Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats are delighted to have successfully persuaded a cross-party agreement to get Cambridgeshire County Council to declare a Climate Emergency as a packed public gallery looked on.

Cambridgeshire County Council has questions to answer over its handling of the farm gate affair, in which a senior Conservative Councillor has become the tenant of one of the County council's farms.

Lib Dem group leader Lucy Nethsingha has written to the council to ask:

Following the Conservative County Councillors’ decision to enforce a pay cut on council staff, Lib Dem Councillors are to help affected staff by contributing a matching proportion of their allowance to a staff hardship fund.

At the County Council meeting on 11 December, the Lib Dems voted against the Conservatives’ imposition of a 1.2% pay cut on many council staff.

The cut will affect both full-time staff earning £26,000 or more but also part-time staff on an equivalent pay band but taking home very much less.

At Tuesday’s County Council meeting, Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats will strongly oppose the Conservative move to cut staff pay and will highlight the hypocrisy of the Conservatives’ posturing.

The Lib Dems intend to propose that the council bring forward proposals to reverse the 30% pay rise for councillors that the Conservatives voted through last year and instead adopt the Independent Panel recommendations.

“The Conservatives are using emergency measures to cut staff pay but at the same time they want to keep the huge 30% pay rise for themselves that they backed last year,” said Cllr Lorna Dupré, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group.

“We cannot accept that the staff should be made to suffer because of Conservative greed.”

Cllr Lorna Dupré has won cross-party support from Cambridgeshire County Council for her call to action to improve air quality across Cambridgeshire. 

It has been estimated that there were 257 deaths attributable to particulate air pollution in Cambridgeshire in 2010 (the most recent figure available), and that over 5 per cent of Cambridgeshire’s population mortality is attributed to air pollution.

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have called on Cambridgeshire County Council to recognise the damage that Brexit will cause to the county and to Britain and to back a People’s Vote on the final deal.

The Lib Dems want the people of Britain to have the final say with the option of staying in the EU.

The news last week that Cambridgeshire County Council is requiring some of its staff to take ‘unpaid leave’ between Xmas and New Year is alarming on at least two fronts, writes Councillor David Jenkins.

Firstly CCC seems to be running out of money. As a senior finance officer said ‘we are simply spending above the resources we have available’. And that’s even after all the savings we accrue from having so many vacancies within Highways.

Secondly why is it the employees who get the pain? It’s the latest in a series of developments which have put pressure on them without any prospect of any reward.

Conservative Councillors would rather library computers go unused than change their failing charging policy.

At a committee meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council on Tuesday (11 September), the policy of charging residents to use library computers was shown to be driving people away from using the computers, and raising little money in the process.

The Conservatives' decision to charge people for using library computers has been a complete failure.

Computer use is down 55% in Cambridgeshire's libraries and the charging scheme has raised £4000 against a prediction of £50,000.

The Liberal Democrats and thousands of residents had opposed the charges, saying it would both put people off using the computers and fail to raise money.

Serious questions need to be asked about the way Peterborough & Cambridgeshire Combined Authority is being run say the Lib Dems.

August has seen Mayor Palmer's appointment of a Conservative colleague of his on a salary of at least £100,000 and today it has emerged that the Chief Executive (on £150k) is on 'Gardening Leave'.