A Councillor's Comments - January/February 2003

Happy New Year!! In December 2003 the Town Council had to consider estimates for our precept for 2003/2004 to maintain and improve services provided. Accordingly we set a precept of £103,000. The major reason for the increase was to meet running costs of the successfully recently installed CCTV system. Following the storm damage in St. Andrews church yard an inspection of the trees within the churchyard was carried out by the trees officer. Because the trees are within the conservation area a more in-depth report needs to be obtained, however from the initial inspection felling, re-pollarding and pruning will be necessary. Following the recent cold snap residents may be interested in the following Scheme:- Energy Efficiency Grant Schemes. There is significant grants available to help with home insulation, for example for a three bed semi cavity wall insulation would cost around £470 on this scheme it would cost £150 this money would be recouped in 3 years from efficiency savings. For people on benefits there may he no charge at all!! if you are interested please contact Ian Bowers at East Cambridgeshire District Council - Tel:-(01353) 665555. In December the Town Council made donations to, Ely & District Citizens advice bureau, Townsend Music Makers and Viva Youth Theatre. And also Time for Me have been given Town Council support to host their event day at the Pavilion/Recreation Ground free of charge. I know many councillors give high priority to sponsoring local groups, many of the organisations rely on volunteers giving up time to help people in this community. These groups deserve all our support and when possible financial donations are always considered seriously, You may recall in my last contribution to Lodestar I wrote about the ‘Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme’ (HERS) following on from this scheme a bid for funds has also been made to the greater Cambridgeshire partnership for continuance for upgrading of towns in East Cambridgeshire. Funds have already been used in Ely and Littleport and now happily it is Soham’s turn. If the bid is successful the funds which will again be matched by like amount can be used in conjunction with HERS regeneration money to provide a strong programme of improvements and activity over the next three years. The likely starting point will be the feasibility study and local economy health check for which funds will be made available. We are so fortunate that the very best is going to made of Soham. The plans are very exciting and will really give the town the boost it needs. The Town council endorsed the Soham Town Forum Business Plan (there is a copy of this in the Library) the council supported it’s aims and objectives and welcomed areas for future work.
2003 is going to be an exciting time for our town. Work will begin on Soham’s ‘makeover’ and hopefully our bid to the Cambridgeshire Partnership will be successful - giving us the finances to really make a difference. I, personally am very excited about the proposed community information shop, this will be a wonderful resource for our town. Kindest Regards,

Fiona Ross
Soham Town Councillor