The Neighbourhood Panels are public meetings where Parish, District and County Councillors meet to discuss issues affecting a particular area. Bill, Andy and Ian attended the October meeting of the West Area Panel which covers the area west of Ely between Little Thetford, Little Downham, Mepal and Haddenham.
Towards the end of the meeting we were able to raise the issue of the missing link between Witchford and Witcham Toll along the A142. There was pretty much unanimous support for the project. However the County Councillor present was unwilling to push for funds for the project but gave not reason why. When pressed on the use of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund he said “Well then we’ll need to find the funds for the other projects” referring to projects the LSTF may have been used for instead. When it was pointed out that in fact it was more to do with priorities he didn’t comment. The leader of ECDC was present at the meeting but failed to bring any pressure on the County Councillor to provide infrastructure for East Cambridgeshire rather than it going elsewhere.
After the meeting had ended we were approached by ECDC officers who asked about the Travel for Work Partnership scheme which the coubcil is now a part of. We were also approached by a Little Thetford Parish Councillor who asked for our help in getting the path along the A10 to Little Thetford widened.