New Buses

Yesterday I travelled on one of the new buses that Stagecoach has bought to run on the guided busway. The busway itself is making slow progress, which is unfortunate, but in the meantime Stagecoach are running their new fleet on a number of routes around Cambridge, including the 15. It was a great improvement on the old buses that we are used to. It has air conditioning and free wi-fi (not that I had my laptop with me), but I did see someone making use of it. The seats are also This goes towards making Cambridge one the the greenest public transport cities in the country.

Over Pharmacy

One of the first letters waiting for me when I came home after a recent spell in hospital was a letter from the Primary Care Trust advising that an appeal against their decision to refuse permission for a pharmacy had been allowed by the NHS Litigation Authority. I have been in touch with Over Surgery to offer any support that I can. In the meantime I wrote to the said Litigation Authority asking a number of questions. Specifically I wanted to know why nobody apart from the surgery appeared to have been advised of the appeal and therefore given no opportunity to comment. I also wanted to know whether anyone had visited Over before making a decision. I received a reply this morning. Apparently once the Litigation Authority has made a decision, it refuses to enter into any further correspondence and they therefore merely enclosed a copy of the decision, which is less than helpful. It appears that profit carries more weight than people when it comes to deciding whether we need a pharmacy or not. The cynic in me says that this is hardly the caring Labour government that we are continually promised.
I fear that there is very little that we, as local residents, or I, as an elected representative can do, but I will raise the prinicple of the way this decision was reached with Jim Paice, our MP, and ask that he speaks to the Department of Health.

Longstanton Bypass

It sometimes seems that in sorting one problem another is created. the Longstanton bypass has brought a welcome relief from the many thousands of cars that used to travel through the village, but it has created a problem for cyclists, who have lost a direct route from Over to Longstanton. As part of the Home Farm Development a cycleway will be created through the estate, but that now seems a long way off.

So as a temporary solution a new footpath has been created adjacent to the bypass and which links in to the Over Road in Longstanton. It is very much a temporary measure and has only been created from road planings, but it is much better than nothing and will enable cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders to have a safer and more pleasant journey between the two villages.