It does seem that Vince Cable is the safest pair of financial hands in British politics.

While David Cameron now agrees that the reduction in VAT was unnecessary - and only succeeds in starving the Treasury of money at a time when tax income is falling -  he still seems to persist in an entirely puritanical policy to get us out of the mess.

It is refreshing to see that  Barack Obama agrees with the Liberal Democrats that a huge amount of government money needs to be spent on bringing forward public works. And that even  though the government has no reserves to call on.

And it is quite clear that we need to enter a world where the government does less.  And costs less.  Also a Liberal Democrat policy. The time may well have come when the idea that governments should always be in debt should be challenged.

The East of England Plan is the framework which governs how Cambridgeshire develops.  The plan is now being reviewed to take the time horizon from 2021 to 2031.

A Cambridgeshire Regional Spatial Strategy Review Panel (CReSSP) has been set up so people can suggest how we want to have our part of the world develop.  The Panel meets in public and takes evidence from anyone.  The next meeting takes place at 12 noon on 9^th January at Shire Hall in Cambridge.  While people who are not on the panel do not have the right to speak, they can hear what is going on and make written representations.

In our part of the world one of the key elements is to ensure that the criteria used to assess Hanley Grange are still applied to any developments.  Both I and the Joint Action Group have made written representations to CReSSP.  As reported earlier, Tesco have proposed Hanley Grange as a suitable site for a new settlement. 

If you have the time and are interested, you might like to go along and listen

The police-driven Neighbourhood Panel scheme is now well established.  Local residents are able to discuss with the police what should be their priorities over a three-month period.  Then at the next meeting the results are discussed and new priorities set.  The scheme has brought the police closer to local communities and, together with e-cops and our Police Community Support Officers, has improved how people view the police locally.

The next meeting takes place on Monday 5th January at 7.30 in Sawston Village College. Most parish councils send along at least one representative and many individuals also attend.  The Sawston Neighbourhood Panel covers all the villages in the Duxford County Division (see above) with the exception of Fowlmere.

Following a model from other parts of Cambridgeshire, it is now proposed to extend Neighbourhood Panel functions to include non-police matters which the County or District councils should handle.  This is a bit of an experiment and I am concerned that this new format should not bypass parish councils, who are already well established and have the closest relationship with local communities.

Why not come to the meeting and see for yourself?

Speeding in our villages comes up regularly as a residents’ complaint.  It’s dangerous and impairs our quality of life.  But the police don’t have the manpower to do more than the occasional blitz.

Now there is a proposal for concerned citizens to take action.  Teams of volunteers are to be armed with speed detecting inter-active equipment which shows motorists how fast they are going.  If it is in excess of the limit, details of the vehicle are taken and reported to the police, who write to the registered owner of the offending vehicle.  Two excesses merit a visit from the police.  The scheme has been tried in East Cambridgeshire and has been judged a success.

To discover whether people locally are interested in joining a Speedwatch group, there is to be a meeting at Sawston Village College on Monday 5th January at 6 pm.  All are welcome.