From our Local County Councillor
Fire & Rescue Matters
Few people will grudge the modest cost of Cambridgeshire's Fire & Rescue
Service. The cost on a Band D property this year will increase by £2.25 to
£48.24, or less than a pound per week, This equals about £1.40 per head of
population overall.
As a member of the Fire Authority with two stations at Burwell and Swaffham Bulbeck within my electoral patch, you will understand why I follow fire and rescue (usually from crashes) with great interest and admiration. At times it is a horrible job, and with the very recent tragic loss of two firefighters in Stevenage in mind, a dangerous one as well. The larger city fire stations are manned by full-time fire fighters. Smaller and rural ones are usually run by part-timers known as Retained Fire Fighters. As part-timers man our two local fire engines they clearly cannot attend fires or accidents at all times. However, evenings and weekends see them available and reacting with great speed to reported incidents. Cambridge full-time Station is open and able to respond at all times. Our brigade is highly popular and well respected for the job it does. It deserves our thanks and support.
County Budget
This month the County Council will decide how big its Budget will be and what will be the consequent Council Tax for its services. Just now it looks as if the Conservative majority will plump for 4% increase to fund the budget of £511 million. There will be debate arising out of opposition Liberal Democrat and Labour amendments, but I do not foresee any great changes to the above proposals. Compared with other Shire Counties Cambridgeshire will continue to have one of the lowest Council Taxes.
Inevitably there will be cuts given the rate of inflation, averaging 3.5% for local government, legislative pressures not covered by the Government, rate support grant and the increase in demand on our services from people living longer. At this moment I expect to see reduced subsidies to rural bus services, important reductions in road maintenance, insufficient money for Social Services and less money for some of the needs of schools, libraries and museums. There will, in consequence, be plenty to argue about this month.
Over the last two months I have been campaigning with other likeminded councillors to get sprinklers installed in schools and other buildings owned by the County Council. We have had some success in that the majority party has now agreed to finance sprinkler protection in County buildings where people sleep overnight. Accordingly Burwell House should benefit from this change, which will make it an altogether super building.
Lastly, we should all take pride in the superb reports about Bottisham Village College from the Chief Inspector of Schools in his annual report. For the second time in 13 years the College appears in "The best of the best" list along with just 43 others throughout England.