Money

The Evening News has attacked the County Council for raising Council Tax by more than the rate of inflation.

The Police have indicated that they are to do the same, and its likely that South Cambridgeshire (SCDC) will do so as well. SCDC only received a 1% increase in Government funding – it would be a considerable acheivement, then, to keep Council Tax rises down.

And even Cambridge City, reeling from the loss of interest, at the very least, from their Icelandic investments, and the loss of ticket revenue from a business that has gone bust, is also likely to raise tax levels.

We are getting close, again, to the point at which the combined rise in Council Tax from County, District, Police and Fire equals the amount of the Parish component. That is not a cause for complacency, for doing other than our very best to offer value for money, but it does put things in context!

Impington has agreed to hold its tax level – Histon are likely to raise theirs slightly. Not only are they adding some further services, they are hit by the departure of Orchard Park from Impington. Some costs (such as the Recreation Ground) are shared between the two Parishes based on the Council Tax “base”. With more properties in Orchard Park last year Impington’s rose, and we therefore paid more of the shared costs. With their departure, Histon will now pay more.

-2 +2

Monday’s Council meeting was to co-opt 2 new Councillors and we should have then been at our full complement of 11.

For a while, though, we were down from 9 to just 7. Two Councillors who live on Orchard Park resigned last week. They now sit on a Shadow Council  (since we haven’t yet managed to get the full Council up and running) for the area and therefore decided to resign. The only surprise here was the timing. They (Chris Creasey and Nick Warren) have done a good job representing their residents and we wish them well for the future.

At Council, we were able to co-opt two new members – Ian Cooper and Alison Turnbull. Both were very warmly welcomed, and will make a real difference for our community.

We’re still two short, though! Anyone out there interested in standing?

Back to usual

New Year – but old ways – 4 meetings last week, 4 this – and still putting my head above the parapet – and picking up jobs as a result.

Just how do you get this work/life balance thing sorted? Or rather work/parish council work/life …?

Last week – started with the Orchard Park Action Group – District Cllrs, Officers, Parish and Shadow Community Council reps, Gallaghers – meeting regularly to work to improve Orchard Park (previously Arbury Park – and still so labelled).

The “economic crunch” has stopped all building on the site – so the cash flow to make things happen, fix problems, has dried up. Its a challenge – but at least there is now a partnership between all, and recognition of the issues all sides are bringing to the table.

Guided Bus – the latest news came out just after the meeting – which explains why no-one was prepared to talk about dates. There’s little more to be said – but residents of Villa Place and Villa Road who still haven’t got their noise barrier sorted are rightly frustrated. Of course, its a compromise – less noise attenuation, or a 4m high fence.

Money – its the time of year when we set our budget, and make the precept request of South Cambs District Council – they will turn that into the Parish component of the Council Tax that they collect, and pass the results to the Parish Council. The decision is always whether to invest in local facilities – such as the Recreation Ground work, or to try to keep the precept to the bare minimum. This time the committee decided to recommend a precept that would result in no change to the Parish Council Tax. Still to be approved by Council, but a decision which feels right in today’s climate!

On resolutions:

• Weight is coming down – 1kg last week
• Haven’t (yet) sorted utilities – but have added a Hog (free from Cambridge Water) to toilet cistern to reduce water usage
• Walking – yes, press ups – no – but back to archery – muscles seem to have forgotten what its about, but yet to miss the target, so not all bad!
• Post to this blog – yep!

New Year Resolutions

Its a New Year, and resolutions are the norm – so what are yours?

Apparently, according to Sky News, the top 10 include:  Lose weight (top),  Save money/spend less, Get fit/exercise more, and Join/maintain a social networking site.

On the other hand – the vast majority of resolutions don’t last long – but being specific helps, so, I’m going to:

• Knock at least 2 points off my BMI score
• Use online comparison sites for everything I can – insurance, utilities etc.
• Walk more, do some press ups, etc.
• Post to this blog at least 3 times a month.

What are you going to do?

I’ve also got a project – it will help with the walking – I’m going to do a photographic archive of the village – a picture of every house in every street – starting with Impington (north of the A14), and moving onto Histon thereafter. There are about 1200 homes in Impington – so that will keep me busy – I’ll report on how it goes, obviously will need some decent weather and sun – and that will be a challenge for the first few months.