From our Local County Councillor
The new county council has now met for the first time after the recent boundary
changes and consists of 69 members: 42 Conservative, 23 Liberal Democrat and 4
Labour. It is not only new members like myself who have been involved in
training. The reorganisation of the council into new policy areas, which more
closely reflect the work it now does, has meant changes for everyone.
The main Cabinet positions now are:
- Leader: Keith Walters
- Cabinet member for Corporate Services: John Powley
- Cabinet member for Children and Young Peoples Services: Shona Johnstone
- Cabinet member for Environment and Community Services: John Reynolds
plus six other cabinet members.
Service Development Groups act as a sounding board and source of advice to the relevant portfolio holder and Scrutiny Committees review decisions made as well as monitoring services and reviews
I am a member of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee and the Staff Appeals Committee. I am also a member, as was your previous councillor James Fitch, of the Fire Authority. We have two retained fire stations at Burwell and Swaffham Bulbeck who play a vital role in keeping communities safe. Across the county there is a continuing difficulty of recruiting retained fire fighters because of the changes in lifestyle of the population. It is also a time of considerable change and modernisation for the fire service.
In our area, the building of the new Burwell Library is underway and will provide an expanded service and valuable resource for the village and those nearby. By the time you read this the Fordham By-pass will be in use and the traffic hold-ups will be a thing of the past I hope.
My thanks go to all who voted for me in the election. Those who know me also know that I work for hard for the communities I represent, regardless of politics, and that will not change. I see being a Councillor at Parish, District and County Council as complementary to each other and I am happy to help wherever I can with queries.