Time to recycle Eric Pickles?

‘For most people, the only visible service that they get from the council is the removal of refuse.’

Eric Pickles, Daily Mail, 30th September

What a fatuous comment and how deeply insulting to the thousands of people who work in councils throughout the country.

The hardworking people who empty our bins and sweep the streets have hundreds of thousands of colleagues working alongside them in their councils: 1.7 million according to the LGA1 – yet Pickles says they are invisible.

One wonders what kind of world Pickles’s people inhabit. Do they not register their children at birth or send them to school? Do they not bury their dead? Do they never use a public toilet? Do they fly over the pavements and roads? Do they never look at a tree or stroll in the park? And one assumes they have their own personal fire engine? All of these are services provided by either Cambridge City Council or Cambridgeshire County Council.

‘All the Council does for me is empty my bins’ is not a clever remark from anyone, but there is no excuse for this kind of talk from Eric Pickles, who is the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. He is responsible for local government and should know better. This casual denial of his army of council workers reduces his credibility. He is not fit for the job.

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.

books

The Save Cambridgeshire  Libraries petition was presented to Tory county councillors at Shire Hall yesterday (28th September). It is the Conservative administration at the County Council that we need to persuade to keep our libraries in their current form. Professor Jane Elliott, the chair of the Friends of Rock Road Library, spoke eloquently of the need for a professional service rooted in the local community.

The 8,000+ names calling for Cambridgeshire County Council to keep libraries open with professional librarians were presented to Cambridgeshire County Council’s Cabinet at Shire Hall and the Cabinet  heard from campaigners from various Cambridge libraries. There was a strong contingent from Rock Road Library to ‘welcome’ the councillors – you may have seen us on the news. If not, you may still catch it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rpwxj.

Thank you to all the people who signed the petition, emailed friends, stood around in school playgrounds, as well as everyone still involved with the campaign.

Here is the wording of the petition, which garnered 2,500 electronic signatures and 5,500 on paper. Stupendous.

We the undersigned call upon Cambridgeshire County Council to reject proposals to close libraries or to replace the existing professional service with a reduced service run by volunteers. We believe that libraries are a vital part of the community.

The Council has now dropped its plan to set up a Trust to manage the library service but is still looking at the use of volunteers. While we know there are many people who value their libraries and are willing to spend some of their own time helping to work in the library and raise funds, there is still a need for the experience and expertise of professional librarians.

Co-location, putting public services together is an interesting idea if it can work without too much compromise. Books and bookcases however, do not move easily, so it may be more practical for other services to come to the library rather than for the library to move elsewhere.

Cambridge City Foodbank is a local charity launched last November by people from the city churches. It aims to help people in crisis by providing emergency food and other essentials while they are waiting for other care agencies to start work.

The charity collects food from churches and schools and takes it to Pickfords.There, it is boxed up to provide food boxes for three days. Those in need apply via the Citizens Advice Bureau, health visitor or other care agency. At present the food is given out twice a week but it is hoped to increase this to every day this winter.

Livia Fraser of St John the Evangelist Church in Hills Road is bringing the food collection boxes to St John’s. Every Sunday, whether you’re a member of the church or not, you can leave food there just before 10am or 6pm. Here is a shopping list to show the things required:

Food bank

• Milk (UHT or powdered)
• Sugar
• Fruit juice (long life cartons)
• Soup
• Pasta sauce
• Sponge pudding in tins
• Tinned tomatoes
• Cereal
• Tinned rice pudding
• Tea bags
• Instant coffee
• Instant mashed potato
• Rice
• Pasta
• Tinned meat
• Tinned fish
• Tinned fruit
• Tinned vegetables
• Jam
• Biscuits
• Snack bars
• Nappies
• Formula milk

lady and coffee

Welcome to the newest establishment on Wulfstan Way – The Coffee House & Takeaway, which opened last month where E C Sandwich used to be.

There’s a good range of snacks, including various different types of bread with British, Italian, Greek, French and Polish names, all with various tasty fillings, and a range of cakes, many of them seriously chocolatey. They do a takeaway service as well – phone them on 07763 652717.

For drinks, you’re in for a treat. The coffee is freshly ground and there’s also a brilliant choice of teas and tisanes, with the popular classics such as English Breakfast joined by some unusual ones, such as Russian Caravan and Belfast Brew. Served in a proper teapot too. There’s also a range of fruit tisanes and teas – and, as the menu puts it so nicely, ‘Fairtrade to boot’.

With nearby parking and an array of small shops selling everything from speciality cakes to wonton soup, this is a great place to stop off after a trip to the shops or after dropping off children at school, or when you go to collect a prescription.

I wish Lorel, the manager, and the new Coffee House all the best.

CHYPPS stands for Children’s and Young People’s Participation Service. They run play and youth activities throughout the year, including SummerDaze, a programme of things to do for children in different parts of Cambridge throughout the school holidays. Anyone can go.

The nearest places to find CHYPPS round here are:

• Cherry Hinton Hall,
• Coleridge Recreation Ground
• Nightingale Recreation Ground
• Gunhild Close Recreation Ground.

There’s loads of activities to choose from, but some of the highlights are a carnival, a Mad Hatters’ Tea Party, an alien space invasion, and visits from the Archaeology & Anthropology Museum and Botanic Garden.

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.

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.

School books

The Friends of Rock Road Library got together with Morley Memorial Primary School this afternoon to run a bookstall together at the Morley summer fête – with profits shared between library and school. As a Morley Mum as well as a Friend, I enjoyed taking part. (Certainly safer than going in the stocks at the opposite end of the playground). Thanks to Jo de Pledge for running this.

Some of the books had come from the last community event, the St John’s Church Summer Fair and the leftovers from today are going on to OXFAM. Nothing is wasted round here!

As well as buying books, visitors were invited to sign a petition to the Conservative County Council about maintaining the library, and to fill in a survey on what they could offer personally to help keep the library open.

Rock Road Library is holding a story session next Saturday. The theme is ‘Sea Stories’ and it starts at 10.30 am. Everyone welcome, no need to book and it’s free!

Independents Day

Next Monday, join the Independents Day campaign and strike a blow for individuality by buying at least one thing from a local, independent shop.

There’s a great selection in the Queen Edith’s ward alone – everything from soy sauce at the Chinese supermarket on Wulfstan Way to koi fish at the tropical fish shop on Blinco Grove.

I gave my campaign poster away to Mr Abdulali at the friendly Bun Shop on Cherry Hinton Road, but you can download one for your window or noticeboard here.

Cambridge City Council and Love Cambridge, the City Centre partnership, are backing a campaign to help the High Street by Skillsmart Retail and the National Skills Academy for Retail. They have got together with independent retailers and trade associations to encourage people to celebrate diversity on the High Street and support their local, independent retailers on 4th July.

Retailers can download the ‘Your high street needs you!’ poster online, ‘like’ the campaign on Facebook and follow it on Twitter, and download a campaign toolkit at: www.skillsmartretail.com/IndependentsDay.

To keep up with the campaign, follow it: twitter @Retail_IndieDay or via facebook.com/independentsday.