Author Archives: User

Getting Involved: East Area Committee Meeting

Posted on by

PACT committee member Karen shares how she found her first experiece of attending Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee Meeting on 4th April 2019 at Coleridge Community College.

I had heard about these committee meetings through PACT meetings and wanted to go to represent local parents and ask when the play equipment at St Matthew’s Pieces’ playground will be updated. I’d heard it was in the pipeline but having lived in the area for 2 and a half years now I haven’t seen any action on it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. I’ve never delved too deeply into the world of politics and local governement. I’m a proud voter each time I go to the booths but maybe not as informed as I could be. I read the odd article here and there and I have the basics laid out in my mind but I don’t really know much beyond that.

I arrived in good time and walked into a school hall set out cafe style with 2-3 people sitting at each table and a long table with a few table microphones at the front. Most people seemed to have signs infront of them with their names and positions. There were local councillors and county councillors too. I think the idea was to mix up local people with councillors at the different tables so I went up to one table and asked if I could sit there. I was warmly welcomed and then the gentlemen on my table continued their chat, and bingo, it was about brexit.

My first focus was to work out how to raise my point about the playground on the agenda. I wasn’t sure what to do and I was nervous I’d have to stand up and say something during the meeting. Thankfully there was lots of information on the table and I soon found a little piece of paper I could fill in with my question for the committee. I completed it, asked where I should put it and dutifully took it up to the Chair at the front.

Soon after this the meeting got started. I found it really exciting and inspiring. It was a room full of people who were passionate about what they were talking about and really cared about what is going on in our local communities. I felt like I was able to be involved in something at a grass roots level. So often policitcs seems so distant and removed from everyday life and the idea that we an individuals can change things can seem laughable. But this was local government at work on a small scale and it really is having an impact on our streets.

Topics covered ranged from rubbish collections to arts in the community; the condition of our streets to syringes and needles found in local parks; parking issues to communtiy spaces and chairty grants and playgrounds. I was really surprised to realise how much legistation and policy making there is behind every action the council takes. No wonder it takes a while to get anything moving. But this shouldn’t have surprised me. It’s just until I attended a meeting like this I had never really thought at all about how things worked.

I came away with details of who to contact to follow up about our playground.
I really felt that if I hadn’t been there to chase up the developments they would have remained at the back of a list somewhere. Hopefully now they will be encouraged to pursue the improvements which have long been promised. I also learnt how to report problems with roads and pavements (a county council matter) and of course I was shocked to think how many needles are recovered from our parks!

The meeting started at 19:00 and was over by 21:00. I thought it was quite well attended but a few people told me it was a really small turn out. I will definitely be going along regularly and would encourage anyone else who is curious or has any local concerns to go along too. It seemed to me a great starting point to getting involved in local council.

The next meeting will be held at Anglia Ruskin on 11th July 2019. Details can be found at:
https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=147&MId=3710&Ver=4

Cambridge Local Plan – get your views in

Posted on by

Residents of Petersfield ward – we have just five weeks left to comment upon, and insist on change, to the Cambridge Local Plan before it becomes set in stone and LEGAL carte blanche for developers until 2031. The deadline is 5pm on 30 September 2013. The Government recently passed legislation saying that any Local Plan becomes the MINIMUM developers are allowed to do! The Local Plan boasts that it is overseeing a change in levels of planned growth unmatched since the interwar years: but we are deeply disturbed by the resulting impact on our area, and by the lack of real democratic support or mandate, or accountability. The Local Plan is available for you to view online or (theoretically, but NOT in practice!) at Mandela House.

Below, and in the attached PDF and Word document, are some of the issues PACT feels most concerned about relating to this area. If you agree, then THERE IS NO TIME TO LOSE: please email/write to the addresses below with your concerns. Alternatively, add your details to the letter below, & write “I AGREE” on it before signing and sending.

Send your comments:
By email: policysurveys@cambridge.gov.uk
By phone: 01223 457000
By post: Draft Local Plan Consultation, Planning Policy, Cambridge City Council, PO Box 700, Cambridge, CB1 0JH

Please copy them to:
Our councillors:
sarah.brown@cambridge.gov.uk; gail.marchant-daisley@cambridge.gov.uk; kevin.blencowe@gmail.com; ashley.walsh@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Our reporters:
chris.havergal@cambridge-news.co.uk; emily.nice@cambridge-news.co.uk; lucy.ross-millar@cambridge-news.co.uk, Adam.Luke@cambridge-news.co.uk
Our public servants:
ian.dyer@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, patsy.dell@cambridge.gov.uk, sara.saunders@cambridge.gov.uk, tim.wetherfield@cambridge.gov.uk
as well as our MP: Julian Huppert julianhuppertmp@gmail.com,
and PACT at info@PACTcambridge.org

—

Dear Councillors, planners, and civil servants:

1. More and more people live in the Petersfield area. Yet this area of Cambridge has the LEAST public green open space per person in the entire City. This is even despite the inclusion of Fenners sports ground (NOT open to the general public, nor available for general open air activities such as picnics, ball games etc) & the cemetery in calculations. While we value these sites and agree that they must be protected open spaces, we do NOT feel that they should be the basis for calculating our available public green open spaces. The only real area which qualifies as public green open space locally is St.Matthew’s Piece.

We therefore call upon the City and County Council to use the opportunity of the Local Plan to ensure a greener future for this area of Cambridge by committing to provide us with specific sites – viz., the Howard Mallett (HMC) site – for protected public open green space.

2. The Howard Mallett (HMC) was built on land given to US – local residents – for rest & recreation IN PERPETUITY. That means for ever and ever. To you and me. Our children. Our children’s children… Yet the Local Plan aims to replace a chunk of that land with 3-storey residential or office buildings. Moreover, p.200 (Policy 73) of the Local Plan states that:
Loss of facilities
The loss of a facility or site that was last in use as a community, sports or leisure facility will only be permitted if it is demonstrated that:
i. the facility/site can be replaced within the new development or relocated to at least its existing scale, range, quality and accessibility for its users.
For leisure uses, it should satisfy peak period need; or j. the facility/site is no longer needed.
So we request & require that the former Howard Mallett Centre (HMC) which was our community, sports & leisure facility for this area, on our land, be EITHER restored to its original use OR that, in view of the desperate need for green open space in this area, the site be returned to protected public green open space, and the facility REPLACED AND RELOCATED nearby to at least its existing scale, range, and quality for this area, with consideration given to the fact that the residential density is more than 4x what it was when the HMC was first built.

We therefore fundamentally and utterly oppose the proposal to replace the site with residential or office buildings as part of the “Opportunity Area for Major Change.” This designation MUST therefore be changed.

3. Just because your neighbour declared that they needed to expand, would that give them the automatic right to take your house and garden? No? Well, the Local Plan allows ARU to grab an additional 6,000 sq m (yes. 6000m²!) of this area for additional faculty space for its East Road Campus – and that’s on top of the 600 student dwellings ARU intends to add here within the next 18 months. We believe that this is wrong: if they want to expand they should do so elsewhere, NOT by carving up this crowded residential area just because they want to.

We therefore require the Local Plan to STOP ANY FURTHER STUDENT development AND ARU expansion in the Petersfield area. Enough is enough!

4. The Local Plan repeatedly refers to the need for affordable housing and community
facilities – yet the City Council’s track record in enforcing this (e.g. in the Station Road
developments) is exceedingly poor. We therefore request and require that specifics be
committed to within the Local Plan – including their enforcement within current developments such as the Station Road area. We find it scandalous and unacceptable that developers are being allowed to “ignore” their way out of their LEGAL REQUIREMENTS for minimum open space, community facilities, and affordable housing. Therefore this needs to be addressed and redressed BEFORE giving a green light to further developments.

5. The Mill Road Depot (MRD) site (site R.10 in the Local Plan): politicians promised it would include public green open space AND community facilities… yet the Local Plan STILL labels this site as suitable for 167 new dwellings: a density of 62 dwellings per hectare (dph). This is vastly higher density than other developments (e.g. Travis Perkins at 35 dph) and is out of keeping both with local densities (e.g. Sturton St 40dph) AND with government-recommended densities of 30dph for sustainable developments. Remember the new law which says that any numbers in the Local Plan become the MINIMUM built? So 62dph would become the MINIMUM in this site! We also heard today that open space & community facilities are NOT guaranteed in the site – despite the LEGAL obligation to do so.
We find this UNACCEPTABLE.
Further:
a.    Access should ONLY be via Mill Road, not Hooper Street.
b.    A specific and stated proportion should be dedicated to green open space in this development rather than the current vague promise of including “some”
c.    Community facilities must be similarly specified and guaranteed
We also believe that the MRD site should be developed by residents for residents, NOT by developers for maximum profit and density. It could be made a flagship car-free development, with monies from the developers subsidising local bus tickets to ensure that residents are encouraged to use public transport. We believe that there may also be a conflict of interest for the Council as being both the owners and developers.
d.    The trees & space next to Mill Rd bridge should be retained along with the library.
e.    The garages to the south of Hooper St should be retained: this area is already too short of parking spaces.

7. Hotels. No further hotel developments should be permitted in this area – those on the corner of Coldham’s Lane/Newmarket Road are unattractive and have grossly insufficient car parking. This is already overwhelming local streets and residents’ car parking. Any further hotels should be sited in industrial areas e.g., close to the airport.

8. We are concerned by the wording in Policy 22 that “The character of the area will be enhanced by creating a block structure and developing building forms which moderate the scale and massing of new development in a manner that is responsive to their context and reflecting the finer urban grain of the area.” What EXACTLY does this mean? We require clarification – and power of veto. By residents, not only by developers.
Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Charity auction update

Posted on by

Thank you to everyone who donated prizes and who bid for items in our charity auction. Bids for the items raised several hundred pounds for PACT!

BUT – it’s not over yet! The reserve price was not met for 7 lots and these are still up for grabs until 1 August. They are:

4. Computer Resale – Dell Pentium IV PC, 3.4GHz, 80GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, DVD-RW, 8x USB, including monitor, mouse, and cables
5. WT’s Snooker (1) – a lifetime membership, and play a snooker frame with Joe “The Gentleman” Perry, a world championship quarter finalist
6. WT’s Snooker (2) – a lifetime membership, and play a snooker frame with Neil “The Thunder from Down Under” Robertson, a world champion
7. Tattoos by Fabio – ear-piercing voucher worth £25
13. Kelsey Kerridge (1) – 1 x course for 10 gym sessions, RRP £64
14. Kelsey Kerridge (2) – 1 x course for 10 fitness classes, RRP £56
18. Cambridge United – family ticket for four to a match next season

last lots

This auction is a ‘silent auction’ or ’sealed bid auction’ – a written bids state: 1) your name & contact details; 2) the item you are bidding for; 3) the maximum price you are prepared to bid for the item. Whoever submits the highest bid for the item wins the item. There is no limit on the number of items for which you are allowed to bid: and you are allowed to bid more than once for an item. Only the highest bid will be counted. All bids are binding: winners must pay in cash when they collect their prize (at a mutually convenient time).

Email your bid, contact details, and lot details to auction@pactcambridge.org!