28/04/2010 by Steve Barclay.

Increased business rates across North East Cambs are putting many local independent shops out of business.  So what is going on?

The business rates are based on a valuation of the commercial property.  This valuation is made not by the local council, but by the Valuation Office Agency which is a Government agency.  Every five years they conduct a re-valuation, and they have just done a new five year valuation.  The Government then set the rate for how many pence in the pound firms will pay, known as the nantional non domestic rate.  It is not Fenland Council that has increased the business rate - it is the Labour Government.

The role of the council is simply to send out the bills to collect the business rates for the Government.  Fenland District Council last year collected £20.4 million in business rates which goes to the Government, with the formula returning just £8.4 million back to Fenland as part of an overall council grant settlement of £9.6 million.  So we are collecting twice as much from local firms to give to Government than we get back from the Government.

Many shops locally are on very tight margins as they struggle to survive in the tough economic climate.  There is no scope to absorb the increased cost of these business rates, which is why towns like Chatteris are losing so many shops.  If when you work past empty shops in our towns you feel angry, then go and vote.  Labour’s tax hikes are killing our town centres with higher rates putting shops out of business.  It is a clear sign of why we need change.

Posted in Fenland District Council, Labour Failure, Chatteris | No Comments »

27/04/2010 by Steve Barclay.

Metalcraft is a high value engineering firm with a long pedigree, having been in Chatteris for 120 years.  They are at the cutting edge of engineering, making for example pressure hulls for submarines or MRI scanners for hospitals.  

With 150 staff it is a key local employer and it was great to visit and find out about the issues they face.  Key amongst these is the lack of support for existing firms to expand, as grants tend to go to start ups not existing firms.  Last year they had to turn work away because of a lack of workshop space.  Positive news included 8 new apprenticehips which have been supported by Fenland District Council, and this is the type of initiative that the Conservative Party will back with our 400,000 apprenticeships in the first two years of Government.

Chatting with one of the workers at Metalwork, it is clear why so many people who work are fed up with the current benefits culture.  He is currently paying £415 a year for his teenage son to get the bus to college in Wisbech, and other students in his son’s class get £30 a week whilst his son gets nothing because he works.  There is a strong sense locally that those who do work on modest salaries face more and more bills to pay for people who could work and opt not to do so.  We intend to tackle this.

In the evening we had a hustings debate in March with the Labour and Lib Dem Parliamentary candidates.  It was expertly hosted by Cambs Times editor John Elworthy who kept a brisk pace and added a nice touch of wit to preceedings.  A fun evening was rounded off with both Conservative and Labour activists in the same pub across the road.  The earlier robust debate was followed by an amicable exchange and friendly banter.  It was interupted when we realised the school cartaker was closing the car park gate and there was a mad dash from all those driving to collect cars.

Steve with Martin Johnson, Business Performance
Manager at high value engineering firm Metalcraft
in Chatteris.

Posted in Fenland District Council, Chatteris, Cambs Times | No Comments »

01/03/2010 by Steve Barclay.

I had a meeting with David Cameron this week-end at the Conservative Party Spring Conference to put the case for the new campus for the College of West Anglia. 

It was an opportunity to build on the positive announcement last week by Fenland District Council Leader Alan Melton that £1.5 million would be made available to try and resurrect the campus, after Labour cuts last year scrapped it just a month before building work was due to begin.

Cynically, the current Government gave the go ahead to just 13 colleges nationwide, with all 13 being located within Labour constituencies.

Whilst David Cameron was never going to be in a position to comment on the specific plans locally, he recognised the importance of the College as a catalyst for growth and in driving better socially mobility here in North Cambridgeshire and was supportive of what we are trying to do.  It is good to have his engagement on this, and a useful discussion which I can now follow up with our education team.

Posted in College, Fenland District Council, David Cameron | No Comments »

24/02/2010 by Steve Barclay.

Many of the play facilities for young children in North East Cambridgeshire are not up to scratch.  We need a step change in the approach to get this sorted out.

Visiting other areas, I have been struck by how much their play facilities have moved on from when I was younger.  Frankly, despite a few exceptions locally, most of our facilities need significant improvement.

I am not alone in this view.  Leverington is desperately in need of support to put in place better facilities and a group has been working on this, and other places like Little Downham and March need better facilities too.  I have discussed this in detail in recent weeks with Cllr Alan Melton as Leader of Fenland District Council, and am delighted by the interest and positive response he has shown. 

I hope the budget that the council is working on will take this on board and drive forward the step change we need.  Funding in particular needs to be made available for facilities in villages, as children cannot always access the nearest town.

By way of contrast, the enclosed photos show the play facilities available elsewhere.  It sets a standard we should be aiming for here. 

Posted in Play Facilities, Fenland District Council | No Comments »

31/01/2010 by Steve Barclay.

The closure of the Wisbech Driving test centre highlights a problem with our current democracy.  The decision is being taken by expensively paid quango chiefs who have little if any accountability.  They are not elected, do not live in or know this area, and their pay and perks are unaffected by public delivery. 
 
The decision to close the driving test centre here is against the wishes of the local MP, town councillors, district councillors, and county councillors.  The money being saved - just £11,000 a year - is a fraction of what it has now been revealed these same quango chiefs claimed in expenses over the last year.  The result is that learner drivers, often the young and those on modest incomes, will have to pay more in driving lessons.
 
I have blogged before about how little democracy there is in Britain today. Seven of those attending the British Cabinet are unelected, not to mention many of those in Europe making laws here, and those at a regional and national level deciding issues as important as what medicines we can get on the NHS.  The relationship between power and democracy is illustrated by the fact that the elected leader of a local district council often earns around £15,000 when the unelected chief executive can earn ten times more, on £150,000 plus final salary pension.
 
Last summer I was contacted by Wisbech driving instructors.  They had been told by the Driving Standards Agency that opening a new test centre in King’s Lynn did not mean closing the centre in Wisbech, but they feared closure was the hidden agenda. I went along one evening to their meeting to discuss this, and then contacted the Driving Standards Agency.  The Agency refused to give any information other than to say the matter would be reviewed after 12 months (in July of 2009).
 
Malcolm Moss MP tabled a couple of Parliamentary questions to seek more clarity.  The Agency confirmed the low cost of the centre and the review timescale, but made no mention of the criteria on which they now rely for their decision.  When the 12 months came and went, I again contacted the Agency.  Again I was told no decision had been taken for closure.  Given that 12 months had passed, this suggested the review had passed positively.
 
Four months later over the Christmas holiday period, a press release was slipped out by the Agency.  This made the ludicrous claim that closing the driving test centre would “improve the local service” as the test centre in King’s Lynn had disability access.  As this centre was already available, it is difficult to see how closing Wisbech, with the added journey times, would improve service.  Disabled drivers could still use King’s Lynn.
 
The spin on the Agency’s claims sits at odds with the critical response of local driving instructors, residents, and Fenland District Council.  The Council has passed a unanimous resolution condemning the decision, setting out the costs to local people (which directly contradict the Driving Standards Agency claims), and calling for urgent talks on either keeping the centre or setting up a new, disability compliant centre in Fenland.  No response has been received to this letter - again highlighing the lack of accountibility and the sense the review was prejudged.  The Government’s transport minister has refused to intervene.  As so often with Labour, they care little for rural services and want to move these to urban areas.
 
This incompetence and misplaced arrogance is not new for the Driving Standards Agency and its Chief Exec Rosemary Thew.  In 2007 the Driving Standards Agency lost 3 million customer records which had been outsourced to the US and went missing, putting every learner driver (one in ten of all drivers) at risk of identify theft.  Just this summer, Private Eye and Motorcycle News commenting on further problems with the Agency, this time the daft new rules for motorcyclists, saying the following:
 
“Inept DSA chief executive Rosemary Thew boasts that the new test will make the roads safer by making it more difficult to get a full licence. But that seems unlikely. Not only are riders more likely to be killed or injured during the test itself, but there is evidence that more young tearaways and foreign dispatch riders are taking to the roads unlicensed - and therefore uninsured - rather than submit to the rigmarole of passing five tests to get a licence.”
From: Private Eye, No.1242, p.30 (August 2009)
 
With money short in a recession, and faced with higher costs for lessons travelling to and from King’s Lynn, some young people in Fenland may be tempted to take to the road without completing their driving test. This puts every road user at greater risk.  We already have a high fatality rate on Fenland roads.  Those who take their test face higher bills.  The Driving Standards Agency should now meet with Fenland District Council to agree a way forward.  Sadly, it looks unlikely such common sense will prevail.
 
I will be lobbying the new Conservative Government to reverse this short sighted decision and keep a driving test centre in Fenland.  Let’s hope the election comes soon, so it is not too late.

Posted in Fenland District Council, Malcolm Moss MP, Wisbech | No Comments »

19/09/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Something which I thought would be straightforward is providing anything but, given the capacity for bureaucracy to find reasons to be unhelpful to our local businesses. 

In previous blogs I have mentioned my desire to support businesses in Fenland and East Cambridgeshire by helping them to put up tourist signs.  Local attractions are often missed because those travelling through the area, and even sometimes people I chat to living locally, do not know what attractions are nearby.  One of our local businesses has been in touch to say they have been quoted £5,000 by the Highways Agency for one brown tourist sign.  Why should it cost so much?  Even more bizarre is that even if they pay this sum they cannot have a sign at the moment as new applicants are not allowed to apply for a sign in their first year of business.  Surely the first year is a critical time when the business needs to raise its profile and attract new customers? 

Another business in Fenland has just been told they do not have enough visitors to justify a sign.  Yet one of the reasons for wanting a sign is to get more visitors - without the sign this rule becomes an even higher hurdle.  Rural businesses often do not get as many visitors as attractions in cities - using the same visitor numbers test fails to take this into account.  Add to this the complexity of a host of different signage policies which results from us being on the border of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, as well as near to Peterborough with its unitary status, and businesses face even more obstacles.  A Fenland business might be in Cambridgeshire but want to put the road sign 300 yards down the road which is over the border in Norfolk.

Thankfully Fenland DC is keen to see a solution and is working with me on this.  Is it not bizarre though that during a recession when we need as many jobs locally as possible, our local businesses cannot put up tourist signs?  Why should they have to waste so much time on these inflexible rules when they are paying tax to keep these bodies going, and have plenty of challenges running and growing their business?  We need to listen and respond to our businesses more, and I hope I can help them achieve what should be a simple request.  At the moment, it feels like I have delivered little progress for them on this.

Posted in Fenland District Council, Road & Rail | No Comments »

08/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Unemployement in Fenland is the highest of any district in the county and a real concern.  A chance today to find out more about the practical steps being taken to help people back to work.  Meet up at Volunteer Centre Fenland with manager Annette, chairwomen Janet and future chairman Alan who are based in the new Rosmini Centre next to the Catholic Church.

Whilst the Volunteer Centre is located in WIsbech, their remit covers the whole of Fenland.  Those out of work, and also those in work, can access a vast array of voluntary opportunities through the centre.  Volunteer work can be a great way of staying up to date with work place skills, and demonstrating competencies which future employers will find attractive.  It is also a good way to boost confidence which can take a knock when struggling to find work.  Some do not take up the option thinking that it requires a full time commitment when you volunteer, but there are lots of options for flexible  working.  It is also a way of accessing the training offered to staff by some employers, who include volunteers for free in their staff training scheme.

With the on-going pressures locally from the recession, the Centre has a crucial role to play, and it is useful to find out more about the funding arrangements and the workload of the two part time staff.  The dedication is highly impressive and I hope we can ensure they are able to meet the increasing demands.  Also take away some forms so I can volunteer too, so will update on that in a future blog.

The Volunteer Centre has a drop in on Mondays from 11 to 12, so why not pop in and see if there is an organisation in Fenland you can help as a volunteer. There is a wonderful cafe downstairs with reasonable prices, and a warm and supportive environment to welcome you.

Then head over to Little Downham for an issue which I am trying to champion - better youth facilities for the 13 to 17 age group.  Often when I hear criticism from older people of teenagers, it raises the question of where there is for the 13 to 17 year old age group to go.  Some towns are much better served than others, but rural villages tend to be particularly affected.  The Cambs Times campaign ’our kids are alright’ has been great in highlighting the many positive contributions made by teenagers locally and thoroughly deservers the plaudits it is getting.   Fenland District Council and Cllr Steve Garrett in particular has also been actively engaged in improving facilities, and I know from chatting with East Cambs 
Council Leader Fred Brown that he is equally keen to see improvements.  Part of the problem is the fact that these two 
district councils receive significantly less per head in funding than Scottish councils and metropolitan councils in the north of England (which just happen to be where most of the Labour MPs are). Why should kids in North East Cambridgeshire get less facilities when their parents are paying tax which is heading to Scotland?

Notwithstanding the lack of funding from the Government, I still think we can do more.  One area where there is a need for better youth facilities is Little Downham.  There is plenty of space around the playing fields to improve facilities, and head off there to find out what people in the village want to see done.  More on this in due course.

Steve Barclay visiting Volunteer Centre Fenland
with manager Annette Houghton

The excellent cafe in the Rosmini Centre which
is open to the public to drop in.

Little Downham sports ground.

Little Downham sports ground.

Little Downham sports pavilion.

Posted in Rosmini Centre, Little Downham, Fenland District Council | No Comments »

07/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Chatting with local building David Humphreys in Wisbech high street, he tells me that 22 years ago he put in the wooden frame to keep the walls up either side of Cooks after the building fell down. This building was then left empty so long that the wood rotted, and a steel frame had to be put in (as shown in the photo below).  Over 22 years on - it is not a typo it really is 22 years not 22 months! - and this building is still an empty shell.  Opposite, scaffolding has been up for 6 years on No 11 without the landlord taking any action to sort it out.  This is in the heart of the town next to the market square.  Residents and tourists to Wisbech, and traders in the shops next door, have had to put up with the state of these buildings for far too long. 

So well done to Fenland District Council for taking action to sort out the building at No 11 & 12 in the high street, which is now at risk of collapse. This episode though shines a damning light on the issue of absentee landlords leaving properties in a derelict state.  The Labour Government wants to give some of these dodgy landlords a reward in the form of a cash handout (see my blog on the £400K being offered to them in Littleport).
 
Any high street has to be atrractive to compete and bring people in to shop in town. Small shops face enough challenges as it is, and the Conservative Party will bring forward positive proposals to support them - in particular making the small business rate relief automatic.  It is often the third most significant overhead for small shops yet many don’t claim it because of the bureaucracy involved, and this paperwork will be scrapped.  Yet good though this scheme will be alongside our proposed cut in small company corporation tax, we also need to help local groups like WisARD (Wisbech Area Regeneration & DevelopmentTrust) who want the town to look its best. 

Locally a great deal of excellent work has been done on schemes like Anglia in Bloom which make a real difference.  But this work should not be hampered by landlords - often living miles away - who care little for the state in which buildings are left.  Wisbech has wonderful architecture, and we need to treasure and protect it.  If existing legislation makes acting against these landlords expensive and difficult, we should streamline it.  We must be able to track the landlords down via the Land Registry as owners of the land.  They have an asset in terms of the value of that land which action can be taken against.  Alternatively we should look to assist those entrepreneurs who want to bring these buildings back to life.  Without a change, we risk Cooks or a similar building still being a shell in another 22 years time and shops with scaffold outside for 6 years at a time.  Surely residents should be able to expect a clear timescale for such issues to be resolved?

Pictured below are the Cooksons building which remains a shell, and work being undertaken after Fenland District Council stepped in to act on Nos 11 & 12.

Posted in Fenland District Council, Wisbech | No Comments »