Following the unbelievable news that the Government has delayed its decision on the geography of the new, unitary councils which will govern Cambridgeshire, I have been focused on standing up for Soham and Wicken to help us hand over in the best possible state.
We have put pressure on Openreach to improve their response times and network resilience after outages to the broadband in Wicken and Upware. With residents working from home and relying on the Internet, the fragility of the service in rural areas cannot continue.
It’s harvest season and farmers have been particularly struggling with a lack of water. This is why I support East Cambs District Council’s plan to build a network of agricultural reservoirs, and I call on the Government to recognise how essential it is to fund this plan, given the number of additional homes which will be built here under their new targets. We have enough water in Cambridgeshire, but we don’t retain it well enough.
I attended the Local Government Association’s Conference in July, which was particularly insightful ahead of Local Government Reorganisation. Colleagues were impressed that ECDC has frozen its Council Tax for 13 years, has no debt and has not cut a single service budget. This is because we don’t try and take on too much – we do what residents expect for the cost, and we do it well.
I am also delighted to be taking the interests of Soham South and Wicken with me to my first national appointment, as a Member of the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Policy Committee, from September.
Finally, we have chipped away at issues with black bags on Soham High Street. Please remember to make use of the black bins, food waste and soft plastics in the blue bin. If you require (purple) sacks due to your property’s size, please give ECDC a call. I am always around via lucius.vellacott@eastcambs.gov.uk.
