Cllr James Hockney LLB (Hons)

I was delighted to formally open Waterbeach Post Office at the Village Stores at the
weekend. The new owners of the Village Stores has rejuvenated the shop and the addition of the Post Office will only surely help.

The Post Office move was prompted by the national modernisation programme that is taking place across the country. One of the fundamental aims is to ensure that smaller Post Offices survive by merging with an existing shop. The Village Stores coming forward to run the Post Office was very welcome as it was becoming clear that the Post Office on its own would not be viable.

The Post Office network have over 11,500 branches across the UK. During this and the last Parliament nearly £2billion was committed to make sure there is no programme of Post Office closures and to update branches;

The transformation is to also ensure modern, easily accessible Post Office branches with longer opening hours.

The very best of luck to the new home of the Waterbeach Post Office.

Great news – following the ‘Shop Local’ business summit last month, South Cambridgeshire District Council have agreed to make Waterbeach a pilot for its rural economic strategy. This will mean not only helping us to develop a strategy to boost the economy but also individual support for local businesses. The decision was formally taken Planning & Economic Development Portfolio Holders meeting. I was delighted to press how important this support is for the local economy.

This specific support is excellent news and continues the work the community has been doing on our shop local campaign which aims to keep the village’s businesses open. Multi-agency meetings and the recent summit we held have also helped get us to this stage. Any community would be hit by the loss of 900 military personnel and I hope all the local businesses take full advantage of this offer and together we can make sure they see trade moving in the right direction

External business organisations commented on how unique it was to see such a sustained ‘Shop Local’ campaign in a community.

Certainly I believe that we can go into 2014 with a sense of optimism.

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. With the growing competition from supermarkets, high street chains and online; times have never been tougher for independent business.

The idea of Small Business Saturday was first conceived in the United States of America by American Express three years ago. So the idea has crossed the pond and not a moment too soon.

An interesting fact is that shopping locally keeps money in the local economy. Research shows that for every £100 spent in a local business, £68 is likely to stay in the community, as opposed to just £43 when spent in a chain.

In my community of Waterbeach this message is so important. Since the barracks closed, shops have reported losing as much as 50% of their trade.

Personally I have always been committed to doing everything I can to help. This includes building the ‘Shop Local’ scheme that has an active facebook page – www.facebook.com/shopwaterbeachward.

On November 25th I chaired the ‘Shop Local’ business summit at South Cambridgeshire District Council. This included Waterbeach shops/businesses, Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Business, Deyton Bell and South Cambs District Council. From this the first ‘Shop Local business network breakfast meeting is to be held at the Beach Social Club on January 8th at 8am. The external business organisations commented on how unique it was to see such a sustained ‘Shop Local’ campaign in a community.

Don’t forget – support your independents tomorrow!

It is all too clear the economic impact the closure of the barracks has had on the shops and business in Waterbeach. Most have reported losing 10-50% of their trade.

I have always been committed to doing everything I can to help. This includes building the ‘Shop Local’ scheme that has an active facebook page – www.facebook.com/shopwaterbeachward.

Last Monday I was delighted to have chaired the ‘Shop Local’ business summit at South Cambridgeshire District Council. This included Waterbeach shops/businesses, Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Business, Deyton Bell and South Cambs District Council. From this the first ‘Shop Local business network breakfast meeting is to be held at the Beach Social Club on January 8th at 8am. In addition the District Council are looking for Waterbeach to be the pilot village of their Rural Economic Strategy. Both are significant steps in developing a strategy to boost our economy going forward. The external business organisations commented on how unique it was to see such a sustained ‘Shop Local’ campaign in a community.

That said there is nothing like having more people in the village to spend in the local economy. So it is great to seeing the former MoD houses starting to be occupied. This is why I chaired two multi-agency meetings to help move the process forward of transfer between the MoD and Annington Homes. All the homes are now with Annington and these are being released on an ongoing phased process to the open market. It is hoped that all the homes will be sold or rented in the next 12 months.

Certainly I believe that we can go into 2014 with a sense of optimism.

There has been some concern reported about the viability of the Post Office. I have been in contact with Councillor Peter Johnson and the Post Master on this. A key issue, was a proposed change at the Post Office, that would have seen a one off amount of £10,000 for refurbishment, but following a permanent reduction in funding to the local branch by £15,000 a year. I am delighted that this is not happening so that Waterbeach Post Office is viable going forward. That said the level of post sent from Waterbeach has reduced from 10 bags to 2/3 bags a day. This is in large part due to the barracks closing. With the MoD properties starting to be occupied this will help, but is clear everyone in the community must support our local businesses.

This is why I have been driving the ‘Shop Local, Shop Waterbeach’ campaign. This includes local shops displaying the ‘Shop Local’ poster and the facebook page www.facebook.com/shopwaterbeachward. Anyone that is interested in joining this campaign then please let me know.

Some additional good news is the Post Office Master is applying for an ATM machine to be put in place to encourage further custom to the Post Office. The picture attached shows the outline plans. It is great news that they are planning for the future.