The first County Council meeting of this new council took place last Tuesday. As usual it was full of procedural stuff and coincidentally offered little opportunity for councillors to provide an input. Coincidentally because there were no Cabinet meetings between this meeting and the previous council meeting and there is no provision in the Constitution for motions or written or oral questions. That’s unfortunate because the meeting did take up the valuable time of Officers (senior and otherwise) and Members. Read the rest of this entry.

The new Cambridgeshire County Council Lib Dem group met for the first time last Friday. 10 of its 23 members are new and there is now a healthy mix of young and old, the average age is less than 50, and male and female. Members also bring experience of both the private and public sectors. Read the rest of this entry.

Vince Cable (MP for Twickenham, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman and deputy leader) will be attending a reception at St Eltheldreda’s Church, Ely,Thursday 28 May 09 from 7:00pm, to talk about his new book The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What It Means. Tickets for this event are available from Toppings Bookshop (01353 645005) or on line at http://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/. Read the rest of this entry.

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have published their manifesto for the forthcoming Cambridgeshire County Council elections. These will take place 4th June, the same day as the European Parliamentary Elections. Read the rest of this entry.

Cambridgeshire County Council has revealed that its current top management reorganisation is costing the taxpayer over half a million pounds. In the answer to a question posed by Cllr Julian Huppert at the last council meeting it was revealed that the cost of the reorganisation will be £641,000. Read the rest of this entry.

Some people would argue that since all the decisions on the county council are made by a small group of people in the majority party there’s little point in becoming a councillor. That’s a trifle cynical because all councillors can have a massive impact in two ways. Read the rest of this entry.

The County Council has made a series of podcasts to encourage people to stand as councillors. To see them click here. Read the rest of this entry.

Cambridgeshire County Council has just released the results of its ‘Place Survey’. This is market research carried out by MRUK to determine residents’ perceptions of this council and its partner councils in Cambridgeshire. It’s part of a national program and without seeing how other councils have performed it’s difficult to say much about what the  numbers for Cambridgeshire mean. Read the rest of this entry.

In their alternative budget for Cambridgeshire County Council the Lib Dems have proposed spending £350 thousand in 2009/10 to fund extra police officers to work in communities across the county. They would increase this to £750 thousand in 2010/11. Read the rest of this entry.

Haviland Way is one of many locations in Cambridgeshire where the County Council provides services for young people. It supports their families by enabling young people with physical and learning disabilities to take short breaks in appropriate residential accommodation with excellent support. It gives the families some respite and provides a stimulating alternative environment for the young people. Read the rest of this entry.