Sheila Scott on Closing Peterborough’s Children’s Centres

18:42 Thursday 6th February 2014
BBC Look East West

[A]MELIA REYNOLDS: A group of mothers who are fighting to save their local children’s centres want their campaign to become a national one. Some SureStart centres are facing closure in Peterborough and across Cambridgeshire, as councils say budget cuts mean they need to target the most needy. It comes as the Education Minister visited the region today.
(FILM)
EMMA BAUGH: Angela Brennan in Peterborough with son James. She says families are turning campaigners over the threatened closures.
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South Cambs Relying On Growth To Survive

09:10 Thursday 6th February 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: Twenty pounds on average per home. That’s the equivalent of what South Cambridgeshire District Council need to save in the next financial year. The Council announced their budget plans yesterday, as they face a further 24% cut in funding from Government, with £300,000 to be saved this year, on top of the £5 million already saved through efficiency measures, which they’ve achieved over the last years. Plans include increasing council tax, and reducing the green bin collections. I’m joined now by the Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Simon Edwards. Simon, good morning to you ..
SIMON EDWARDS: Good morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: As I mentioned then, you have made millions of pounds of savings over the last years. How have we ended at the situation where you’ve got to make still more?
SIMON EDWARDS: Well, the Government are reducing the funding for local authorities year on year. We knew this. If they’re going to hit their deficit reduction targets, we knew that we were going to be in the firing line. And true to form, we’re seeing as you say a 24% reduction in our funding. That means we’ve got to find another £300,000 savings next year, rising to £1 million the year after, in the context of already having saved £5 million in the last four years. So it is a really really difficult task for us.
ANDIE HARPER: Now presumably you think all of your services are vital, otherwise you wouldn’t have them there in the first place. So when you are sitting down thinking how do we save £300,000 yet more, where do you actually start?
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Martin Curtis on Flooding in Whittlesey

17:17 Wednesday 5th February 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Turn on the TV or listen to the radio, you can’t avoid the bad weather. If it’s not affecting you right now, it will do soon. .. Let’s look at the situation in Cambridgeshire now, and bring in Martin Curtis, councillor Martin Curtis, who’s the Leader of the County Council. Hello Martin.
MARTIN CURTIS: Good evening.
CHRIS MANN: And also of course councillor for Whittlesey North, appropriately enough, because that’s an area or THE area probably, worst affected by flooding. Just how bad is it there?
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A14 Spittals Upgrade Cancelled

17:23 Tuesday 4th February 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The U-turn on the proposed improvements to the notorious Spittals Interchange, Junction 23 of the A14 at Huntingdon, has been branded ludicrous by local businesses. The Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce say excuses for cancelled works no longer hold water with them. Well I’ll be talking to them in just a moment or two, but first of all let’s see what reason the Highways Agency has given for this latest decision. The Asset Development Manager, the man who made the decision, is called Alan Kirkdale.
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Many Unhappy With Peterborough’s Cabinet Style Government

09:08 Tuesday 4th February 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Parents in Peterborough say they will not take the decision to close eight children’s centres lying down. Members of the City Council’s Cabinet yesterday approved plans for the change of use of eight centres, and to set up four new hub centres and three new outreach hubs. .. On the line now is Angela Brennan from the campaign group Save Peterborough’s Children’s Centres. Angela, morning.
ANGELA BRENNAN: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Are the Council thinking about children here, or they just thinking about cash?
ANGELA BRENNAN: No they’re definitely not. In fact the decision to vote yesterday wasn’t even a vote. It was led. Basically it’s given us the impression that it was done in the pre-meeting at nine a.m. It was cold, quick, with no emotion.
PAUL STAINTON: Now we were told that there were wide-reaching consultations here. There were worries about this, and the Council said they were listening. Did they listen?
ANGELA BRENNAN: The Council haven’t listened to anything the public said. There’s 2,000 petition names saying what the public want. Scrutiny and the Full Council advised them to read that they needed to explore more options, and defer the decisions, but they still ignored them both. What does it say? It says they don’t care about the people. They care about the money.
PAUL STAINTON: Is this democracy in action?
ANGELA BRENNAN: There was no democratic action there. It was just one person leading the whole lot. It’s being bullied.

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Maurice Leake On Selling Cambridgeshire’s Farms

07:40 Friday 31st January 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: It’s the largest farms estate in England. It employs 216 tenants and brings in revenue of nearly £4 million a year. But the County’s Liberal Democrats say it’s time to sell off Cambridgeshire County Council’s tenant farms. The party has published its alternative budget. It includes a proposal to sell off the 34,000 acre estate. We’ll be hearing from the Leader of the County’s LibDems in just a moment, but first we’re joined by Philip Brashaw, a County Council tenant farmer from Whittlesey. Phil, morning
PHILIP BRADSHAW: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Is this a brilliant idea?
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Ed Murphy On The Hospital Site

07:25 Thursday 30th January 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Now, people of Peterborough, you’ve got your first glimpse of the plans to develop the old PDH site on Thorpe Road. It’s looked like a bit of an eye-sore the last couple of years. That big old bit of land on the left hand side as you drive into the city. The fences have been up, the windows have been smashed, the weeds have grown 65 foot tall. So what are we going to get in place of that? Well a public display of the developer’s initial plans for the site was held yesterday at the Great Northern Hotel. Labour city councillor for Ravensthorpe Ed Murphy was there. Ed, morning.
ED MURPHY: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Were you excited by the plans for what has essentially been a bit of an eye-sore for the last two or three years? Was it something that excited you Ed? You went to the Great Northern yesterday Ed. What did you make of what you saw? Continue reading “Ed Murphy On The Hospital Site”

Contract Signed For Northstowe Start

10:00 Wednesday 29th January 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[S]UZIE ROBERTS: It’s been revealed this morning that £30 million has been secured for the first 1,500 homes in Northstowe. The money will fund infrastructure projects around the new town, including a new primary school, secondary school and community centre. Cllr Ian Bates was asked when he thought work on the new development would start.
IAN BATES: We hope that perhaps later this year we will start to see some activity on the site. A primary school will be built early on, which means that when the people do move in, there will be those sort of accommdations ready for their children to go to school. It is a major step forward for Northstowe, but I’ve been around a long time as well, but it has been around a long time and people perhaps have thought it would never happen.
SUZIE ROBERTS: You can hear more of that interview with Ian Bates with Andy Harper straight after this bulletin.

10:10

[A]NDIE HARPER: Plans for a new town in the county north of Cambridge beside the villages of Oakington and Longstanton were first revealed over ten years ago. But while Northstowe as it became known exists on paper, it doesn’t exist in reality, even though people were supposed to be living there by now. But as you heard in the news, building work can finally get under way, and soon. Well earlier I spoke to Cllr Ian Bates, Cabinet Member for Growth and Planning for Cambridgeshire County Council, to try and find out what today is all about. I suggested to him I’d been around a long time, and never expected this to happen. But today’s the day. He told me why.
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