Planning application on Arden Road

Just one application in the ward this week: 18 Arden Road has applied for a "Single storey front extension", application number 10/0196/FUL.

As usual contact the City Council for more details, and in case of difficulty get in touch with the team.

Ofsted Report - The Grove Primary School

At the beginning of March The Grove Primary School (on Campkin Road) had an Ofsted inspection.

The results of this is available online:

The Grove Primary School Ofsted Inspection - March 2010 (Download - PDF)

The overall result of the inspection was that the school was considered "Satisfactory" (the four categories are Outstanding, Good, Satisfactory, and Inadequate. In the period between September 2007 and July 2008 of all the schools reviewed 33% achieved this rating.

This report confirms what we've been seeing and hearing locally in that the new head teacher has taken positive steps to improve the school. It's good to see Ofsted reporting this level of improvement and we're hopeful that this will continue in the years to come.

North Cambridge Community Trust (Consultation)

A consultation is currently underway regarding the formulation of a Community Trust in North Cambridge. One of the aims of the new trust will be to raise student attainment and aspirations in the Arbury, East Chesterton and Kings Hedges areas of North Cambridge; to promote and develop a culture of high aspiration and achievement, securing continuous improvement toward excellence.

The document related to this consultation is available online:

North Cambridge Community Trust - March 2010 Consultation Document (Download - PDF)

This document is intended for the students, parents/carers and staff of the schools involved and the Community of the Wards of Arbury, East Chesterton and Kings Hedges in Cambridge City. Views, comments, questions and suggestions are all welcome - details of which are at the end of the document.

The consultation is running from 15th March to the 26th April 2010.

(Declaration of interest: I'm part of the governing body at Manor)

Easter Holiday Activity Days

I've been sent details of some provisional dates for activities for children and young people during the Easter holidays.

Whilst the details need to be confirmed the early indications are that two dates will be in the North Area:

• Friday 9th April - St Albans Rec/ Meadows community centre
• Monday 12th April - Brownsfield community centre, Chesterton

Other venues and dates are...

• Wednesday 7th April - Trumpington Rec
• Thursday 8th April - Coleridge Road Rec - wilderness themed
• Saturday 10th April - Jesus Green - sports/skating themed
• Wednesday 14th April - Cherry Hinton Hall
• Friday 16th April 11am-2pm- Lammas Land
• Friday 16th April 2pm-5pm - Ditton Fields - carnival themed

The events will vary but when we get more information we will let you know. Activities that are being proposed include a climbing wall, inflatables, music and art activities, dance workshops, street art workshops.

Get in touch if you want more information, or watch this space.

Conference Speeches

Slightly more political post than usual ... but it is an election year ;-)

I'm sure you'll have seen Nick Clegg and Vince Cable's speeches mentioned in the papers but if you'd like to view them yourselves (and make up your own mind) then I've embedded the two videos from YouTube below. Enjoy.

Monday Planning Update: Northfield, Minerva and Milton Rd

Three application on the weekly planning list in the ward this week.

Firstly King's Hedges Primary school on Northfield Avenue are applying for a single storey extension. This is application 10/0173/FUL. I ought to point out that I am a Governor of the school on this one.

Number 412 Milton Road have applied to build "one 3-bed dwelling at rear of site". This is application number 10/0155/FUL.

Finally 36 Minerva Way has applied for a two storey extension to the rear of the building.

As always more details from the City Council website, or by contacting the team.

Light Bulb Recycling at Arbury Court

Yesterday Recolight installed a bank to collect energy saving lightbulbs (and batteries) for recycling at the recycling point at Budgens in Arbury Court.

This is a one year trial to see if the amount collected is viable for the company, there is no charge to the City Council for the service so they need enough donated bulbs to make it profitable.

The bulbs are recycled in the UK.

There are also collection points at

• Tesco on Newmarket Road
• Cherry Hinton Hall
• Focus DIY on Tenison Road
• Lammas Land

as well as the first one introduced at Coldhams Lane Sainsbury.

Picture from wikipedia care of Creative Commons license.

Guided Busway Update

On Monday morning there was an opportunity for members to hear directly from Brian Smith exactly what the current state of play is with the Guided Busway. This was a prelude to the issue being presented to Cabinet next week.

The Cabinet Agenda is accompanied by an excellent briefing note. If you want a detailed explanation of where we are and a little on how we got here then I urge you to read it. This briefing note was prepared by officers of the County Council and so is completely non-political.

In summary the remaining "big" issues are:

• River Great Ouse Viaduct (not-to-plan construction will lead to ongoing maintenance issues the Council isn't happy with)
• St Ives Park and Ride Site (surface water due to incorrect gradient being used during construction)
• Maintenance track flooding (parts of it are underwater because it seems to have been built incorrectly in a drainage ditch)
• Guideway Foundations (switching for piling to pad foundations - sinking issue?)
• Gaps between the guideway beams (summer expansion might cause issues)
• Rubber tyre infill between guideway beams (potential fire risk)

If reports in the Cambridge Evening News are correct this could drag on for another five years.

Stagecoach Service Changes (April 2010)

Stagecoach have announced changes to their Bus timetables across the City/County from the beginning of April. A complete list of the changes is available here.

Major changes that affect services passing through King's Hedges are:

• B (New Service*): New service on Monday to Saturday evenings and Sunday daytimes between Orchard Park and Cambridge city centre
• Citi 1: Change of route between Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Cherry Hinton to serve Queen Edith’s Way instead of Wulfstan Way
• Citi 2: Change of route between Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Cherry Hinton Road to serve Wulfstan Way instead of Queen Edith’s Way Changes to journeys starting and finishing in Waterbeach
• Citi 4: Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday journeys between Orchard Park and Cambridge city centre withdrawn. Replacement service B from Orchard Park only. Changes to Monday to Saturday evening journeys between Cambridge city centre and Cambourne X9 service provides hourly service Mon – Sat evenings along Milton Road and a Sunday journey into and out of Cambridge

* - It looks like there was some form of agreement that Stagecoach had to start a Guided Bus service (Hence the new "B" Service) by a specific date in April - this despite the rest of the Guided Busway still not being open!

I am aware that many residents were concerned about the changes to the Citi 4 service along Milton Road but it does look like the changes to the X9 service will make up for at least some of the reduction in the Citi 4. As always let me know of any problems.

On Monday I received a members briefing on the current state of play with the Guided Busway, I'll provide a blog post on that with more details as soon as I can!

County Council Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) Bid Fails

The Fund would have provided £500 million to improve transport systems across the County (to put that in persepective that's about 100 years worth of transport grant from Central Government). Using this money many things would have been possible not least of which would have been the speedy re-opening of Chesterton Railway Station.

Central government seems to have finally rejected the Conservative-run County Council's poorly thought through bid for funding at the end of February. The Conservatives' prolonged dithering, as well as their refusal to negotiate with District Councils, has caused their proposals to fail. As a direct result travellers across Cambridgeshire will be condemned to years of increasing congestion.

Given the current state of the Guided Bus project you really do have to wonder if the Conservative Leadership in Shirehall can delivery on any major transport initiative.

Sustrans Virtual Bike Race comes to the Grove Primary School

This morning I had the opportunity to meet Maya Stratton (Sustrans Bike It Officer) and take part in the launch of Sustrans country-wide Virtual Bike Race to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the National Cycle Network.

The event was organised at the Grove Primary School on Campkin Road to encourage children to cycle to school. Nationally the aim is to showing them that they can travel half the Cycle Networks' 12,000 miles without ever leaving their local area .

This event also marked the start of the Grove's "Healthy Living Week". This week-long event focuses on healthy living across the curriculum and includes a visit from the County Councils Life Education Bus.

It was good to see the shear number of young children (not to mention parents and staff!) who choose to come to school by bike today. This level of interest in cycling at such a young age certainly bodes well for the future!

Planning application for shops on King's Hedges Rd

A planning application came in last week for "Link/Infill to the rear of shop premises and new entrance canopy" at 10-12 Kings Hedges Road (the piano and music shop).

The application reference is 10/0139/FUL and more details can be obtained in the usual way from development control. In case of difficulty get in touch with the team.