The autumn 2009 edition of the SE Cambs Reporter has just been published and is now being delivered. Click here for an electronic copy.

The news this last week that users of the guided bus will not be able to use their tickets for both operators beggars belief. The details are on the County Council’s web-site (click here). Since Whippet is offering significantly lower fares but will be running fewer buses there may be queues of passengers standing at the stops watching empty Stagecoach buses go by whilst they wait for on from Whippet. Read the rest of this entry.

… and for the Meadows, Oakington, Orchard Park, Rampton and Westwick.

It was a humbling result in Cottenham, Histon and Impington this week. After a long and exhausting campaign the Lib Dems won both county council seats. David Jenkins retained his coming top of the poll and Sue Gymer was elected just ahead of the two Tory candidates.  The margin between 2nd and 3rd was slim enough to justify a recount. Read the rest of this entry.

There was a bizarre Council meeting at Shire Hall yesterday. As is normal the Council debated recent Cabinet meetings including the one of 21 Apr 09 which included the item ‘Guided Busway: contract update’. Problem was Cabinet got its update in private with press and public excluded from the meeting. And the report of the meeting simply says ‘Cabinet has now received and noted the latest confidential update on the current contractual position’. Read the rest of this entry.

The Cambridge Guided Bus track runs along the north side of Orchard Park. Buses will be travelling at 60mph and all that separates it from the estate is a simple 3 wire boundary fence. Read the rest of this entry.

Cambridgeshire county councillors got to ride the guided bus today as special journeys were laid on during the testing of the new buses to run them from Cambridge Regional College to Park Lane in Histon and back again.  We rode on a double decker which was pretty much like any other new double decker with the added comfort of leather seats and the promised availability of WiFi. Read the rest of this entry.

But it is a tree and probably rather old. And in a bizarre reversal of roles the builders of the guided bus found themselves on the side of the defenders of the environment last week. It was a week in which is seems that trees were being demolished all over Cambridge, including several by the guided bus people themselves in Trumpington, but this one tree seems to have survived. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

Someone should tell Gallaghers that it’s Orchard Park not Arbury Park. The school is Orchard Park community primary school, the council is Orchard Park Community Council, Stagecoach’s bus timtetables refer to Orchard Park and the community web-site is no longer inside Arbury park but www.insideorchardpark.com. So why doesn’t Gallaghers get the message? Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

There has been good news coming out of Orchard Park of late. Following lots of publicity, some welcome and some less so, and the report of the SCDC scrutiny committee it seems like necessary activity to move this community forwards has begun. And one such activity has been the establishment of a ‘community council’ and its first meetings. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

County Councillor David Jenkins recently visited the new primary school at Arbury Park and met head Jenny Russon. The school has been open for a year now and currently has a capacity of 120 pupils. This will rise to 210 when it becomes established. This school is an important part of the local community and is one of the reasons that parents with young children chose to move to the development. Read the rest of this entry.

In an interview with BBC Look East this week Cllr David Jenkins called for specific action on two fronts relating to the Arbury Park development. Firstly he asked that the county and district councils and other agencies seriously address the learning coming from this development before embarking on the others planned in the County. And secondly he challenged the County Council, through its position as lead partner on the Crime and Disorder Reduction partnership, to ensure that the community does not suffer as a result of the slow down in building because of the credit crunch. Read the rest of this entry.