Leader’s Blog – Cllr Bridget Smith

Thank you for visiting my blog. Through my blog I’m aiming to give you a better insight into what I am doing behind the scenes to represent you and make sure the Council is delivering on the priorities you have helped us set.

If there is anything you want to know more about, or topics you want me to cover in more detail, please get in touch – cllr.bridgetsmith@scambs.gov.uk

Best wishes
Bridget

Friday 6 December 2024: Cabinet Tour of Northstowe

A couple of weeks ago, the Council’s Cabinet and I visited Northstowe to see firsthand the progress being made in developing the town. Starting at the Western Park Sports Pavilion, we stopped off by The Cabin (the temporary community centre), before heading across town towards the Education Campus and the site of the future Cricket Pavilion.

It was a blustery day, but by the end of our tour the sun was shining for us. What struck me when walking around Northstowe, was the abundance of green space – with greenways stretching throughout the town, centred on the waterpark and Unity Lake – we hardly had to walk on the side of a road for the entire time we were there.

The temporary community centre, as always, was buzzing with activity and that speaks to the strength of the community in Northstowe.

As a Council, we’re delivering a number of key projects across Northstowe. We are soon to break ground on the permanent community centre, we’ve kicked off the process for allocating the first of two land parcels to faith groups, we are developing feasibility proposals for the Town Hub (previously known as the Civic Hub) and we are working on plans for the enterprise zone near the park and ride and Phase 1 local centre, which we hope to share next year.

The residents of Northstowe have stepped up with huge enthusiasm and commitment to work with the Town Council, County Council, health colleagues and Homes England – for our part, we’re committed to helping that community grow and thrive.

 

Friday 27 September 2024: Visiting Waterbeach New Town

We have three new towns being built in South Cambridgeshire: Northstowe, Waterbeach New Town and the large extension to Cambourne at West Cambourne - along with a future new village at Bourn Airfield.

It was a real pleasure to visit Waterbeach last week with CEO and founder of Urban&Civic, Nigel Huggill and his colleagues. There are a number of things that make this new town stand out. First and foremost is the fact that they are achieving a minimum of 25% bio-diversity net gain with potential to go even further – way more than is stipulated by government.

So how are they achieving this when so many others fail or refuse to even try? It seems to be about really good forward thinking and planning, being innovative and creative in finding solutions and just not accepting second best.

Instead of having sterile balancing ponds they have created really successful wildlife habitats,  the fabulous play area has nature at its core, the verges are designed be really nature friendly, they have replanted trees, protected many of those already there and designed the existing lake (which used to be used to test army amphibian craft) into a resource that is friendly to nature and to humans wanting to take part on water based activities.

The other standout feature for me was that, as the first houses are being built, so some of the social and recreational infrastructure is up and running. This includes a cycle/foot path linking Waterbeach Village to the new town and directly to the lake and the provision of a lakeside café for the village and new town residents. This will undoubtedly help to create a real sense of community and place for residents which will make Waterbeach New Town a popular place to live and visit.

 

Tuesday 7 May 2024: Visiting Girton's Hibbert-Ware Memorial Garden

It was a real treat on the lovely sunny Bank Holiday Saturday afternoon to visit Girton for the reopening of their very special Hibbert-Ware Memorial Garden. Girton Parish Council have worked closely with a tremendous group of local volunteers to create and implement a really ambitious Local Nature Recovery Plan. The garden itself was first created to commemorate the life of a remarkable woman, Alice Hibbert-Ware, who is most famous for conducting one of the earliest examples of Citizen Science on behalf of the British Trust for Ornithology. She mobilised a huge band of volunteers to collect Little Owl pellets for analysis which eventually led to their protection in the face of claims that they were detrimental to game birds.  

The garden in its refurbished form has many of the original features and upholds the original intention of enhancing local flora and fauna. The ‘dead wood’ bed inspired me to go home and create the my own version having learnt that 20% of insects live in or on dead and rotting wood. The garden – opposite Girton Hall and the cricket pitch is well worth a visit.

Many congratulations to Girton for all their hard work I turning a vision in a fantastic reality.

Wednesday 20 March 2024: Welcoming Students from Kansai University

Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of welcoming students from the Faculty of Policy Studies at Kansai University in Osaka, Japan, who were visiting Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire as part of their trip to the UK.

Arriving at South Cambridgeshire Hall, we spoke about what it’s like being a Council Leader and how much it means to me that, as a Councillor, I can help the people in my community.

We paid a visit to the Council Chamber and watched parts of our Planning Committee meeting and they were impressed by the way councillors weighed up the merits of an application and asked detailed questions to officers. Thank you to the Planning Committee Chair for the warm welcome.

The students, who as part of their studies were producing short films about the Cambridge area, asked me all about how local government works in the UK compared to Japan. We spoke about some of the challenges facing local government, such as cuts to funding and helping residents understand the complex landscape of different layers of government that we have here in Cambridgeshire.

They had done their research beforehand and were especially interested in the challenges facing Greater Cambridge – from our water scarcity crisis, to tackling homelessness, from traffic and congestion, to protecting access to green spaces. One student told me they were shocked at the amount of on-street parking that they’d seen in Cambridge – which I then found out would be illegal in Japan!

A topic that came up repeatedly was the problem of rural isolation, and the knock-on effects it has for our communities when young people can’t access education and job opportunities and when elderly people can’t access health services within their own communities. They quickly identified the importance of keeping high streets alive, services local and ensuring there’s reliable public transport for rural communities as well as urban ones.

Thank you to the students for all their amazing questions and for teaching me a bit about Japan too. I look forward to seeing all their success in the future.

Friday 26 January 2024: Reflecting on Northstowe's brilliant new sports facilities

I was beyond pleased to attend the opening of Northstowe’s new Sports Pavilion on Saturday (20 January). It’s always exciting to see new projects open for the first time (even if the ribbon cutting was with normal sized rather than comically large scissors) especially when the whole community can come together to celebrate. There was an absolutely amazing turnout despite the cold weather and Longstanton Men’s Saturday Team got the first go at the new pitches.

Everyone has been working incredibly hard at South Cambridgeshire District Council, and I must thank the Town Council for working with us, to bring the Pavilion into reality and put in place the first permanent community building for Northstowe.

The new facilities will provide changing facilities for the Western Park sport pitches, the 4G astroturf, the bowling green and the hard surface games area as well as a new clubroom with a fully equipped kitchen and servery. The new bowling green already has inhabitants, with Longstanton Bowls Club relocating to the Pavilion.

My real joy came from seeing how the new Pavilion can be used to help bring the community together in Northstowe. Talking to those who came along, it didn’t take much imagination to see how the clubroom could be used by the community in Northstowe. Spaces like the Pavilion, the temporary community centre, and the permanent community centre, which received planning permission at the end of last year, are so important for building the social fabric of Northstowe. At the opening, I was told about the pioneering spirit of Northstowe, and how evidently residents have come together over the past seven years to build a community from scratch – and I sincerely hope that spaces like the Pavilion will provide more opportunities for that sense of community to flourish.

Friday 19 January 2024: House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee

This week, I had the pleasure of giving evidence on behalf of the District Council Network (DCN) to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee as part of their inquiry into how the UK economy can sustainably adapt to electrification on the path to achieving net zero. Appearing alongside industry experts, I spoke to MPs about how Local Government has such a central role to play in achieving our climate ambitions.

Across the country DCN councils, like South Cambs, are leading on net zero at a local level, supporting renewable energy developments and helping residents cut down on fossil fuels. In South Cambridgeshire, we’re providing this key support to communities – funding parish council schemes for Electric Vehicle chargers or installing Photo Voltaics on the roofs of local community centres. However, current grid constraints are preventing renewables from being connected and residents and businesses from switching to decarbonised technologies. In Gamlingay, the community wind turbine could have been scaled to generated much more electricity if only the Grid had sufficient capacity for the increased generation.

These Grid constraints represent the biggest challenge to the decarbonisation for our local communities. They are stalling decarbonisation works and rollouts of EV charging infrastructure in our local areas meaning that despite the clear desire from residents to act, we are all being held up.

Grid constraints in South Cambridgeshire nearly halted the development of two new hospitals, but thankfully Local Government intervened to put the case forward to the responsible body (in our case UKPN) to bring online two new substations.

The Local Government Association has found that of the over 1,300 renewable energy schemes that have received planning approval and are waiting to be built and just 150 of them are currently under construction. The solar schemes awaiting construction would alone generate around 15,000 megawatts a day, enough to power 1.9 million homes.

We know that local decision makers are best placed to support communities and businesses to decarbonise the Grid. The trust there is in local government and our strong links to local partners will help us deliver this. But we need an established role in delivering net zero as well as the additional powers to deliver and the funding to build up capacity.

I told MPs that councils across the country, just like South Cambs, want to play a full role in the transition to clean energy but need the resources and powers for Local Area Energy Plans to be effective. This would let councils actively take part in shaping the grid investments that are so essential to a secure and sustainable future.

Tuesday 5 December 2023: Oxford to Cambridge Pan-Regional Conference 2023

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking at the Oxford to Cambridge Pan-Regional Conference in Milton Keynes. The aim of the event was to bring together local leaders, business partners and institutions from across our region to have frank and opens discussions about how we can make the most out of the opportunities ahead of us.

In South Cambs, in 2018 we committed the Council to being ‘Green to our Core’ and every decision we have made as a council since then has had to be measured against that priority standard.

At the conference, I spoke specifically on the important role our universities can play in delivering for the region. The Oxford to Cambridge region has the potential to pioneer real change, tackling the climate crisis head on and innovating to safeguard and enhance our environment and make future growth in the region truly sustainable. As a society we are not doing enough and must do more to work with those ‘harder to reach groups’ of people, particularly young people across the region, who are both going to be the most affected by climate change but also can help find those innovative solutions to mitigate the worst of the climate crisis.

I was really moved hearing from young people across the region, who spoke about the impact climate change will have on their future and on their lives. The decisions we make now will have a lasting impact for generations to come and it was heartening that those young voices got an opportunity to be heard loud and clear. 

Wednesday 29 November 2023: Local Climate Action Conference 2023

Yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with community leaders and parish councillors at our Local Climate Action Conference. Seeing the work our communities are doing to tackle the environmental and climate crisis was inspiring and demonstrated how all of us across South Cambridgeshire can help do our bit.

Highlighting a couple of schemes that were particularly exciting and I’d love to see more of in the future:

• Steeple Morden Parish Council have installed a new community electric vehicle charger point. This fantastic scheme, which was part funded by our EV Charge Point Grant, is helping to remove EV blackspots and making EVs more accessible for people without off-street parking. Thank you to Malcolm Bird for coming to speak to us and I’d love to see more parishes following in Steeple Morden’s wake.
• Alison Giles from Natural Cambridgeshire spoke to us about Girton Village’s local nature recovery plan. Alison spoke about her work engaging with young people and how people can get involved in their communities’ work to support nature on their doorsteps. These brilliant efforts show how we all can make a difference and I implore everyone to look into the work your parish or town council is doing and see how you and your family can get involved in protecting nature.

Thank you to all the other speakers and everyone who came along to share ideas and work together for a greener South Cambridgeshire.

Tuesday 14 November 2023: Diwali celebrations in Cambourne

It was the nicest possible way to spend a Saturday night to attend the beautiful Diwali celebrations in Cambourne at the weekend. The community centre had been stunningly decorated and everyone was dressed up in their finery. They even found a sari for me to wear. We had absolutely splendid entertainment from traditional drumming which got everyone on their feet dancing (including me) to Bollywood and traditional dancing. My evening ended with a delicious meal, though I think every one else continued to party until very late. A more welcoming community you could not imagined. It was my first Diwali and I hope it is not my last. Thank you very much

Thursday 5 October 2023: At the cutting-edge at CMR

It was a pleasure and extremely interesting to visit CMR Surgical in Ely yesterday. This is a company that leads the way in medical robotics devices. It was another clear example of the leading role that our region plays in one of the world’s most advanced and important industries.

This company aims to help patients and surgeons by producing incredibly sophisticated, portable robots that are used during surgical procedures – with a focus on minimally invasive during surgery. Minimally invasive procedures help aid recovery and outcomes for patients. These precise machines are also important because they are portable too. This is so important because despite all our technological advances, I heard how there are 270 million operations carried out worldwide every year but still one million deaths owing to surgical error.

We heard how the UK has an excellent reputation for start-ups but is less good at ensuring all those start-ups mature and develop into established, world leading companies like CMR.  As a country the UK clearly needs to be more focused on turning innovation into real-life outcomes.

The company is also extremely aware of its impacts on the environment; I heard how it aims to send zero waste to landfill, doesn’t use any bubble wrap and 40% of their workforce get to work using public transport, by walking, cycling or in an electric vehicle.

A hugely interesting day – and our role is to ensure we are providing the space and opportunities locally for companies like CMR to start-up, develop and benefit people locally and around the world.

Friday 12 May 2023: New electric buses for Greater Cambridge

Finally the start of the bus improvements for Greater Cambridge with the launch of 30 all electric buses at a cost of £17mil. Look out for them travelling to and from all the Park and Ride’s. They are a lovely comfortable ride and will play a massive part in reducing our transport related carbon emissions and help improve our air quality.

 

Friday 17 March 2023: A visit to Ouse Fen

It was lovely to meet up with the RSPB team this week. They are doing the most inspirational work at Ouse Fen Nature Reserve to restore a massive site to nature rich wetland. This exemplar project is being run with Hanson and the County Council and is the largest project of its kind in Europe. Even while material is still being extracted from the quarry, bitterns, bearded tits and marsh harriers are populating the parts that have been restored. There are 19km of trails to walk and you can see for yourselves where the sand and gravel is being removed and get a sense of the scale of the wetland that will eventually be there for future generations to enjoy. Much of the routine maintenance is done by local volunteers and the local community continue to be heavily involved in the site’s development. What excites me most of all is the potential for this model of partnership working between the private sector, local authorities and the a national charity to be rolled out across the country thereby greatly improving our landscape and bio diversity.

Wednesday 8 March 2023: International Women's Day

It was a huge privilege to be asked to speak today at the Local Government Association’s Women’s network on International Women’s Day. I focused on how our four day week trial at the Council could help to support women (and men) with caring responsibilities. There was a very interesting debate about how women’s progress through employment hierarchies can still be impeded, and a long conversation about how we deal with ‘micro aggressions’ which for many of us are a daily occurrence. These can so easily be normalized but which should be routinely be called out.

Monday 13 February 2023: MAGPAS Air Ambulance Future 50 Appeal launch

It was a huge privilege to attend the launch of the MAGPAS Air Ambulance Future 50 Appeal on Friday at their new, and nearly completed headquarters, at Alconbury, in the presence of their president, HRH Princess Anne, the Princess Royal.

HRH Princess Anne unveiled a plaque dated just before the passing of The Queen which reminded us why this celebration was postponed. 

We were taken on a guided tour of the fantastic new facilities, that will even include a family room where patients can meet the clinicians who most likely saved their lives. 

The Charity must raise £6 million every year but the work it does is absolutely invaluable - and as one of the speakers said, you never know when you might be very grateful for them being there.

We were able to talk to supporters, volunteers and staff all of whom were absolutely passionate about what they do.

The highlight was when the helicopter, just returned from a mission, landed on the grass outside the pavilion at Alconbury.