Going for Gold - next steps

Action for the Community

We believe the Council's services to the community should provide maximum benefit for the maximum number of people, whilst focusing particularly on people who are most in need. To achieve this we are rethinking the way the Council targets its resources and the benefits are starting to show.

What we've done so far

taken action against crime and the fear of crime working through the Community Safety Partnership with the police, probation services and other agencies to develop new ways to divert and deter potential offenders, and deliver appropriate punishment; and providing community services such as City and Reccy Rangers; introduction of the 'nightbus' to get young people home safely at night; improved CCTV at car parks and at Arbury Court; initiatives on anti-social behaviour such as aggressive begging, criminal damage, racism and graffiti; and action on bicycle theft and burglary
provided free swimming lessons for all Cambridge schools and free after school swimming for all holders of The Card
restored the successful and popular Children's Festival
committed funds for development of a Community Centre in East Chesterton in partnership with local people
funded new Adventure Play equipment at Nuns Way, and made plans for the replacement of Arbury Adventure Play Ground
funded a Reccy Ranger to work on Jesus Green and the central green areas
funded improvements of the Cherry Hinton sports pavilion
funded additional sessions of The Dec youth bus.
held an on-line consultation on the Youth Budget involving all 11-16 year olds in the city, and allocated £15,000 to the most favoured projects.
protected grants budgets for economic development, leisure and the voluntary sector from annual savings targets instituted by Labour
allocated funding for new skateboard facilities at Jesus Green and Parkside pools after consultation with young people.
contributed capital funding towards school sports facilities at Chesterton, Coleridge and St. Bedes
championed the public by holding an Inquiry into the issue of telecommunications masts and developing a policy for Cambridge
moved the Employment Foundation Scheme, providing community training in a wide range of basic skills, into decent premises, to allow it to expand and flourish

Next Steps

As well as continuing our current programmes, resources now committed in the budget will allow us to:

continue to develop and improve the city's community centres, including achieving a successful transition to a Healthy Living Centre at the Buchan Street community centre
promote better use of open spaces, including more new events, and further improvement of events such as Party on the Piece
continue the programme of play area refurbishment and provision of new play facilities in liaison with local people
develop the work of the Youth Participation Service through secure funding for the Youth Development Officer and extension of the programme to include 10-11 year olds
continue work on tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, engaging with both victims and offenders in a positive way; and helping to reduce the fear of crime by bringing Council services closer to the community. We will continue to tackle anti-social behaviour, criminal damage, graffiti, burglary, vehicle and cycle theft, substance abuse and violent and hate crime, to reduce fear of crime and to improve support for victims of crime.
In particular we will work with police to target prevention work with teenagers, especially to reduce criminal damage to vehicles and property; improve support for parents; improve security at car parks and for cyclists; tackle violence by working with licensees of pubs; support police initiatives on domestic violence; help reduce the vulnerability of victims of violent crime, particularly focusing on frequent victims such as young people, ethnic minorities, foreign language students and gay people; improve lighting in common areas of council housing blocks; start a priority programme to tackle the backlog of fence repairs in council housing
improve services and facilities for disabled people by increasing consultation; support for the Disability Consultative Panel as advisors to the Council; increased grant fund for disabled access; improvements to specialist equipment at Parkside and Abbey Pools; support for community transport schemes and for the Sport Eq programme; increased funding for provision of dropped kerbs and for the Disabled Access grant fund
promote the arts across the city through the emerging Arts Strategy, and improve facilities at the Corn Exchange
give support to community shops and Post Offices to ensure convenient access for all residents

Published by Keith Edkins on behalf of Cambridge Liberal Democrats © March 2002
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