The term of office for 60 of the 61 members of Cambridgeshire County Council is effectively over. Fresh elections will take place on May 6.
For one, of course, his time as a councillor, and that of a tenant of the council farms estate, ended abruptly and simultaneously some weeks earlier.
Roger Hickford resigned as deputy council leader and member for Sawston and Shelford on February 26.
It was ahead of a decision to be taken by his former council colleagues over whether to release a report of an investigation into his tenancy and interactions with the county farms team.
Tory Party chiefs, whilst confident of retaining control, have learned from past experience -including that of 2013 when UKIP delivered an extraordinary electoral blow – not to be complacent.
Labour councillor Jocelynne Scutt put forward the motion, and said: “We must adopt this motion if we are to treat all of our workers fairly”.
“There will be Cambridgeshire County Council workers who are visitors to food banks. Some of our employees are food insecure. That it is our obligation to acknowledge,” she said, adding “all workers should be paid a wage that meets everyone’s everyday needs”.
Conservative councillor Josh Schumann was one of a number of councillors who argued against the commitment.
Cllr Schumann said an “impartial” briefing note provided by council officers said: “If the council were to become a real living wage employer we would have to sign up to any future pay increases that are yet unknown”.
One of many parts of Cambridgeshire affected by flooding over Christmas and January.
- Credit: Reader
Gully cleaning across Cambridgeshire is to be “substantially increased” by the county council as an early response to more than 700 people who wrote in to report flood issues.
It was the third wettest spell on records - many parts of the county felt it too
- Credit: Archant
And they will be working with those who filed complaints to identify “poorly maintained watercourses”.
The scale of the problem was discussed during a virtual meeting on February 3 that brought together many of the agencies involved in flood management.