PR0752 Proposed Prohibition of Heavy Commercial Vehicles – B1040 at Hilton

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This is the next step in the current Local Highways Improvement project to achieve a 24hr HGV ban on the B1040 through Hilton.

Cambridgeshire County Council is publishing this proposal on 24th November 2021. For further details please visit their permanent traffic regulation orders page and select PR0752.

The effect of this Order will be to introduce a Prohibition of Heavy Commercial Vehicles at all times on B1040 Potton Road and St Ives Road at Hilton, between Hemingford Grey/Fenstanton and Papworth Everard. At present that length of road is subject to the same prohibition, but only during the hours of 11pm and 7am.

If you wish to make any comments they should be submitted in writing, as explained in the public notice, to be received no later than 17th December 2021.

Hilton Parish Council would like to urge all parishioners to comment in support of this application, in writing, to Steve Cox, Executive Director, Place & Economy, or alternatively

Steve Cox,

Executive Director, Place and Economy,

c/o Policy and Regulation, Box No.D8E,

Huntingdon Highways Depot,

Stanton Way,

Huntingdon

PE29 6PY

Footpaths & Bridleways

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We are very lucky in Hilton to be surrounded by a network of footpaths and bridleways, leading to some lovely walks. Unfortunately, a small minority of people are straying from the established paths and walking around, and sometimes even across, farmer’s fields. Many fields have a grass margin in the headlands, but these are for wildlife corridors and not to be used as footpaths. Please stick to the signposted footpaths and bridleways and enjoy your walk!

Enhanced Response Area status vital to protect NHS and vital services

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Communication from Cambridgeshire County Council:

Local leaders have welcomed the announcement that, following an approach from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Councils, the Government has agreed that both areas will become an Enhanced Response Area for tackling the Covid pandemic from Monday.

They have pledged to use it to push for additional measures and resources to drive down recent rises in Covid-19 infection and to protect vulnerable people, the NHS and other vital services as the winter months approach.

Rising rates in older people coupled with building pressures on local health and education services led to the Councils who are both responsible for public health to ask Government to grant the whole area ‘enhanced response area’ status for at least five weeks from Monday November 1 – to bring down infection rates which are currently higher in most areas than seen in January’s peak.

An application by Jyoti Atri the area’s joint Director of Public Health – supported by lead politicians and local health partners – for Enhanced Response Area status was agreed by Government today.

The ERA status allows us to push for additional support to:

  • Accelerate and target 12-15 vaccination roll out to key areas and schools where infections are highest
  • Accelerate booster vaccinations for eligible groups who have had their second vaccination more than six months ago
  • Increase vaccination rate in areas with the lowest uptake

In addition, as part of ERA status the area will enter into further discussions with the DfE about additional measures it can use in schools, but in the meantime it will continue to:

  • Encourage secondary school teachers or pupils who are household contacts of positive cases to take daily LFT tests
  • Continue with advice given to schools before the half term that face coverings should be worn in secondary school communal areas, and that meetings happen virtually where possible
  • Encourage anyone who is a household contact of a positive case to take daily rapid tests,  until a negative PCR test is received

For the general population a government funded additional communications push will also begin from next week

  • Recommending wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed areas where you come into contact with people you do not usually meet’
  • Reminding people to get their vaccinations, test regularly and particularly before attending events, meet with others outside their households in well ventilated spaces and wash hands regularly and well

“A rising rate of infections particularly in our older population meant I had to make this application now,” said Jyoti Atri, Director of Public Health for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. “This increase starting to build in our 60+ age groups, coupled with low vaccination rates in some parts of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – means   pressure is building on our local health services. This is exacerbated by increased levels of Covid infections in the general population, and staff being unable to work because they are infected or isolating. If unchecked, this will also impact on health care for other non Covid needs.

“If we all do more now – together we can reduce pressure before worst effects of winter really begin.”

“We are taking leadership locally now to protect lives and the health of local people, acting quickly in response to the expert advice given by our Public Health officials and recognising the seriousness that local trends have highlighted,” said Cllr Richard Howitt, Chair of the Council’s Adults and Health Committee. “I fully support the steps our Director of Public Health has taken and our County Council will do everything both to push for the resources to which this new status entitles us and to do everything to help implement new measures in response.

Cllr Howitt added: “Our vital public services – not just the health services, but the education of children in our schools – is starting to be severely affected by the rising rates of infection, with children missing their lessons or schools needing to close classes or even whole year groups because there aren’t a safe level of adults present due to isolation.”

“The Enhanced status will further enable measures across the whole population that we know can work to slow down infection rates and were working earlier in the year. I hope this will be a wake-up call to anyone locally who believes the pandemic is over, and urge people to take notice of what is being recommended very seriously indeed.”

Hilton Speedwatch Needs Your Help!

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Hilton Speedwatch is looking for volunteers to join their group. The Community Speedwatch scheme trains volunteers from members of the community to get actively involved in monitoring the speed of vehicles travelling through their neighbourhood. It is used in areas where speeding has been identified as a priority at quarterly neighbourhood panel meetings.

Community Speedwatch is operated by Cambridgeshire Constabulary in partnership with your local council and other agencies. The scheme itself is run by the Police and the community volunteers supported by the County coordinator.

If you would like further information, please contact the Clerk at

 

CAPASP Scam Warning

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Emails impersonating UK supermarkets and high street stores

Fake marketing surveys promising gift cards of up to £100 for filling them out have been impersonating the likes of ASDA, Morrisons and Tesco. Fraudsters have been posing as these well-known supermarkets in order to gain your trust and send you on to potentially dangerous websites.

ASDA phishing email

This email is designed to make you follow the link by promising a large reward in return for doing very little – a common phishing tactic. But this ‘survey’ is not being run by ASDA.

Morrisons phishing email

Using the same tactics, the fake Morrisons version promises a £90 reward.

Tesco phishing email

The Tesco phishing email is just like the Morrisons one with different logos. Tesco has a dedicated email for customers to forward phishing emails to: . It also has a guide on how to identify scam emails posing as the brand.

Now, according to the organisation “Which”, which has been highlighting this issue recently (and alerting the companies concerned), emails are circulating promising Primark gift card ‘rewards’, these are fake and have absolutely nothing to do with the high street store.

Primark phishing email

As is often the case, the phishing email is promising big rewards for doing very little – in this case  ‘Primark Rewards’ in the form of a gift card for £1,384 – saying that you need to ‘activate the delivery’ in order to receive them. But clicking through on scam emails like these is only likely to send you on to potentially dangerous websites that could compromise your personal information and/or bank details.

The email even attempts to deceive you by including ‘your account information’, which may appear legitimate at first glance, but on closer inspection only contains information that’s part of your email address.

“Which” has produced a couple of useful guides about spotting scams and how to try to get your money back:

Guide: how to spot a scam

Guide: how to get your money back after a scam

Think you may have lost money to a scam email? Let your bank know what’s happened immediately, the sooner the better.

You can forward phishing emails to .

As noted above, Tesco has its own dedicated email, so you could forward the phishing email to it as well.

Cambridgeshire County Council Annual Travel to Work Survey

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Employees can win a £50 Amazon voucher if they take part in Cambridgeshire County Council’s annual travel to work survey.

The survey helps Smart Journeys (a project co-led by the council which supports the delivery of sustainable travel) understand how residents across the county are travelling to work and how many days they are now working from home in a post-pandemic environment.

The survey asks employees travelling in and around Cambridgeshire how they travel to work during a typical one week period. The closing date to complete it was due to be Sunday, 24 October but has now been extended for another week to last until 31 October.

The survey takes approximately five minutes to complete and a summary of the results will be available for participants to download after the closing date. Data provided will also be used by Smart Journeys to help influence future transport decisions, include public transport improvements across the county.

The survey will also highlight a workplace grant scheme to help employers improve cycle security which may be a barrier to staff cycling to work. The scheme has been launched by the Greater Cambridge Partnership and is part of their programme of work to support sustainable modes of travel and reduce car use.

To take part in the survey, visit: .

CAPASP Newsletter

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Welcome to October’s Newsletter!

With the nights drawing in, we thought it might be a good idea this month to highlight the work that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Trading Standards does to tackle rogue traders. We’ve got some good news about a new scam website reporting service and, if you ever wondered what a “money mule” is, you’ve come to the right place!

Partner in the Spotlight

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Trading Standards has seen an increase in rogue trading incidents in recent years and its officers work with Cambridgeshire Police to tackle rogue trading by sharing intelligence and assisting each other with investigations.

The victims are often the most vulnerable in our community and the impact on them is immense. Many are targeted over a period of years and some rogue traders acquire a huge income from this type of work.

Rogue trading ranges from poor quality work and high pressure sales to organised crime gangs targeting the elderly and vulnerable on a daily basis, often demanding large amounts of money by threats and intimidation, sometimes without even doing any work.

Kirsty from Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Trading Standards has the following tips if you are looking to have work carried out on your property:

Do:

  • Get recommendations from a someone you trust (friend, family, neighbour)
  • Always obtain a written quotation and aim to obtain at least three written quotations
  • Take time to consider the quotations
  • Ask for the trader’s ID and carry out your own checks to establish if they are genuine (never phone a number that they have provided you with to verify their identity)

Don’t:

  • Agree to work offered by someone who cold calls you without carrying out your own research into their business or whether to work is actually needed
  • Pay cash up front
  • Feel pressured into agreeing work

To find reputable traders, visit our CAPASP partner Safe Local Trades https://www.safelocaltrades.com/ or Buy with Confidence https://www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk/ .

Trading Standards would urge you to contact their advice partners at the Citizens Advice Consumer Service in relation to suspected rogue trader incidents or suspicious activities.

Doing this ensures that the information is recorded on the national complaints’ database. Where appropriate, a copy of the complaint is passed to both the consumer’s local Trading Standards Service and the trader’s local Trading Standards Service if the trader’s address is known.

The Citizens Advice Consumer Service can be contacted on 0808 223 1133 during office hours Monday to Friday, or visit https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer where an online form is available.

If you think you, or someone you know, has been targeted by rogue traders, you can also report it to the Police on 101 (if it’s after the event) or on 999 if the incident is still occurring, or the traders are coming back to collect money.

New scam website reporting service

The public will be able to help in the fight against malicious cyber criminals thanks to a NEW scam website reporting service.

The website reporting tool is an online form: Report a suspicious website – NCSC.GOV.UK and is the latest way in which the public can help the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) counter online scams: last year, the NCSC created the pioneering Suspicious Email Reporting Service where the public can forward suspected scam emails to: .

As of 30th September, the number of reports received by the NCSC stands at more than 7,700,000 with the removal of more than 64,000 scams and 119,000 URLs.

Phishing: how to report to the NCSC – NCSC.GOV.UK

It’s not cool to be a money mule

If you’ve recently settled your son or daughter at university, it might be a good idea to warn them about unsolicited offers of work that pop up on their social media feeds, as Karen from CAPASP discussed recently with Jeremy Sallis on his show (5th October, 12.30pm):  BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – Jeremy Sallis, Labour Pains

Criminals entice young people with the offer of quick cash in return for letting their bank accounts be used for the purposes of laundering money. Young people could find themselves with a criminal record, have their bank accounts closed and find it difficult to get credit or student loans in future.

Money mules – what are they and could you fall victim? (moneyadviceservice.org.uk)
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Village Sign Restoration Progress Update

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Read more

Streetworks

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A contractor, on behalf of BT Open Reach, is currently installing ducting for superfast broadband in the village. They are currently on Fenstanton Road and will be moving along the Green and the High Street. This work is being carried out using temporary traffic lights which may add to your journey times.

Open Spaces Management Contract

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Hilton Parish Council is inviting contractors to tender for the contract to manage the open spaces belonging to Hilton Parish Council. Detailed information can be found on the following documents:

Hilton Green Spaces – Environmental Management Plan-05-October 1-2021

HGS-Village Map-A2-11-Extract

Interested applicants should contact the Clerk with the following information:

• A letter introducing the company.

• Cost per year to the Parish Council of the contract as a whole excluding VAT, for each of the three initial years of the contract, and an indication of future costs should the contract be extended.

• A breakdown of costs covering the rate for each job at each site, including associated costs such as off-site disposal of grass, and an hourly rate for each type of work.

• Copies of all relevant and necessary licences and certificates.

• Copies of all necessary insurance documents, including the value of Public Liability insurance held.

• Current relevant staff numbers, including any specific qualifications (e.g. chainsaw licence holder) and indicating if any further people would be employed should the contract be awarded.

• A current relevant equipment list indicating any equipment that would be purchased should the contract be awarded. Particular attention should be paid to highlighting any rechargeable electric equipment.

• Company details – including but not limited to how long the company has been in operation.

• Examples of current and previous work, including contact details for at least two references to be taken up.

• An indication of willingness to take on the potential additions to the contract.

• Details of any of the possible ad hoc jobs the company is unwilling or unable to undertake.

• Any further information the company feels would be relevant to the bid.