From our Local County Councillor
We received encouraging news last month of the County Financial Settlement. We
now have the “excellent” rating awarded by the Government’s public
sectorwatchdog the Audit Commission to Cambridgeshire for the services it
provides. This is a step forward on last year when the County was given a
“good” rating. Since last year the County staff have performed even more
effectively and their reward is the improved rating. “Excellent” status
relieves the Council of some of the audit costs Council Tax payers have to
meet, as well as making it more likely that the Council will qualify for
discretionary Government funding for new initiatives.
Hence, apart from the natural pride that goes with being among the best (only eight other county councils have the same status) there should be a small financial benefit for tax payers.
The third major piece of recent good news is that teachers and pupils have been praised following a further improvement in exam results last summer. Provisional figures show that results have risen at all 3 Key Stages, GCSE and A-levels, and continue to be better than the national picture. Those of us with children or grandchildren already know that our local schools and the two village colleges are above Cambridgeshire’s average. No wonder people with education in mind want to move into our Bottisham/Burwell area.
Icy roads
Drivers in Cambridgeshire have, as usual, cause to be grateful to the publicspirited men who take out the 35 gritters to spray salt slurry on the main roads to protect them from ice. On every full outing, after a frost warning, the gritters cover 40% of the county’s roads, around 1.100 miles at a time. spreading 250 tonnes of rock salt slurry at a cost of around £20.000.. However, bear in mind the lower the freezing temperature the less effective the salt, especially in extreme sub-zero levels. Driving with caution is obviously sensible particularly recently qualified people.