Whatever happened to the Council Tax freeze?

Why has my Council Tax gone up!

In 2010 Band D council tax for Cambourne was £1482.88. Now it stands at £1611.16. That is an extra £128.28. An increase of 8%. Whilst 8% doesn't seem high it is not the zero promised by the Conservatives or the Coalition. The local authorities that receive government money increased by £99.74 or 6.7%. The Parish Council, which doesn't get any Government money has raised CT from £92.21 to £120.75. An increase of 31%.

An what is the most galling? It is the Conservatives in Cambridgeshire that have increased Council Tax. The following Conservative run authorities have not frozen their council tax:

The County Council.
The District Council
The Fire Authority
The Police Authority and Commissioner

All are or were Conservative controlled at the time of breaking the Conservative promise to freeze council tax.

If the travellers can do this why can't we?

The travellers invaded part of Cambourne over the Christmas period. The area along the St Neots Road borders the parishes of Cambourne and Bourn.

SCDC has a number of signs up in this small area. This is what they say:

A maximum of £50,000 and/or 6 months in prison. The SCDC logo is in the upper right hand corner. When the travellers left did they clear the site they had been occupying? No is the simple answer.

Looks pretty clear apart from the orange gas canister. Looking more closely.....

A couple of more small blue gas canisters.

Over the fence was various dumped items.

Various items strewn across this area.

A pallet.

A broken shovel.

Black bags dumped so SCDC can come round and collect. 

A better collection than for permanent residents.

As the sign said the area is "subject to surveillance". Obviously this surveillance didn't include all this tipping, dumping and littering. 

Ron says: If I was to litter and dump all this on the side of the road I would be properly prosecuted and fined. Yet it is one rule for the travellers, who don't pay council tax and another for the residents of SCDC.

Lister Wilson UKIP candidate for the General Election has died

Lister Wilson the UKIP candidate for South Cambridgeshire has died. A former Conservative Councillor for Bourn at both District and County councillor he made some splashes. I won't speak ill of the dead.

This will mean a new UKIP candidate for South Cambridgeshire. Martin Hale from Willingham looks in the frame for this job.

Ron says: Apparently Lister was very ill. Standing whilst ill can cause a delayed election or if elected a by-election.

Trailer park still being subsidised!

The Parish Council is looking to charge the Council Taxpayer for the Trailer Park. 

Ron says: Why is this service being run as cost to the Council Taxpayer? This should be running at a profit not a loss. 

And what was missing?

In the minutes of the Parish Council meeting 4th November 2014 it was stated:

13. ELECTORAL REVIEW OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE
It was expressed that Cambourne should be a County Division in its own right
with one Councillor dedicated to Cambourne and not as part of the Bourn Ward.

It was:
RESOLVED that the Chairman and Parish Clerk would review the consultation
documents and present a report at the Council meeting on 13th January 2015.

Did the Chairman and Parish Clerk present a report to the Parish Council meeting on 13th January 2015? No they didn't!

Ron says: When it comes to complaining about no county councillor exclusive for Cambourne the Parish Council cannot complain.

Hi-di-hi South Cambs. Ho-de-ho St Albans

Ho-de-ho Allen has resigned here seat on St Albans District Council. The by-election for her former seat is on 29th January 2015.

School Crossing Patrol money cancelled

As part of expanding the Parish Council by upping the number of staff cuts have to be made. One such cut is the money for Schools Crossing Patrol.

Although the Parish Council wasn't spending any money on the School Crossing, taking money without providing this service, the Parish Council has decided not provide a SCP at all by deleting money for this service if it was ever to start.

Ron says: Having taken all this money for this service without providing this service are the Cambourne council taxpayers going to see any of this money back? Of course not!

Ho-de-ho

Ron says: Should we greet heidi-hi Allen with HO-DE-HO? I feel we should.

Ron even helps sheep

Poor sheep caught on brambles. Mrs Swanson called and Ron rushed to release this sheep entangles in brambles. On release the sheep walked off without bleating thank you. Good deed for the day!

And the electors need to learn....

what a Parish Council is allowed to do!

In an email to the Parish Council from Richard Pearce there is an air of certainty that our Parish Council and Parish Councillors are responsible for BT Infinity.

Richard talks of shambles and people who are not doing their job. But in the short tirade Richard misses the point. BT Infinity is the company which has to provide Broadband not the Parish Council. The Parish Council has no authority over BT Infinity.

Ron says: Poor Dominic Plunkett, no wonder he resigned, getting these sort of emails from residents must be off putting. Councillors do have some duties to the public. But getting BT Infinity to upgrade broadband isn't one of these duties.

Not a very good Parish Council budget

Part of looking at the Budget there are some glaring anomalies. Some examples are in the following: 

The above shows the overspends on certain budgets during the current year. Below are the budgets for next year.

Areas of concern.

Plant and Equipment. This has shown continual overspend on this budget for each year at @ £21,000 in the past few years. This year the PC is looking at an overspend of £11,950. With this history overspend just adding £2,000 to the budget for next year seems very short.

Plant maintenance. This has also overspent. Looking at the projected amount and what has already been spent this year there is a discrepancy of @ £1,000 overspend

Repairs and Renewals. This has a variasble spend but always above the £10,000 budgeted for next year and a whacking great big £63,000 overspend this year.

Christmas Lights. This has continually overspent. Although the amount budget is projected to be spent this year is £1,000 the actual amount spent so far is £3,305. This amount is not reflected in the budget.

Fireworks. This has continually overspent. Although the amount budgeted in each year is £2,660 this hasn't stopped the PC overspending in each year. As with the Xmas Lights although the amount projected to be spent this year is £2,660 the PC has already overspent by £1,710. This is not reflected in the budget.

Ron says: Budgets are a bit of a guess at the best of times. Though when costs of the service are already higher than budgeted for then these costs must be taken into account in future budgets. 

Who is the Labour candidate for South Cambs?

I was looking for any declared candidates for the General Election on 7th May 2015 for the South Cambridgeshire which includes part of Cambridge covering the Queen Edith's ward. On the Labour website it says the candidate is: Sue Birtles. (As seen below)

The only problem with this is Sue Birtles isn't the candidate. In fact Sue resigned as a Councillor on Cambridge City Council way back in September 2014 having been selected in April 2014. In an article in the Cambridge News it is stated: "Sue Birtles has recently resigned from her role as both a city councillor for Queen Edith’s and parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire."

Further: "Cllr Herbert added that a fresh selection was now underway to fill the parliamentary candidate seat."

Sue gave the reason for resigning as: 

But Ms Birtles told the News: “The decision partly revolved around Queen Edith’s particular position, because it’s not in the parliamentary Cambridge seat, so I never received the support.

“I would have left in May, but the party were very concerned they might have a small majority - I was put under quite a lot of pressure to stay, basically.

“There were various issues in the Labour group which I raised with the party leadership, and in my view they were not adequately addressed. I also raised it higher up in the Labour party chain, where I would say there was also not an adequate response.

“I was never on an equal status with the other councillors and for various reasons I felt I was marginalised. The main priority for all the parties is the parliamentary seat, and there was very little interest in addressing the problems in Queen Edith’s.”

Ron says: Sue Birtles misses the point of being a Labour Parliamentary candidate for South Cambs. Labour will never win in South Cambs so Sue was just a "paper candidate". Minimal resources and minimal help. The Cambridge constituency is where the fight is. Queen Edith's ward is at the bottom of the list.

What I don't understand is Sue was looking to leave in May 2014 having been selected only in April 2014.

Fireworks always overspends

Every year Cambourne Parish Council runs the Fireworks display. How much does this once a year event cost? The budget looks a reasonable £2,660.00. That is of course the money budgeted not the true cost. The true cost being £4,200.00.

This seems to be a theme running through the budgets. Year after year the budget is set at £2,660.00 and every year this is overspent.

Ron says: Cambourne has a high Council Tax. Overspending a budget can be justified. Overspending a budget year on year means there is something wrong with the budget or Councillors aren't picking this up and they should be!

Mervyn Loynes doesn't attend again!

The Parish Council seems to be up in arms that our County Council representative Mervyn Loynes has not attended a few meetings.

At the Parish Council meeting held on 4th November 2014 the following was minuted:

10. COUNTY COUNCIL MATTERS
County Cllr Mervyn Loynes was in attendance. Cllr Loynes introduced himself to new members and gave his apologies for being unable to attend over the last few months for personal reasons. He has requested that either Cllr Mandy Smith or Cllr John Reynolds attend in his place if he is unable to attend in the future.

It was:
RESOLVED that the report be received and that Cllr Mandy Smith be requested to attend future Parish Council meetings in Cllr Loynes absence.

At the Parish Council meeting held on 2nd December 2014 the following was minuted:

11. COUNTY COUNCIL MATTERS

No apologies for absence had been received. Concern was raised that Cllr Mervyn Loynes had agreed at the previous meeting to request that Cllr Mandy Smith attend in his absence.

It was:

RESOLVED that Cllr Mandy Smith be sent a calendar of meetings. 

Further:

12. DISTRICT COUNCIL MATTERS

District Cllr Alison Elcox was in attendance.

Cllr Elcox reported that she will check that Cllr Loynes has requested that Cllr Smith attend the Parish Council meetings.

RESOLVED .....and will contact Cllr Mandy Smith regarding attending Cambourne Parish Council

meetings in Cllr Loynes absence.

-----

The Parish Council seems upset that Mervyn can't be bothered to turn up to Parish Council meetings. The suggestion that Mandy Smith should come along instead has been taken up. CPC is going to send Mandy a calendar of meetings but Mandy hasn't said she would agree to attend. 

Ron says: Cambourne Parish Council is getting very uppity over Mervyns non appearance at their meetings. I feel CPC is wrong on this matter. If Mervyn wants to come along to a meeting that is up to him. If he wishes to find a substitute then that is up to Mervyn. It is not for the Parish Council to get involved in this. If CPC wants to know what is going on at County there is a website plus their own members could go to County meetings and report back.

Even higher staff costs at the Parish Council

Is this the Age of Austerity? Cambourne Parish Council doesn't think so! Looking at the recent budget staff costs are going to soar away.

The budget for 2015/16 is looking to increase salaries from £132,185.00 to £176,104.29 an increase of £43,819.29. Salaries are not the only increase. There are associated costs that go with this massive salaries increase. National Insurance is set to increase by £8,809.49. Also Pension contributions are also set to increase by £11,329.13. That is £63,957.91 or a 36.8% rise or Council tax terms £18.54 per D Band average.

Ron says: More employees, higher salaries. Obviously, I'm in the wrong job. Why not cut the Council Tax by £20 instead of just taking our money.

Subsidising Beer?

At the Parish Council F&P Committee meeting on 16th December 2014 it was proposed to have a Cambourne Beer Festival. So why is the Parish Council getting involved in subsiding the selling of alcohol? Even now no costs have been investigated.

Ron says: Why is the Parish Council spending Council Tax on subsidising this a festival of booze? It shouldn't and if the Parish Council is to be involved this shouldn't be to the detriment of the Council Taxpayer.

Parish Council Annual Return

I was reading the minutes to the Parish Council F&P Committee for 21/10/2014. On minute 6 the committee discusses the result of the Annual Return for 2013/14 as examined by the external auditor PFK Littlejohn LLP.

I couldn't find the Annual Return on the CPC website so I asked for it. The Parish Council then published the Annual Return. No answer to my original enquiry though.

http://www.cambourneparishcouncil.gov.uk/uploads/Annual%20Return.pdf

No major problems were found by the external auditor! There are a few problems. The Parish Council didn't provide all the information and the Annual Return and all relevant supporting information wasn't submitted on time either.

What did the Committee have to say about this?

This must be a reflection as the information was sent in late and not with the information needed for the audit. This is not a major infraction as on a scale of infractions with 1 being the smallest and 10 being the worst this is a 1.

Ron says: A good result for the Parish Council. A couple of points need addressing. Next time send the information in and publish the return promptly!

Simple concepts need more clarification

I was taken by a sentence in the following minute:

13. ELECTORAL REVIEW OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE

It was expressed that Cambourne should be a County Division in its own right with one Councillor dedicated to Cambourne and not as part of the Bourn Ward.
It was felt that more clarification on the difference between divisions and wards was needed.
It was:
RESOLVED that the Chairman and Parish Clerk would review the consultation
documents and present a report at the Council meeting on 13th January 2015.
----

What does need clarifying? A Division is the county council term for its own ward structure. A Ward is the District Council term for its own ward structure.

The County Councillors are elected in Divisions.
The District Councillors are elected in Wards.

And for Parish Councillors these are also elected in wards. In Cambourne, Councillors are elected in just one ward which covers the whole of Cambourne.

Ron says: Even if you are a lowly Parish Councillor or Parish Clerk you should know the difference between a Division and a Ward. Basic stuff really!

Money for nothing - taking money but not providing a service

Each year the Parish Council taxes us through the Council Tax system to raise money to pay for essential services and sometimes not. This is a NOT.

For years the Parish Council has taken £5,300.00 to pay for a school crossing patrol. This year the amount taken was down to £4,000.00.

How many school crossing patrols does the Parish Council pay for? The answer is: NONE.

Ron says: If this was in the real world charging money without providing service is illegal. In council world this is money for nothing. It is wrong to raise tax for a service and then not provide the service. 

Invigorating Cambourne Parish Democracy

The problem with Cambourne Parish Democracy is the vast majority don't care. At the last Parish By-election in 2012 the turnout was 7.26%. That is a very low number. With the high turnover of councillors all electors need to do is wait until a councillor resigns and put themselves forward for co-option. This is far easier than having to leaflet and knock on doors throughout Cambourne which a lot of work.

What could change to make it easier for elections to be held?

The answer is dividing the parish into wards. One ward each for Great, Lower and Upper Cambourne. With West Cambourne on the way it would be easier to add this as a new ward. Having 4 councillors a ward this would make a Council of 12 members rather than 13. Also when West is built this would add another 4 councillors for that ward.

This is my idea for new parish council wards.

By dividing the parish into 3 wards this means candidates would have far less area to cover with leaflets and canvassing. Otherwise, at the next election, 13 candidates would have to leaflet and canvass the whole of Cambourne.

Warding the Parish Council is not an answer but it is a cheap way of allowing candidates to do less work to be elected. 

County Council electoral review

The make-up of Cambridgeshire County Council is up for review. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is conducting a review into the Cambridgeshire County Council and has some proposals. What has our Parish Council got to say about this?

13. ELECTORAL REVIEW OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE
It was expressed that Cambourne should be a County Division in its own right
with one Councillor dedicated to Cambourne and not as part of the Bourn Ward.

It was:
RESOLVED that the Chairman and Parish Clerk would review the consultation
documents and present a report at the Council meeting on 13th January 2015.

Sounds good, but this is unachievable. Firstly, the number of County Councillors is likely to fall from 69 to 63. Therefore there will be more electors per Division. Then the population is set to increase anyway. (Data set here) The number of electors for a 63 member council is set out in the table below:

With a 10% range this gives the upper and lower electorates.

There is another dataset which gives all the numbers. This gives the number of electors for Cambourne in 2014 as 6094 and the predicted number of electors for 2020 is 6590. This is well below the minimum number of electors needed to have a county councillor for Cambourne.

This doesn't include the predicted number of electors for West Cambourne which is in the neighbouring Parish of Caxton. This would add 1488 to the Caxton numbers. Annexing West Cambourne from Caxton to Cambourne would add enough to make 8078 predicted electors. Still below average but within the lower 10% range.

Making a County Division of Cambourne + West Cambourne and maybe adding Caxton causes many problems. The main one will how this effects other Divisions. As set out in the Guidance:

2. Make it relevant
The Commission has three main criteria - set out in law - which it must follow when it produces a new pattern of wards or electoral divisions. They are:

# The new pattern of wards should mean that each councillor represents roughly the same number of voters as elected members elsewhere in the authority.
# Ward patterns should – as far as possible – reflect community interests and identities and boundaries should be identifiable.
# The electoral arrangements should promote effective and convenient local government and reflect the electoral cycle of the council.

Our decisions on new wards and boundaries will always be based on the criteria above. As such, the Commission is much more likely to accept your proposals if they are based on one or more of the criteria above. This guide sets out, in more detail, what the three criteria might mean in practice. 

If you redraw the the proposed boundaries for a Cambourne Division you need to look at all the other Divisions to make them fit. Just saying we want a Division for Cambourne isn't good enough. Any proposals will need to show electoral equality and how any proposals will fit with community identity. In essence, by redrawing one part of the proposals this will have an effect on other proposed Divisions and all these will need to be redrawn too.

Ron says: Having a County Division for Cambourne is a good idea but the numbers don't stack up. Adding in West Cambourne helps. In any case the main problem is redrawing all the proposed divisions to make this work plus doing all the community links to add strength to any redrawing.

Ron also says: Good Luck.

You too can have your say. Guidance to having your say is linked here.

Cambourne Parish Council - Less Democratic. More Self Appointed.

Cambourne Parish Council (CPC) is a body that has 13 Councillors. Every 4 years all 13 councillors are up for election. At the last election, in 2012, only 11 people put their names forward for election and were therefore elected. To get up to 13 councillors 2 people were therefore co-opted. Co-option is where the council decides who will be a councillor as no election was called by the public. To call an election 10 electors of the parish need to ask for one.

With further resignations over the last few years, there has been only one by-election, the rest being co-opted, the point has been got to where the number of elected councillors (6) has been surpassed by the number of co-opted councillors (7).

Ron says: Co-option is the last option which has become the way of choice for Parish Councils. This is problem across the parish council sector. Who is to blame? Elections need to be called by the electors of the parish. By not calling elections or standing for elections electors are allowing the parish council to become appointed Council appointed by Councillors.