katie says – Katie Thornburrow

I’m your candidate for Petersfield

I’m pleased to say that the Petersfield ward has chosen me to seek re-election as the city councillor, and I’m standing in the local elections on Thursday May 4.

When I was first elected to Cambridge City Council in 2018 I promised people three things: that I would fight fairly for my arguments and always listen to and work with people from all sides of the political arena; that I’d stay in touch, even when I couldn’t sort a problem; and that I’d be here all year round, not just at election times. I believe I’ve fulfilled these promises, and if re-elected in May I will continue to live up to them.

Within the ward that means representing residents when a much-loved tree was threatened, finding funds for benches, bee banks and hedge replacement, and listening carefully to all sides on controversial issues like Mill Road bridge.

I’ve helped limit the number of builders’ lorries moving through our streets, and even got a major planning application near the station revised because it didn’t allow for walking or cycling.

And I’ve worked across the region to highlight the water crisis, helped develop the emerging local plan, and supported the consultation on the sustainable travel zone.

I hope that you’ll support me on May 4, so that I can continue to work with my fellow councillors for everyone in Petersfield, as Labour delivers One Cambridge Fair for All.

Welcome to 2023

As we look forward to the year ahead, the challenges facing us may feel enormous, but as ward councillor for Petersfield and executive for planning and infrastructure on Cambridge City Council, I can promise that I will be working hard with my fellow Labour city councillors, colleagues on Cambridgeshire County Council, our Labour mayor of the Combined Authority, and Labour MP Daniel Zeichner to do everything in our power to deliver our promise of one Cambridge, fair for all.

For me, I’ll be focused on developing the new local plan, dealing with the consultation around the sustainable travel zone, continuing to raise awareness of the need to balance development goals with preservation of the environment and water supply, and dealing with the many issues that come as a ward councillor. But I’m sure that other things will come up.. they always do.

So here’s to 2023 and all that it offers.

Don’t forget the young trees!

We’ve been planting lots of trees around Cambridge, and we want them all to thrive. But in this hot period the ground is dry and they are suffering.

So I’ve started filling old plastic bottles with water and taking them to some of the trees in the area – and it would be great if more people did the same. There are signs on the ones that our tree officers think are most in need.

#StopRwanda

The great people at Care4Calais are fighting to stop Government plans to forcibly send refugees to Rwanda, a cruel and inhumane policy that I absolutely oppose.

Apart from the many issues around sending people to a country that they have no connection to, anyone sent to Rwanda will no longer be inside the UK asylum system, so if their application for asylum fails in Rwanda they won’t come back here – they will be sent somewhere else by the Rwanda government.

Yesterday I wore my #StopRwanda t-shirt around Cambridge, and I’ll be working with Cambridge Labour to do what we can to get this plan cancelled.

Katie cycling in her t-shirt. The message reads “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the opppressor”

You can buy your t-shirt directly from Care4Calais at
https://shop.care4calais.org/product/stop-rwanda-t-shirt-mens/

Thinking about sustainable homes

Today is a lovely, sunny autumn day, and I had a long walk with a good friend, the wonderful artist and County Councillor Hilary Cox Condron, discussing all things sustainable. Everything from hedgehogs to the emerging local plan, and what we can do as local politicians (or not) and in our own lives too.

Hilary is going to start to make her home more sustainable and I’m going to give some advice, starting with measuring what the footprint is first – actually measuring up the home and using the utility bills – then look at reducing energy 20% every year.

A few years ago I wrote a guide to making homes and buildings more sustainable, and I thought it would be worth sharing with Hilary and anyone else, so I’m publishing it here

Katies’ Guide to Becoming More Sustainable

Visiting a Building Site in Petersfield

Since I became a ward councillor for Petersfield I’ve been getting to know the area again, as it has changed a lot since I last lived here over two decades ago. One of the most obvious changes has been the growth in office buildings, especially around the rail station, and so I’ve made a special effort to talk to developers and builders, and to visit sites where I can.

This morning I was at a new office development on Station Road, and got to see the building from basement to the roof – wearing all the appropriate safety equipment, and carefully following the site manager’s guidance of course.

I wanted to know more about traffic management plans and how the developers/builders used them, to see if there are ways we can improve things.. I also asked about how residents contacted the contractors with issues regarding noise, dust, and deliveries and how they could work to minimise disruption.

This is important because works to demolish buildings and to excavate for basements can be very disruptive for residents. How things are planned and how residents are kept informed can make a big difference.

Some contractors are very good at this – joining residents groups with regular updates, leafleting homes nearby before disruption is expected, responding quickly if residents and businesses asks for quiet periods or extra protection, and we can encourage this best practice

While there I also learned about the recent concrete availability problems, and saw even more evidence of workers moving to EU countries where there is significant demand for their skills. We can’t do much about this at council level but it’s important we understand the wider framework within which development takes place in Petersfield and across Cambridge.

I hope the people I talked to on site appreciate the interest that we take in what they are doing, and that it helps them understand more about the city and about the needs of residents who have to live with the building activity and the buildings themselves.

Labour Support for Local Business

I was at the Labour Party conference last week, and one of my highlights was hearing our Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves commit to spending the billions of pounds each year we need to manage a just and rapid transition to a zero-carbon society.

I was also impressed that Rachel said that a Labour government would “scrap the current system of business rates and replace it with a fairer way of business taxation – fit for the 21st century.”

How business rates work might seem abstract and unconnected to daily life, but it’s something we are very concerned with on the city council, because it directly affects the amount of money we have to spend (https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/finance-and-business-rates/local-taxation-council-tax-and-business-rates) and directly affects the choices made by the many local businesses that are based here.

Local shops, for example, from the historic centre to shopping centres like the Beehive or Grafton, or the many local shops on Mill Road, are facing the double challenge of coping with Covid-19 and dealing with the growth of online shopping. More shops are empty; many are struggling. We need to find a fairer way for them to contribute.

Other local businesses, found in offices all across the city, are also feeling the pressure. I know how hard it is, as I have my own architecture business. Some, like the IT, biotech and communications companies, have managed to cope or even improve their performance, but the vast majority have faced hard times and need help now.

The city council has helped, with business rates relief on smaller premises, and even offered additional business support grants between November 2020 and May 2021 for those not covered by national schemes. However, because the rateable value of a shop or office is based on an estimate of the open market rental value a property could achieve on a specified date, the high rents in the city mean that business rates are also very high.

That’s why the new policy announced by the Shadow Chancellor matters. As a city council we can do some things to help, and we can encourage people to shop locally, but it takes action by central government – by a Labour government – to make real change happen so that businesses get the support they need and local government gets the funding it needs.

As we revitalise our city and shopping areas, business tax reform is a key way to keep our businesses viable and help new ones open, with decent well-paid jobs for all.

If you’re a small business, the current small business relief and any additional relief is on the website here https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/business-rate-relief-and-exemptions

Celebrating Co Farm and supporting Cambridge Sustainable Food

I had a wonderful time last night on Marmalade Lane celebrating the fantastic produce from Co Farm and the work of Cambridge Sustainable Food, with a vegan feast made by Sam Dyer and Alex Collis with help from a number of volunteers

The plant-based menu used food grown by Cambridge’s first Community Farm, and after the meal we heard from Cofarm, Cambridge Sustainable Food and K1 Co Housing.

Eating outside, wearing masks where necessary, and looking after each other, we all felt safe to enjoy a great community event

Thanks to the wonderful Hilary Cox Condron for the photos- I was having too good a time to take any!

A group of people sitting at a table outdoors with an awning and lights. Katie is at the centre, in a red dress

Katie and Hilary looking at the camera and smiling broadly.

Alex Collis in a kitchen with two plates of delicious food

The menu for the evening:
Persian mint cordial
chard and cream cheese puffs
roast pumpkin with hazelnuts and smoked oil
Savoury baklava wirth co-farm salad
celery leaf, fennel top and carrot top salsa verde
brown sugare apple pavloval with pistachio caramel

The last few days of campaigning

The local elections are on May 6, and the Labour teams are still out around Cambridge talking to residents, delivering our leaflets, and working for your vote. I was delivering in Glenalmond this weekend, and I’ll be out in other parts of Petersfield today.

To find out more about how we’re delivering for communities here Cambridge take a look at our manifesto online at https://cambridgelabour.org.uk/manifesto-2021/

The Last Six Months

The period since March has been among the most challenging any of will us ever have known. I know how much the pandemic has affected my family and my work, and I hope that everyone has been able to cope. My sympathies go out to everyone who has been ill, or who may have lost loved ones.

Like many of you I have been busy doing what I can to support those who have been badly affected, in Trumpington Ward and across Cambridge.

I worked with residents and other councillors to set up the trumpington.info online hub to share information and provide a focal point for volunteering

Katie in a mask and visor at the food hub

After spending time working at Abbey Food Hub I initiated a similar offer for Trumpington, which has been open in the Pavilion since May 5, initially for two afternoons a week but currently on Fridays only. Over the last twenty weeks we have provided hundreds of families with access to much-needed food. The Food Poverty Alliance has used funding from the City Council and Cambridge United to buy food from Fairshare, and we have also had generous donations from local businesses and residents.

Life on the City Council has been very different as all our meetings are now online. This has had the welcome side effect of making them more accessible to councillors with caring obligations, and I plan to make sure that we retain online access even after we go back into the Guildhall.

I am now the City Council lead for a local action group seeking to establish whether the ‘doughnut economics’ model would be useful for our long term planning. Doughnut economics combines the ideas of planetary and social boundaries to provide a framework for sustainable development shaped like a ring doughnut.

This is an idea that has been growing in importance and has been adopted by many cities around the world, including Amsterdam. I believe it offers us a way to plan for a sustainable world, and will be one of the ways we will come through these difficult days.