Lights on but no one is playing?

Keeping the lights at the MUGA when no one is playing is still happening.

What a load of bollards

The school crossing patrol scam is back!

The school crossing patrol scam is back. At a meeting of the council on 1st November 2016 the following was decided.

Having taxed us for ages to provide a school crossing patrol that didn't materialise the Parish Council decided to stop this scam. Yet taking £10,000 from reserves is a bit pointless. £5,000 was for training and £5,000 was for pay With only 4 months to go to the end of the financial year this money isn't going anywhere.

As the Parish Council has decided to take £10,000 from reserves and reinstate £5,000 a year. Going on previous attempts with little prospect of getting people to man the school crossing patrols this will be money taken from the council taxpayer and going into the councils' coffers.

The major question here is why the Parish Council is having to pay and not the schools whose pupils use this service.

Bah Humbug from Cambourne Parish Council

It is Boxing Day and the lights are on at the deserted MUGA.

And the lights are off on the Upper Cambourne Christmas Tree.

Light Up Cambourne

It is 19.29 on Sunday 25th December 2016. The lights are on at the MUGA at the Leisure Centre. Why?

Yet the Community Lights on the Christmas Tree on The Green, Upper Cambourne aren't working. Why?

Light up an area where no one is with bright lights but no lights working on the Upper Cambourne community Christmas tree. Magic!

More Councillors? More Co-option? Not Democratic!

Cambourne Parish Council wants more Councillors. In a report it is argued the Parish Council is under-represented with currently 13 Councillors and must be increased to 19 Councillors. The reason given is the number of Parish Councillors is higher in other Parish Council areas.

The Parish Council argument is therefore because other parish councils in South Cambs have more Councillors than we in Cambourne therefore should also have more! This is a dumb argument. The argument could be the other way round. There are far too many Parish Councillors even in Cambourne.

The recent electoral review for the County Council reduced the number of Councillorsfrom 69 to 61. Further, the recent review for South Cambs DC has reduced their number of Councillors from 57 to 45. In both cases the population in each authority is set to increase and the number of Councillors is set to decrease. The direction of travel is for fewer Councillors but Cambourne Parish Council wants more Councillors because of a higher population.

The Parish council makes another argument. The workload.

All the above is not an argument for more Parish Councillors. Just because the Parish Council has chosen to do more doesn't mean there should be more Parish Councillors.

The Elections argument.

As can be seen from the above table the number of co-option events were 11 and number of by-elections is 5. Since 2012 there have been no more by-elections with only co-options happening. For casual vacancies co-option takes place where no by-election has been called by 10 electors of the Parish. Co-option has meant the Parish Council can become self appointed with Parish Councillors choosing their fellow Councillors. This is wrong.

What this means is the Parish Council will become self appointing again and is therefore not democratic. Having more Councillors will mean more co-option rather than less. This is not democratic. Co-option is the easy peasey option because candidates do not need to publically campaign for our votes. Just turn up and the remaining Councillors vote for whom they like.

Ron says: Elections are the major part of our liberal democracy. Parish Councils (and in this case Cambourne Parish Council) are not enthusing the electorate to stand or vote in elections. Elections would be made easier to hold if the electorate were able to vote in smaller parish wards say one representing each of the 3 villages that make up Cambourne.

Rewriting History

I was reading back in the minutes when I was struck by the statement below. 

 Apparently Cambourne Parish Council has had 12 consecutive unqualified audits. Except it hasn't.

As can be seen from above Cambourne Parish Council received a qualified opinion for the year 2013/14. 

Ron says: Not 12 consecutive years then! Only 2 years.

Links
Audit Commission National Archives
ACNA Excel Document
CPC Annual Return

Can't be bothered!

The final recommendations are out from the Local Government Boundary Commission England are out and Cambourne will have 3 District Councillors just for Cambourne.

What did Cambourne Parish Council do to help?. According to the minutes the Parish Council supported Cambourne having 3 Councillors and the Chairman would make a submission in support.

According to the LGBCE website no submission was received.

You might be Cambourne Parish Council if......?

You leave a mess on Parish Council property.

This is an example of a mess left on Parish Council property. Black bags full of rubbish, empty beer boxes and beer bottles. If this was anywhere else the Parish Council would be having a go at those who left this mess. Except this is out the back of the Parish Council owned and run The Hub.

I witnessed the Parish Chairman and the Deputy Parish Clerk walk past this mess. The Parish Council is here to set an example for all other residents to follow. Yet the Parish Council seems happy with this mess.

ONE RULE FOR THE RESIDENTS. ANOTHER RULE FOR THE PARISH COUNCIL!

(Photo taken at 14.58 on 14/12/2016)

You might live in Cambourne if......?

Your car breaks down and you leave it!

Cambourne Parish Council facing two ways!

Newcrest want to build a Convenience Store for the Co-op. The Parish Council decided against this development at a meeting of the Council.

On the otherhand having decided to be against this proposed development the Parish Council is still allowing an easement allowing services for the development to go ahead.

No Certificate for this year

Having given Cllr Hudson a certificate for attendance he won't be getting one for this year as he gave his apologies for the annual council meeting.

Certificate for doing your job!

At a meeting of the Council on 7th June 2016 Cllr Hudson was given a Certificate for doing his job. Cllr Hudson attended 100% of all meetings he was summonsed too.

As part of the reporting at the end of the municipal year councillor attendance at meetings is reviewed. Congratulations go to Cllr T Hudson for being the only councillor to have 100% attendance at all meetings he was summoned to. A certificate was presented to Cllr T Hudson. 

Of course this secretive Parish Council doesn't publish the report on councillor attendances.

As part of their job a Parish Councillor has to attend meetings this is why they are summoned to attend. If a councillor doesn't attend they should send their apologies beforehand. Sending apologies doesn't "reset the clock" as to the 6 months rule.

I find it strange that a certificate is issued to a councillor because they are doing their basic job right.

9 Parish Councillors elected

There were 13 positions open for election. 9 Candidates stood therefore all are elected. There are now 4 vacancies which will now have to be filled by co-option.

Parish Council Election

As we all should know all Cambourne Parish Councillors are due to retire and an election is to be held on 5th May 2016. Reading the CPC website there is nothing about this. On its front page CPC says the following: The Parish Council is the tier of Local Government closest to the people. Yet this government closest to the people has not informed the people it is closest to there is an election! 

Why not? I can only speculate. Of course elections cost money and not informing the people and not holding a poll of course would save money. This is not democratic! 

Meeting in Secrecy?

Councils must be open and accountable to their electors. To do this Councils must inform the public of what they are doing and the meeting they are holding. Whilst the law says 3 clear days on the notice board is the minimum requirement for each agenda, it is also a requirement that these are also posted on the Councils' own website.

For the Council Meeting held on 15th March 2016 posting this agenda on the internet wasn't posted.

But the minutes were:

West Cambourne. Not a good name?

When it comes to deciding names West Cambourne is not the best name to come up with. The rest of Cambourne is divided up between Great, Upper and Lower. The area doesn't need to be called West Cambourne. Here are some better ideas!

Caxton Gibbet.
Swansley
Swansley Wood
Ermine
Margaret Thatcher

or with Cambourne

Higher Cambourne
Swansley-cum-Cambourne
High Cambourne

or even

Worse Cambourne
Not Cambourne
Knot Cambourne

Christmas Lights cost blow some bulbs!

How much do you think the Christmas lights cost? Cambourne Parish Council budgets £1000 a year for these lights. A budget is different to the actual cost? For 2013/14 it was £4654. 2014/15 it was £5434. For 2015/16 it is now £8407. That is £7407 over budget.

Fireworks costs rocket

Once again the Fireworks event busts it's budget.

This is an annual event. Each year there is a fireworks display and each year the annual budget is busted. This is wrong. The point of having a budget is the enable enough cash to be put aside for each service to ensure the programme is delivered. By busting the budget this means the money may not be there for 2016/17. 

The budget for 2015/16 was £2660 and £4784 was spent. The year before the budget was the same yet the council spend £4370. In the previous year £4809. The budget for next year is: £2660. 

Now I'm not calling for the end of the Fireworks Event. What I want to see is the right amount budgeted for rather than the illusionary amount that is allocated each year. Bad budgeting is not good governance.

Bird for Cambourne Parish Council

What bird could be the Official Bird for Cambourne Parish Council? I have a few ideas!

1. Oozlum bird. Is a mythical bird that flies round and round until it disappears up it own ......

 or how about

2. Ostrich. A bird that sticks its head in the sand!

lastly....

3. Passenger pigeon. An extinct bird.

Anthem for Cambourne Parish Council

An anthem to represent what Cambourne Parish Council stand for? A few of my ideas!

Paranoid

Star Wars Imperial March

Don't believe a word - Thin Lizzy



But my favourite must be:

Problems with West Cambourne

West Cambourne development area and the college are currently in Caxton Parish and Caxton don't want this development in their Parish and want this area transferred to Cambourne. This makes sense.

Where is the problem? None in the sense of this could happen but not within the timetable for the Electoral Review.

Therefore West Cambourne will not be within the proposed District Ward of Cambourne and would be in proposed the Papworth 2 member ward. With few electors in the area to be transferred this will cause a delay until enough electors are living in this area. Probably not until they developers have sold a quite a few houses.

When West Cambourne is transferred this area, being in a different District ward and County Division, would mean the creation of new Parish Ward of West Cambourne. I feel this would be unfair on the rest of Cambourne.

The right way forward is to ward the rest of Cambourne Parish into 3 Parish wards with a number of parish councillors elected in each. With clear boundaries between Lower, Great and Upper Cambourne each area could have its own representatives on Cambourne Parish Council. 

Election 2016

This is a bumper election year for Cambourne with at least 1 seat up for the District Council and all 13 seats up for the Parish Council in May.

District - Bourn Ward. Currently Cambourne is within the Bourn and Mervyn Loynes is the current member who may re-stand in May.

Parish - Cambourne Parish. This is one ward with 13 seats to elect. In 2008 and 2012 there were less than 13 candidates standing so those who stood were elected without the need for a poll.

If you want to stand as a Parish Council candidate you need to fill out a nomination form and a consent form. You will only need 2 electors of the Parish to sign the form. These are a proposer and a seconder who are not you and who are on the electoral roll for the Parish. Go here for a  nomination form. Nominations open when the Notice of Nominations is issues (roughly 30th March 2016) and close at 4pm 7th April 2016.

You can stand if you are a British, Irish, Commonwealth Citizen or EU Citizen you have a right to stand as a Parish Councillor. Further criteria is here.

Finally the Council does its returns

Having posted about SCDC not making returns for the companies as required by law I thought I would see whether they had finally made these returns. I was not surprised to find that South Cambs Housing Ltd had made its return. Ermine Street Housing Ltd on the otherhand I found has been gazetted for strike off

and that finally the the Annual Return has been made. The Compulsory strike off has been discontinued.

Why is Council Tax in Cambourne so high?

In Cambourne we pay higher council tax than almost anywhere else. At £1611.16 (Band D) it is under £5 short of Labour run Ipswich which has a Council Tax of £1,615.41 (Band D). So why do Cambourne council taxpayers pay so much when most of our local authorities say they are so cheap?

The answer!

The council taxpayers of Ipswich pay for the same services but they only pay for 3 authorities. These are: Suffolk County Council (including Fire), Borough Council (same as the District Council) and The Police. Ipswich has no Parish Councils.

The council taxpayers of Cambourne pay for 5 local authorities. These are: the County Council, the Fire Authority, the District Council, The Police and, finally, the Parish Council.

Looking at the graph below, published by Cambridgeshire County Council, it shows how wonderful CCC is having lower council tax than Norfolk, Suffolk and Hertfordshire County Councils.

This is an illusion. This is because Norfolk, Suffolk and Herts CC's include their Fire Services but Cambs CC does not. If the amount charged by Cambs Fire Service (£64.26) is added to the County bill that would come to: £1,164.33 which is the highest in the Eastern region. Of course Cambs County Council won't inform residents of this fact!

Despite what the graph says Cambridgeshire County Council is an expensive Council.

The District Council is one of the cheapest by a comparison with other District Councils. In the league table SCDC stand 188th out of 201 District Councils. Again this not as it may seem. For instance there are some District Councils do not have Parish Councils underneath them. An example is Cambridge which has no Parish Councils within its boundary. Other District Councils provide more services such as Leisure Centres and Parks. SCDC does not.

Despite SCDC being one of the cheapest this is because 1) It Doesn't do alot. 2) other District Councils do more. 3) Other District Council have no parish councils so these costs are included.

Ron says: The reason why we pay alot of Council Tax whilst being informed  by our councils that they are  some of the cheapest is we pay for more - Cambourne Parish Council + Fire Service.