South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats: The Mayor hasn’t made the case for the off-road Cambourne to Cambridge route

South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats do not believe that evidence so far presented by the Mayor has made the case for the off-road option for the public transport route between Cambourne and Cambridge that he is advocating.

by Ian Sollom

On Saturday a large contingent from South Cambridgeshire headed to London to join the People’s Vote March, to send a message to government that we must have a vote on the final deal.

I wrote about why I was going to the march here:.

I joined with so many others on Saturday.

We had an active LibDem conference this year at Brighton with several newly elected Councillors making their first speeches and our own Leader Bridget Smith being interviewed by Christine Jardine at the Rally on Saturday evening. See below for their videos.

Our success in the May elections locally provided much motivation and optimism from other delegates at the Conference and we would like to thank all those who were involved in our campaign big or small - we made an impact not only locally but with the party nationally - for that, thank you.

For a round up of LibDem Conference itself and the motions passed please see this section on the LibDem website or see here for a summary of the key commitments we made . The next Spring Conference is in York - 16th-17th March.

Combined Authority Mayor James Palmer has shocked Coton residents by insisting that the route for his proposed metro must go through the village. As recently as August the Mayor had assured Coton Parish Councillors that an off road route through Coton would not happen. Previously he had denied that plans for a metro implied his support for such a route.

Liberal Democrat District Councillor Ian Sollom said "the Mayor has let Coton residents down badly with this u-turn. He has made much of the fact that the Greater Cambridge Partnership can only deliver transport infrastructure he approves, but now he is driving his metro straight through the village."

The Mayor announced his plans to stunned Parish Councillors at a meeting last week.

This is a compilation of local conversations about the positive impact of our country's membership of the European Union, on every sort of community-based concern: the school, the doctors' surgery, the fruit farm, the care home, the shoe shop, the zoo - or whatever happens to be the nearest business to where you live. Equally, it is about the damage to local economies and opportunities, in particular for young people, that extrication from the European Union inevitably brings.

The political landscape in Cambridgeshire is getting more and more complex. As well as the County Council (responsible for education, health and social care) and the District Councils (responsible for planning, housing and waste management) we have the Greater Cambridge Partnership (formally The City Deal) attempting to deliver transport improvements in South Cambs/Cambridge and now the Combined Authority and the Mayor doing transport, housing and skills throughout the whole county and Peterborough. It will be no surprise that this is proving somewhat challenging to work with especially as there is overlap in what they are all wanting (and in some cases failing) to do.

Following May's elections, history was made as the LibDem group now have control of South Cambridgeshire District Council for the first time in the history of the Council created in 1973. It has been run by the Conservatives since 1992. The two thirds majority of the last year was overturned by a two thirds LibDem majority this year, having won 30 of the 45 seats (reduced from 57). Independents have 2 and Labour have 2 councillors.

Cllr Aidan Van de Weyer, who will be South Cambridgeshire’s new Lib Dem representative on the Greater Cambridge Partnership Board, is demanding a rethink on plans for an off-road busway to Cambourne through Coton.

Following last week’s victory in South Cambridgeshire, the new Liberal Democrat Leader of the Council, Cllr Bridget Smith, has announced that the new representative on the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) Executive Board will be Cllr Aidan Van de Weyer.

Yesterday the South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats won control of South Cambridgeshire District Council.

This is a huge victory for us, for you and for liberal politics. It was achieved through the hard work of all our amazing councillors, candidates, activists and supporters.

The ongoing saga of the South Cambs Local Plan is limping to its conclusion.

Yesterday Bridget Smith, the Liberal Democrat Group Leader on South Cambs District Council, took part in a debate about the local elections and the future of South Cambs Council.

In response to the recent revelations about Mr Stoakley, then Conservative candidate for Fen Ditton and Fulbourn, the South Cambridgeshire liberal Democrats make the following statement.

The comments made on twitter by Mr Stoakley are abhorrent and inexcusable. Communications of this nature fall far below the standards that we should expect from people aspiring for a role in public life.

Mr Stoakley should issue a public apology immediately and consider whether he can continue to actively campaign in the upcoming election.

Following the suspension of the membership of Mr Stoakley by the Conservative Party, we call on the South East Cambridgeshire Conservative Association to announce publicly that it is no longer supporting his candidature at the district council elections.

The Conservative Association should also investigate how someone capable of making such comments could have been allowed to stand as a candidate for them.