Last week Sue enjoyed her first Lib Dem group meeting when the Group’s officers were elected (Lib Dems do that fresh every year) and appointments to committees were agreed.

Sue has taken places on Children and Young People’s Services scrutiny and the South Cambs Area Joint Committee. She is also on the Fire Authority which is appropriate given that Cottenham has its own fire station.

At the same meeting David was re-elected Group Leader. He is also spoke for the ‘corporate directorates’ (what we used to call Corporate Services). David sits on the Northstowe Development Control and on the Appointments Committee.

The result:

Matthew Bradney (Con) 2,168
Jenny Butler (Green) 698
Simon Edwards (Con) 2,074
Susan Gymer (LD) 2,202
David Jenkins (LD) 2,419
Val Ross (Lab) 363
Niamh Sweeney (Lab) 281

Lib Dems did well across South Cambs defending all seats successfully and also winning Melbourne. The picture shows all the successful candidates excluding Sue. Sue unfortunately was in work for the day and had to suffer the agony of waiting for the result at the end of the phone.

We bumped into the Tory candidates throughout the day and such contacts were, as always, cordial. It has been a good ‘clean’ campaign which has focussed on issues with no personal animosity.

The turn out was only about 30% which is disappointing.

The questions, predictably, were about expenses and allowances and transport. Sadly there were none about education or social care. There was also one about Council employees’ pension entitlements.

David says: ‘there is still much annoyance about the expense issue and this flows into concerns about the allowances which councillors get. There is also a continuing negative vibe re the Guided Bus. It’s difficult to find anyone, except the Tory Cabinet, who thinks that it’s good project.’

If you missed it and are really keen to listen to it click here. You will need to advance the recording to about the 2 hour point.

Maybe people remember that it was their first bikes which gave tem freedom to wander. Whatever the reason a disproportionate number of people on the door-step seem to want to talk about them.

Cambridge of course is the home of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign which is a very professional lobbying group. Check out its web-site at www.camcycle.org.uk. It’s pretty good.

The Cycling Campaign has polled all Cambridge and near to Cambridge candidates for the approaching county council elections and the results are available at www.camcycle.org.uk/elections/2009junecounty/. David and Sue have both responded.

David has given an input to the campaign’s survey. He says: ‘With the Cycling Demonstration Town money we’ve got a real opportunity to make a big difference. But we must not compromise. Cycle routes must be through routes, they must be wide enough and they must be free of obstructions. Plus we need to make sure that better cycle routes don’t disenfranchise pedestrians.  And if we can make routes for cyclists safe a lot of the speed limit issues will take care of themselves.’

It’s good to see that at Coolidge Gardens in Cottenham ‘ball games can be played here’ but there is a ‘no ball games allowed’ sign elsewhere in the division and it’s in the ideal place for playing such games. Why can’t we allow children to play?

Sue says: ‘This was a theme at the  annual meetings of some of our parish councils. We need more spaces where children can play and we need to redevelop the culture whereby it’s normal for children to have fun outside the home. I will work with residents and parish councillors to secure additional play space in our villages’.

David says: ‘There is a global need to redefine the relationship between traffic and local communities. It’s no point pretending that we can go back to the situation of 50 years ago. We need to find a way to accommodate the needs of motorists and HCVs but in a way that enables local people to live in a safe environment without excessive pollution’.

‘We need alternative routes for HCVs and, county-wide, we need options for them to park overnight. We need  more pedestrian crossings, especially in Cottenham, and we need more hard measures to slow vehicles down as they enter our villages. And we need better segregation of bikes and cars so that outside the villages traffic can travel more quickly when it’s safe to do so.

‘Sue and I will campaign vigerously for measures which improve the quality of life in our communities. However we will not embark on a vindictive campign to simply make life difficult for the motorist and HCV  drivers and operators. They need to be a part of the solution’.

It means for example an extra police officer for the Histon beat, money for local road repairs (managed locally), restrictions on HCV activity and a more responsive approach to speed limits, better bus services and funded youth workers.

Sue says: ‘There’s an over arching theme of empowering local communities and providing them with a say and resources to do the job. We recognise that parish councils etc know best what’s needed  and can often move more quickly to make things happen. The County Council has expertise and money and we need to bring the two together more effectively.’

David adds: ‘It’s fundamental that we need to run a more effective County Council. We showed the way this year with our alternative budget which would have released money for improving services and fixing the problems of several years of under-neglect. It would also have resulted in a lower council tax increase than the one imposed by the Tories. With this improvement in the centre combined with a change of attitude we will enable more to be done locally.’

They all run frequently during the working day and on Saturdays but evening and Sunday services are poor. The latter is especially disappointing for residents of Cottenham, Histon and Impington since the recent withdrawal of the Myall’s service. And although the residents of Cottenham etc get 6 buses an hour travellers complain that too often this means pairs of buses every 20 minutes instead of one every 10 minutes! They also complain that journeys into Cambridge take too long because the Citi 7 takes such a circuitous route through Histon and Impington.

Of course any bus service to Cambridge would be wonderful news for the residents of Rampton and for those who live in Cottenham north of Lambs Lane who have no such service.

Sue says: ‘The Lib Dems will work with the bus companies to develop more and better services. We will make sure that residents have a complete bus service and not just one which operates along profitable routes and at profitable times. If there is a comprehensive network demand will grow and the operators will be rewarded.’

Better bus services is number 6 in the list of Lib Dem key policies. Click on Manifesto in the menu bar to see all 10 policies amd what they would mean for Cottenham, Histon and Impington.