County Councillor Susan van de Ven

Matthew Lane Sanderson is a designer, metalsmith and sculptor based in Horningsea, Cambridge. He began making ‘Focal Points’ for permanent displays and temporary exhibitions in 1994 and has become well known for producing highly crafted, unique and ingenious works in original settings.

Matthew believes that ‘Public Art’ is more successful when people can discern that skill and honest hard work have been employed coupled with originality.

Locally, you can see his work with the entrance gates to St Faith’s School in Trumpington Road, Cambridge and the magnificent clock seen at the corner of Trumpington Street/Benet Street at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Matthew is happy to meet people in his studio, but please call and book an appointment. See his website for more information and to see more of his splendid work. www.sanderson-sculpture.com

Melbourn’s New Road Cemetery gates by Matthew Lane Sanderson

Most things council-related have a common theme: there’s a lot chasing up of requests and a lot of waiting involved. Budgets are usually ring-fenced and often depleted, so finding the resources we need to solve problems is not always as straightforward as one might expect. So apologies for what must seem like a trail of ongoing issues pulled along by a determined tortoise.

In Melbourn there is a detectable buzz, with the development of the Village Plan and so many village clubs and organizations working away. The Village Website seems to be bursting at the seams with notices of activity of all sorts.

At last, we have a School Crossing Patrol Officer, in the High Street at the top of The Moor. This post had been vacant for a very long time and it is great to see the crossing properly covered once again. Our previous, well-loved ‘Lollipop Man’, George Crouch, who lived in Shepreth sadly passed away last December.

Residents continue to struggle with pavements and roads in poor states of repair. It is understood that the County Council is already dipping into next year’s budget for pot holes and there is no long term plan to move beyond the status quo. It is vital to keep account of areas in need of repair, so please continue to call or write in with your concerns.

For anyone seeking compensation for damage to vehicles due to defects in the road, please write to Mick Oakman, Area Maintenance Manager, Box No ET1030, Highways, Station Road, Whittlesford, CB2 4NL. There is more information about this on the County Council website at: http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/ roads/highways/if+you+decide+to+claim.htm.

At the County Council, £41 million has just been borrowed to help tackle the Guided Bus overspend. Meanwhile small but important improvements in villages like the still-awaited double yellow lines in Station Road are falling on the shoulders of parish councils because Highways has not been allocated enough County funds to deal with these routine jobs.

At the Melbourn and District Library Access Point, the Under Fives Story Time on Thursday mornings (10–10:45, in term time) continues to thrive. With their parents in tow, more people have been discovering this wonderful local resource. A librarybased book group and a writing group have been suggested - please get in touch if you would be interested in either one. There are some great books on the shelves, many in large print and plenty of audio books too. Any item can be ordered by phone

or email from the Cambridgeshire system and will be delivered to Melbourn for you to collect. Ring 0345 045 5225 or look at the on-line catalogue at: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries.

Behind the scenes, the library committee is working hard to coordinate action with the Parish Council on relocating to permanent premises. The old police station site was sold some time ago to a housing association and there is a vision of a modest community room within any new housing which would replace the existing structures. Such a community building could house a library. The Library Committee is grateful to the Parish Council for taking an active role in exploring this and other possibilities for library relocation.

Rail service: An independent Rail User Group for our cluster of local stations – Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton has now been established, with good representation from Melbourn and all villages accessing these stations. A full account of our discussions and priorities has been published on the Melbourn Village Website. Our next meeting is June 16th 8PM, at Foxton Village Hall. Please come along, whether to contribute ideas or just to listen.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Problem Solving Group: This has been one of the most worthwhile and promising efforts I’ve been involved with over the course of the year, and I’d like to say thanks to a very committed team of members. Our work has been about taking a problem and turning it into an opportunity. We are liaising with youth workers at the Village College on activities for young people in the village; a gardening project has been taking place at Vicarage Close, with labour provided by Melbourn Village College students and plants via a generous £660 grant from Philimore’s nursery. (A good portion of that grant will be spent on further work in other parts of the village.) We have met with the College Warden, Elaine Stephenson, and there is a consensus that with a bit of coordination many more good projects for young people in the community can be undertaken. We have developed excellent communication with the police.

Please get in touch any time to report any issue or concern and I will try to help: Tel 261833, or susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk. I continue to send out a monthly email newsletter, so please let me know if you’d like to receive it. Susan van de Ven

Putting you in control of your social care

A new approach to social care introduced by Cambridgeshire County Council and its NHS partners means individuals can now choose the help they need to meet their social care needs.

Self-Directed Support involves identifying and allocating a Personal Budget – an upfront allocation of funding for eligible individuals to plan how to meet their social care needs and to achieve their personal goals.

Help is available at every stage, from completing the initial assessment to producing a support plan to show how the money will be spent and managing the budget. This can be taken as a Direct Payment or left with the County Council to manage on behalf of the individual service user.

If you think you are eligible for social care support you should call Cambridgeshire Direct on 0345 045 5202.

For more information about SelfDirected Support see the County Council website at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/ social or by calling the number above.