Soham and Wicken will benefit from a new strategy we have developed at the Council to tackle Long-Term Empty Properties. This will ensure a number of homes are returned for ownership or rent by local people. For young people like myself in particular, this could be a strong step towards opening up home ownership.
We were pleased to see a take-up rate of over 90% in the first week of our new waste service. Whilst implementing the Government’s required food waste service, we also rolled out (pun intended) black wheelie bins, free extra recycling bins, continued free garden waste – and you can even put plastic film in the blue bin now too. Result!
I recently supported St Andrew’s Church, at the heart of our community, with their grant funding bid. And I joined Soham’s Community Safety Forum. Our Community Safety Partnership does brilliant work preventing crime and giving young people opportunities – please do support them wherever you can, including by following them on Facebook.
I’ve also had productive meetings with Linden Homes, who are attempting to fix the cut through between Soham and Wicken.
But on the immediate horizon is a big decision, which will have been made by the time this goes to print, and that is Local Government Reorganisation.
Whatever the Government decides in terms of the geography of the new Councils, I will work extremely hard to stand up for the needs of Soham and Wicken. We must protect against low-quality development wherever we can, we must ensure value for money, protect free parking and continue investing in good infrastructure for our communities.
I continue to believe that local government should be local, and that these changes will move power away from our local communities, come election day on 6th May 2027.
The next year will be crucial to setting the culture and direction of the new councils.
Please email me: lucius.vellacott@eastcambs.gov.uk
