Redundancies will not stop Neighbourhood Panels

EAST Cambridgeshire’s popular Neighbourhood Panels WILL continue to run despite recent redundancies, it has been confirmed.

Fears that the tri-monthly community forums were to be scrapped amid council budget cuts were allayed by the district council this week after it confirmed that the meetings would continue to run.

The council did confirm however, that the panel’s co-ordinator Alan Williams, had been made redundant.

The district council also wrote to parish councils across the district, asking for contributions of �150 per year to help fund the meetings.

Andrew Killington, deputy chief executive, said: “The council firmly believes in Neighbourhood Panels as a very good way of engaging and working with local communities and partner organisations to take action on the issues that are important to them. It will be business as usual as far as the administration of panels is concerned and we look forward to the next series of meetings in June and beyond.”

Neighbourhood Panels were first introduced in the district in 2006 as a result of an initiative started by the Government the previous year and the idea was quickly taken on by Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

A pilot Neighbourhood Panel ran in the Soham and east area for a year until October, 2007. The pilot was deemed a success and was extended across the district to form five area Neighbourhood Panels.

Each panel is made up of parish, district and county councillors along with residents and police officers.

Residents are encouraged to raise their own issues of concern and discussions about crime, anti-social behaviour, health, environment, transport, highways, housing and children are regularly tackled.