Caldecote Ward
As I understand it, the primary role of a councillor is to represent their ward and all the people who live in it. It is also the responsibility of the councillor to communicate council policy and decisions to people in the ward. So which villages are in the Ward and how do I represent and communicate with them?
Villages in Caldecote Ward
Caldecote Ward is one of 26 new wards in South Cambridgeshire District. The Boundary Commission of England carried out a boundary review in 2016-17 in a bid to reduce the number of councillors across the country.
The Ward previously comprised of the villages of Caldecote, Childerley, Kingston and Toft.
Now, it has expanded and comprises of the following villages:
Click on the village names to read more about your parish.
How I communicate with residents
If there is one thing that helps people understand what is going on in their area/community, it is getting the right information at the right time in the form they can easily consume.
I communicate in a number of ways, and hope that residents find at least one or more of these methods is useful for themselves.
Blog
I started this blog back in 2010 May as soon as I was elected. I wanted to keep a record of my activities and use it as a home base for information relating to my work at the Council and for residents.
Over the years I have had varying rates of success in keeping it up to date. No doubt there are time gaps when I have just not been able to devote the time to writing the articles. They literally stayed in my head. But I will continue to do my best to keep the blog current
Reports to Parish Councils
A very important way in which I communicate is by attending the monthly or bi-monthly parish council meetings for all the villages in my ward, and providing a written report.
It is especially important to me because the Parishes are the first tier of local government. They are the local voices of and for residents, and are able to disseminate information through their established channels.
You can read more about those reports and find them on the Report page
Monthly Drop-in Surgery
Over time, I have held drop-in surgeries monthly in the evenings at Toft (up to 2018) and Caldecote. This is a period of one hour where people can come and speak to me about any of the issues relating to the services of the council, that they wish me to help them with.
For the 2019/20 year onwards, the surgery is now on the second Thursday of each month from 7pm to 8pm at Caldecote Village Hall.
However, you don’t have to wait till then to get in touch if you need help. I can come to you. Just email or call to arrange a mutually convenient time.
Social Media
The in-thing! I post up news, information or just stuff I am doing at the time on the usual suspects Twitter and Facebook.
You can follow me on twitter here and like my Facebook Page here. I also have a Youtube channel which has not had much use at all, but that may change.
Even though I have been using social media for over a decade, one channel that has proved challenging for me is Instagram.
I have an Instagram account and am learning to use it, so bear with me.