Council to spend £1m to bring empty homes back into use
Empty homes are set to be given a new lease of life with a £1 million cash injection by South Cambridgeshire District Council.
The investment could see up to six homes in the district being purchased and brought up to a good standard before they are used to house families and individuals who are in need of temporary accommodation while a permanent home can be found.
Council housing bosses have said that the economic downturn and national changes to benefits systems has meant more people need support and the cost of using bed and breakfast accommodation as a short term solution has risen.
Why has council tax gone up so much?
This is a question that is on the lips of many people in the country. This must be the second most frequent question that I get asked. The residents of Caldecote in particular, have reason to ask why council tax has gone up so much for them. The question came up again from a member of the Caldecote Facebook Group as shown in the snippet:
As I replied at the time, it would be very easy for me to have given a politically correct answer, but as people in my villages know, I do not subscribe to political correctness in matters such as these. So, here’s the answer I gave, setting the context as simply and clearly as I could.
SCDC trials textile and shoe recycling scheme
A new textile recycling trial has begun in South Cambridgeshire in a bid to stop textiles and shoes ending up in landfill.
Around 5,000 homes were given blue recycling bags in the latter part of January so they can put out spare clothing, shoes and household linen for collection alongside their blue bin. The first collection took place on Wednesday 30 January and will continue until further notice.
Households in the following villages will be covered by the trial:
Bar Hill, Childerley, Chittering, Dry Drayton, Knapwell, Landbeach, Longstanton, Swavesey and Waterbeach.
The Launch of South Cambridgeshire Youth Council
The South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) Youth Council will be having its formal launch on Wednesday 23rd January 2013. In a previous article, I wrote that SCDC was asking for nominations from young people to join the Youth Council, giving young people in the district a chance to have a voice and to influence the development of their neighbourhoods. The Council received nominations from young people from across the district, and thought 20 places were available, only 15 of them have been filled.
The Youth Council is a great opportunity for the Youth councillors to develop leadership skills, gain confidence, get involved in decision-making and help organise youth and community events. The roles that a youth councillor will have are varied. Read More…
Time to Design your own Local Bus Services
The County Council is committed to a three year phased programme of reducing the £2.7 million used to subsidise bus services. Cambridgeshire County Cabinet on the 6th March 2012 approved a programme of subsidy withdrawal which seeks to reduce the funding to £1.5m by 2014/15 in a more targetted manner, and groups the county into 13 separate areas (labelled A-M) to achieve this. The villages of Caldecote, Kingston and Toft are all in Area C.
The County Council set up the Cambridgeshire Future Transport project to work with Local communities and Service providers to invest a more targeted budget of £1.5m in providing transport solutions that better reflect the needs of the local areas. Through the CFT project Officers will focus on four/six areas per year, working with local communities to provide alternative transport solutions. Read More…
News in Cambridgeshire