Tag: Steve Count

Devolution for Cambridgeshire – Groups sets out their terms of engagement

“And fundamentally it’s up to the Government to decide whether it wants to press ahead and try and force this scheme on us, which I don’t think will be acceptable to the people, or whether or not to come back with a more viable compromise option.”

opposition_letter17:41 Wednesday 23rd March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Tonight an open letter has been written by the Leaders of the Liberal Democrat, UKIP, Labour and Independent Groups on Cambridgeshire County Council about the devolution negotiations. It’s in opposition to the plan by the Government and the Conservatives to put some devolution into our area. Let’s bring in live now the Leader of the Labour Group, Ashley Walsh, who joins me on the line. Ashley, hello.
ASHLEY WALSH: Hello Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Now you’ve already expressed your opposition on the County Council yesterday at this Full Council meeting to the deal. Why have you felt it necessary to put it in a letter today?
Continue reading “Devolution for Cambridgeshire – Groups sets out their terms of engagement”

Devolution for Cambridgeshire – Council rejects Government offer

17:21 Tuesday 22nd March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The plan for a devolution deal for East Anglia has been dealt a severe blow this evening, as County councillors rejected the current agreement. A deal joining Cambridgeshire with Norfolk and Suffolk was announced by the Chancellor in last week’s Budget, but there’s concern about how much it would actually benefit our county. Our political reporter Hannah Olsson has been at Shire Hall watching events take place, and she joins us now. Hannah.
HANNAH OLLSSON: Good evening Chris. Yes this evening’s debate centred around a proposal from the Opposition councillors on Cambridgeshire County Council to reject this devolution deal in its current form. We had a long debate lasting more than two hours, with councillors raising concerns about the speed in which this deal has been rushed through, the amount of money that’s being promised, initially just £30 million a year, and fundamentally whether Norfolk and Suffolk are the right bedfellows for the County. There was considerable criticism of the Chancellor, with the Leader of the Labour Party on the Council Ashley Walsh saying we’re being forced into a shotgun wedding, and George Osborne hadn’t even got the decency to take us out for dinner. Now Lucy Nethsingha, who’s the Leader of the LibDems here on the CountY Council suggested this deal was dreamt up on the back of a cigar packet. Now a key part of the proposal is a regional mayor leading this joint authority. There were also questions about how much this mayor will cost, and also whether someone representing such a large area could make the right decisions for Cambridgeshire.
CHRIS MANN: So that’s those who are opposing the deal. Are there any supporting it?
Continue reading “Devolution for Cambridgeshire – Council rejects Government offer”

Steve Count on the East Anglia Devolution Agreement

“This is something that we’ve been working together on with our partners for a little while.”

eada17:25 Wednesday 16th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

SUE DOUGAN: During today’s Budget the Chancellor George Osborne confirmed there could be a new local authority for Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Norfolk and Suffolk. There would also be a newly directly-elected Mayor, who would have extra powers and a budget for major infrastructure projects worth around £900 million over 30 years. Now it still needs to be consulted on by each council in the region of course, but let’s get reaction now from the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, Steve Count. Good evening Steve. Is this something that you welcome?
STEVE COUNT: Oh hi there. Yes this is something that we’ve been working together with our partners for a little while. I’m glad to see we’ve got something to put in front of our councillors finally.
SUE DOUGAN: Will you personally be backing the proposed devolution?
Continue reading “Steve Count on the East Anglia Devolution Agreement”

Bassingbourn councillor defects to UKIP

It’s a personal choice. Nothing against the people who are in the Conservatives, but it doesn’t fit with my personality.

08:07 Monday 29th February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A Cambridgeshire Conservative councillor is the latest to switch parties and join UKIP. Adrian Dent says he’s disillusioned with the party at Cambridgeshire County Council. And he’s the county councillor for Bassingbourn. He joins me in the studio now. Morning to you.
ADRIAN DENT: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: How long have you been a Conservative?
ADRIAN DENT: Since I could vote, and that was eighteen. An awfully long time now, thirty seven years.
CHRIS MANN: And you’ve been an elected councillor for the last three years, for Bassingbourn on the County Council.
ADRIAN DENT: I have. Yes.
CHRIS MANN: So why are you leaving the Conservatives, and perhaps more importantly why are you joining UKIP?
ADRIAN DENT: It’s a personal choice. I lecture in change and change management and lean manufacturing, and I’m used to seeing change happen quickly. And I’m not happy in the role that I am as a Conservative county councillor, and I want to make change happen quicker. That’s why I became elected. I wanted to make a change for the people who voted for me.
CHRIS MANN: And how are you going to do that by joining UKIP? What will the difference be? Because you’re not going to change the situation on the County Council, are you?
ADRIAN DENT: No, but I can have more of my say. I’m allowed to say what I want. There is no whip in UKIP, and that’s the bit that I find that I couldn’t .. I’ve thought about this long and hard for fourteen months before I’ve done this, and you can’t say that’s a fast decision. It’s not. I have just become more and more increasingly frustrated with the whip situation, and I just wanted to move. It’s a personal choice. Nothing against the people who are in the Conservatives, but it doesn’t fit with my personality.
CHRIS MANN: Well let’s bring in the Deputy Leader of the Conservatives on Cambridgeshire County Council. The Leader is on holiday at the moment, but Mac McGuire. Morning to you sir.
MAC MCGUIRE: Morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: So, too much whipping. not enough freedom in the Conservatives.
Continue reading “Bassingbourn councillor defects to UKIP”

Cambridgeshire budget proposals – Leaders react

10:21 Tuesday 27th October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

SUE DOUGAN: Cambridgeshire County Council as you’ve been hearing today has announced its budget proposals for the next financial year. The authority has to save over £40 million. Here’s the savings being proposed. Over £9 million to be taken from the care budget that supports vulnerable adults and older people; £1.4 million taken from supporting bus services across Cambridgeshire; the mobile library service could be removed. That would save £160,000; over half a million to be taken from the winter maintenance budget; further cuts to school crossing patrols, libraries, children’s centres. Even things like street parking fees could increase in Cambridge. We have with us today the Conservative councillor Steve Count, who is Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council. Steve good morning.
STEVE COUNT: Good morning Dotty.
SUE DOUGAN: Good morning. It’s Sue actually. Good morning.
STEVE COUNT: Oh sorry Sue.
SUE DOUGAN: That’s quite all right. Ashley Walsh is alongside us as well, the new Labour Leader on Cambridgeshire County Council. Ashley hello.
ASHLEY WALSH: Hello Sue.
SUE DOUGAN: We’ve got Pete Reeve joining us from UKIP as well. Pete good morning.
PETER REEVE: Good morning.
SUE DOUGAN: I thank you all for joining us here on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Let’s start with you Steve first of all. As Leader of the County Council, what were your reactions when these budgets were announced, when this figure was achieved?
Continue reading “Cambridgeshire budget proposals – Leaders react”

Wisbech 2020 Vision gathering pace

17:48 Friday 13th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS BERROW: Detailed proposals aimed at bringing about the wholesale regeneration of Wisbech and its surrounding area have been published. The project is called Wisbech 2020 Vision. It’s a twenty nine point action plan, and it was launched in January 2013. Now the idea is to make Wisbech a good place to work and a nice place to live. This morning there was a meeting to review the progress that’s been made so far. Steve Count is Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, and I asked him what progress has actually been made.
(TAPE)
STEVE COUNT: It was a good news day. There was a whole raft of things that we were able to update people on. I think the big one that most people have been talking about is getting the railway line back to Wisbech. The progress on that has been very good. We’ve completed a GRIP 1 Study and a GRIP 2 Study, and we’re now commissioning and underway with a GRIP 3 Study. And these are the hoops that we have to get through in order to reopen a railway line that will link Wisbech with the national rail network. I think one of the things that people have realised now is that it’s not just good for the people of Wisbech, it’s good for the people of March, Manea, those that are along the line towards Cambridge. And also there’ll be benefits for the people of Cambridge, because if you look at the house prices in Cambridge which I think are quite a bit above £300,000 average, and just over £140,000 is the average prices in Wisbech. If we introduce that into the travel to work area for Cambridge, it’s going to be fantastic news for everyone.
CHRIS BERROW: Infrastructure is a problem in Wisbech. What other problems does it face?
Continue reading “Wisbech 2020 Vision gathering pace”

Estover – County Council Leader bids to save the land from development

07:20 Thursday 15th January 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: A campaign to prevent developers moving onto the Estover playing fields in March appears to have made a significant breakthrough. It’s been reported in the Cambs Times, who are supporting this campaign, that the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council has pledged to hand over half the area to March Town Council. The other half would be offered on a lease to sports groups. The Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council Steve Count joins me now. So Steve, what are you suggesting now for these playing fields at Estover?
STEVE COUNT: Good morning Dotty and thank you for giving me the time on air to put a couple of these things right. The County Council isn’t pledging anything. What I’ve done is take a personal motion to the Council, where I think I’ve got enough support to win, to actually give just about 60% over on a 99 year lease, and 40% roughly on a 7 year lease. And both leases, as opposed to what was in the paper, go to March Town Council, who have the constitutional set-up to receive them. March Town Council will then set up a charitable trust with the local playing fields association and all the sports bodies in March, trying to get as much interest as possible to actually set that up for a more sustainable long term development. So just a little bit of clarification there. The point about being a Private Motion is as opposed to the County Council that once things are passed they go ahead and do it ..
DOTTY MCLEOD: It’s an attempt, rather than a pledge. Is that right?
STEVE COUNT: Yes. I have to win the vote. Yes.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Sure.
STEVE COUNT: I think the way that local people have demonstrated to the people at Cambridgeshire County, just the depth of feeling and the reasoning why it shouldn’t be developed on, has given me a great help in putting towards a package that I now believe we can deliver all the sports facilities without the need for development.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Because there was previously this suggestion that there would be 100 odd homes on the site. What’s happened to that?
STEVE COUNT: That’s still sitting there. That is still the County Council option that they believe is the preferred option, and it is, if I succeed at Full Council, that my option becomes the preferred way forward. If I fail, then it goes back to the General Purposes Committee, which will be afterwards, to go back to Plan A so to speak.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Were you involved Steve in the initial decision to put that County Council proposal in place?
STEVE COUNT: Very much so. Yes. I’ve been involved in this ever since I’ve been a county councillor.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So what’s changed your mind?
STEVE COUNT: The fact that I now believe that we can get the sporting facilities without the development, and the way that the local people have been able to help with this massive massive campaign. Without that, I don’t think I could have convinced a number of other people to back this new approach. It will be on a knife-edge. I think I have enough support to actually achieve this, and I think if the people of March continue to lobby in exactly the same way as they did before, I think we can get this over the line.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. And when does your motion get decided?
STEVE COUNT: 17th February.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. So a little while to wait.
STEVE COUNT: Yes.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And that’s Steve Count there, the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, bringing a motion to stop the plans for development on the Estover playing fields. Johnny D is in March this morning. He’s been meeting one of the men behind the campaign to keep these buildings off these playing fields.
Continue reading “Estover – County Council Leader bids to save the land from development”

Virginia Bucknor on 2020 Vision for Wisbech

10:09 Thursday 5th June 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDIE HARPER: At the start of 2013 a Vision was announced and outlined for Wisbech, a town fed up with its own image. Cambridgeshire County Council, Fenland District Council and Steve Barclay the MP for the area got together and devised Wisbech 2020, a plan of positive changes to implement in the town by 2020. The then Leader of Fenland District Council, Alan Melton, explained the plans to Paul Stainton on the Bigger Breakfast Show back in January 2013.
(TAPE)
PAUL STAINTON: So what is this Vision? What is this future for Wisbech? The future’s bright, the future’s Wisbech. What is it?
ALAN MELTON: Well the future will be bright, and the future is Wisbech. It came about because a lot of bad publicity around Wisbech. Everybody says, in a sentence that includes the word Wisbech, deprivation, dilapidation, dilapidated buildings, poor infrastructure. This is something that we wish to address, and over the coming years as part of the 2020 Vision we’re going to be very proactive in addressing these problems.
PAUL STAINTON: What is the Vision then?
ALAN MELTON: The Vision is better education, better skills, better infrastructure, better buildings, better quality of life.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s a wish-list basically.
ALAN MELTON: In the present economic circumstances you could say it’s a wish-list. It’s something that we can work to. We have some short-term aims, and we have some long-term aims.
PAUL STAINTON: It’s 2020 Alan. OK?
ALAN MELTON: Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: Close your eyes.
ALAN MELTON: Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: Everybody in Wisbech close your eyes. It’s 2020.
ALAN MELTON: (LAUGHS)
PAUL STAIN TON: What does Wisbech look like?
ALAN MELTON: Wisbech looks better because the buildings and quality are better. By then the old dilapidated buildings would have been removed. The infrastructure would be improved. The only thing that I don’t think we should get by 2020, and I’m a realist, is the A47 dualling.
PAUL STAINTON: Alan it’s a dream for Wisbech. Let’s hope one day that dream comes true.
ALAN MELTON: You’ve got to follow your dreams Paul. You’ve got to follow your dreams.
(LIVE)
ANDIE HARPER: FDC Council Leader at the time Alan Melton talking to Paul Stainton. Well just under eighteen months on we’ve been contacted by a councillor who wants to know the progress of at least the short-term targets that Alan mentioned. Independent councillor Virginia Bucknor says a meeting had been planned to deliver key updates, but now it’s been postponed, seemingly indefinitely. When I spoke to her she was very cross.
Continue reading “Virginia Bucknor on 2020 Vision for Wisbech”