From our District Councillor
There are proposals to cut some of the bus services on the 10 and 10A bus
routes (Cambridge, the Swaffhams, Reach, Newmarket).
The cuts proposed are after 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays and altogether on Sundays. Not all bus journeys within Cambridgeshire carry enough passengers to run at a profit. The bus operators are less willing to run some rural services serving fewer people. In these cases, Cambs County Council attempts to set up subsidised services. Currently there are 70 such subsidised services at a total cost to the Council of £2.77 million per year.
I can see no justification for the removal of the 10 and 10A services and no evidence has been provided of alternative provision. At a time of high fuel prices, removal of these services is bound to hit families, young and older people particularly hard.
I have protested in the strongest terms to the axing of these services and am supported by our County Councillor Hazel Williams, and the three Parish Councils in our Ward. Many other people have voiced their concerns and we are putting utmost pressure on the County Council to reverse some or all of these cuts.
I have sometimes been asked if we have a source-separated or co-mingled subsystem for our kerbside recyclables. It is a source separated system, for those who are interested the end processors are:
- Paper - Aylesford Newsprint Ltd, Kent, - stays in the UK
- Glass - Berrymans, Yorkshire - stays in the UK
- Aluminium Cans - Reprocessed in West Midlands - stays in the UK
- Steel Cans - Reprocessed by Corus - stays in the UK
- Type HDPE - Sent to North West UK, some stays in the UK, some shipped to India and China.
- Type PET - Sent to Leicester before shipment to the Middle East
- Type PVC - Sent to China
- Organic Waster - Composted at Donarbons Waste Management in Waterbeach and used locally
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have been awarded Beacon Status for theitr efforts in recycling. They are ahead of targets and aim to improve still further.
Eds note: The County Council says they are cutting post-6pm buses because only 5 people travel on each on average, and they are just used for shopping, leisure and socialising (see summary response overleaf). Who is staffing the shops then? And 5 people? How do they know anyway? Do they count college youngsters travelling with their prepaid £500 passes, for example?