Local residents and parish councillors who met Cambridgeshire Highways at the pedestrian refuge on the A1307 were given a thorough briefing on the county’s proposals to make the road safer at that point.  There have been too many horrific accidents in the past.

Highways’ ideas included widening the road slightly on the Cambridge to Haverhill side, removing some red asphalt designed to steer cyclists off the road onto the pavement, rebuilding the refuge so that it is longer and lower, putting in kerbing to make the side of the road easier to see and re-designing the hatching so that the obstacle is clearer to see from a greater distance.

This would undoubtedly be a great improvement but a simpler alternative could be to install a pelican crossing and eliminate the pedestrian refuge altogether.

We now await Highways’ reaction to that.

 We’re at last getting somewhere in improving the Flint Cross road layout.  It catches the unwary motorist too often - sometimes with fatal results.  Re-designing the junction keeps being pushed back because Cambridgeshire claims it has no money.

Engineers are currently working on a scheme to rectify matters.  Once their scheme has been costed there is to be a site meeting with the county councillors for Mellbourn and Fowlmere, Susan van de Ven and Tim Stone along with members of the parish councils of Melbourn and Fowlmere.  Fowlmere school is also interested because The Chishills and Heydon are within the school catchment area. Read the rest of this entry.

You might like to have a look at the Bishop of Huntington’s reflections on the first meeting of the new County Council.  You can find it at: http://bpdt.wordpress.com/

Accurate and to the point.  Let us pray that we can do better in future.

It remains a mystery to many on both sides of the council chamber why full council meetings get so steamed up.   We had a full day of the Audit and Accounts committee, of which I am chairman, on Friday with representatives of all parties working constructively and harmoniously together.  Outside the council chamber there is almost always a feeling that we are all trying to do our best for Cambridgeshire.  And we get along perfectly well.  Let people not despair; politics works.

The European elections are now out of the way and we can all get on with Euro-bashing as normal.  Should we?

Once again it is UKIP who made the news - apart from the BNP, for whom the European Union is a convenient peg on which to hang its bigoted appeal to the disaffected.

It’s UKIP’s distortions and the Conservative’s actions in removing themselves from the right-wing core group of the European parliament to join another yet-to-be-formed far right wing which cause the most concern. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

The County Council elections on 4th June resulted in a County Council which looks very much like the last one.  Liberal Democrats and Conservatives each lost three seats to the other, Liberal Democrats and the Greens each won one from Labour.

In the Duxford Division  I held the seat with an increased majority.  You can see all the results on:

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/democracy/elections/elections2009/candidatesandresults/elections.htm

Thank you not only to all those people who voted for me but also for all the foot-soldiers who helped in the campaign, delivering leaflets, knocking on doors and decorating gardens with posters.

I am particularly touched by the number of people who chose me despite their allegiance to another political party.  It bothers me that so many regard local government as an extension of national government.  “Cameron sweeps in at Shire Hall.”  It isn’t.  Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

A number of people have asked me how to complain to public authorities about the Formula 1 testing at the Imperial War Museum.

Apart from the Museum itself there are two places to go:

Environmental Services  (South Cambs)

Tel: 08450 450 063

Contact Centre:
Mon - Sat: 8.00am - 8.00pm

Offices:
Mon - Fri: 8.30am - 5.00pm

Fax: 01954 713149
Email: env.health@scambs.gov.uk

Environmental Services have the power to stop the testing if they believe it makes an unreasonable noise.  They have already been out to visit the site as a result of complaints. 

Although the District Council is involved, there could also be a case for approaching the Health & Safety Executive, who are the enforcement agency for workplaces. For more information you could contact their local offices at:-

AW House
6-8 Stuart Street
LUTON
Beds
LU1 2SJ
Tel: (01582) 444200
HSE Infoline: 0845 345 0055
Email: hse.infoline@natbrit.com

It may be worth mentioning that although pretty well all the calls, letters and e-mails I have received are anti testing, there appears to be a substantial majority in favour - as long as it’s only five days a year and the Museum is making money out of the enterprise.

I know it’s a matter of priorities but I’m afraid I don’t have the time to follow this all up until after Thursday’s elections.  And if I don’t win…