Agenda

Members are reminded to book their places for the Cambridgeshire Horizons Workshop on Monday 11 January 2010 from 17.30 to 20.00 at East Cambridgeshire District Council.

Owning the Quality Charter

An evening workshop for elected members to raise awareness of the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth. Planning for growth in Cambridgeshire can be driven by the urgency of delivering numbers of units, e.g. houses, as quickly as possible through a target and process focussed system. The risk is that the quality of development is ignored, or at least assumes a lower priority. The task for everyone is to achieve both quality and delivery and the Quality Charter is a means towards this end. It is vital therefore that all members understand how the Charter can assist in ensuring that steps are taken to achieve to first class, timely development. The session aims to:

·                      Raise awareness of the Quality Charter

·                      Clarify its status and purpose

·                      Explain its content

·                      Demonstrate how it can be used by members throughout the Local Authorities

The workshop will be facilitated by Brian Human, former Head of Policy and Projects at Cambridge City Council, introduced by Alex Plant, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Horizons, and supported by Glen Richardson, Head of the Joint Urban Design Team (see agenda below).

To reserve your place, please send your full name and contact details to events@cambridgeshirehorizons.co.uk. If you have any queries please call us on 01223 714040.

Further information on the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth may be found here: www.cambridgeshirehorizons.co.uk/about_horizons/how_we_do_it/quality_charter

This item is intended to update Members on appeals against planning decisions and statistics about appeals.  Information is provided on appeals lodged, proposed hearing and inquiry dates, appeal decisions and when appropriate, details of recent cases in interest, and forms part of the agenda for the Planning Committee on 13 January 2010. 

Includes:

·                      Guided Busway opening update

·                      Cambridge News tour of The Busway

·                      Prudent measures in place to cover potential final cost of building The Busway

·                      New-look Busway webpages

·                      Special gritter to keep track free from ice

·                      Inspired by Cambridgeshire – glass panels at some of the new bus stops inspired by countryside and local people

·                      Cycle, ride and walk for work or play – using the path next to The Busway

·                      What’s happening on the southern section of The Busway?

The Green Infrastructure Strategy Review consultation period runs from 25 January to 7 March 2010.

Background

Green Infrastructure describes a network of public open spaces, routes, wildlife habitats, landscapes and historic sites.  It is key to creating places that are attractive, healthy and give a good quality of life, and deliver a range of other social, economic and environmental benefits.

In 2006 Cambridgeshire Horizons and partners (including South Cambridgeshire District Council) produced the first Green Infrastructure Strategy for the Cambridge Sub-Region.  This Strategy has been successful in helping to secure funding for many Green Infrastructure projects across the County including ones which are making a major difference to the District, e.g. an ambitious scheme at Trumpington Meadows, funded by the Housing Growth Fund and other grants, is increasing wildlife in and around the river and making it more enjoyable for people to visit.  Information about this strategy can be found at the following link:

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/countryside/natureconservation/delivering/greenvision

The new strategy will cover all of Cambridgeshire.  It is intended to be better integrated with the planning process and deliver wider and new objectives such as supporting healthy communities and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The content and success of the existing strategy has been reviewed, along with other baseline information and links to neighbouring strategies.  Current and new projects have been considered for inclusion.

As part of this review Cambridgeshire Horizons and partners are seeking the views of residents and stakeholders on the key points of the new Strategy through a formal consultation process.

The consultation period runs from 25 January to 7 March.  There will be a series of staffed events in South Cambridgeshire (see below) as well as information distributed to all Parish Councils and libraries in the District.  The consultation will be promoted on Cambridgeshire Horizons and local authority web sites.  A questionnaire will be available online or in paper format, and should be returned to Cambridgeshire Horizons by the 7 March 2010.

Consultation Events in South Cambs: Green Infrastructure Review

Once the consultation starts the following link will become live and will provide more information about the consultation: www.cambridgeshirehorizons.co.uk/greenvision

The Rural Services Network is a group of over 250 service providers and local authorities working to establish best practice across the spectrum of rural service provision. The network has representation across the complete range of rural services.  For general comments or enquiries, email: editor@ruralcity.co.uk 

·                      A new agenda for rural Britain: The Rural Services Network has launched a comprehensive call to action for politicians prior to 2010 general election

·                      ‘Raw deal’ for rural schools: Rural schools receive much less cash than their urban counterparts – even though poorer rural teenagers often perform worse

·                      Rural recognition in New Year list: Rural commissioner Alison McLean received an OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours List

·                      BBC soap helps save village shops: More village shops are expected to be saved after the BBC highlighted the plight faced by rural communities

·                      Experts sign up for rural revival: Experts from the world of business are to help enterprising rural villages revive local communities

·                      Snow chaos across rural England: The big freeze is posing a challenge for England’s rural service providers.

·                      Council battle to keep roads open: Local authorities are battling to keep rural roads open as England’s big freeze worsens.

·                      Rural homes join boiler scheme: Rural households are now eligible to save money under the government’s boiler scrappage schem.

To view the list of planning applications submitted in the past seven days, please visit the Council’s on-line Planning Application Search.  Once the page has loaded, select the relevant parish from the drop-down list, set the date period to ‘7 days’ and click the Search button or click the Advanced button, select a ward from the drop-down list, then set the date period to ‘7 days’ and click the Search button.

The system will provide a range of information on current and decided applications since 1948, including a brief description of the development, reference number, decision and the date of decision.  More recent applications show the name and telephone number of the council officer who is dealing with the application.

Search results are presented in a collection of pages, the number of which depends on the number of results your search produces.  Each page displays 30 results and there are navigation tools to allow you to browse these results.

Agendas

·                      Senior Management Team 6 January 2010 (intranet only)

·                      Planning Committee 13 January 2010

·                      Climate Change Working Group 14 January 2010

·                      Leader’s Portfolio meeting 14 January 2010

·                      Policy and Performance Portfolio Holder’s meeting 14 January 2010

·                      Cabinet 14 January 2010

Minutes

·                      Scrutiny and Overview Committee 3 December 2009

·                      Finance and Staffing Portfolio Holder’s meeting 16 December 2009

Issues

·                      Annual Climate Change Working Group Report to Council 2010

·                      Annual Standards Committee Report to Council 2010

·                      Appointments to Outside, Joint and other Member Bodies 2010-11

·                      Major Opposition Group Leader’s Annual Report to Council 2010

·                      Review of CCTV Provision

·                      Sizes, terms of reference & appointments to committees, joint committees and working groups for 2010-2011

·                      Write-offs: Annual Report to Council 2010

Starter

Shelton Pell started on 14 December 2009 as a Refuse Operative.

Internal Transfer

Michael Sexton transferred on 4 January 2010 from Admin Assistant, Development Control and Appeals to Planning Policy Technician.