Linton & District

Introduction.

Councillors.

John Batchelor's County Report.

Local Issues in Linton and District.

Branch Officers.

Latest Stories.

Introduction

Linton and District branch consists of the county division of Linton and the district wards of Linton and Balsham. Currently, there is one Lib Dem County Councillor and two Lib Dem District Councillors representing an electorate of 7254 people in 2010

Councillors

County Councillor

John Batchelor was first elected as County Councillor representing Linton in 2005 and re-elected in 2009.

District Councillors

The District Councillors in Linton & District branch are John Batchelor and Trisha Bear.

Cllrs John Batchelor and Trisha Bear

John Batchelor's County Report

John Says:

"When inspecting the improvements on the A1307 in March with my colleague Tim Stone, the Abington County Councillor, we were struck by the temporary speed limit sign, bang in front of the usual 40 mph limit.

"So why not make it permanent?

"The Linton by-pass speed limit has been reduced. So why has there been no progress on other reductions, like the 40 mph sections in Linton and Little Abington? Is it really that difficult?

"And still no news about the installation of the speed cameras. Months have drifted by. Nothing has happened.

"There is still a great more to be done to make the A1307 a safer road. The danger at the Hildersham turn, for instance, is as great as ever, and has to be addressed.

"But better news on road repairs:

"Local residents know I've been pressing for a long time for repairs to Back Road and the High Street. Following last winter's severe weather, the situation became critical.

"I am pleased to report my persistence has paid off. The Highways Department has raided a pot of money usually kept for other types of work and a survey is due to happen this month, I shall press for as much work to be done as quickly as possible. As soon as we have a date for the work, I will let you know through articles in Focus and the Linton News. I am determined this work must be done now.

"It's all down to short-term thinking. But if the Tories had not imposed long term cuts in planned maintenance things would never have got so bad. Short term cuts lead to long term problems, and in the long run don't save public money."

Jonathan Chatfield, Trisha Bear and John Batchelor examine the state of the High Street Linton

Local Issues in Linton and District

Windfarms

After encouraging the District Council Planning Committee to reject the Linton wind farm, Trisha Bear & John Batchelor joined residents in speaking at the open session of the Public Inquiry in Linton.

Trisha Bear writes: "We realise some residents favour the wind farm. However, weeks of detailed technical evidence at the Inquiry has served to confirm our view that it is simply in the wrong place."

The evidence about its impact on the landscape, conservation and local amenity showed why the scheme should not go ahead. Evidence to be given in September will show how hundreds of homes would experience noise well above recommended national limits.

But perhaps the most significant evidence was from the National Air Traffic Control Service. They demonstrated that the turbines would directly affect the operation of air traffic control. And Enertrag's witnesses really had no answer to that. How can a scheme which could threaten the safety of air passengers be justified?

The Windfarm based at Wadlow Farm in the Parish of West Wratting will go ahead in 2010 after the Secretary of State gave the go-ahead and will provide 29.9 megawatts of power.

Linton Fire/Police Station

Planning permission to convert part of the fire station to a police station has now been granted, Trisha says: "Let's hope it won't be long now before we can celebrate the opening of our new police station." This now looks to be Summer 2010.

Planning permission has been granted to convert part of Linton Fire Station into a Police Station

Housing Transfer

Tenants rejected the housing transfer. Over 75% voted to stay with the Council. The Lib Dems said the ballot was a massive waste of money. The tenants were right to reject the proposals. As the Conservatives became worried tenants might vote "No", they put out more and more blatant propaganda to try to persuade them. Did they really think their tenants were stupid?

Nearly a million pounds of public money was wasted on this failed attempt.

A later attempt to recoup this money saw the Tories attempt to cut services to the elderly by reducing the warden scheme for sheltered housing such as in May's Avenue Balsham but faced with elderly tenants and calls from Lib Dem and Independent councillors who know the value of the wardens as a lifeline to residents, the Tories backed down and dropped their plan to slash the warden scheme.

Now, the Council must show this is not just a temporary fudge but a real change of heart, as the number of elderly people increases, the warden service should be developed, not cut.

Pauline Jarvis and John Batchelor opposed the housing transfer and cuts to sheltered housing schemes

Gritting

The lousy gritting service this winter looks set to be repeated next year. The Conservative budget does not make this a priority area and there is no realistic prospect of adding any roads to the gritting list. The Lib Dem budget would create a network of gritting points and grit heavily used pavements.

Branch Officers

The branch officers are currently:

Chair: Sam Agnew

Secretary: Trisha Bear

Treasurer: Ian Wallace

To contact them, email linton@removesecambslibdems.org.uk (take out the remove part of the address)

Latest District Stories

Wed 16th Jun 2010:

Tories Accused of Disgraceful Complacency over Bus Review.

Cambridgeshire Tories have been accused of a "disgraceful level of complacency" after calling for a routine review of the guided bus fiasco.

Sun 6th Jun 2010:

Safety Projects Sacrificed to Bail Out Guided Bus.

Major safety and transport projects for Wisbech have been sacrificed to pay for Cambridgeshire's £116 billion guided bus.

Mon 31st May 2010:

Lib Dems Fobbed off Over Death Road as it Claimed Another Life.

Cambridgeshire highway chiefs delayed taking action at an accident black-spot where two people died only to see another killed within 24 hours.

The Weakest Link - Tories in Dark Over Busway Problems.

Cambridgeshire Tories are in the dark as to the severity of the problems with part of the guided bus track.

Sun 23rd May 2010:

Fear for Dementia Patients as Day Centres Under Threat.

Leading Cambridgeshire councillors are worried that patients with dementia could suffer following the news that three day care centres are to close.

Residents "Silenced" by Tory Petition Ban.

Cambridgeshire Tories have been accused of "silencing" a great swathe of the county after banning petitions carrying less than 15,000 signatures for full council debate.

Tories Refuse to Hold Public Inquiry into Guided Bus.

Cambridgeshire Tories have refused point blank to hold a public inquiry into the Guided Bus fiasco, denying residents the chance to have their say.

Tories Attacked for Protecting A14 Project from National Cuts.

Cambridgeshire Tories, who have united to back the £1.4 billion widening of the A14, have come under fire from Liberal Democrats for "protecting their pet project" from scathing national cuts.

Mon 10th May 2010:

County Lib Dems Elect New Group Leader.

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have announced today (Monday, May 10) that Fiona Whelan will be taking over as group leader from David Jenkins.

Tue 4th May 2010:

VOTE4ANIMALS 2010 Candidate Endorsement.

Dear Jonathan

Labour Candidate Suspended.

Labour candidate John Cowan has been suspended after boasting about his sexual exploits online.

Sun 2nd May 2010:

Someone's nicked our boards!

We've been quite excited during this campaign about the number of people who've volunteered to help, to put posters in their windows and stakeboards in their gardens. Then last night someone nicked 8 of our stakeboards along Park Lane and Impington Lane in Histon. We understand that the Tories have lost some of theirs as well.

Wed 28th Apr 2010:

Jonathan Chatfield pledges to take Action for Children in South East Cambs.

Jonathan Chatfield, Liberal Democrat candidate for South East Cambridgeshire has pledged to take his action for children to help break cycles of deprivation and help generations to come.

Tue 27th Apr 2010:

Lib Dems Surge Ahead with All Out Offensive in SE Cambs.

Battling Liberal Democrats are surging ahead with an all-out offensive in South East Cambridgeshire after the Labour opposition candidate was thrown out of his party for discussing his sexual exploits on the Internet.

Mon 26th Apr 2010:

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for South East Cambridgeshire Signs Volunteering Pledge.

Jonathan Chatfield the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for South East Cambridgeshire has signed up to Voluntary and Community Action East Cambridgeshire's volunteering pledge.

Earlier Stories

Complete archive on the official site.

Latest Linton Stories

Sat 24th Apr 2010:

Pauline Jarvis: A Hard Worker for Balsham Ward.

Year on year, I have demonstrated my dedication and determination to represent you in that distant place called Cambourne where our District Council hides away.

Trisha Bear: Working Hard for You in Linton.

Trisha Bear is asking you to support her in her bid to be re-elected to the Council.

It's Time to Sort this Council Out.

The Tories have run the District Council for the last four years, plenty of time for residents to judge their record. Sadly, the judgment has to be that they have shown a mixture of blind dogma and incompetence

Fri 10th Apr 2009:

A1307: Mixed Messages.

After a delay when the previous contractor went bust, work on the danger junction at Park Hill, Horseheath is moving ahead again.

A new Police Station for Linton?

We revealed plans to close our area's local Police Station in Linton. Since then, County Councillor John Batchelor has met with the Chairman of the Police Authority, Councillor Keith Walters.

Sat 29th Nov 2008:

Newmarket bus saved.

Cost cutting continues at Shire Hall. The 46 bus was under threat of complete withdrawal. It's well used on Newmarket market days.

They just don't seem to care.

Contractors working for power company EDF dug up the pavement near Sweet Talk News in Linton, cut a cable, and installed a new connection. Fair enough, even though it's a narrow section of the High Street with no pavement on the other side. The work had to be done. But they didn't fill in the hole they had created.

Save Linton Police Station!

Cambridgeshire Police Authority has admitted it has agreed to sell off Linton police station for housing

Wed 23rd Apr 2008:

John gives a helping hand.

Several Paynes Meadow residents have told John Batchelor they would welcome a play area for local children. It was suggested when the second phase of the development was proposed, but later dropped.

Hanley Grange- a threat to our area.

When developers revived the Abington new town plan in 2004, local Liberal Democrats led the campaign to stop it.

Tue 22nd Apr 2008:

A1307- another week, yet another tragedy.

Another week, and yet another tragic death, when Linton Village College pupil Alice Westland was killed near Horseheath. Speaking as a College governor, John Batchelor said "We cannot go on bearing more tragedies like these."

We would do it better says John Batchelor.

The Conservatives control our area. They run the District Council. They run the county Council. We don't claim that if the Liberal Democrats were running the councils, everything would suddenly be marvellous overnight.

Mon 31st Mar 2008:

Feeling the real cost of flying.

When residents were woken by bombers taking off from local airfields like Wratting Common in 1943 they were pleased. The RAF was vital to our future. But continual disturbance by aircraft today is quite different. We face the threat of severe noise from planes using Stansted. There's a plan to put one of the main queuing sites right over our area. You can read all about it by going to: www.consultation.nats.co.uk/text/15/cambridge.html.

Mon 10th Mar 2008:

A long wait for the bus.

When the one-way system was introduced, the County Council agreed to put up a bus stop on Back Road. They said they'd do it when they repaired the pavement. After more than two years of pressure from County Councillor John Batchelor, the Parish Council and local residents, the pavement has finally been fixed.

Thu 21st Feb 2008:

Lib Dem Councillors stand up for tenants' rights.

Tories forced into U-Turn on Council Housing

Earlier Stories

Complete archive on the official site.