20mph speed limit set for trial in Whittlesey

At Fenland's Area Joint Committee last week, final agreement was given to a trial 20mph speed limit in the Drybread Road/Teal Road area.   It is quite a large area and needs to be because just introducing a speed limit along Drybread Road would lead to Teal Road becoming a rat run.

I have been trying to get the speed limit outside of the school lowered for a few years - in fact I recall that Alderman Jacobs School tried unsuccessfully to get it included when they joined the Safer Routes to Schools programme a few years ago.

One of the claims of those objecting to the plan  is that at peak times it is impossible to do 20mph around the school.   That is true to a degree, but the nature of schools, and especially extended schools,  means that children are entering and leaving the premises over a much wider time span; because of breakfast clubs and out of school clubs and the like.  Children need to be protected at all of these times.

The evidence says that the very presence of a 20mph limit reduces overall speed and, in the case of accidents, the lower the speed, the lower the chance of a fatality.  Whilst there is not a serious accident record in this area, there have been accidents, including one serious.

I would also point out that there were 750 leaflets distributed around the area and only 12 responses (the Cambs Times are wrong here, there was an update at committee), half of these responses were against the reduced limit).  6 out of 750 is less than one percent.

It will be interesting to see the results of the trial.

Hats off to the Cambs Times

I have had a tough week this week, mostly dealing with budget issues at Shire Hall, some details of our budget have been published this week - and you can see what I mean about tough.  More of that in a few days.

But one of the other things I did this week was to tell members of the Children's Trust Executive (a group of Director level employees in the public sector in Cambridgeshire with an interest in Children's issues) that I was a big fan of the Cambs Times "Kids are Alright" Campaign", something that has played a great role in promoting the positive side of young people in the Fenland area.   My line was basically that we should be looking to promote this sort of campaign everywhere.

Anyway, great timing, the campaign has won an award at the EDF Energy East of England Media Awards.  I have to say I am delighted for everyone at the Cambs Times.   It is great to see them succeeding and being recognised for doing something that the media as a whole should be doing more of; standing up and shouting about how great the vast majority of our young people are.

Woman Threatened and Robbed

Please take a look at this story on the Cambs Tmes website and be wary - especially warn anyone elderly and living on their own to be wary.

This isn't worth panicking over - but it is worth being careful.