Tag: Ian Bates

Cutting mobile libraries ‘a disaster for rural communities’

07:20 Friday 6th November 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: County councillors were meeting earlier on this week to talk about which services might have to be cut or reduced. They face of course a big budget deficit. And it was the issue of mobile libraries in Cambridgeshire that provoked the most debate. Cutting the service would save £160,000 over two years. You’ll remember that next year the County Council is looking to save £41 million. One councillor said these savings would be small but the damage would be costly. Another said that mobile libraries were dinosaurs of the past, and that services should be delivered in another way. So with the vans looking to be one of the first battlegrounds of the budget negotiations, our political reporter Hannah Olsson went to see one in action, as it stopped at Windsor Court in Somersham.
(HORN BLOWING HEARD)
DRIVER: Welcome aboard. Nice to see you.
HANNAH OLSSON: It may be a very grey wet miserable day, but even as the van is pulling up, the ladies are ready with their bags of books.
(HUBBUB)
READER: I only read at night. A little bit of sex.
HANNAH OLSSON: Really! How convenient is it that the library comes to you?
READER: Oh it’s lovely. I don’t know what we’d do without him.
HANNAH OLSSON: You’ve got a big pile of books there. What are you getting out today?
READER: That particular author, J.D.Robb, he’s very kindly getting me these ones in the order they’ve been printed.
HANNAH OLSSON: Norma, you’ve got a big pile of books there. You’re weighed down. How many have you got today?
NORMA: There’s my bag what I bring back down there.
HANNAH OLSSON: There’s probably .. a dozen books in there?
NORMA: About that. It’s like that every time. Well I don ‘t sleep at night, so I read at night, during the night. And I’d be lost without it.
HANNAH OLSSON: What sort of books do you get?
NORMA: Mills & Boons. I’m all Mills & Boons.
HANNAH OLSSON: This service. I think Norma, if they got rid of it, it would save about £160,000 over two years. Do you think it’s worth that money?
NORMA: Yes it is. We worked all our life so why shouldn’t we get some benefit out of it.
DRIVER: Can I offer to help you down with your bags? Thank you so much.
NORMA: Thank you.
HANNAH OLSSON: David Hamilton is a mobile librarian. He’s been helping these ladies out today. He’s been part of the library service for thirty years, and shows me around.
DAVID HAMILTON: We’ve got a range of non-fiction titles and fiction titles.
HANNAH OLSSON: Behind us here we’ve got all the children’s picture books.
DAVID HAMILTON: The book section for the very young children.
HANNAH OLSSON: And even some DVDs around the corner.
DAVID HAMILTON: DVDs as well as the audio books of course.
HANNAH OLSSON: So we’re at a care home today, some residential flats. Is that some of your stops?
DAVID HAMILTON: In fact there are a couple of days when I actually devote to just doing the care homes.
HANNAH OLSSON: The ladies that were coming on earlier, they’re taking out a lot of books, aren’t they?
DAVID HAMILTON: Their satisfaction is reading. It’s almost like a hobby to them.
HANNAH OLSSON: So this is just one of the vans that travels around Cambridgeshire. Christine May is the Head of Communities and Cultural Services.
CHRISTINE MAY: We’ve got four vehicles altogether, three of which are out full time on the roads, and another which works part-time.
HANNAH OLSSON: And they cover so many villages, don’t they?
CHRISTINE MAY: They do. 245 villages, stopping at 421 locations. So yes, it’s really extensive.
HANNAH OLSSON: Although obviously the books are the primary reason of going round, today we’ve got this winter health bag, which has got lots of leaflets and a cup of tea that they can have. Is that also important? It’s kind of the Council’s link to these communities?
CHRISTINE MAY: Yes. When I first got to know the mobile service, I really felt this is more a social service really, because of the highly personal nature of it. And we’re giving out information as you can see on the notices behind you there, particularly health information and information aimed at older people and young families. As part of the options looking forward we’re also talking to some of our partner services about whether there’s an option to do more with the mobile services, those that remain.
HANNAH OLSSON: When are you likely to come back again?
DAVID HAMILTON: The next visit is scheduled on Wednesday 2nd December.
READER: Right. Thank you very much. See you then.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Our reporter Hannah Olsson there, catching up with the mobile library at Windsor Court in Somersham. Well councillor Ian Bates is a Conservative who represents the Hemingfords ward. And Ian, you’ve come out fighting for mobile libraries. Tell me why.
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Contract Signed For Northstowe Start

10:00 Wednesday 29th January 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[S]UZIE ROBERTS: It’s been revealed this morning that £30 million has been secured for the first 1,500 homes in Northstowe. The money will fund infrastructure projects around the new town, including a new primary school, secondary school and community centre. Cllr Ian Bates was asked when he thought work on the new development would start.
IAN BATES: We hope that perhaps later this year we will start to see some activity on the site. A primary school will be built early on, which means that when the people do move in, there will be those sort of accommdations ready for their children to go to school. It is a major step forward for Northstowe, but I’ve been around a long time as well, but it has been around a long time and people perhaps have thought it would never happen.
SUZIE ROBERTS: You can hear more of that interview with Ian Bates with Andy Harper straight after this bulletin.

10:10

[A]NDIE HARPER: Plans for a new town in the county north of Cambridge beside the villages of Oakington and Longstanton were first revealed over ten years ago. But while Northstowe as it became known exists on paper, it doesn’t exist in reality, even though people were supposed to be living there by now. But as you heard in the news, building work can finally get under way, and soon. Well earlier I spoke to Cllr Ian Bates, Cabinet Member for Growth and Planning for Cambridgeshire County Council, to try and find out what today is all about. I suggested to him I’d been around a long time, and never expected this to happen. But today’s the day. He told me why.
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Soham Solar One Step Closer

17:25 Tuesday 29th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Plans for a solar farm near Soham are one step closer after a meeting today. It happened at Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet meeting. That meeting again! Ian Bates is the Cabinet Member for Growth and Planning, and joins me now. Hello Ian.
IAN BATES: Evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Just tell us about this proposal please.
IAN BATES: Well it’s a proposal to bring forward an investment for the County Council on County farmland. And essentially a business plan would have to be put together, and planning would come next year, more towards the Spring of next year, when we would seek planning permission. But essentially what this is is about investment, where we would benefit and put the money back into front line services. So it’s an investment which would benefit the County Council, benefit the taxpayer, and therefore help us towards delivering services on the front line Chris.
CHRIS MANN: You say it would benefit. Don’t you mean it might benefit? Nothing is guaranteed is it?
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Cambridgeshire Rail Links Improvement Campaigns

08:08 Friday 13th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: We can’t afford not to invest in more rail links for Cambridgeshire. That’s the line from the head of a campaign group that’s pressing the authorities to get moving with plans for a new line between Cambridge and Bedford. That line could run parallel with the A428, and it will stop at places like St Neots and Alconbury, if it ever gets built. Peter Wakefield is from East Anglia Rail Futures. He says with growing populations and a growing economy, we need more infrastructure too. (TAPE)
PETER WAKEFIELD: Something’s got to be done. As our population of new townships is developed etcetera, the road simply will not be able to cope. We’re paying £1.5 billion for fifteen miles of new A14, which I suggest is a lot more expensive per mile than the infamous High Speed 2. If we can afford that kind of money we can afford smaller schemes, like a new railway between Bedford and Cambridge, or Wisbech and March. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well that line Peter mentioned just at the end is the much fought over Bramley Line between Wisbech and March of course. Earlier this year 4,000 people signed a petition in favour of it being reopened. So should we even be thinking of a line from Cambridge to Bedford before we sort out some transport for the Fens, poorly served Fens it has to be said. .. Patrick O’Sullivan is a consultant for the East West Rail Consortium. Patrick, morning.
PATRICK O’SULLIVAN: Morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Is that line going to happen, do you think?
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The Parlous Condition Of Cambridgeshire Roads

17:07 Tuesday 2nd July 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: What do you think of the state of the county’s roads? It’s officially being admitted they need £300 million worth of work done on them. Yes, £300 million worth. That’s to fill in the potholes, shore up the subsidence, cover over the cracks in the cycleways, and repair the broken pavements. How many stories have you heard of people tripping on pavements, bikes and cars being damaged by holes in the road, even accidents being caused? It’s a sorry state of affairs that apparently is worsening to a cost of £50 million every year. The Council is planning to spend £90 million over five years, but simple maths will tell you that things are only going to get worse. So what can be done? Joining me, the opposition Liberal Democrats on the County Council are calling for a county-wide plan and a special task force to be set up to tackle the problem. Their transport spokesperson is councillor Susan van de Ven.
SUSAN VAN DE VEN: Hello Chris.
CHRIS MANN: And also with us is the Cabinet Member for Growth and Planning, Conservative councillor Ian Bates. Hello Ian.
IAN BATES: Afternoon Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Would you deny there is a problem, and there has been for a while? Continue reading “The Parlous Condition Of Cambridgeshire Roads”