From our District Councillor
Green Waste recycling collections have come to Swaffham Prior, Swaffham Bulbeck
and Reach. You should have received your bag in early March and the first
collection was on 23rd March. The green waste is collected every fortnight
along with your paper in the "black box" and washed tins and bottles
in separate bags. The April collections are on Tuesday 6th and Thursday 22nd.
When you put your bag of green waste out you will get a new bag. If you need
more bags, they can be bought from Swaffham Bulbeck shop for 50p or you can use
a cardboard box. You can put green garden waste (but not thick branches or
logs), vegetable peelings, cut flowers, cardboard and Yellow Pages in the Green
Waste sack.
Last month I told you that at the Policy and Resources Committee in February 5 of the 9 members of the committee decided to move the Council's offices to rented offices on Lancaster Way Business Park, near Witchford and demolish the existing offices. I am delighted to tell you that full council on 24th February agreed to my motion putting the decision on hold while there was full consultation, and to allow for more options to be considered. I hope we can now find a more cost effective way of improving the Council's offices.
East Cambs have increased our share of the Council Tax by 10 pence a week for a Band D property to £112.65. The County is charging £813.24 (an increase of £1.02 per week), the Police are charging £129.33 (an increase of 31p per week), the Fire Authority are charging £45.99 (an increase of 17p per week) and your Parish Council is charging £33.76 (a decrease of 7p from last year). This makes the total bill for a Band D house in Swaffham Prior £1,134.97 (an increase of 8% on last year). For a Band A house the total charge is £756.65, just £75.10 of this is for East Cambs, and for a Band H the total charge is £2,269.94, just £225.30 of this is for East Cambs. East Cambs collects the money for all of these authorities, so it can be difficult to be sure how much of what you pay goes to which authority. For each pound that you pay, 72 pence goes to the County Council, 11 pence goes to the Police, 10 pence is kept by East Cambs, 4 pence goes to the fire authority and 3 pence goes to the Parish Council.
I have resigned as the District Councillor for The Swaffhams. I have accepted promotion to a different job, which means commuting to London. We have therefore decided to move to Oxfordshire from where the commuting will be easier and which is closer to the children's grandparents. I have decided to resign now rather than simply keeping the seat until we move because I know that my input and availability would be much more limited. It has not been an easy decision to make. I have enjoyed working with your Parish Council and the people of Swaffham Prior, Reach and Swaffham Bulbeck. And it has been a great honour to represent you on the Council.