Would you like to see a Farmers’ Market in Queen Edith’s? Possibly outside the Wulfstan Way shops, or in the Hills Road area?

A farmers’ market is a market in which farmers, growers or producers from a defined local area are present in person to sell their own produce, direct to the public. All products sold should have been grown, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, smoked or processed by the stallholder. For more information, see http://www.farmersmarkets.net/

Farmers’ markets are a great way of bringing producers and customers from the same area together. Not only do they support the local economy, but they gives you fresh and healthy food and they reduce food miles – helping the environment as well as making life easier for those who cannot get into town easily.

If you’d like to be involved, please contact me.

Sainsbury’s has applied for a premises licence (to sell alcohol and late-night refreshments) at the Cambridge Leisure Park on Clifton Road, where they plan to open a Sainsbury’s Local. They wish to sell alcohol between the hours of 6.00 a.m. and 11.00 p.m. Details can be found at www.cambridge.gov.uk/licences

If you live or work nearby, you qualify as an interested party and can make a representation on the application. Your comments must relate to one of Cambridge City Council’s four licensing objectives, which are:

• the prevention of crime and disorder
• public safety
• the prevention of public nuisance
• the protection of children from harm

You can comment on line on the Council’s website or fill in a form. Representation-form-person-body

I was surprised to see this application, since the Cambridge Leisure Park is designated as a cumulative impact area, ie a business has to demonstrate that it will not add to alcohol-related problems in the area. (See previous post: http://amandataylor.mycouncillor.org/2011/03/01/388/). The Leisure Park already has a high level of alcohol-related crime and it is hard to see how Sainsbury’s will be able to convince us that another off-licence facility won’t make things worse.

Watch this space.

Cold!

The temperature today is 82 degrees and it seems a bit bizarre to be writing about keeping warm this winter! However, I’ve just heard about a really creative idea for helping people in need — the vulnerable elderly, to be precise.  I found out about it recently when I visited the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation (CCF), a charity that matches grant givers to groups or individuals in need of funds.

Most people over 60 receive a Winter Fuel Payment of between £100-300. It’s what is called a universal state benefit, so everyone eligible for a pension gets it. I know it is much appreciated by many older people, who need the extra money to heat their homes properly, yet I hear some people say they are comfortably off and can manage perfectly well without state benefits.

Here is an answer for them. If they prefer to give the money to help someone less fortunate, they can donate their Winter Fuel Payments to the CCF’s Winter Fuel Fund. The Fund will go to charitable projects for older people – for example, it might pay for an old lady to go and have lunch at a day centre one day a week, or for an outing. People can register their interest on line at http://www.cambscf.org.uk/the-winter-fuel-fund.html; or email Sam Weller at sam@cambscf.org.uk.

Cambridgeshire Highways will be resurfacing Long Road between the Hills Road Junction and Long Road VI Form College from Tuesday 9th August 2011 to Friday 12th August. The work will be carried out during the daytime from 09:30hrs to 15:30hrs. Traffic will be controlled by temporary traffic lights.

If you have any queries regarding the work please contact Jonathan Clarke, Area Maintenance Engineer for this area either on email (Jonathan.Clarke@cambridgeshire.gov.uk) or telephone Cambridgeshire Highways on 0345 045 5212.

Amanda and 20mph sign

There was a lively discussion on the Queen Edith’s 20mph trial at the Cambridge South Area meeting on Monday night. The meeting was held at the Cherry Hinton Village Centre for the first time, and was well attended, with many people there specially for either the 20mph item on the agenda or the policing session.

Mr Richard Preston from Cambridgeshire County Council Highways Dept was there to report and listen, and at my request, the police stayed on for the discussion.

Despite disappointing speed tests showing that drivers have not changed their behaviour much, here was general support for continuing with the lower 20mph limit, but there were also emphatic demands for two things that would make it work much better:

• better signage (painted areas on the road or flashing signs)
• police enforcement

There was a request for the lower limit to be extended to the whole of the estate, a change which councillors are happy to take on board. We limited it to Gunhild, Godwin and Wulfstan Ways initially, on the grounds that these roads had schools – but the point of a trial is that you can learn from it and make changes.

Mr James Woodburn of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign presented some very useful evidence, explaining how Portsmouth had brought in 20mph speed limits across 94% of the overall road length. They had taken a much more holistic approach, getting police buy-in from the beginning, making signage really prominent and giving much more information about the trial before it began. The result had been very good adherence to the lower speeds.

We asked Inspector Kerridge what enforcement there had been and what the police could offer us for the future. He didn’t give us a direct answer about what enforcement there had been (I suspect none) but explained the police had needed to do some research first about the viability of enforcing a 20mph limit. But he did say: ‘Can we enforce 20? Yes we can!’ and explained the approach he would like to take (talking to people and advising them if they were driving at over 20mph, following that up with a letter, before actually ticketing), while making it clear that the police would not enforce every 20mph limit without local requests to do so in areas where infringement was a particular problem. So: halfway there.

Mr Preston from the County Council told us more signage would cost about £500 (the cost of a painting gang) and that interactive signs could cost up to £5,000. The County had initially been trying not to clutter the area up with too many signs and taken a low-key approach – but in v iew of our comments would look favourably on local requests for more signs … if funding could be found. That may mean we have to fund them from Area Committee funds.

Mr Preston will report back on what we said on Monday to a joint county/city transport committee, and it is expected that the lower limit will remain. We evidently have more work to do on securing the better signage and police enforcement, but Monday’s meeting was a constructive sharing of what’s needed to improve the scheme. Thanks to all those who came along to speak, especially Claire from Godwin Way and Jim and James the Cycling Campaign, and to everyone who sent in surveys, or made comments on the Queen Edith’s  Facebook page.

Oh … our trial appear to have made the news!

BBC News

BBC News (Cambridgeshire)

DID YOU KNOW that approximately 2,500 bikes are stolen in Cambridge every year? So welcome to a helpful initiative to safeguard Cambridge bikes.

ParkThatBike is a social enterprise specialising in cycle parking. In their own words, they’re a ‘specialist consultancy working with UK local authorities to improve the nation’s cycle parking’. They are offering free cycle stands to local voluntary sector groups, charities, social enterprises and small businesses. Each stand holds two bikes neatly and securely.

SO: if you visit any small businesses, community groups, shops, pubs, offices, surgeries or churches and worry that your bike might disappear while you’re inside because there’s no cycle rack to attach it to, get in touch with the Bikerack Benefactors at www.parkthatbike.com, or phone 01594 for an application form.

The Cambridge offer is valid until March 2012.

Cherry Hinton Hall

City councillors have decided not to go ahead with a city farm at Cherry Hinton Hall, but to go ahead with the masterplan for redeveloping it, which includes a walled garden, theatre and café. I believe this is a sensible approach, as a farm would have meant restrictions on the annual Folk Festival as well as encroached on existing uses of the park.

I am looking forward to the other changes, particularly the theatre and café. There are many times when I’d have stayed a little longer if there had been refreshments available. A café would enhance users’ enjoyment and make a bit of money to spend on other leisure services.

The toilets are due to be replaced too. This cannot come too soon: the ones there now leave much to be desired – just four, in a dilapidated state, a long way from anywhere , and with no concession to disability or youth, such as lower sinks or baby changing. Last Sunday (that very hot Sunday), they  were in a particularly poor state, with the Ladies’ closed because of vandalism, leaving just an overused Gents’ with no toilet paper and a flooded floor.

I reported this to the Council and can report that there are plans to up the cleaning and checking of the toilets here. I am promised improvements by the end of July.

County Council Highways officers are coming to the next South Cambridge Area meeting on 11th July to hear what we think of the 20mph speed limit trial in the Wulfstan Way area. Officers would like to make it permanent. The scheme has been running for just over a year and covers Wulfstan Way, Gunhild Way and Godwin Way, and the three cul-de-sacs in that area.

The Wulfstan Way area was chosen because it has a lot of of pedestrians and cyclists, and several community facilities – churches, schools, doctors’ surgeries and shops.

The police will be at the meeting too, so there will be a good opportunity to evaluate the trial – and to ask for more support from them in terms of enforcement. I have also had suggestions that the lower speed limit should be more clearly signed, a very valid point. Clearly those two things need to work together.

The meeting takes place on Monday 11th July at the Cherry Hinton Village Centre, starting at 7.30 p.m. Or if you cannot attend, please comment here or on the Queen Edith’s Facebook page.

I would also welcome views on other streets which would benefit from 20mph zones, as the Government has just relaxed the rules, meaning local people can get 20mph speed limits put in with much less bureaucracy and at lower cost.

George, Amanda and Jean at Rock Rd Library

It is looking increasingly likely that the Conservative-run Cambridgeshire County Council will close Rock Road Library unless the community can offer a solid proposal to keep it going. The Friends of Rock Road Library estimate that we need to raise £6,000 a year and 40+ volunteers. They are conducting a questionnaire to establish what practical and financial support members of the community may be able to offer to keep the library open.

As the chair of the Friends, Jane Elliott, puts it, ‘We are not just looking for opinions now; we are looking for your help!’

Please respond to the Friends’ questionnaire here if you can commit either time or money on a regular basis.

The County Council is already preparing to make cuts in opening hours and they are conducting their own survey on this. Rock Road is set to lose its evening opening. There is nowhere on the questionnaire to object to that – regrettable, since it will leave only Saturday morning for many working people to visit the library. They are asking our views on which days/ half days the library should be open. The questionnaire runs until 18th June and you can complete it on line, pick up a printed copy at the library, or download a copy here. Rock Road Questionaire PR

On a more cheerful note – and boy, do we need one! – the Friends are putting on a talk on 23rd June on Gardening with Wildlife. The speaker is Neil Renwick from Fen Drayton Lakes, the bird-watchers’ paradise near Swavesey. Thursday 23rd June, 7.30 – 9.00 p.m. at the library. It’s free to attend, but donations to the RSPB are requested.

From time to time I am asked whether bonfires are allowed in private gardens. While they are a useful way to get rid of garden waste, the smoke can be annoying for neighbours.

There is no specific law banning garden bonfires or the times you can light them. The Council can only take action if the bonfire is causing a statutory nuisance. According to the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 this would be ‘smoke, fumes or gases emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance’

Contact the City Council by ringing 457890 or emailing env.health@cambridge.gov.uk if the bonfires are:

• frequent
• emitting black smoke
• burning rubber, plastic, foam or paint

Contact the police if the smoke is drifting across the road so as to endanger traffic, as the bonfire burner could face a fine under the Highways Act of 1980.