Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Herbert.

The notes of the meeting held on 23 June 2022 were noted.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Thornburrow who provided an update on the Station Cycle Park work (21/57/EAC).

               i.         There had been an increase in the number of criminals apprehended by Cambridge Police around the station.

             ii.         CCTV was now in effect and could be viewed by the Railway Network. They had the ability to share their screens with the police.

            iii.         There were now frequent security patrols by Brookgate and Station staff.

           iv.         Rough sleeping and begging had been reduced.

             v.         Thefts had been reduced, however did not yet have the new statistics from Cambridge Police.

           vi.         Greater Anglia had been provided with £60,000 from the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) and £10,000 from Cambridge City Council. This was to begin an initial phase of design development work to arrange options for onward detail design of the cycle point, subject to agreement of the stakeholders and critically a set of project costs that would enable them to draw down the principal funding from Sustrans.

          vii.         The tender process had begun to appoint a contractor and should be conclude by the end of November with a site visit with a designer to be held in December. Usually, they expected an eight-week turnaround but that depended on input from stakeholders involved. Stakeholders include Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Cam Cycle, the Police, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University and Cambridge Bio Medical Campus.

In response to Members’ questions Councillor Thornburrow stated the following:

      i.         Would be investigating whether the designers would be adding further bike parking spaces.

    ii.         Abandoned bikes had been cleared and security checks were now more frequent (a couple of times a day). Would investigate further upon her next visit.

   iii.         They were going over the equipment to ensure that it cannot be tampered with and consequently bicycles being taken. Looking at putting in new hoops for cargo bikes. The security and equipment were part of the programme going forward.

  iv.         Noted the comment the bicycle racks in front of Sainsburys were for people using the shop, not commuters. However, they were often used by commuters and full therefore not available for customers. Acknowledged that Councillor Robertson had investigated having the racks removed in the past which required planning permission, but not everyone would agree.

    v.         Acknowledged the suggestion there should be signs for short term use only outside of Sainsbury.

  vi.         The bike racks outside of Sainsburys were not within the remit of Greater Anglia and were controlled by Brookgate, who were patrolling that area and would be tagging/removing bicycles when applicable.

To receive a verbal update from Claire Flowers, Head of Housing Development Agency.

The Head of the Housing Development Agency introduced the report and highlighted the following:

      i.         Provided update on engagement and consultation work in the East Area.

    ii.         Stated that the Council has a large house building programme underway. Several had been completed and many were still underway. Several were withing the East Area.

Shared slide presentation. Highlights included:

      i.         There was a scheme on site at Mill Road. It is due to be finished this calendar year. Including a community centre.

    ii.         Officers struggled to locate a venue for information events and therefore they took place online. However, with the new community centre opening this would be the location for events going forward. A community development officer had been employed for the project.

   iii.         Officers had installed information boards around the site. Site manager and ward councillors had been attending community update events.

  iv.         Stated there is a scheme on site at Cromwell Road. This started in 2019. Information had been available for local residents. This site would also benefit from the new community centre on Mill Road. 295 new homes were being built.

    v.         In the summer of 2022, consultations took place at the following locations:

·     Coleridge: St. Thomas and Fanshaw Road flats

·     Abbey: East Barnwell and Ekin Road

  vi.         Officers had been doing resident engagement on estates. The different ways they had been engaging were as follows:

·    Using outdoor space/we come to residents.

·    Staff from across Council teams plus Executive and Ward Councillors included.

·    Information Boards.

·    Questionnaires.

·    Webinars also offered.

·    Web pages.

 vii.         Have offered tenants an opportunity to visit new homes on Cromwell Road to see if they would be interested in them.

viii.         In Barnwell- Abbey a consultation was done over a wide area to capture the wider community. Two events had been held over the summer. They erected a marque and had a Saturday and an afternoon event and held a webinar. 122 people had attended in person and 43 webinar attendees. Officers had been able to analyse what people want and think and have been able to look for key things that help them to develop the proposals further.

  ix.         In St Thomas’s Road-Coleridge a consultation took place in St Thomas’s Hall on 20 July 2022.

·      1500 invites distributed to the locality as per the advice of the planning consultant.

·      Garage tenants for both sites were invited to attend, as were representative of the Birdwood Area Residents Association.

    x.         East Road Garage block had been demolished; Officers were going to engage with the public to see what would be done with that location.

In response to questions from Members the following answers were given by the Head of the Housing Development Agency:

      i.         Regarding the scheme at St Thomas’s, Officers were looking at delivering this at net zero carbon if possible.

    ii.         Regarding the East Road Garages, Officers would find a suitable location to have an outdoor event. Officers would make sure they get the distribution right to the residents. Officers were hoping to redevelop the site and were anticipating making a decision before Christmas.

   iii.         Stated that the next stage of consultation process for the East Barnwell project would be to develop a more detailed plan about how to proceed. Officers expect to do this before February.

1.            A member of the public asked for information about a grant that he could apply for. Had been advised previously they would receive assistance in applying for this grant but had not heard anything about it and would like an update.

Councillor Davey stated that he had met with the representative of Mill Road Tenants Association (MRTA) several times and had provided information regarding Environmental Improvement Grant. Stated it would be helpful for them to talk after the meeting to find out more information.

Councillor Pounds advised the public art grant was not currently running. She had followed this up and would inform the representative of MRTA when she had any further information.

Representative from MRTA advised he had been approached by Cam Cycle advising him of different grants that could be applied for. He asked if anyone would be able to assist him with applying for these. Councillor Pounds stated that they would do whatever they could to assist.

2.     Councillor Healy raised concerns that due to increased cost of living crisis there had been an increase in retail theft. She would like a representative from the police to attend the next meeting and would follow up on this issue with the Executive Councillor for Recovery, Employment and Community Safety.

3.     Councillor Healy requested an update on the progress of the public consultation on Mill Road Bridge.

Councillor Beckett stated that due process was being followed and the Count Council were formulating exemption lists which was going to an advertised Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). Following this there was a statutory 28-day period where people an object to the TRO. Then would go to Highways and Transport Committee for a final decision. Improvement to the public realm were being investigated in parallel with TRO. This was dependent on funding.

4.     In response to a question from a member of the public Councillor Beckett advised a consultation for works on Cherry Hinton Road had taken place. Officers were currently working on a detailed design for the cycle routes on Cherry Hinton Road. The County Council currently lacked funding to take the project forward but would do so when funding became available.

5.     A member of the public asked about improvement to Coldhams Lane. Stated that it required Zebra crossings and a 20mph speed limit.

In response, Councillor Pounds stated the following:

·      She would apply for the Zebra crossings as soon as the new Local Highway Improvement’s (LHI) come out, which will be shortly. Had been discussing this will Councillor Shailer.

·      Councillor Shailer stated officers are doing work to reform LHI system. They have been looking at these issues closely as well and stated that they are looking at 20mph speed limits for Coldhams Lane.

6.         Councillor Healy stated that she wanted it known that there were several grants available at the moment that addressed the cost-of-living crisis. She urged people to apply for them.

Report was read by Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager. It covered the period of March-August.

Highlights included:

     i.         Fly tipping had increased in Abbey Ward. Officers had been targeting that area on a weekly basis to identify those responsible and take appropriate action.

    ii.         In Coleridge, in particular Davy Road, currently a fly-tipping hot spot. Officers currently have ongoing cases in that area.

  iii.         In Petersfield, hot spot areas including Devonshire Road and Gwydir Street were being monitored by officers weekly.

 iv.         In Romsey, hot spots were Coldhams Lane, St, Philips Road, and Mill Road.

   v.         The council have reprofiled the enforcement team. Officers have been placed where hot fly tipping is more of a problem.

 vi.         Had a number of clean up days in the ward.

In response to members questions Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager stated:

     i.         Cannot identify any patterns currently as to why fly tipping had increased. During Covid recycling centres were closed, that explained why it may have increased during that period. However, the recycling centres were currently open and accessible again so cannot explain why there was currently an increase. Speculated that it may be ignorance to peoples understanding on what their responsibilities were.

    ii.         Officers responded to reports of graffiti and have a half dozen trained volunteers that remove low level graffiti. Stated that if residents reported it, officers would respond.