 Cymru yn y cwmran i'r ddechrau ymlaen. Felly, sefydlu'r hyn yn ymgol arfer o agstein ac y dyfodol will i bryd. Tynna, mae'n dd勵in, iawn, o'r dda i gael cyffredin iddyn nhw. Felly yn ddweud, mae'r ddweud? Foldwch, mae'n ddweud yn ddweud. Ddyn ni ddim yn ddweud iddyn nhw, roedd yn ddweud, i gael yr holl ddweud eich gael mae cyffredin nhw o'r ddweud. Oeddwn ni'n ddweud o'r ddweud cwestiynau 21 unrhyw i ddweud? Can I have a seconder, please? Councillor Smith, thank you very much. So, does anybody wish to vote against that motion? Anybody wishing to abstain? That's good. Okay. So, in that case, I'll take that by affirmation. So that means we can remain seated while we're using the microphones. And officers have confirmed that the meeting is courate, and we can proceed. Thank you. So, firstly, item one, apologies. We are, sorry, members, I've been advised by our IT specialist that the livestream is having problems. Can we just pause for a moment while we just make sure that that's working? If anybody, if the officers alert us that there's a problem, I will pause the meeting again. So, firstly, apologies and Rebecca Dobson. Would you be kind enough to let us know if there are any apologies for abstinence? Yes, thank you, Chair. Apologies for abstinence have been received from councillors Clayton, Bear Park, Bygot, Chum Johnson, Percival, Mason, Bexon and Howell. And I understand that participating remotely we have councillors Daunton, Hunt, MacDonald. And one more point to note, Chair, is that councillor Khan will attend a little later as he had an unavoidable commitment. So he will join in an hour and a half approximately. Thank you. Thank you. And I understand councillor Sarah Chum Johnson is unable to attend. Is that correct? Chair, I mentioned councillor Jen. Sorry, sorry. And councillor Heatherwood. Yes, just councillor Mark Howell is attending virtually. Thank you. Just one moment, Members. I've got a really unusual message on my microphone. Just one moment. I think it's okay. I'm sorry councillor Williams. I didn't hear because something strange came up on my microphone. Could you repeat what you said? Just to say that councillor Howell is virtual, not apologies, as you can see his face shining down at us. So councillor Howell. So we've got councillor Howell taking part remotely. I'd love to see you councillor Howell. Are there any other Members taking part remotely who would like to make themselves known if we haven't mentioned councillor Nick Wright? I can see you're there as well. Thank you. I am attending, yes. That's good. Can councillor Nick Sample taking part remotely? Yes. Hello. Thank you very much. There's a whole panoply of other names on the side there, but these are officers. Okay, lovely. Thank you very much. So Members, decorations of interest. Do any Members have any interest to declare in relation to any items of business on the agenda? councillor Nick Wright, did you want to speak? You're muted. We can hear you now. Thank you. Yes, I do. I have an item 14B, which I have a pecunary interest in that motion. I'm expecting at some point some of the land with dead trees on it to be returned to me. Thank you. Thank you very much, councillor Wright. Any other interests? Yes, I can see Councillor Eileen Wilson. In relation to item 13E, I would like to declare a non pecunary interest in that I'm a trustee of the Fenerch Community Association. Thank you very much. And Councillor Heather Williams. Thank you, Chair. I'm a member of the Greater Cambridge Partnership Assembly. Thank you very much. If any other interests? And Chair, sorry. Councillor Henry Bachelor. Thank you, Chair. Item 17, I have a potential conflict. So under advice, I won't be taking any part in that item. Which item was that? Sorry. 17. 17. Thank you very much. And I can see that Councillor Peter Macdonald would like to... Thanks, Chair. So a little bit like Councillor Heather Williams, a declare an interest as substitute member for the GCP Board. Thank you very much. If, as we arrive at these items... Okay, sorry. We'll take those at the time. But Councillor Neil Goff. Yes. With respect to question 13E, as Councillor Wilson said, I am a trustee of the same organisation, the Fenerch Community Association, which is on my declaration of interest. Thank you, Councillor Goff. Perhaps you'd move your microphone more in line so that when you speak, we can hear you better. Thank you. Was there another woman? I didn't see. Oh, Councillor Wilson. You're very interesting. I declare that I, too, am a member of the Greater Cambridge Partnership Joint Assembly. Thank you. And Councillor Mills. Thank you while we're playing the game. I'm also on the Greater Cambridge Partnership Assembly. Assembly. Thank you very much. Right. Have we got these interests all sorted out? Lovely. However, if anybody realises at the point in the agenda that they have an interest, do declare it at the time. Please could we proceed on to the register of interests. As ever, members are reminded of the need to keep their register of interests up to date and to inform democratic services of any changes. So, moving on to the minutes, which are on page one of our agenda, I just wanted to draw members' attention to the fact that a further supplement has been issued in respect of this item, which members, there are copies in the democratic services area, but I'll hand over to Rebecca Dawson to explain. Thank you very much, Chair. So, just to ensure all members present are aware that there has been a supplementary pack for this item, the minutes of the previous meeting issued today and that due to the short notice paper copies are present so that you can refer to them. The minutes that were included in the pack were a previous version and this is the correct version as published on the page on the website for the meeting on 22 February. Thank you, Ms Dawson. So, just to clarify then, the minutes that were published on the website were correct. The minutes that were included in our agenda pack were not correct but you've been given a supplement which is correct. So, do any members have any items to raise on the minutes? Actually, I'm going to start off with that because I had a few so I'll do mine first just to get them out of the way. I have already informed Rebecca Dawson of these. So, on our page 5, under item 8A, about four lines down, we're talking about the minimum wage but it's been typed as W-A-T-E. The council had a minimum wage of £10 for its employees. The second one was that at item 11 on our page 19, it was myself, the chair, who proposed the calendar of meetings under item 11 and that was it. I suspect some of these things will have been corrected in the minutes that we now have as a supplement. Did anybody have any other items they wish to raise on the minutes? Councillor Malion. Just to say that I believe I did send my apologies for the last meeting that's not recorded but maybe I haven't seen this supplement. OK, I'll just have a look. No, we can add you to the apologies. Let me just see if you're... No, you're not down there as either present or having given apologies so we can add you as having given apologies. Any other items, members, on those? I haven't seen the corrected version so I don't know whether it's been noted that it was cancelled. I don't know whether it's been noted, chair, but it was Councillor Rippitt who was in the vice-chair because I was not present. I was participating from home. The corrected minutes do record that correctly that it was cancelled due to Griffith who was acting as vice-chair that day. Thank you. Right, so members, are you happy that we approve those minutes? Thank you very much indeed. Does anybody wish to object or abstain? No, thank you. So, by affirmation, the council therefore agrees the approval of the minutes of the 22nd of February 2022 as amended as a correct record. So, announcements. I'd like to make an announcement and that is I wanted to thank members and members of staff for their generosity to the Chairs Benevolent Fund which this year firstly raised a total of £712.50 for the full-born hospital and my assistant, Glenda Hansen, kindly, used £233 odd of this to purchase presents for the full-born hospital gifting at Christmas and also a balance of £478 with donated to the friends of the full-born hospital after Christmas and the balance remaining in the fund which I look forward to donating to Centre 33 is £1,016 and one penny. So, thank you very much for your generosity but of course, members, you're still welcome to make donations to the Chairs Benevolent Fund which we would very much welcome. Thank you. Yes, the next person is the leader. Thank you very much indeed. I actually have three announcements. Sorry, you thought I only had one. Take by surprise. So, the first one is quite simple. It's announced in the change of date of the September Cabinet meeting which was set for the 26th of September and is going to be moved to the 12th of September. The second one is the, I would just like to announce the success of the council in the IESE awards where they won silver medal like sector transformation awards. So, this is an award to the whole council because all of the green to our core initiatives which are not with one department, they go through every single area of the council. They all contributed to this and huge contributions from members as well. So, I think we should all be rightly very, very proud of this and I'm going to put it in front of me so it looks as if I'm taking all the credit for it. And then lastly, this is the last full council meeting of this civic year and the last full council meeting of the four year term for which most of us were elected. So, I would just like to express my very sincere thanks to all members for your contributions to the operation of this council, to the success of this council, but even more importantly for your contributions to supporting your residents at what must have been the most difficult four year term of any council since the Second World War, really. You know, it has been desperate and we have all risen to the challenge very, very ably supported by our councillors. So, my thanks to all of you and I wish you all well in the coming May elections. Thank you very much. Do we have any... No, nothing from ahead of paid service. Thank you. So, members. Okay, and... So, we move on to questions from the public, please. There is one public statement from Mr Brian Williams of Water Beach but with your permission, Brian I'm going to ask you if you would be happy to speak when we consider the item about which your statement is about which is the Water Beach neighbourhood plan at Item 9. I hope that's acceptable to you, Mr Williams. Yes, I was expecting that. Lovely. Okay, thank you very much. Item 7 is petitions and no petitions have been received for consideration at this meeting. Item 8A is the member parental leave policy which was a recommendation of Cabinet on 22 March 2022 and this is on pages 29 to 48 of our agenda. May I call on councillor John Williams, Leave Cabinet Member for Finance to move the recommendation, please. Thank you, Chair. I move the recommendation on paragraph 3 on page 29 of our agenda pack. I'm very proud to move this recommendation and I hope it's not going to be controversial. The details are in paragraph 5 on page 30 and what it does it brings in line, members in line with the equal pay and parental leave policy that we have for our officers and as you see it enables members, councillors the right to take extended leave from their normal duties for the reasons of maternity, maternity adoption or shared parental leave. Instead of having the discretion of the leader of the council in this matter I believe that our members, our councillors should have those rights as our officers do and I'm very proud that we are one of 40 councils that have now adopted or hopefully will adopt this policy and that I would like to see many more councils adopt this policy to ensure that councillors are treated as fairly as officers with regard to this. Thank you. Thank you very much, councillor John Williams. Do you have a seconder for this? I am happy to second it if you do not have an order. I thought it was your turn. Lovely, thank you very much. I'm happy to second. We're open for debate. Councillor Roberts, I can see you. Thank you Chairman. I think it's particularly contentious. I don't think that there's a major difference between officers and members. I don't agree that way all of the same body and that all the rules should apply equally. The thing that I don't like about it is the allowing members who aren't working who have taken a life choice because having little monsters that many of us have had is something that we choose to do. If we choose to do that I think it's entirely wrong that people can go off on leave. People who actually volunteer, not officers, not paid staff can go off for six months or whatever even more it seems and be paid for it. That's the part of it that I don't approve of and therefore I won't be voting for it because I don't actually imagine that it's going to be something that's going to be actually affecting that many members. I don't think I'm going to have another one. No, I don't think so. I'll have some more chickens. I don't actually believe it's going to be used a great deal but those who use it if they've chosen to do this, fine. If they want to still be a counciller, fine. But they shouldn't expect to be paid for time when they're not working. That's entirely inappropriate. It's the public who are paying them for doing nothing and therefore I won't be voting for it. Thank you very much. Would anybody else like to speak? Councillor Smith. Thank you very much. I think this is a really good piece of work. The reality is for us as elected members and even when we're on holiday we're still working and I strongly suspect that even somebody who's on parental leave will still be receiving emails and still be receiving phone calls and will still be hijacked in the co-op or the doctor's surgery by people looking to them to help them. So what this is really about is the sixth month rule to ensure that people do not lose their seats because they're on paternity leave and are actually not able because they are looking after a young child. So that's what this is about. So at the LGA we are very, very concerned about the lack of diversity and the poor age profile of councillors throughout the country. Being a councillor, I'm afraid, is largely prerogative of retired fairly well-off men, I'm afraid, middle-class, middle-aged men. And, you know, it's got to be addressed. People are leaving, sorry guys, people are leaving public service in their droves, in particular young women and in particular young women of colour and this has to be reversed. And the only way we can do that is by having policies like this that make it as easy as possible for everybody to serve as a councillor. We need to take away the barriers to serving and help them to do it. So I welcome this and I thank the officers who put considerable effort into it and I'm very proud that we are going to join the 40 or so councils who've already got a parental leave policy and I hope there will be hundreds more in the near future. Thank you very much. Alex Mallion. Thank you, chair. As someone who has had a baby during my term as a councillor, so there are those amongst us who would have use of this policy. I'm really pleased that we are introducing this as a councill and support that. I'd like to echo the thanks to the officers who've worked really hard on preparing this particularly Jonathan Corbett and thank you for speaking to myself and councillor Cohn who has also become a new parent during his term as a councillor to learn from our experiences. So I was extremely well supported by my group as councillor Smith has said I did have to continue to do some work and I was actually called by a resident the night I bought my baby home from the hospital. But I think there is also a need to formalise the processes and to make sure that there is protection for us as members if we do become parents during our term. And I think again as councillor Smith has said this sends a clear message that we support new parents, we understand the pressures they face and also is incredibly important in ensuring that we encourage people at all ages and experience to become and to remain councillors and particularly women. Thank you. Thank you very much councillor Merlun. councillor Tewby Hawkins. Thank you very much, chair. I just want to add my thanks to the officers that have helped put this together. And in my role as the equality and diversity champion I am glad that this council has always taken this step just building up on what councillor Bridget Smith has said we need to increase the diversity of the types of people who actually become local councillors. People like me are growing and getting older probably going out, you know. I need young people to come in. Young black people, young Asian people, minority ethnics because there are more of us here in South Cams that is represented in this room, in this council. So thank you. Thank you councillor Hawkins. councillor Judith Rippeth. If I may, I'd like to read this statement out on behalf of councillor Chin Johnson. She says, I'm very pleased we have a parental leave policy in place for councillors and we'd like to see how councillors are doing and how councillors are doing and how councillors are doing and how councillors are doing and how councillors are doing and how councillors are doing in place for councillors and we'd like to thank the leader and our chief executive for taking forward a suggestion myself and councillor Marion made and thanks also for the officers who worked on this policy. We should all be striving to make our council as diverse and representative of our community as possible and this is a welcome step towards achieving this. Thank you. I fully endorse this policy when I was elected as a councillor 32 years ago it was full of the very sort of person that Richard Smith is trying to help the unrepresentative of the district but often even unrepresentative of their own families and this is a very welcome step towards actually correcting that and I think in those days there was actually very little real debate. We all agreed amongst themselves and that is not a brilliant idea there's always scope for alternative points of view however uncomfortable they are and I think that you are going to get alternative points of view which is fine when you actually open it up more widely so I would welcome this policy. Thank you. Thank you very much councillor. I'm sure there's no I'm sure there's no question that at some point in the past you were a young met councillor thank you councillor Roberts so councillor Heather Williams Thank you chair so I was on maternity leave when I joined the council and I did a lot the time around breastfeeding and others particularly in a certain meeting when to quote one of the colleagues I'd sprung a leak and so I think councillor Malliam will know what I'm thinking of there so I think there's a duty on all of us as well to be inclusive in people that want to continue and make sure that the facilities are there as well and I do hope we won't lose that that it's not a case that people we want people to have choice so for example myself I wanted to do the job and carry on and I didn't want to take any leave but for others other people they may want to make different choices and so long as we're catering for both sets of councillors then you know that's important I would say as well there's again that responsibility on all of us I remember standing for election and an opposition candidate announcing my pregnancy on Twitter that was a nice experience not it's how my aunt found out so I think what I would ask people is yes I understand the merits of this and to take things forward but I think we really if we really want that spirit of inclusiveness then we need to broaden our behaviours across the board as well thank you chair Thank you very much I think I'd be repeating a lot of what's been said really I support the policy I think it does give people choice and it clearly sets out what our policy is on the issue so I'm happy to support it Thank you councillor Co and councillor Steve Hunt online did you wish to speak Thank you chair yes I would like to I really support this and casting my mind back to when I was considering standing for election with young children but not as young as you know newborns but it was a consideration how much time is it going to take and I think anybody who's younger than that and is considering standing would be really really welcome the knowledge that this was here so that should they suddenly sort of develop children so to speak they would have this facility and I think that's great because it's clearly important as certainly people agree that we have great diversity and people from of all ages and all backgrounds and walks of life find it practical and comfortable to become a councillor Thank you very much and councillor Battitario Diversity Did you actually say diversity? I mean if you say diversity I'm a good example of the diversity if you mean so because I work with diversity inclusion and equality and in last 4 years I have organised more than 350 events, activities, workshops those are I mean those are actually covered by BBC, radio TV, local newspaper funders, magazine everywhere but I have never I never got a chance to show off any of my work in your magazine not even a single paragraph was reflected none of my work on diversity was reflected on your esteem esteem magazine Do you need a work on diversity? Is your point related to the parental leave policy? No no I just heard someone someone is talking about diversity parental leave is one thing but I just heard about diversity and inclusion so I just came around that part Are you really talking about diversity? No we are talking about parental inclusion When you talk about diversity you also have to mention that you are talking about diversity and I am and here I am the case of the diversity I have run I have run more than 350 to 400 events not even a single paragraph on this on this basis of the diversity so please talk about something not about diversity Sorry What I was trying to ask you was sorry I didn't mean to say we weren't talking about diversity because the parental leave policy enables diversity in this council I was trying to ask if you had a point about the parental leave policy but thank you for your contribution Councillor Dawnton Councillor Dr Dawnton Thank you chair I was one of the people who worked closely with Jonathan Corbett on this policy and I do want to pay tribute to him to the careful work that he's done in bringing this to us today that's all I wanted to say just to acknowledge the work of Jonathan and of Geoff memory as well Thank you Thank you very much Are there any other people who wish to speak online Councillor Fynne So I'm seconding this so I would just like to thank the work that's gone into this policy that brings our members in line with the staff policy and as Councillor Cathcart pointed out it was a very different complexion of council when I first joined in 2014 and I'm very glad that we've seen a big change in the demographic of people who feel able to stand for election and to stand as councillors For me this is about inclusion and making it possible for people to take part in democratic process and take part in public life knowing that should they become have the happy event of becoming pregnant or becoming a potential father that there is a policy which enables them to be remunerated so I'm very happy to endorse this this paper very much Members are you content to take this decision by affirmation? Okay no okay so are there any others who wish to object would you like to indicate if you wish to object and any sorry this is the vote Councillor Roberts absolutely we understand that is what you made at the time when you spoke so are there any others other than Councillor Roberts who wish to object and I can see that Councillor Carn has just joined us thank you are there any others who wish to abstain thank you with the exception of Councillor Roberts with the other members I'll be happy to take that by affirmation thank you very much indeed and I will just say Councillor Batticharia thank you for your contribution and I do understand what you were saying and I will listen to what you've said thank you thank you so thank you Water Beach neighbourhood plan is the next item on the agenda and I will ask Brian Williams to speak who is the chair of the Water Beach neighbourhood plan steering group so Councillor Brian Williams do go ahead you have three minutes to speak sorry chair just a bit of trouble and muting there just like to say thank you chair and council for allowing me to speak at what to the people of Water Beach is a momentous occasion as you make hopefully the Water Beach neighbourhood plan it was seven years ago that South Cams agreed that Water Beach should develop a neighbourhood plan that would reflect the wishes of people living within the boundaries of the parish those seven years were spent in producing several iterations of the plan each reflecting the views of Water Beach people community groups and businesses evidence for the plan was gathered using dropping sessions in community rooms and even on stalls at the Water Beach feast questionnaires were deployed online and in paper form so that we could gather the widest views and fed back through collection boxes in shops and community groups the consideration of the evidence collected led to the plan being developed as a document which was then tested and amended through the formal consultations in the neighbourhood plan process this included the whole of the South Cams statutory consultee list which was I think about 1500 or so long so it can be seen that we consulted on a wide range of views and diverse interests plan was reviewed against comments at each consultation and amended accordingly a submission version was then produced and assessed by an independent inspector to ensure planning policies such as MPPF and the South Cams local plan were properly respected recommending changes to make it so I'd therefore like to thank Alison Torkinton and her team for the work they've put in to assist in applying the inspector's suggestions to the neighbourhood plan and getting it to a point where it could be presented to the people in the form of a referendum this turned out a positive result on the 3rd of March 2022 we now entrust our neighbourhood plan to you all in the hope it will be made and be used as the basis for all Water Beach planning decisions as the view of every Water Beach resident without having to wait for the comments to come in finally for other villages wishing to prepare a neighbourhood plan it is hard but worthwhile but don't be afraid but do get help our planning adviser Rachel Hoggart from Cambridge Acre has been invaluable embedding herself into the team and ensuring we properly applied the policies that's all I've got to say thank you Mr Williams and I know how much hard work you've put into it so thank you very much for your contribution to the neighbourhood plan so now may I call on the lead cabinet member for planning and development to propose the recommendation and respond thank you very much chair here is South Cams we have as of today made for a neighbourhood plans and I said made because that's the techie term for adopting we had Great Abingdon in February 2019 Cotinum and Hisnan Impingdon in May 2021 and Foxton in August of 2021 which makes up the four we had designated 18 other neighbourhood areas and those are preparing their plans but today as you've heard we have the pleasure of bringing to this council one of those 18 to make it and that is Water Beach thank you to Brown Williams for his introduction as the chair of the Water Beach neighbourhood planning group he's told you about the journey they've been on getting to this stage so I want to thank him and the members of the neighbourhood planning group for all the work they've done and of course thank you to Alison Torkington who is officer expert on neighbourhood plans for her continued dedication and work in actually assisting our communities to develop their neighbourhood plans now South Cams designated Water Beach on 10th of August 2015 and of course following all the work that you've heard about this council in February of 2020 for the formal adoption process to start you will see from the report of the plan that the referendum that took place on 22nd of March that 89.9% of those who participated voted in favour of it which is a good number and having gone through the plan myself I'm quite impressed with the way in which it has been set out and the contents it is a plan that covers the proposed development and use of land in Water Beach Parish up to 2031 I'd like to draw your attention actually to the plan vision as it was stated in page 94 of our papers it has seven themes 10 objectives that underpin that vision and the plan very helpfully for those reading identifies the South Cams local plan policies that are relevant to the community including of course SS 2x6 which is the Water Beach Newtown and of course how that links to their key issues number 5 and number 6 of course more of the other themes and objectives cover biodiversity design principles landscape et cetera I also particularly like the way in which the 24 planning policies have been drawn up and a subset attached Members, would you do other members the courtesy of being quite on this field? You didn't do anything when the lead member planning was laughing at a member of my group for being upset on an issue Sorry, I didn't see that I apologise but I did hear this Let's proceed Thank you chair and as I said the way in which the 24 planning policies have been drawn up and set to each of their objectives shows the thoughtfulness that has gone into this work and you can have a look at that on pages 195 to 197 of our papers Now, neighbourhood plans once made become part of our local plan policies and carry planning weight and hoping that no doubt this one will help our development teams as they work in future with Water Beach Parish Council to use this neighbourhood plan as a material consideration for applications that come forward in Water Beach So chair, I heartily move the recommendations in paragraphs for A and for B on page 49 of our gender papers and ask members present to please fully support the making today of the Water Beach neighbourhood plan Thank you Thank you very much councillor Dr Timmy Hawkins I plan to second this motion and or this making of the plan and I'll reserve my right to speak to the end The debate is open now and the first person who I would like to call to speak is councillor Judith Rippeth who has a statement to read which has been written by councillor Paul Bear Park one of the local members who is not able to be present so councillor Judith Rippeth do carry on Thank you The Water Beach neighbourhood plan has been in the making for the past seven years Those of us who have been working on it greeted the referendum result with a mixture of relief and delight It's an important milestone for Water Beach The views of Water Beach residents will now have a greater role in guiding the development of Water Beach both Newtown and Village going forwards Developing a neighbourhood plan is a significant undertaking for volunteers with no experience of the development of planning policy and little knowledge of the planning process We were fortunate to be guided by Rachel Hoggar during the consultations on the development of policies and in our response to the consultations and the examiner During the development of the Water Beach neighbourhood plan there was a feeling that we were continually chasing our tales We had to ensure that we were reflecting all the decisions and new policies relating to Water Beach Newtown as they arose The Urban and Civic and Royal London Water Beach outlive planning applications were brought forward and the plan supplementary planning documents was consulted on and published RLW applied to Mooder Station and the Greater Cambridge Partnerships of Water Beach Cambridge Transport and Greenway schemes were initiated All of these had to be reflected in the neighbourhood plan I'd like to thank the following for their dedication to seeing the neighbourhood plan through to completion Parish councillors Brian Williams Jane Williams and Jane Williamson have all been involved throughout the process Brian led the steering group keeping up the momentum during the ups and downs Jane Williams kept the community engaged right up until the referendum when she tried to encourage residents to vote by explaining what they were voting for Jane Williamson's deep local knowledge of Water Beach's history and heritage was invaluable throughout for informing our work Finally, I would like to thank Belinda Westwood who provided the group with tireless admin support for the last few years and of course Alison Twerkington and the team at Southcams and if I may chair I'd like to have one or two comments on my own so thank you to everyone for being involved with this extremely important piece of work Of course, councillor Paul Bear Park in his characteristically modest way hasn't really mentioned his role in this work too so I wanted also so, apologies so I would also like to extend my thanks to him this is a really important day so yes, please vote for this Thank you very much and I can see we have councillor Heather Williams Thank you chair so many of us at some point or other have sat on planning committee and we have seen the incredible amount of work that Water Beach Parish Council put into their applications when they're coming through and I think that the level of work and commitment that they've made is reflected in this neighbourhood plan as well and I think they should all be congratulated for any part that they've played small or big it all adds up in the end and definitely we're not in the habit of trying to overturn referendum's chair so you'll have our support today That's great, thank you very much councillor Bridgesmith Thank you very much, so over the last few years I've had the privilege of reading a number of their neighbourhood plans this one's outstanding really is and I think that's reflected in the huge support it got at referendum so I think it's an outstanding piece of work so I think not only do the working group deserve our congratulations actually they deserve a medal quite honestly because I think this has raised the bar and I'm very very impressed with it and I've been involved in one myself I think I'm up to five years now so obviously there's a way to go to beat them at seven but my congratulations to all of them and I do hope we can all support this Thank you councillor Nigel Cathcart I think this is an excellent piece of work it's extremely detailed and also these neighbourhood plans are a very useful way of local communities understanding their villages looking at what is there assessing what's important trying to determine exactly how to deal with so it's not a one-off document it's a working document by your side for many years to come to guide future parish councillors and community leaders on how to develop the village so these documents are incredibly important going into the future not just at this point in time Thank you Thank you very much, councillor Henry Bachelor Thank you chair, I think as councillor Hawkins mentioned at the start the first neighbourhood plan that was made was that Great Abington of which on one of the local members in their neighbourhood plan they have one policy and even that took several several years from beginning to fruition and adoption so a place the size of Water Beach I can't even fathom how much work and patience was put in by those that were involved in it so I fully commend them to the amount of work they put in and I for one will certainly be supporting this chair Thank you very much I can't see any other speakers so I'm going to follow up as seconder I remember way back when the neighbourhood plan team first started to think about the neighbourhood plan and I remember the enthusiasm but the huge work that the group took on because they decided right from the outset they wanted to include the area that was going to be developed into Water Beach Newtown it wasn't just the village they were concerned about it was the whole area and I was so impressed with the way people engaged with that and I particularly wanted to thank the group at Water Beach for keeping your residents in Water Beach engaged with the process and I've seen that both at the Water Beach Community Forum where you've taken opportunities to bring the matters to the attention of the public and answering questions and gathering of views and I think there's this extraordinary process of bringing up a whole set of ideas and then gathering those views in and then making them into a sensible train of thread and thought and I'm just very impressed with the quality of the work that has gone into this plan so I just wanted to thank everybody involved in my own ward for what you have done and I would heartily recommend this to the council so thank you very much there are no other speakers so can I suggest that are you content to take this matter by affirmation agreed anybody wish to abstain or object so great the council therefore agrees this motion by affirmation but a recorded vote is needed so can I ask the webcasting officer to conduct an electronic vote oh sorry I've just said or do we take it by affirmation sorry forgive me Rory do we need a vote we're doing it lovely so please press the blue button to indicate your presence and then green if you agree red if you object and yellow if you abstain okay so with 30 in the room yes I think with 30 in the room and with 30 voted so thank you very much indeed members that's carried by carried by carried by so moving on to item 10 this is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough combined authority report and members I invite the council to note the reports on the work of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough combined authority as outlined in the circulated papers and ask the council's representatives on the combined authority to comment if they wish to do so so members are there any comments we have members on the board on the overview and scrutiny committee and on the Audit and Governance committee nobody so members do you have any questions for any of the representatives on the combined authority I can see no questions so we note the report members and move on thank you number 11 on our agenda is the greater Cambridge partnership we have a supplementary pack the report is available from the most recent meeting which took place on the 17th of March in a supplementary agenda which was issued on the 22nd of March and Councillor Neil Goff is our representative on that partnership members do you have any questions for Councillor Goff yes Councillor Cohn just a quick one chair thanks for letting me speak on this so on page 4 of the supplementary document it talks about the cycle greenways and it's a question that I've asked of the board a couple of times really I was wondering if I could have an update on the link between Fullborn and Cambridge City the cycle greenway that goes between the two obviously the business case has been outlined here but there just seems to be sort of a lack of progress in terms of actually getting spades in the ground for this proposal and given the importance to my residents getting them out of cars onto bikes into the city and the surrounding villages like the Wilbruns you know because until this project is complete there's no possibility of linking up to the first phase of the project I was wondering if I could have an update either here or a later date Councillor Goff yes Councillor Cohn very happy to answer because actually I think you're if I can impute to your question a little bit of frustration and disappointment about the rate of progress on the greenways I think that was generally expressed both at the assembly and also at the board what we got from the officers was an interim report which does have a timetable associated with it but we requested that what came back in September was a full project schedule with milestones on the way to delivery of these projects because actually I completely agree with you we need more urgency associated with that and I think the board was united in that expression that we need to get on with it so I have to say you know I have a look at the report which was for this and you'll get a little bit of information but I'm very hopeful in September you'll get a lot more that was exactly the point and it wasn't just a time well there are time scales which are in the report for the end but what the board asked for was interim milestones so that we can track how it progresses thank you Councillor Goff are there any other questions no okay so I don't sorry Councillor Daunton yes thank you thank you Councillor Goff for that update clearly that's important to me as one of the members for the Penditon football ward including the Wilberhams will the report look at the wider scheme and the next phase of the scheme yeah so as Councillor Daunton may be aware there was a question which was asked specifically about the Wilberhams the greenways are universally popular and certainly the next evolution of them will be linking but the priority at the moment is on the actual core greenway schemes which are funded by the GCP and need to keep proceeding to develop and then at that later stage we'll look at the linking which is so important to make the network work thank you Councillor Goff I can't see any other questions so we note those reports I think item 12 on the agenda is membership of committees and other bodies so do group leaders wish to notify the council of any changes in the membership of committees are there any changes in the membership of outside bodies to report or members so members if there are none you're asked to note and endorse these changes sorry there are no changes so thank you very much so we move on to item 13 which is questions from councillors and members you're reminded that there is a period of 30 minutes available for questions in total this includes those questions where notice has been provided on the agenda and if there is still any time remaining after those questions with notice have been dealt with we will deal with any questions which have been notified to the democratic services manager before the start of this meeting so we have a number of questions already starting with councillor Salianne Hart would you like to put your question thank you chair and I would quite like to read my question rather than say as in the paper I would like us to as a councill to focus on the language that's used around people and so my question rather than using the term refugee is actually going to focus on people all people seeking refuge so my first question really is how many families from Ukraine seeking refuge have been settled in south Cambridge here since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine thank you very much and I believe that's going to be answered by councillor John Bachelor thank you very much chair the simple answer to the question is we don't know there simply isn't a mechanism in place currently to advise us of these things as we're all aware this is a developing situation what we do know is obviously quite a number of our residents have signed up for the homes for the Ukrainian scheme we're also aware that we do have a small community of Ukrainians who are residents in south Cams that amounts to 112 individuals according to the last census and we as a councill have currently just set up a working group which met for the first time on Monday and the purpose of this group is to identify how we can provide some information and identify how we can provide support to communities who do receive Ukrainian refugees thank you councillor Bachelor did you have a question yes thank you chair reflecting on the experience of south Cambridge I'm just wondering if I could answer the following question in terms of the people seeking refuge from Afghanistan and Syria and how many of those families and people wish to resettle in south Cams so under the Syrian resettlement scheme we accommodated three families we actually pledged to provide four family homes on an ongoing basis year on year since the lockdown the government has suspended this the Syrian settlement program and it hasn't yet restarted we are still committed to provide ongoing support for the Syrians when this project restarts under Afghan settlement scheme Irmin Street has provided three family homes and have a further one awaiting allocation we have two families in housing association accommodation within south Cams and we have one in our own one family in our own stock we have another two families used to arrive in our own properties in the coming weeks I might say that this whole process has taken an awfully long time and properties have been empty for months which has caused issues back in the villages we want to make the best use of our property that we possibly can but we have no control over the allocations that is purely a government function so in total we have provided homes for three Syrian families six Afghan families and we currently have three more Afghan families due to come to us Thank you councillor Bachelor Moving on to a question from councillor Jeff Harvey Thank you Jeff Since the introduction of the callback service what is the level of usage of the service on customer reaction councillor Neil Gough I believe you are answering this question Thank you councillor Harvey Between mid November 2021 and the end of February which is first three and a half months service was introduced there were 537 callbacks which were requested that's quite a low number but it's also related to the fact that over that period of time the actual waiting time for the call centre and we expect that those number of callbacks will increase quite significantly in March when the call volumes are always higher the majority of the callbacks we've been requested have been between noon and two o'clock when the number of calls into the councillor are the highest there was also an increase in demand not surprisingly when the call centre was closed over the Christmas period so customer reaction has been very positive with a number of residents commenting it was a pleasant surprise to receive a prompt callback because this was not often the case when they'd used similar services with other organisations Thank you councillor Gough councillor Harvey did you have a supplementary question? Not really a supplementary question but just to say I think this is good sense for everyone isn't it because nobody wants to waste time on a phone so I I applaud this innovation Thank you very much If you're okay with that councillor Gough we'll move on to Question 13C from councillor Claire Daunton Thank you chair, us on the agenda Thank you So councillor Gough Thank you councillor Daunton So staff are already working in the office where this enables them to work most effectively however the ongoing government guidance around Covid and the soon to be completed work on greening South Cams Hall means that there's still some restrictions which are in place Going forward the impact of the successful council anywhere project combined with the innovations in working arrangements driven by the need to respond to Covid is unlikely that the traditional pre-Covid working arrangements are ever likely to fully return Instead we're asking service teams to work in the way that is most efficient and best serves the needs of residents members and businesses The impact of time spent in the office will vary according to between the teams and the nature of the work but initial estimates are that ongoing occupancy rates are likely to be about 60% of what were pre-Covid Thank you Councillor Daunton did you have a supplementary question Yes I do please What will be the impact of these plans on how we use office space So we'll adapt to these new circumstances by using our office space more effectively by providing modern working in collaboration space to allow teams to work together more effectively that will also include new technology to enable people to interact in the office outside of the office will give us the opportunity to rent out a greater proportion of our office space to generate additional income we've already had several enquiries from organisations looking to use that space and we'll provide cost effective space to start up companies within the district who otherwise would not have the ability to afford physical space So in combination these proposals we'll use our own office space more effectively but also allow us to attract talent in other areas such as planning in environmental health from a wider geographic area by making the best use of modern technology Thank you So moving on to the next question which is from Councillor Corinne Garvey When will the ground source heat pumps be operational at South Cambridge OK, thank you Councillor Garvey for the question There is still work to be completed but all the pipes and ducts as you may have seen are now installed and will link to the internal wiring system in early May We now have to compete an upgrade to the building management system but that system should be commissioned by the end of this month with full autonomous operation by the end of April and full completion of the project is expected by the end of June Thank you Councillor Garvey Councillor Garvey did you have a supplementary question Yes Given the recent increase in energy prices I presume that as an investment the returns look rather better than originally expected Is that the case? Councillor Garvey Interesting question We are currently engaged in a follow up in a procurement process for utilities and I expect that process is going to be as painful for the council as it is for residents in their purchasing of energy at the moment Against that backdrop the investment we've made in South Cairns Hall in PV solar and ground source heat pumps which will dramatically reduce our electricity and gas consumption by over 50% just looks inspired Indeed the preliminary assessment suggests that the payback period on the project which was initially estimated to be about 20 years when we approved it will be reduced to somewhere between 10 to 15 years reflecting the step change in wholesale energy prices since we approved it in 2019 Thank you Councillor Goff Moving on Question 13e from Councillor Eileen Wilson Thank you chair With the season for community events approaching how are we planning to support community groups to reduce waste and increase recycling? Can I believe Councillor Brian Milne to be answering this one? Thank you chair Thank you for the question So we will continue supporting village events as we have done since we started here four years ago and we are very keen on obviously doing what we can to reduce waste and increase recycling As well as the work that we do directly as a council I've mentioned the work that we do from recap as well which we remember party to and they do a lot of work in conjunction with our villages We are supporting community action days where we will provide skips that will collect metal for example small and larger electrical use of your pottery scene This is in conjunction with schemes like the repair cafes that we are also running So some people I know in my own patch both in Shelford and in Sauston their events will be running minor repair cafes on the day So this is among a series of actions that we will continue taking If you want a list I can provide you with one where we've already been doing this work and we are scheduling several and there's one coming up in Camborn for the 14th of May Thank you Councillor Milnes and Councillor Wilson did you have a follow up question I did thank you I'm very pleased by the support we give to village events but I wonder whether we could increase the awareness of these services and community action days by contacting parish councils and asking them to spread the information to local community groups Yes I think we shouldn't ignore and we don't but we should do what we can to reinforce the relationship with the parish councils in this and we've actually got a lot of support from them in doing this and they're very pleased to see us helping out at these events so we'll do what we can to increase that communication with them Thank you Thank you very much Councillor Milnes and although we had a question from Councillor Nick Wright he's posted in the chat that he's having problems with the internet and he is happy to have a response in writing so we'll do that Moving on to question 13 G, Councillor Bunty Waters Would you like to ask a question Councillor Waters? Thank you Chair, as on the agenda paper Thank you very much So Councillor John Batcho I believe you're answering this one Thank you Chair Thank you Councillor Waters for your question So on the Ukrainian issue Urban Street currently is in the position to make properties available now and the possibility of further later as they become available these would be from voids of which they are usually about 10 or more at any one time whether or not properties are made available to the Ukrainians is of course still an open question whether there is a demand Councillor Batchelor Councillor Waters did you have a supplementary question? It was just that if some are made available could they be offered homes which are suitable for families near to schools and doctors and in parishes where they would be welcomed and assisted and allow the communities to mix and share their experiences and good transport would also help Thank you Thank you Councillor Waters Councillor Batchelor Yes we will certainly endeavour to do that There is a whole process about settling in all the refugees that we are helping currently and of course we will select the place which we feel is best for them Thank you Thank you Councillor Batchelor So question 13 H is from Councillor Mark Hull Would you like to ask your question Councillor Hull? What is the council's target for self-built houses this year? Thank you Chairman Thank you I'll just repeat that What is the council's target for self-built houses this year? I think Councillor Dr Timmy Hawkins is answering that Thank you Councillor Hull for your question For self-built homes based on the current register entries is 204 new homes Thank you Chair Thank you Councillor Howell, did you have a further question? I do but well it's more of a request to the Chairman and I would like to thank Councillor Hawkins for her response Would it be possible for the leader of the council or for that matter the lead member for planning to explain why nine self-built houses have been granted on appeal outside the village framework in one of the most attractive areas of the village The planning inspectorate implies that South Cambridge District Council has failed to meet its requirements for self-built housing this year Thus the district council no longer has a five year land supply where self-builds are offered It would be nice to know that all the leader could explain that to the parish council Thank you Chairman Thank you Councillor Howell Councillor Dr Tim Hawkins Do you want to respond to that? Yes Chair I can respond to that and I am happy to attend the Caffistan Parish Council meeting That's not a problem but I would also like to clarify the appeal decision that has been referred to by council Howell there is no my land supply issue to do with self-build as he said what it is is that self-build permissions or permissions should be given for self-builds as on the register of each authority obviously we have had a register available since about things 2016 and that register is not just for those who have connections to this district for anyone who wants to live in this district so my view is that we probably had more people wanting to come in on to that register than perhaps would be the case if it was just for people with connections Now what the data we have suggest is that those who actually build self-build or custom properties actually don't always identify it to us as that and we have reason to believe that a significant number of permissions have actually been granted that will be suitable for self-builders or custom builders so what we're doing is we're trying to review our process for collecting and recording that information and also we'll be looking at reviewing our self-build register I mean I know of 10 new builds that are self-builds in my village so who knows how many there are elsewhere but yes if the parish council wishes to send an invitation through their club please do so I'll be happy to attend and explain in person Thank you Thank you very much for your question and for the answer The next question is from councillor Steve Hunt Would you like to put your question councillor Hunt? Thank you chair Does the council have any energy supply contracts with Gazprom or any other Russian energy company? I believe that's being answered by councillor Neil Goff Yes thank you councillor Hunt No unlike some other councils we don't have any direct energy supply contracts with Gazprom we understand that some of our suppliers may have sourced a small proportion of their wholesale supply from Gazprom which they're seeking to extract themselves from but we don't have any direct energy contracts with them Thank you councillor Hunt Did you have a supplementary? Yes I do thank you chair Hasn't the Ukrainian crisis underlined the real value of self-generation investments that can be undertaken to reduce our dependency on external energy sources and thus enhance our energy security Thank you councillor Goff Yes indeed I've mentioned previously the projects that we've undertaken in terms of south council hall which will reduce our energy dependency but that also extends to what we've done and what we're planning to do at Water Beach Depot with PV Solar our plans for further investment in purchasing electric refuse vehicles will move us towards less dependence on fossil fuels but also we're looking at energy efficiency on our own housing stock we've also encouraged others through our zero carbon community grants as well to pursue energy schemes and residents themselves can take similar steps to ensure that their own generation opportunities are maximised and that they look to ways to minimise their consumption too as well and we've done a lot to educate our residents on the opportunities in that space as well so I think you're absolutely right in terms of the linkage between the actions we're taking and reducing energy dependency on external sources and I think it's really fair to say that we're actually leading the way on this thank you very much and councillor Dr Shri Bernard Batticharia of your question yes thank you chair I have my question as it's right on the paper thank you so I believe councillor Bridget Smith leader are you going to thank you very much for your question councillor Batticharia so the council's shared planning service has been engaging with the potential developer for the high street for a number of years and there's been a considerable number of meetings very recently and I think Stephen Kelly has got another one arranged for it within the next matter of days so the Camborn High Street project as you know is complicated by the need for a significant additional development cost which are associated with the need to move expensive underground services and to widen and realign the road to form a high street and I remember coming to the town council to explain that and those costs are over and above what might be expected for a site and development of this type so that's what makes delivery of a mixed use proposal which incorporates additional retail and related commercial spaces on the ground floor even harder to achieve so the commercial complexities are really non trivial and as I said I attended the town council when there's still a parish council I think you were in attendance actually a number of years ago now to explain why it wasn't feasible to proceed with the scheme that was being muted in 2018 because it would involve significant public money involvement and the town council at the time seemed to fully understand that and it was a very positive meeting with them and it's also really important that actually we seek and I'm talking about now what we're looking at now is it's really important that we seek to achieve a development that Camborn will be proud of so I don't want to be driving past a new high street and think we should have done better here Camborn has waited a long time for this high street and it needs to be really good so if we deliver something that's poor it actually won't be in anyone's long term interest you know that COVID has really strong a very bright light on the challenges that high streets are facing these days so they have to be multifunctional, they have to be places where people want to go in order to encourage the football that's needed to keep them going and places with high streets and town centres that are looking sad and aren't fit for purpose are just in major, major decline so in an attempt to re-establish the momentum that has possibly been lost during COVID the joint director of planning Stephen Kelly has recently met with the potential developer and representatives of the town council to explore how the concerns which I'm sure you share which are being expressed at the pre-application stage might be resolved and these are to do with the quality of the build and what so we've got to make sure that the planning application which is submitted sooner rather than later is going to be one that succeeds Thank you leader. Council about a charity, did you have a supplementary? Yes I do have a question something in short which is not delivered actually so the question is that what method of communication will you follow to the common people just to convey them that jobs have haven't been done through the letters or the leaflets? Is that your question? Yes that is a question how the common people you know about that jobs have not been done How will you advise the residents about the work that has not yet been done? So I sorry I don't I don't know why you're saying jobs haven't been done everything's been done this is a process it's a long and complex process and we have to make sure there's two factors that have to stack up what is the cost of this and we're talking about commercial developer here and it has to work financially for a commercial developer and our that's the developer's responsibility our responsibility is to make sure that if a planning application is submitted it is a planning application that can potentially be approved because it's good enough and we all know when we're dealing with planning applications that the spectre of viability is always there and we're often forced into compromise in order to maintain developers profit margins but this high street is really really important the success of Camborn and the new development going on around really hangs on the success of this high street so there are no jobs that haven't been done I agree with you things have been slower than I would have liked a lot of that is outside of our control but Stephen Kelly has really got the bit between his teeth and is doing the utmost to move this forward as fast as he possibly can to the point at which a good fit for purpose planning application can be submitted now if you're wanting us to be communicating more consistently and more regularly with residents then I'm very happy to take that away and give that some consideration about how as a council we can keep the residents of Camborn more fully informed about progress as of now Thank you very much Leader The next question is from Councillor Graham Cohn 13K Thanks very much chair it sounds written on the order paper Thank you, Councillor Smith Thank you very much indeed So we all want EV charging to move faster than it is you know we need I think we've done very well in the absence of any additional powers or money from government so thus far we've installed six electric charging points for cars and vans at the Water Beach Depot and we had the benefit for grant of £2,000 from the workplace charging scheme we've also put in additional three charging points for refuse vehicles which were wholly funded by Southcams we've also completed the installation of 12 charge points at 270 Cambridge Science Park and at Southcams Hall where we are now there will be very soon a total of 20 charge points for staff, visitors and taxis and I hope members as well because I've got an electric car now and that should be available from June of this year and a further three charge points will be operational by June 22 in community room car parks now there's obviously a lead role for the Cambridge and Peterborough combined authority to take on this and I was promised the EV charge policy before Christmas I've been promised it again by February February's come and gone and we still don't have it so I think it's now probably wrapped up in the rework of the local transport plan which has turned into a much bigger piece of work so given the powers, given the money we will move faster because if we're going to drive that modal shift of people off petrol and diesel cars there has to be a really good network of electric vehicle charging throughout the district including in our villages I must call for, thank you very much we've had the end of the 30 minutes for questions so thank you you've answered the first question and we can't take any further questions so thank you moving on then if any question was on the paper that has not received an answer we can legaze with democratic services to whether that is given in writing thank you so thank you very much for that interesting range of questions we now we've wanted notices of motion and you're reminded that a maximum period of 30 minutes is allowed for each motion to be moved seconded and debated including dealing with any amendments at the expiry of the 30 minute period debate will cease immediately and the mover of the original motion or if the original motion has been amended the mover of that amendment now forming the substantive motion will have the right of reply before the motion or amendment is put to the vote and I would remind members and I will just check with legal that there are 5 minutes for the proposer 3 minutes for other speakers thank you so the first motion is from Councillor Heather Williams would you like to move your motion Councillor Heather Williams thank you chair as councillors we have faced challenges that we would never have dreamed of in relation to COVID-19 we have spoken in morning over the brutal murder of an MP and now today chair we will be speaking of war in Europe I am sure we have all watched in horror and great sadness as the war in Ukraine has unfolded chair I think we should note today the amazing defence the Ukrainian people are doing and the many people like us who are taking up arms to defend their nation many of us have sat at home feeling helpless and looking for a way in which to help events like this should make us sit up and reflect myself the words of my school him have been ringing in my ears one heart one spirit one motto and aim may faith be strong and never fail us it is crucial for the world that we wish to raise our children and grandchildren that faith in freedom will prevail is as strong for us today as it was in the first half of the 20th century by endorsing this statement we will be showing our local government colleagues in Ukraine people just like us who have put themselves forward to serve their communities by a democratic process that we support them and we should make no mistake that Putin is trying to undermine democracy in his actions and it is the duty of each and every one of us to stand up for democracy and the people of Ukraine in any way we can supporting a statement and flying a flag may be a small thing for us to do but it is often the simplest actions that you will find the widest smiles to conclude chair I would like to end on a famous quote that I'm sure many of us will recognise that we may come from different countries and speak in different tongues our hearts beat as one and with that sentiment of collaborative working and support for the people of Ukraine I move this motion Thank you councillor Heather Williams and is that motion seconded? I'm happy to second the motion So the motion is open for debate I believe we have Councillor Smith Thank you We've submitted an amendment to the motion which is with Democratic Services I'm sorry I was distracted, I was trying to see who the other speakers were So we have an amendment to this motion Let's give us a moment to read it Certainly, yes certainly I'll take my glasses OK, so this council so it retains the text of the proposal but it changes the intention at the end so it's instead of the three bullet points on our page V it is the council will endorse the statement pledge to support all those seeking refuge as a result of this conflict work with government but we will need the government to do more to establish accessible, swift and safe routes to the UK for all of those fleeing Ukraine and to assist the local councils in their work welcoming and supporting refugees from Ukraine This includes clarity on safeguarding measures ongoing support once the initial period has passed and assistance for people seeking refuge to find work as soon as they wish after arrival and finally continue to fly the Ukraine flag in solidarity with our local government colleagues and the people of Ukraine So Councillor Heather Williams, would you be prepared to accept that amendment? I'm pragmatic, yes Thank you very much Anybody like to debate that amended motion? That is now the substantive motion So would you like to debate the substantive motion? So we have speakers Councillor Smith Thank you very much So the district council network of which I am the vice chair Councillor Sam Chapman at Allen have put a lot of effort into discussing what the role of district councils in dealing with people from the Ukraine who are seeking refuge in this country and Councillor Sam Chapman Allen wrote earlier this week to Clive Betts MP who's leading on this just to highlight all the issues which we at district council level need clarity on so we are all absolutely willing to do our utmost but the government is leaving lots and lots of questions unanswered for us and if we are going to do a really good job we need answers so I'm just going to go he sent a three page document I'm just going to pull out some of the things that we are asking Clive Betts MP for clarity over So what housing inspections and health and safety checks will be expected to undertake what vetting and security checks of sponsors and or people seeking refuge will councils be expected to undertake what safeguarding and wraparound support requirements will there be for us to make what responsibilities will councils have for providing language support what responsibilities will council have for providing additional support for younger children what will councils legal obligation as housing providers be to those seeking refuge if the sponsor no longer wishes to accommodate them what are the implications and obligations for councils if a sponsorship arrangement breaks down what happens if a new sponsor can't be found will councils have a duty to house people seeking refuge under the family visa scheme if their relatives can't make their own arrangements will the £350 sponsorship payment be ignored for benefits and council tax purposes could it push people's pensions thresholds through the declarable tax position will the scheme turn sponsors into landlords or create new obligations to people seeking refuge as tenants what benefits will people seeking refuge be entitled to how will they be administered what procedural requirements will there be for them to take up employment has consideration be given to the needs of older refugees and the help they'll need what technical equipment such as phones and laptops can be provided to people seeking refuge and how will that be provided to councils about the number and regional distribution of people seeking refuge how frequently will it be updated and how councils will be better able to support if they get upfront details about individuals and the daily flow data and I could go on and on so this is cross party all parties have signed up to this and sent this to the minister so we are all willing but government have to help us and if they help us we will help them we cannot assume that they're doing everything they could and should be doing now they're going to need to be pushed into giving us the tools to do the job really well thank you and might I remind members that we all members who speak have three minutes to speak can I still a night or cathcart yes nothing I fully support the humanitarian initiatives that have been undertaken online by Richard Smith and the work that a council is already doing in fact I think this is excellent and that's a fit and proper role for council as far as the statement is concerned there are many elements that I agree with but I think we we have to consider this in a slightly different context that certainly I didn't support this war in any way I haven't supported the wars in Afghanistan or in Iraq or any of these others and for the same reason I didn't support the Russian convention but I do have a number of Russian friends and it needs to be born in mind that one of the one of the factors that colours their actions is the huge losses Russia suffered in the last war and the fact that I agree fear is that Ukraine could join NATO and you would have nuclear weapons jammed up against the Russian border Israel is quite right and concerned with the same objective in as far as right around and for those who are old enough like me to remember it in the 1962 missile crisis America was prepared to risk nuclear war on exactly the same issue so this is something that I think is a legitimate concern and this war like all wars is a failure of diplomacy there was a diplomatic solution here if the world including Russia everyone had been able to grasp it which was for Ukraine not to join NATO but to be extraordinarily neutral and to have some enforcement in place to ensure that what happened this could well have avoided this particular conflict so I think as I said I have spoken to a number of Russian friends and they do need this if you like the Russians perspective to be looked at this is not to support the war I would stress that at the point of repetition but it's to understand the actually extremely emotive issue that this has become and it does colour everyone's judgement including clearly those in Russia so I think we do need to look at it from that sort of perspective and as I said before all wars are a failure of diplomacy and I think flying the flag I can understand the reasons for it but one of my concerns is that if we're not careful we'll give encouragement to the Ukrainians which is fair enough that they will lure them into a sense of optimism for support that won't be forthcoming which could actually have the effect of lengthening and prolonging the war lengthening the destruction and the loss of lives so paradoxically and this is an uncomfortable truth that you have to recognise paradoxically by giving them support we may actually be creating the very circumstances under which more destruction so there is a huge range a huge range of issues here which actually needs to be looked at and I would like to feel that we can or the world community as a matter of great urgency could facilitate some sort of diplomatic solution which would look at the interests of all sides in this dispute and come up with a solution as a matter of great urgency Thank you very much Councillor Cathcart Councillor Martyn Cohn and Councillor Cathcart could you turn your microphone off No, thank you Councillor Cathcart could you turn your microphone off Probably one of the only person here who has actually dealt with local authorities in Ukraine 20 years ago I was involved in cooperation projects across the Polish-Ukrainian border with the partner being the local authority of Javary which was as you may remember was the target of cruise missiles I actually had been to the actual training centre which was hit by the missiles when I was there so it means it really hit me quite emotionally to see that happen I want to emphasise the importance in the poster as this war will end it never will end we just hope it's soon rather than later of the links between local authorities the cooperation between local authorities at that time drew attention to the differences between the approaches in the eastern west which is rather parallel to the conflict you're seeing now when I first arrived at the local authority I was brought in to meet the head of the local in fact it was the devolved government department which was the nature of the local authority the real local authorities had virtually no money whatsoever he was sitting in a room in full dress uniform sitting at the table with his arms like this like this with the Ukrainian symbol behind him basically expressing power it was really very striking I found out later that this man lived in a £3 million house in Lviv which £3 million in Ukraine means a lot more than £3 million here the whole system was different they were getting experience with Polish local authorities which had evolved into a modern western style the experience of seeing the two must have been very dramatic to the people in Ukraine our cooperation has an impact I mean you can see now the conflict between Ukraine and Russia being a conflict of approach of one domineering centrally guided autocratic regime which wants to control everything and another regime which has evolved tremendously since 2000 which has evolved from a system whereby there was this great conflict between Russian speaking and Ukrainian speaking becoming designed that they must have a national identity as a whole like in the central western countries try and do between the different elements in their society so I see that maintaining links between local authorities will be very important I feel want to emphasise that element in the proposal the comments in this motion thank you very much for that insight we also have a wish to speak from Councillor Timothy Hawkins thank you chair I just wanted to say thank you to Councillor Williams for accepting the amendment my concern has been that racism was present in Ukraine still is that blacks and Asians who stand out were being denied the opportunity to leave Ukraine they were thrown off trains or it is given to white Ukrainians so when I saw this motion once I am completely on the side of Ukrainians who have this horrible thing on them which they didn't ask for lives at risk I support getting them out for what really was conflict for me was the way in which they were treating people of minority ethnic who stood out even the ambassador to the UK in front of the parliamentary home affairs committee seemed to support this they all will take them somewhere else because they stand out and people think we are giving them priority come on that wasn't right and I don't think our government has actually done anything about it so thank you in any event for allowing us to make this amendment which clarifies that all refugees whatever they might be are supported in getting out of Ukraine thank you Members I'd remind you that if we want to get through this and get voted through which sounds as though people are broadly in support we need to shorten our speeches Councillor Milnes I was really disappointing that in 2022 we were recollecting scenes of similar nature in the 1930s and 40s Putin's disruptive policies have ranged from setting up neo-Nazi groups in his own country and far left groups to interference in democracies in the west including Brexit and in the 1990s Russia agreed with Ukraine that it would have no territorial claims on Ukraine where is that agreement now in tatters the poor people of Ukraine are just Putin's pawns and we should mark by this our revulsion at those actions Slava Ukraine Thank you Member, I just want to point out we have Councillor Grenfell Chamberlain Councillor Deborah Roberts and Councillor Badaecharia but we also need to allow time for the seconder to sum up so I would ask you to keep your speeches short so Councillor Grenfell Chamberlain Thank you chair, I will be short I will unconditionally support this motion we need to get people to safety it won't be easy providing safe routes out of Ukraine unless there is a god forbid of no fly zone or NATO boots on the ground once they are out of Ukraine we need to get them here and the questions that the leader has raised are things that need to happen when the people are safe let us get them out first and get them back into this country Thank you very much Councillor Grenfell Chamberlain and Councillor Deborah Roberts Thank you chairman, through you chairman there isn't a Russian perspective on this whether expect anybody I'm very surprised anybody in this room should actually be speaking up for the Russians here they have a fascist dictatorship that's doing exactly what Hitler did taking other people's countries storming in testing the rest of the world stealing people from their own countries and taking them into Russia these are exactly the sort of things that Adolf Hitler did and it's exactly the same intention and I'm afraid at the end of the day somebody will have to stand up to this man because he will keep going and unlike most of you in this room I have a son-in-law in the military he's in the rifles he has a gun he takes to war he's been Afghanistan he's been in Iran and he is quite aware of the danger that lies ahead and so we should all be and I'm afraid in the end we will have to deal with this man and it will not be a question of diplomacy he doesn't understand diplomacy he only understands fear and terror and being an utter bully boy and many years ago when Poland was invaded we had a duty we'd said we'd go to support Poland and we did and we stood alone for many years it was a long time before America came in but we stood and we are exactly the same sort of people as we were then I believe and I think in the end if we come up to the mark we will but I don't think I hope and I got a little distressed here in Bridget's list because it is not an easy task to bring people into this country and Bridget's got a lot of questions but it's not an easy game that the government is going to have to be doing so I think we all need to have a degree here of understanding from councils dealing with the government because this is a very chaotic situation as well in many ways but I think we do need to support this I think we need to support it as one and not be political about it I'm sorry I do not believe that the Ukrainians are racist people neither are we in this country and I get quite offended that they continue in dripping of racist elements there is a tiny percentage of far-right people in Ukraine a tiny percentage the leadership of Ukraine is Jewish that in itself is a special identity so I don't think it's right to call them racist that they've been racist Chancellor Roberts please would you draw to a close the time has passed I'm keen to ensure that Councillor Cohn gets his opportunity to speak we have Councillor Bata Charia who also wishes to speak and Councillor Pippa Haleyings has registered to speak rather late on so I want to give all of those people time to speak and for Councillor Heather Williams to sum up so my final line is let's not make this at any time now or in the future months or years let's not make this a political we are Councillor Roberts thank you so Councillor Bata Charia and as I say please do keep your comments I will support this motion and because I believe the charity begins at home that's why the south chemistry district council I have taken a few actions so I am running couple of the charity events along with along with the transportation the things are going to Poland refugee camps directly and through my charity that I am running in Cambodia we have the sitting dinner at the coffee morning I will request a councillor to come and join because my family house was bombed in World War II by the Japanese Japanese people in Rengun so that's why I always believe that whatever I can do I will support it that way along with this motion and one more interesting fact that I would also like to share because here is a discussion about the Russian people there are also the Russian residents those who are staying in south camps here locally currently they are actually changing their names and identity when they are going outside so this happened in front of me that I just wanted to put in the attention Thank you very much councillor Battateria councillor Pippa Hailings briefly please Thank you and I would also like to support this motion but I just wanted to link actually what councillor Bebel Chamberlain and the leader said because I think they are at the same thing which is we absolutely need to have the possibility for safe secure passage as swiftly and simply as possible for all of those families that are fleeing this devastating war at the moment the by doing it just through families opening up I'm being contacted I'm sure you are we are part of the local groups of homes for Ukrainians I'm being contacted time and time again with the terrible red tape bureaucracy because you have to fill in a form per person in the family in English on your either print it out in Ukraine or on the Polish border or have enough data connectivity on your phone to do it online in English and what so the families here are saying how do I help you do that how do I match and it's this brokerage which we've just heard today local authorities have done this with the Syrian and the Afghan refugees let's just use the expertise that's there the systems that are there in place so I think we're all saying the same thing please just use the systems that are in place and make it as simple as possible for people to get out before it's too late thank you we have four minutes to get this voted through so councillor Cohn do you have your right to speak thanks chair I'll be brief so going back to the actual motion I know this is a very motive subject given the topic and I've shared the views of many of the people that have spoke but really this motion is about us working together not against local government or national government or different bits of local government or whatever it should be about us just working together and supporting each other for the outcomes that we've all talked about to support people coming here so you know I hope it doesn't sort of turn into political football as such I think it's just that the motion is very clear it's us supporting the efforts work you know and the amendment happy without working with government you know it should just be us trying to help people as best we can thank you very much and councillor Heather Williams thank you chair so the purpose I want to reflect back to the purpose when I brought this motion was to give us all an opportunity to demonstrate united support for those seeking refuge and for those affected in many ways with the conflict the unnecessary conflict that is occurring I have to say that I do disagree around striking an agreement Ukraine is a self governing nation and they should be allowed to decide for themselves without outside interference in a democratic way how they wish to to have run their country and I think that is that is a fundamental principle that I highlighted and that that actually by uniting despite being different parties despite being different tiers of government there is only work if everybody works together and that might be naive that might be a sort of rose tinted view but it's a very pragmatic and realistic prospect that you know and I will not shame myself by getting into party politics or going on a political rant it's completely uncalled for and unnecessary unhelpful and anybody looking in this chamber will not give anybody any credit for doing that so when we speak on this and when we take this forward as I hope we will very much hope that people will take it in that spirit and will vote for this because it's the right thing to do for those people and it's the right thing for us to be supporting the people who are horrific victims at the dealt by an evil man in my view and on something that Councillor Robert said many of us perhaps I know myself and her have family and friends that serve or are on reservises because they have served and I'm incredibly proud of their tours when they stood up for democracy and freedom and I very much hope it's not needed but if so then that should happen again in this case Thank you and I don't think anybody was having a political rant I think we are as we said earlier on that there was general support for this so I think we'll move to a vote and can I ask the webcasting officer to conduct an electronic vote on the basis of the now amended motion Thank you we have that on your microphones so if you would like to vote for the motion it's green against the motion is red and I'm staying as yellow it looks as if there is one person who has not voted so everybody in the room appears to have voted I'm sorry if not them I thought I had Can you tell if anybody hasn't voted Okay so there's 29 in the room 28 people have voted in favour and one abstention so that motion is carried Thank you members So moving on our next motion is from Councillor Sue Ellington So Councillor Ellington would you like to move your motion just one moment Erin would you like to take the vote down from our microphones Thank you it's gone now Councillor Sue Ellington do propose your motion Thank you chair I've proposed this motion because those of us who have lived along the route of the A14 including Gertin, Histon, Oakington, Maddingley, Fydraiton, Barhill, Longstanton, Loworth, Swaithsea, Foxworth, Connington and Fendraiton have suffered greatly during the upgrade not least the removal of all green vegetation woods, hedge rows specimen trees and shrubs many of which I have to say I saw planted 60 or 70 years ago by my father mostly around Loworth and Swaithsea plus the amount of soil and total demolition of our flat landscape to create hills, hard core roadways and bridges in other words a total destruction of all the established wildlife we were promised trees, shrubs and hedge rows which would at least double the green landscape and encourage biodiversity using words like green corridor and eco-friendly environment well it hasn't happened what we have is hundreds and thousands of these you must have your visual aids when you do a presentation up to 95% of the shrubs, trees and hedge rows which are supposed to protect these are supposed to protect are dead because they were planted at the wrong time of the year not watched, not cared for and not putting soil that grows things the administration of this of this council is supposed to be eco-friendly it's time we take every positive action and write a strong letter to highways england and follow it up to ensure we do end up with a great green and biodiverse think of all the birds and animals and everything else, rabbits green A14 a very uneco picture of plastic and one has to ask why we were allowed to have all this plastic which will now be spread from here to there and back again as rubbish along our A14 in our ditches and along our roadsides I urge you to support the motion Thank you Councillor Ellington and for bringing in your visual aid do you have a seconder for your motion I'm happy to Thank you Councillor Bunty Waters and Councillor Waters do you reserve your right to speak or do you want to speak now I'll speak at the end thank you Thank you So I believe there might be an amendment so Councillor Brian Mills Thank you I think our democratic services officer has a version of the motion that we have agreed with Councillor Ellington on a change of words if you wish I could read either some of it or all of it out for clarity because we've got a version showing the changes If everybody's happy Could you read the amendment for us It's quite long Make it bigger Make it bigger on the screen If I read the first paragraph and then tried to abridge the other paragraphs So this council has a policy of being green to the core National highways in the construction of the A14 have failed to adequately maintain and nurture the newly planted trees, shrubs and bushers According to a 20-20 survey 94% of the trees planted have died These were the intent These were intended to replace thousands of established trees bushes and hedgerows which were removed along the routes which we were assured would be replaced twofold So we absolutely support this motion with the amended words that councillor Ellington has agreed to So with that I would like to offer this amended version to the council Thank you councillor Milnes Could we scroll the words up so we can read the rest of it Thank you that's fine So Can I ask if that amendment is accepted Agreed That becomes a substantive It becomes a substantive motion and so Do we have any It's been seconded so the debate is open Do we have any speakers councillor Milnes Just briefly because the reason that we've asked for this amendment is because there's been sort of hot news since councillor Ellington first postulated or offered her a motion and that in the last couple of days has been reflected in the media where national highways has made a response to councillor Adam Murphy's county council motion of a very similar nature and it shows that we're very much in agreement over the appalling work with national highways or England highways as it was highways England as it was did on the A14 The last paragraph of the amendment refers to the A428 which is that imminent project and we must make sure that national highways don't do this awful desecration that they did that councillor Ellington eloquently described I remember going to Barhill and seeing the scorched earth policy of removal of greenery alongside the road much of that was completely unnecessary and the planting itself was completely negligent so we need to write in the firmest terms to highways England to reinforce the response that looks as though finally has come from them Thank you Councillor Halings Thank you and I'm very happy to support this and I think I'd just like to give an emphasis not just to the writing of the letter but the following up on this because I think as councillor Ellington knows just coming into this council in 2018 what I came in on the back of was the devastating very very painful experience of all of the trees and vegetation of Histon and Pington being stripped out without any warning without any community consultation and without following the ecological code of conduct and what we found was it's not enough to write a letter you have to actually bring them to the table and show that you are following up and that they are accountable for this even when we did that and got the promises what you can now see is the community have created a green gateway of 850 planted trees where the scorch earth action took place together with the highways, national highways now area of their planted staplings as well exactly as you've shown councillor Ellington we went back as a community and replanted the ones that died because we know that there have been conditions that have led to the death you have to go back and maintain and look after and they are there in comparison right next door two metres away are the national highways trees dead in the same area and this is all about just looking after this and I just want to say we saw and as a councill there has been a response about the A148 national highways has not learnt it does not intend to learn and what we had to do as a council was to hold them to account and use all of our powers to do that we need to do the same and I support this this motion Thank you councillor Ellington councillor Williams Thank you chair and obviously fully supportive of the motion that has been brought and I would just reflect on the visual aid that was shown to us in that I do believe that we as a nation have been planting trees since before plastic was created and I think that is something that we probably do need to look into particularly when we are going through planning and the likes that actually where does this plastic go and these wrappers and I am pretty sure I am a big fan of looking to the past for solutions to the present and that is probably the history part of my degree that brings that out in me and there are so many ways that it can be done better than just sticking some plastic and some cable ties around so I think that is something as well that we are looking at and I think we do have although we have this issue in general we need to look at how we monitor and having baseline data I have said a couple of planning applications now it is really vital and we welcome works around that so when we go back to developers or go back to Highways England we can really hold them to account because we will have a reference point to patch back to Thank you Niogolff Yes so I fully support this motion and I think it is really interesting to see that councillors such as us and the council can have an impact on Highways England or National Highways or whatever they are called whatever their rebranding is to do this and I would particularly like to pay tribute to councillor Edwin Murphy from the county council who brought the motion to the county council on this and it does show that our actions can actually be brought there in terms of making organisations such as this sort of think about what they are doing and how to do better the key thing is that we keep up the pressure that it becomes relentless now this motion and the one at the county council put them on notice what needs to be followed up with is relentless attention to making sure that the actions to remediate the situation are taken and most importantly is that we extend the learning of this process to the A428 and I have been involved in that process it is not as good a process of engagement with National Highways as it should be and the lessons which we've learnt on this need to be applied there and I'm really pleased to report that the actual officers from south council working on this have really grasped the nettle in that and are really doing a sterling job in terms of making the views of residents and the interest of residents clear on these major projects thank you Thank you councillor Goff and councillor Martin Carn I worked 30 years ago in a local authority and was one of the jobs that we were doing was dealing with tree planting and one of the problems always was when putting down a contract for tree planting how do we make sure that we get a tree planter that's going to actually get tree plant trees which will live rather than trees which are planted the cheapest the cheapest and most rapidly but the trees will die the problem is that if you get a very cheap price which tree planters will go out take the bare root trees leave them out in the open air so they get dry all the roots die you're planting dead trees and no wonder you've only got 5% that survived the way of doing it properly is to go out keep the roots wet you probably soak them you kill them in when they arrive keep the roots wet make sure they're still wet when you're planting them in the ground put them in with a bit of compost or if you're planting potted trees you have to hit the tree spread the roots out before you plant it it's not a simple job if you put in people who've got no skill or not properly taught they will do it badly and that I suspect from the evidence that we have the vital that we keep on to these people and ensure that when they're contracting they contract competent people because that's what it really comes down to it's the contractual relationship where the person is planting and make sure that they're competent people they're not just doing it the cheapest they're doing it well and the more fuss we make the more we keep on at it the more they will learn from their bad experiences the person who's doing the contracting so I will fully support the notion of my own contribution here I'm a fully fledged tree planted myself I've been planted a tree in the civic capacity at Musgrave Way in Fenditon as part of the Queen's Green canopy and that's part of my civic role for this district council I did that just a few weeks ago and I'm very happy to do that because it adds a plum tree to a collection of fruit trees in Musgrave Way the point being that I'm also a tree warden for Milton Parish Council and in a life past I used to work for the Wildlife Trust and Councillor Cahn is absolutely right tree planting is not do it once and go away you have to monitor and look after and water and when we at this district council were the fortunate beneficiaries of three free trees I engaged local members in my my parish to water those trees that we planted for a year to make sure that they're established properly now what I know is yes, Councillor Cahn is absolutely right I bet those saplings were stuck on a lorry and that allowed to dry out before they even saw the ground also they're going into made ground which is not natural not the natural layers of subsoil and surface soil so we do really need to make sure that we hold the National Highways to account and ensure that the way in which this is done when these trees are planted replanted and replaced is done properly and that the trees are suitable for the area and that they're looked after so I absolutely endorse this and thank you very much for taking on the amendment Councillor Ellington and I absolutely endorse that one of the other things we might want to bear in mind as communities is that there comes a point and Councillor Ellington absolutely tree tubes do not make trees but they do protect them early on and if the trees were thriving we do need to protect trees from rabbits because they will otherwise chew the bark off and kill the tree that way so they do serve a purpose but we as communities can maybe consider going out when the time is right and when the tree is established and when it's able to cope damage from pests that we go out as communities and remove those tree tubes and dispose of them sensibly because they can end up strangling trees in the end so it's forward thinking and planning and making sure that it's done properly which would be way after the National Highways commitment to them which lasts for five years so I think we as communities need to help with that as well in due course but once we've made sure that National Highways have taken on their obligation thank you we need to go back to Councillor Bunty Waters because you seconded the motion sorry thank you very much I'll just be quick so complete support this but it's really important that as well as trying to solve the problem or the mistakes of the A14 we actually don't allow those mistakes to be replicated so I'm very grateful to Cengge Tarawinga who's done an absolutely stonking job on the latest lamentable plans from whatever they're called now Highways England National Highways on the A428 so on the subject of trees the evidence that's been presented said historic losses of planted landscapes particularly tree belts are newly completed highway works of the evidence sometimes requiring successive replanting attempts successful and the positive action that is being proposed is strategies must be put in place which ensure that planting is offered the best chance at survival in the conditions given generally it's understood that highway schemes do not receive supplemental watering so working with the seasons and the current climate is very important the local air is much drier than other regions of England and therefore this should be taken into consideration within the EMP most planting should occur in the winter when the weather's wetter and planting is generally dormant allowing roots to grow and establish first and thus have a better chance of supporting a growing plant during the warmer seasons it's just a bit sad that we have to point this out still to these people but pointed out we will continue to do Thank you Councillor Smith Councillor Waters Thank you chair that's very interesting that Councillor Smith has just read out that we will be taken on board by national highways because the waste of money that all these trees have died is cruel and wicked because when the idea of the upgrade to the A14 was suggested many years ago it was one of the first concerns of residents particularly in Bar Hill about the removal of so many trees along that stretch which I was believed about 16 miles and they were such good buffers for noise and trees are such value to birds and wildlife in the whole eco environment we were assured in Bar Hill that there would be replanting of trees and I have kept reassuring residents of that over the years and I do agree with Councillor Ellington it is a shambles replacing the trees with whips and letting them die and not only just once but continually doing it I've seen them replanting so many times but what advice would have been taken by national highways as Councillor Smith just said we've just had a really good explanation of what should have been done and it really is not good enough that national highways have just gone off and done exactly as they like so I'm sure that everybody's going to support this motion and that we all accept it and thank you very much Thank you Councillor Waters so Councillor Ellington would you like to sum up before we go to the vote Thank you I think it is gratifying to hear that others feel quite as strongly as I do I really feel that we talk a lot about eco friendliness we look at the greenery and the trees and so on that were there they were absorbing carbons getting reducing the amount of sound that was from the road all of those things apart from all the wildlife and so on which were displaced I am very pleased to hear that members are as worried as I am about what we're doing to our countryside and I would urge you all to vote for this and take the necessary action Thank you Thank you members at that point let's go to the vote then so this is on Councillor Ellington's motion 14B if could I ask the webcasting officer to conduct an electronic vote oh no sorry I think we're all in agreement on this aren't we I think we're all in so can we take this by affirmation oh sorry okay let's vote anyway if it's there okay Erin has stopped it so can I just take then this by affirmation I'm sorry it's my mistake nobody's called for a recorded vote have they no let's do it by affirmation folks so agreed thank you are there any against or any abstentions no so that's unanimous thank you very much members and I apologise for for causing the confusion are we happy to carry on do you need a break for 5 minutes folks yes okay can I ask we take a let's give it a 10 minute break until 22 5 and then we'll proceed with 14C Erin thank you members thank you after that short break we'll move on now to item 14C which is the motion from councillor Alex Marion so councillor Marion would you like to move your motion thank you thank you chair yes I'm very pleased to propose this motion to council today my ward colleague councillor Trun Johnson is unfortunately unable to be here today to second the motion as intended she's currently isolating but thanks to councillor Ian Sollum for agreeing to second her absence councillor Trun Johnson and I both feel extremely privileged to have represented the residents of Norstow for the last 4 years apologies I'm getting ahead of myself during that time we've seen Norstow grow from just a few residents to become an active and thriving community with over 1,000 homes and numerous community groups and events and now their own town council last week I was able to attend the first annual town meeting of Norstow electors and this year as a community they will celebrate the 5th anniversary of the first residents moving into Norstow it therefore feels like a very appropriate time for us as a council to reaffirm our commitment to Norstow South Cams has played a central role in Norstow's development to this point and we are extremely grateful to officers for their commitment to supporting exemplary community development we as a council will now take a direct role in bringing forward vital community buildings the enterprise zone and civic hub it is essential that we work closely with the community and Norstow town council to develop community facilities that meet the current needs but also the future aspirations of this vibrant new town this includes exploring as any responsible organisation delivering complex projects of this kind would do any necessary contingencies that might be required I therefore urge this council to support this motion reaffirming our commitment to the wonderful community of Norstow Thank you very much Councillor Malion and do you have a seconder Councillor Sollam, do you want to reserve your right to speak or speak now? I reserve, okay thank you Councillor Handley Thank you chair as Councillor Malion has already said since the first residents moved into Norstow around about five years ago it's become a thriving community and is going from strength to strength and we're very proud of the role that we've played the council has played in helping the community to evolve we now have two full-time community development officers who are supporting the community's aspirations and they've helped numerous groups to set up and grow to ensure that people have good access to social and recreational activities which has been a great benefit to their health and wellbeing we've helped to run the community wing since 2017 which has provided a fantastic interim space for the community to meet and socialise and later on in this agenda today we will be considering an acquisition to provide further interim facilities until permanent ones are in place so I fully support this motion Thank you Councillor Handley I believe Councillor Sue Ellington you'd like to speak that was like this before I'd planned it right well much as I love Norse though being only about three miles away from it and think that it will develop into a really nice town I really do hope that somebody very soon works out where the sewage is going and that they make it so that it doesn't all end up in this way to see and fendrate which is the most likely thing that's going to happen so I have to say that I love the idea of having a thriving community but there is so much more this council could do to sort out that's effluent and the Anglia Waters approach to dealing with it that I feel I might have to abstain Thank you Thank you Councillor Ellington Would anybody else like to speak because if nobody else would Councillor Gough Yes thank you I'm very happy to support this motion and express our support and commitment to Norse Stoke This is a really important community and it's really important that it thrives and it's also going to be a model for other communities which we are establishing in South Cambridgeshire too as well so there's a lot at stake in Norse Stoke and we need to make sure that that commitment is translated to the sort of facilities and the thriving community which we all hope it will be Many of my residents are already looking We're close Rampton is very close to Norse Stoke and is beginning to look to Norse Stoke many children from Rampton are starting to go to school in Norse Stoke so the interaction of Norse Stoke is not just within the bounds of Norse Stoke it's also within communities which are adjacent so it is really important that this works and I'm very happy to make that commitment Thank you Chancellor Goff Chancellor Heather Williams Thank you chair and just reading through the motion and particularly the words reaffirms its commitment there's nothing in this motion that I don't support and I agree that it should be sustainable and welcoming and have all the facilities that you would expect from a new town I think it's a shame that we're having to reaffirm because that infers perhaps that things haven't been going as well as they should have and so it's a shame that this is necessary if it is to get things moving but if that's what it takes then I will support it and I think particularly with Norse Stoke when it was first mooted there was a lot of work to having communities involved and I think that there has been attempts to continue that and I think that needs to continue further we've already had a lot of issues those were set on planning we've seen the real upset one of the phases caused for the residents of Rampton Drift and the assurances they were given so anything that the council can do to try and repair those relationships I think should be supported I would really stress on the communicating and consultation with residents I think that's really important because we don't want another table tennis incident thank you chair thank you councillor Williams right go over to you councillor Solam as a seconder thank you chair just Solam I said councillor Solam didn't I I thought you said that again councillor Solam would you like to speak thank you chair I'm very happy to second the motion although unfortunately in the circumstances of councillor John Johnson not being available to because of Covid and isolating the motion does recognise and thank the officers which is absolutely right that's what the council should do as the substitute seconder I will take the opportunity actually to also thank members for their contributions to making North Star a success and particularly the local members councillor Malian and councillor John Johnson and councillor Bruce Thompson is also a great credit to the communities they represent whenever I visit North Star and I don't know if other people have felt this I'm always struck by the the energy for the community that residents show I mean even today actually there's an article in the Cambridge independent about the inaugural North Star half marathon that takes place next month which is exciting way to celebrate these five five year anniversary of people moving into the first time and certainly the local members really reflect that energy in the community and that's really where I believe this motion comes from a point the drive to make success of it I hear what councillor William said in terms of do we need to reaffirm this well I think it's particularly important to recognise milestones in all our communities but for new communities it's important as they grow to take pause, take step back and recognise with so much going on what are the really important things that we need to focus on and particularly those facilities that really make a community as I mentioned at the end there GP services, community space a convenience store it's worth sharing that with the community that we know that those things are important so I don't think it's a case that we need to do this to get things moving it's just an important milestone to recognise so I'm very happy to second this motion and I do hope that everyone will be able to back it Thank you very much councillor Dr Ian Sollam councillor Mallion, would you like to sum up? Very briefly, I would just like to echo what councillor Sollam has said our reaffirmation of our commitments in Austria is really just about recognising that we are at a really key point for the community as we come to five years the community has really grown in numbers, as I say they now have their own town council they were established as a town a year ago and we're also moving into a very key phase for the development as we bring forward these really key and important community buildings like the Civic Club and the Enterprise O which we are now taking forward as a district council which we're the plans for that we're really excited about so I hope that as a council you'll be able to support this motion today and to really show our commitment to Austria which is such an important development within our district Thank you councillor Mallion I haven't heard any indication of anybody wishing to do other than support this So can we take this by affirmation members? Agree Does anybody wish to object or abstain? No Sorry, Councillor Ellington So affirmation with the exception of Councillor Ellington who wishes to abstain Thank you Members, so that is carried We move on then members to chairs engagements which is on v1 of our agenda page v1 I just wanted to draw your attention to the chairs engagements and add to the list a couple of other things I mentioned it earlier that on the 11th of March as part of the Queens Green Canopy project and in honour of Her Majesty I planted a tree it was in a place of my choosing on behalf of the District Council and I chose to do that in Fenditon on District Council land at Musgrave Way so that was a great pleasure to me We then had the Fendin District Council's Chairman's reception on the 18th of March but then also on the 21st of March I was delighted to be invited to the unveiling of a blue plaque at the Institute of Astronomy which was in honour of Sir Fred Hoyle who was the inventor of the phrase Big Bang whilst also holding other theories in his mind and we went to a very happy celebration with his granddaughter and great-grandchildren so that was a very happy event and for myself I'd just like to say how much I've enjoyed being chair of the District Council I'll get the right one in a minute of the District Council and thank you for the honour that you've given me in fulfilling that role Thank you You're very kind Moving on now we come to exclusion of the press and public members I propose that we must now consider whether to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the next item for the reasons stated on the agenda so I propose that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item number 17 in accordance with section 100 brackets A, brackets 4 of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that if present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of part 1 of schedule 12a of the Act as amended so can I have a seconder for that Councillor Fane, thank you very much So members are you content to take this decision by affirmation? Would anybody wish to object or abstain? Thank you members so that's carried by affirmation so Bridget did you wish to sorry I'm going to ask are there any members of the press or public present in the chamber and if so okay any members of the press or public who are in the chamber should now thank you for attending but we would ask you to depart and that's also from the webcast we'll be stopping the webcast shortly so with the webcasting officer please switch off the live stream and recording can I just thank everybody who's taken part online it's good that you've taken part and thank you for attending so with the webcasting officer please switch off the live stream and recording and ensure that any members of the public have left the teams meeting thank you