December 2020

5 Buckden Roundabout December 2020 County Councillor From your County Councillor The Covid crisis continues to dominate our lives and by the time you read this, we should be approaching the end of the national lockdown. The situation is evolving all the time. Be- tween starting and finishing this article, the news broke of a possible vaccine becoming available soon. Let us hope so and look forward to a return to normality. The only useful thing I can do is to keep you factually up - to - date with what the County Council is doing. It met in full in October and the next meeting will be on December 15th At the October meeting, the Council passed three motions which can be summarised as follows: • That the Chief Executive write to the Secretary of State for Education, G. Williamson, asking him to look again at the funding for children with Special Needs and Disabil- ity (SEND), drawing attention to the serious under - funding of this part of the education service. The prob- lems faced in Cambridgeshire are replicated across the country. As the former Head of Hinchingbrooke School, I campaign as strongly as I can for the correct funding for schools. Under - providing for those with disabilities is not merely inhumane, it is also unwise financially since appropriate support earlier in life can reduce costs later on. • That more attention needs to be paid to the delay in highways improvement schemes by the inability of utili- ty providers to notify CCC of their cabling. • Concern about evidence indicating that police are more severe in using stop and search powers in relation to black persons. The motion reaffirmed that the CCC poli- cy is to welcome and acknowledge the value immigrants bring to the economy of our area, including in the tech- nical and biomedical sectors around Cambridge and to the agricultural sector in the north of the county. The Chief Executive will approach faith, non - faith and com- munity leaders and other bodies representing commu- nities of people who might be suffering discrimination to offer reassurance and support. The Council ’ s forward budget planning will be beginning soon. This is always a complex and detailed matter but will be even worse this year, given that costs have risen unexpectedly, de- mand for services is increasing and council income has dropped. Council officers are continuing to work hard to provide the services people need. All the scheduled committee meetings are continuing via Zoom. This extract from a recent officer re- port exemplifies the action being taken in relation to the pan- demic (written before the announcement of the November lockdown): ‘’ We are continuing our work with communities - as it is peo- ple ’ s day to day behaviour which is key - and we are working closely with all our partners. We have • Issued a release and worked with local radio and TV to highlight the help available from the Countywide, dis- trict and City hubs for all vulnerable people – including low income families who may face difficulties feeding their children. • Continued to work closely with our District Council and NHS partners and with Public Health England to prevent and manage outbreaks in schools, care homes, work- places and vulnerable population groups across the County • Promoted films which highlight the work of parish coun- cils in fighting the effects of Coronavirus. • Sent a letter to all local employers asking them to con- sider if more of their employees can work from home, and reminding them of Covid security measures in the workplace. • Continued to work on plans to launch our own en- hanced contact tracing pilot in partnership with our district and city council colleagues, and also made a bid for a national asymptomatic testing pilot. • Continued to share translations of messages in a range of different languages to explain how the test and trace app works are now being shared on our social media channels. • Supported enforcement activity taken by local police by sharing reports across all of our social media channels. ’’ Looking further ahead, work is still proceeding on building a new County Council HQ at Alconbury Weald. This is 3 months behind schedule but is expected to be operational from Sep- tember 2021. This will be a more modern and economical building to run than the current Shire Hall in Cambridge. The Shire Hall site will be let out and it is hoped that this will raise substantial revenue for the County. Many schools have experienced Covid cases and in some cases classes have been excluded for the quarantine period. I know that Heads and teachers are taking their ‘ health and well - being ’ responsibility very seriously and that, once again, there are substantial extra costs. The overall attendance rate in Cam- bridgeshire is about 90%. It has been a long - standing hope that there will be an im- proved traffic flow at the roundabout on the A1 with High Street and Perry Road. The A1 Road Safety Advisory Group, set up by Terry Hayward and now chaired by Anne Howell - Jones, continues to press for improvements and is edging towards a solution involving traffic lights. More soon, we hope. The recent requirements in terms of social distancing have made it difficult, nay impossible, for me to call and see those who have contacted me but I have been doing my best to keep in touch by e - mail or telephone so, if I can be of any help, please contact me on 01480 509471 or write to pe- ter.downes@cambridgeshire.gov.uk I would like to close by expressing my sympathy to any who have been bereaved or ill or lonely during these last few diffi- cult months. I hope that it will be possible for us all to enjoy Christmas, difficult though that might be for some. And may 2021 be better than 2020 – it could hardly be worse! Peter Downes; 01480 509471 or 07765 833 486 peterdownes42@aol.co.uk