is still live. I am supporting Option B, which creates two distinct economies and prevents overdevelopment in East Cambridgeshire. Please do take a moment to respond online.
I look forward to this month’s Combined Authority Skills Committee, where it will be confirmed that funding for a skills hub in Soham will be going ahead.
I am always available for a chat via lucius.vellacott@eastcambs.gov.uk.
