Riverport Radio Podcast
Latest news, interviews, discussions & what’s happening where in St Ives Cambridgeshire.
Riverport Radio Podcast
Episode 6 - County Council Election Special (part 1)!
In this episode we interview three of the candidates who are standing in the County Council Elections on May 1st - Julie Kerr, Kevin Reynolds & Nic Wells.
They’ll be talking about their background in local politics, why you should vote for them & giving us an insight into what they hope to achieve if elected.
And finally, we catch up with Reggae Ray (the popular local entertainer), who recently launched his one man show at The St ives Corn Exchange, as a fundraiser for the venue.
We’d love to hear from you!
Please get in touch with us if you’d like to feature on the podcast. Whether you’re a business or an individual and you’ve got something to say, or something to share , please contact us using the details below:
You can text us direct from your podcast - you’ll see the ‘send us a text’ prompt just under the play button
Email: editor@theriverporter.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1GvaEHEi5P/?mibextid=wwXIfr
We’d love to hear from you!
I'm Ron and I'm John and I'm Paul, and welcome to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio.
Speaker 2:Coming up in this podcast. This is part one of a two-part election special for the forthcoming county council elections being held on the 1st of May. In this episode, we interview three of the candidates who are standing, with more candidates being interviewed in part two of our election special. The interviews this week are with Julie Kerr, kevin Reynolds and Nick Wells. They'll be talking about their background in local politics, why you should vote for them and giving us an insight into what they hope to achieve if elected. And finally, we catch up with Reggie Ray, the popular local entertainer who recently launched his one-man show at the St Ives Corn Exchange as a fundraiser for the venue.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio.
Speaker 1:Well, hello and welcome back to our Riverport Radio listeners. In this edition we're going to be talking a little bit about the County Council elections which are due to be held on the 1st of May. St Ives have got two seats available In the South, and Needingworth is one, and St Ives North and Witton is the other one. Today we have those two candidates with us and we're going to be seeing what they can tell us about their thoughts and views of the coming election. So I'll pass you to John, who has our first guest with us right now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, hi, this is Julie Kerr. That's going to be the first up. Morning Julie.
Speaker 5:Morning everyone.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're still awaiting Kevin Reynolds, who's the candidate for the St Ives South and Neenahmouth Ward. But, Julie, you're standing in the St Ives North and Witton Ward.
Speaker 5:I am.
Speaker 4:Yes, and you're currently the District Councillor for St Ives North, aren't you St?
Speaker 5:Ives West.
Speaker 4:Ward West. It's called West. It has all different names depending on what election it's for. So part of that ward is part of your North Ward, isn't it? But you've added in Witton.
Speaker 5:Yes, witton and the north of St Ives which is the Burley Hill area.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you're currently deputy town mayor I am and, uh, we hear you're going to be mayor. All being well, so best of luck with that one. Thank you so can you just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, because although a lot of us know quite a bit about you, it's it's possible that some of our listeners don't.
Speaker 5:Yes, of course I got involved in local politics through COVID. My history is actually a councillor, but mental health councillor, and they invited me in the COVID hub for St Ives to give that input and met almost every day in the COVID hub and got to know all the councillors there, and so they asked me if I would co-opt onto the town council, which I did, and being a very active person within the town, already involved in various community work, it was obvious that I'd just roll my sleeves up and get involved. Really, yeah.
Speaker 4:So do you come from St Ives originally.
Speaker 5:I wasn't born in St Ives, but I moved in 1969, so I'd like to become a St Ivesian?
Speaker 4:yeah, just about qualified now? I think yes. So, as we've said, you're a current district councillor, so why do you want to be a county councillor?
Speaker 5:I think the two things actually join up. People come to me wanting help with things that actually are county issues, and I try to help them anyway, and so I'll be running around, you know, contacting officers or going on the website and reporting things, and I just think that there is something in having at least one councillor who is covering all areas so they've got a handle on the bigger picture. There's things that we miss out out, particularly in town, that are County Council issues and we just don't know what's going on and they're suddenly we're thrown in at the deep end. So it'd be useful to actually know from the beginning what's happening so we can feed it back into the town. Is things like the Broadway scheme? Public consultation only happened because the town council drove that, but actually we could have done it a lot sooner and in a lot in a much better way if we'd have known earlier what was going on yeah, because that was a county council programme.
Speaker 4:It was a county council programme and the money actually came from the combined authorities the mayor's office which is also up for election on the 1st of May.
Speaker 5:It is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you didn't think of going for mayor? Did you Go for the full slate, that is?
Speaker 5:way too political. I like being an independent.
Speaker 3:You're listening to Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio, riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:Of course, there is another issue, which is that we're all learning that possibly in the next couple of years there won't be a county council or a district council. There'll be one combined authority in some way yes now does? Uh does the fact that if you were elected, say, as a county councillor, and you're holding a county council, district council and town council, see sort of uh you know, make sure you're going to be there when the reorganization happens?
Speaker 5:I'm not convinced that well, I'm not convinced I would actually go for that. By the time it comes to a unitary authority, the way I perceive it is, it's going to become very party political. Unless you're in a party it would be quite difficult to run an election campaign because I think your area will be too big. So the reason I've actually decided to put myself forward for county election is for the very reason that the unitary authorities are coming in in a couple of years time and actually I want to do the best I can for the for St Ives in the meantime.
Speaker 4:So let's just for argument's sake say in two or three years time there is a unitary authority and possibly just the town councils. Then and the district councils might have disappeared altogether, because the county council will be sort of swept into the unitary authority, yes, and the district, yeah. So you'd expect to sort of remain as a town councillor at that point Absolutely, I will remain as a town councillor.
Speaker 4:at that point, absolutely, I will remain as a town councillor yeah, so next year then in theory, if you're elected on the 1st of May, you're going to be the mayor. Yes, you're going to be a county councillor and a district councillor. Bit of a tall order.
Speaker 5:Yes, but I've got the time to do it. I've actually put down all my counselling and therapy counselling commitments now, so I can actually focus on the town, so I have the time to do it. I don't work, so in effect it would be a full-time job for you.
Speaker 4:It would be absolutely my full-time job, yeah, what do you think you would bring to the role of a county councillor specifically, then?
Speaker 5:that, you know, makes your candidacy worth voting for I I'm most people now know I'm not frightened of coming forward if I don't believe something's right and I'll speak out, as I did with envar, and I will not give up. If something's not wrong, not right, or I think something needs to be dealt with, I will absolutely follow it through. I don't just give up and pick up the next thing. I'm pretty tenacious when it comes to things like that. So any issues that would be detrimental to the town, I would be loud and make sure I got heard.
Speaker 4:Of course, we didn't really sort of make the big point that you're standing as an independent. I am, in fact, when Kevin comes along, he's also the other independent standing. At the moment we're not quite sure who's standing, because is it? The Conservatives have put their candidates up.
Speaker 5:They have. I think the Lib Dems have put their candidates up but we don't know about.
Speaker 4:is it reform or whatever they're called these days?
Speaker 5:Yes, someone has approached me who I think will be a reform candidate before the election, asking me for tips on how to win an election, because he said my district campaign was really good. So, um yeah, so I am aware there's a probably a reformed candidate so did you give him much of a hint how to do it? No, I was very no, he's quite young and I just I just said I wish him well and I let him know I'll be standing too.
Speaker 4:So the likelihood is going to be at least four candidates, and you'll expect quite a tough fight, really, won't you?
Speaker 5:I think, I think it's going to be a tough fight.
Speaker 4:in all the wars we actually have some really good candidates standing yeah so is there only one thing that you could say to the electorate, which would sort of sweep them towards your point of view, rather than the others?
Speaker 5:I think the one thing I can do, as I said, I'm tenacious, I'll fight for something I think is right and because I'm not in a party, no one can gag me. You know well, that's one thing I've really understood at district people, I can speak out, I don't have to worry about upsetting people or upsetting my party, because if I think it's right for the residents and the residents are asking me to look into something or do something which I'm in the middle of, something in the moment at District, there's no one stopping me.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio, riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:Is there one particular issue for St Ives county council wise that's more important than anything else at the moment. You've been canvassing quite a lot, haven't you?
Speaker 5:I have. There's a few issues. We've got the strange A141 bypass, which really isn't a bypass, and there's issues around connectivity and roads around St Ives generally and if we carry on having further and further development around St Ives and looking at the way the government is pushing more and more housing, that's something we have to protect in the town, particularly because we have no infrastructure, including transportation and also flooding issues, as well as schools and the general infrastructure well.
Speaker 4:Thank you, julie. I don't know if any of the lads here want to have a comment on julie's piece at the moment.
Speaker 1:Well, it's. It's nice to hear from you. Can I just ask, in your canvassing, is there anything coming on the doorstep which is of a specific concern to locals that keep coming up with?
Speaker 5:Most people are just talking about the state of the roads and the footpaths around St Ives, particularly up early roads, particularly bad. There are a number of footpaths which are the original footpaths and have never been dealt with and they're poor and there's a elderly or residents or people with children, with children and post chairs.
Speaker 4:They're dangerous yeah, because of course, the current government has meant to have been putting money into potholes yeah. I don't think they've been putting the tarmac in, but they've been putting money in. But I'm not sure how well that'll last, but there we go bit of a controversy over that.
Speaker 2:Pretty good at spraying yellow marks around where the potholes should be filled and not filling them when I drive to town.
Speaker 4:I have to avoid all those, because the holes are still there, but at least you can see where they are because of the yellow paint.
Speaker 2:That's their idea now. It's cheaper to just spray yellow paint on them than fill them.
Speaker 1:Another candidate as well speaks of. This is a party political one, but attacking the Conservatives, saying that they're in financial chaos. Do you have any views on that? Do you know what that is?
Speaker 5:I don't know what they're talking about. I think all county councils are struggling because they have to deal with care, and care is becoming increasingly expensive. We've also had to supplement maintaining our police numbers through our taxes as well, which is something we weren't expecting to do, just because of the way they work the numbers, for how they work out how much money comes from central government and the rest of it came from our taxes, our local taxes.
Speaker 2:We'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch with us if you'd like to feature on our Riverport Radio podcast. Whether you're a business or an individual, and you've got something to say or something to share, please contact us using the following details. You can text us direct from our podcast. You'll see the send us a text prompt just under the play button. You can message us direct from our facebook page search on facebook for riverport radio podcast or write to us via email. Editor at theriverporteruk. We look forward to hearing from you.
Speaker 4:Well, welcome, kevin. As you probably gather, we've just done a little bit of an interview with Jim. Kevin, you're the other independent candidate I am and standing for St Ives South and Needingworth, and in fact you're the current County Councillor.
Speaker 8:I have been for 20 odd years.
Speaker 4:Yes, 20 years exactly more or less isn't it yes? Yeah, in 2005 you were first elected. I did a bit of research, you see, kevin, but I have known you quite a long whilst. Anyway, welcome to our little studio, thanks to Whisky Cafe, who let us use their front room, which is very nice. Well, as I said, you've been County Councillor for 20 years, so just because, obviously, when you were elected in 2005, you were standing as a Conservative, so you're now an Independent. Can you tell us why?
Speaker 8:Yes, I actually really thought about it hard three years ago, but by then I'd stood and been elected as a Conservative and I think it's fundamentally wrong to change horses midstream, so to state, and the only way I'd have felt comfortable with that would have been resigning and re-stood. But the amount of money that cost is ridiculous.
Speaker 4:So I was determined that the when you say the amount of money, not you, but the voters. Oh, actually it's cause of by-election. Yes, yes.
Speaker 8:An unnecessary by-election. Yeah, yeah, so I stayed with them until this time. The main reasons are disenchanted. The basic principles that attracted me to Conservatives was low taxation, law and order and supporting our armed forces, and they have done none of that.
Speaker 4:that I could see anyway, and the feedback I got from people yeah, well, I think you wouldn't be surprised if I asked the next question because the other County Councillor for St Ives, a certain Ryan Fuller, has been absent, without leave more or less, hasn't he? Did that have any colouring on your decision to stand as an independent, actually?
Speaker 8:it didn't, but I could see why people think it may have been the case. It was quite difficult for me because actually I was doing the work of two people and it shouldn't have happened. I've had no conversations with him since. I don't think anyone has. It's a very strange situation.
Speaker 4:I don't know what to make of it, but I've found because, obviously, when we've been writing the River Porter for the last sort of eight years, we've had issues we want to take up with county council and you've always responded very quickly, whereas you were the only person we could get to speak to on St Ives Matters. So thank you for that, Kevin. You must have been very busy.
Speaker 8:I was very busy, busy and I always respond. I try to respond to everybody who gets in touch with me. Sometimes they don't always get the answer they wanted, unfortunately, because I've always been dead straight and dead honest with people. I've always worked like that. If something can't be done, I'll say it can't be done and this is why we can't do it and, by and large, people accept it. They don't like it, but they accept it well, yeah, I think.
Speaker 4:I think we need a degree of reality, don't we these days, particularly with what's going on nationally? So, gavin, just tell us a little bit about because some of our listeners may not know about your history. So you're a St Ives man, aren't you? You're a St Ives man, aren't you?
Speaker 8:I'm a St Ives born and bred person. I've got a large family that still lives in St Ives. I went through a school system at St Ives. I joined the fire service when I was about 20. I worked for the fire service for about 30-odd years, working all around the county. I retired as a senior officer within the fire service. Since I retired, I've become an independent consultant for about 10 years or so in London. The main reason I want to continue with the council I've got loads of experience. I know where to go to get things done. Trying to find something from scratch within the county council system is an absolute nightmare. So it's just knowing the people to go to or who can direct you, giving you a roadmap.
Speaker 8:So, so that, in a nutshell, is is me, um yeah, I'm still.
Speaker 4:I'm still alive and kicking, thank goodness yeah, well, you're looking quite good today, actually certainly a slimmer and healthier looking than me, unfortunately you're listening to riverport radio riverport radio to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:Riverport Radio. So what do you think is going to happen when the combined authority issue comes to full? Oh my goodness. And the County Council gets swallowed up or whatever.
Speaker 8:Yeah, what an open-ended question. And I'm sure you're about the last time that happened, 1995, and it was a right mess. Then the government of the day were determined it was going to happen. So you had the district councils, the county councils, getting entrenched in their position and they were throwing money at it, big money, saving their status. As it happened, the government of the day abandoned it. I'm not convinced this will happen through the past month. If it does happen, that's fine, but I'm not convinced it will. One of the arguments for it happening is it's going to be more efficient and more cost effective. When we did the songs last time, when you take into account all the hidden costs or redundancy costs, and it's going to be whole load of them and they're not small amounts of money and big doesn't mean efficient. So I'm hesitant about it. If the government wants to force it through, it will, but I think the government of the day is finding other issues to occupy their mind.
Speaker 4:To be honest, yes, so just on that point, I take your point that big isn't necessarily efficient. But I think there's also a political side to this as well. The people are very disillusioned with politics generally and an awful lot of people and as probably Julie's well, you've probably been outconvincing as well has been finding on the doorstep that a lot of people there's an enormous ignorance about how local politics works, which council does what for instance, instance, definitely the council is the council.
Speaker 4:So there is an opportunity in reorganisation to make it more straightforward, less complicated for the people to understand who does what. Is that an issue that's worth considering?
Speaker 8:It's not an issue, and it sounds wonderful but I don't think that will happen, because the council is the council. Whether it's the town council or the combined authority, it doesn't matter. As long as people get their immediate needs dealt with, they don't care where it's coming from. Basically, it is a political issue, but I'm not quite sure who's going to gain out of it, because the Conservatives people like myself have got nowhere to go to because the Conservatives are no longer Conservative and the true social people Socialists Labour does not represent them. They're coming towards the Conservatives. So you know, to be the man in the street and the voter, it's a very difficult place. So where do you go? Independents on a larger scale at the moment they've got no traction. I'm not sure if they will on a national scale, so they're looking for other parties, for instance Reform now Reform are saying all the things people want to hear.
Speaker 4:It'll be interesting to see what happens but I can't find out who the actual Reform candidates are likely to be at the moment they're going to announce it.
Speaker 8:I've nearly always got my ear to the gown, but I can't find it. I thought it might have been paul bullen, but I oh right, yes, but I don't think it is because he told me.
Speaker 4:So yes, as regards to that, I mean we obviously um riverport radio wants to cover the elections completely unbiased, so we're offering everyone the opportunity to have a piece in the River Porter and have an interview. So once we know who the reformed tenants are, we'll no doubt issue a. We'll try and get them in absolutely whether we can do that in time.
Speaker 3:We're not quite sure you're listening to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 1:Kevin, can I just jump in while John's sorting out his telephone? You've been a councillor for 20 years, you say 30 years, actually 20 years county councillor. Well, that's some going thank you for your service, as they say in america, but uh, well, kevin was mayor, yeah.
Speaker 4:How many times you've been there? Twice, yeah. And when did you first get elected to the town council? 88, yeah, so a long time yeah, it is a long time.
Speaker 1:So during that period, is there anything you know that you've worked on with the councils that you particularly feel was a good achievement or something that you're proud of?
Speaker 8:Well, yes, but things soon become dated. I'm telling you. I didn't ask the question. What have you achieved? Because actually no single person on a council can achieve that.
Speaker 8:So you phrased your question very well, some of the things that I'm pleased that's happened within the town weather has proved to be very popular. I know it seems strange to you, but if you go there in the mornings you've got the crowd who like their coffee and biscuits and it caters for all generations Morrison's. Now, that was a struggle to get Morrison's for a number of reasons, but that served a great purpose within town. To be perfectly honest, people come from afar to go to Morrison's, the guided bus. Well, I can say I was wrong on that one because I wasn't for it and I went to the inquiry and spoke against it. But actually it's turned out to be a good thing for St Ives. It's bringing people in from Cambridge costs a lot of money, so yeah, that's good.
Speaker 8:What else has happened of significance? Well, st Ives mirrors a lot of other market towns around the country with the retail spaces closing down. But that's the general shopping culture that's going on. I think it'll come back to life long as we can, preserve it much as we can. While it's nothing going on, see the moment you're getting abundance of coffee shops and that happens. It goes in cycles. St Ives does. We had abundance of shoe shops. We had abundance of ladies hairdressers, and whatever the market dictates normally finds a place in well.
Speaker 1:St Ives is lucky that it's got good operational volunteer groups like the town team and everything which actually helps support that as well, but a lot of towns don't have that.
Speaker 8:Absolutely. St Ives is fortunate and the town team is a relatively new thing for the town. The older, more established ones, like the Derby and Jones and all them those things that go on underneath the surface are still going on. But different generations have different needs and the town team seem to be supplying what people would like. I find that yeah.
Speaker 4:Just Ginny, you've been involved in with a lot of the youth work in town in through you know your work with the CARES projects and things. I tend to feel that well. My background originally was I was youth leader. I used to run the youth centre in Huntingdon years and years ago, mind you, and I did try to feel that well. My background originally was I was youth leader. I used to run the youth centre in Huntingdon years and years ago, mind you, and I did try to become the youth leader for some nights when it had a. It used to have a proper youth centre, but I was unsuccessful. The person who voted, who didn't select me to do the job, was a Jean Chandler, by the way, but I was going to say what is youth provision? As good as it could be in some hours.
Speaker 4:Now you know I'm not talking about the schools. I'm talking about house generally.
Speaker 5:No, it's really poor. Strange enough, that is my focus through my mayoral year will be the youth of the town. We've lost kick now, which was the only real youth provision that was independent and you didn't have to pay for. So I'm very keen to work with various community groups to see what we can get going for the youth, because I think that is our biggest issue looking at and, if we can, I'm actually in discussions at the moment looking to see if we can find a youth coordinator through grant funding for the town, specifically for the town to start bringing things for the youth together.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:Well, it's nice to hear you know the town team is appreciating. But the town team really deals with sort of 40 plus. Yeah, you know, we're not unfortunately able to connect that easily with the, you know, the younger generation, the 20 plus.
Speaker 2:It'll be something we've talked about in previous interviews and we talk about generally, isn't it, that the town team of Fest and all these brilliant local groups are kind of aging and it needs new blood to come through.
Speaker 4:Civic society is the same. It needs new blood.
Speaker 5:Maybe the 600th year anniversary will start bringing the young people in.
Speaker 4:I'm very keen for schools to hear a lot about it and get them involved in that well as you know, they've had a meeting the other night at which we're promoting to doing some stuff with youngsters throughout the town, going to the schools, specifically about the 600th anniversary over the bridge, and that would be nice to engage the youngsters, first of all for them to know a little bit about the history of the town, which they're probably not aware of. I don't think schools teach, you know, the history of St Ives bridge generally speaking, or whatever, but, um, that sort of activity that can go on with young people fosters in them, uh, you know, pride in their, in their community, which probably didn't doesn't exist. So it's really important.
Speaker 1:Kevin, is there any specific issue that, going forward, you'd like to get your teeth into?
Speaker 8:Well, being a county councillor is like being a juggler with many balls up in the air and competing priorities. Not a lot of people realise, as Julie alluded to before, there's a lot of expenditure that we have. Almost two thirds of their annual budget goes to adult social care and children, young children, so that doesn't leave us a lot to do much else. And with that we've got to public health, highways, 101 other things. What the public is saying quite clearly is potholes, and it must be resonating throughout the country because the government mentioned it. But it doesn't end there, because if we get money for potholes, what not a lot of people realise is around here we've got serious problems with peat based soil roads, yeah, and we've got nine, I think, that need significant money spending on them because they're disappearing. All we're doing is patching on them because they're disappearing. All we're doing is patching them and they're disappearing still, this is the Fen Roads basically.
Speaker 8:Yeah, fen Roads, yeah, they're all over the place. So there's lots of competing pressures and what people don't always realise is if you're a county councillor for St Ives or Neitz or wherever, you're not just making decisions for that town, you're part of 69. That's got to look at things on a wider basis. You've got to have an ability sometimes to detach yourself and see the bigger picture. And whilst I'll always give and I always have done, done, given St Ives a degree of priority, by being a county councillor I'm charged with making decisions for the whole of the county and that's quite diverse from Fenland, the Whiz Beach to Cambridge City totally different news and, of course, needing with part of your it is yeah does that?
Speaker 4:have different requirements. This analysis.
Speaker 8:Yes, their main problem in Edenworth is traffic movements, obviously, and if Savarco roundabout, that's a choke point for everybody, right, right. And we've got problems there in Savaros with a huge, great development called Giffords Farm. If that comes to be and I think due to pressure from central government, it highly, highly will I don't know how we can get over that problem. We need another river crossing, but they've done studies on that and, yes, a developer can fund it. But when you start doing things like having river crossings over plains and areas of natural beauty and it all goes up in the air again and you've got several more years. So so roads, whilst they're important, they don't always come high up on people's to-do list.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. So, julie, you have got Witton added on to the area you already know, so is there different issues up at Witton?
Speaker 5:Yes, I mean they actually their road network's not bad um their biggest concerns? Obviously there are plans for four, five, even six thousand houses, um which there's other things that have to come out first, like the a141 bypass or road connectivity, but they're concerned about that um. But generally people seem very happy up there. I was just mentioning earlier with you I did make a beat a group of people who are living in housing, associated houses, places for people and they're very concerned that their houses are being maintained and they showed me some of the issues that they were facing and they this. It seems to be a lack of care, that's for sure, but generally people up there really enjoy living there the, that organization which is, you know, social housing yes do.
Speaker 4:The same organization has houses in sometimes, does it not?
Speaker 5:all over the area.
Speaker 4:Are they all slightly unhappy with where it's being run?
Speaker 5:I get residents contacting me who are very dissatisfied, but I'm only hearing the dissatisfaction.
Speaker 4:Most people don't say I want to tell you how great my house is. Do you have any issues with housing at all?
Speaker 8:Not so much as Julie would, because HGC are the housing people, so issues that the county Julie referred to me and vice versa.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you both for coming in sort of shortish interview, but we're going to try and fit everybody else in as well at some point and, uh, we'll let you know when it goes out yeah, please too.
Speaker 8:I wasn't aware of your radio. I should have been, but I wasn't. Have you not heard any of it?
Speaker 4:yet no, no, oh well, well, I will, I'll make a point.
Speaker 2:Julie was on the first one do you know, there's more people who actually listened in the last week to the first podcast than listened to the most recent one. There's people listening all the time. As we get more and more episodes up there, people are more and more listening to the old ones and catching up. So when they discover it, they discover it, maybe for the latest one, and then they go.
Speaker 8:Oh, there's another one Through the back library.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's really it's kind of, it's good how it's kind of building and growing like that. So just search Riverport Radio Podcast and you'll find us everywhere.
Speaker 1:I'll find us here. I'll make a point of it.
Speaker 3:Definite point to drop in a jingle about there. Paul, you're listening to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:Riverport Radio, riverport Radio well, good afternoon Nick welcome to our studio, thank you we had a chat this morning with Julie Kurt and Kevin Reynolds, and it's your turn this afternoon. You're currently a town councillor and a district councillor.
Speaker 3:Correct, that's right.
Speaker 4:So, why do you want an extra seat?
Speaker 10:Well, because I want to, because I think I'll be the best person for the job.
Speaker 4:I suppose is what you generally tend to say at these things of, I suppose, is what you generally tend to say these things are. So just a little bit about your background, because you've been living in Siles a little while, but not that long, so 10 years we've been here.
Speaker 10:Prior to that, we lived in Godmarchester. For the previous 10 years, I used to work at Cambridge Assessment, which is the examination board known as OCR in the UK. I was the head of exam processing there the technical lead, to make sure exams got processed properly and, yeah, living wise. I've been the St Ives Town Councillor since 2020 and prior, and I was also a Godmanchester Town Councillor for a number of years as well, so I've got a lot of Town Councillor experience as far as the district goes. So I was elected in 22. I came top of the poll, which I was delighted about and felt slightly emotional about, if I'm honest, because I did so well.
Speaker 4:Excellent, excellent.
Speaker 10:But yeah, since then I've been a district councillor and I've really enjoyed that role. It's two parts to it. One part is fixing people's problems in the local area, so talking to people about their issues and, where I can, getting the officers to help with fixing them. On the other side of it is obviously attending meetings, and I've been entrusted with chairing committees and most recently the licensing committee, which is quite an interesting challenge because you have a licensing meeting where you have the applicant, you have objectors, you have members of the public and you have to balance all these different people, allow them all to have their say, but end up with a solution that is the right one for the, for the authority.
Speaker 4:So is it always? The popular one, not always anyway. I mean, the Liberal Democrats are fairly well renowned for leafleting. Indeed, we've done a lot of leafleting in town.
Speaker 10:We are doing a lot and there's more yet to come. Yes, and Ron has a copy of your latest leaflet.
Speaker 4:I have a copy. Do you have any questions?
Speaker 1:Well, there was a couple of things actually. The first thing was only enough is enough, point you make Financial chaos. Now River Porter likes a bit of financial chaos.
Speaker 10:Really.
Speaker 1:John likes to get his teeth into some of that. But what are you thinking of?
Speaker 10:particularly what issues of these are referring really to national government and, as people probably know, local councils, county and district councils are very financially constrained these days, more and more so Now. If you look back 20 years or so in retrospect, it looks like a golden age where councils could spend money on all kinds of things. But now, as we know, it's an immense challenge simply to fix the roads, deal with the basics, you know, with the cost of fixing roads is immense. Uh, there are so many problems with the roads. Uh, as an example, you know, so it's, it's really trying to get. You know, obviously we'll put, we can put pressure on the central government, and now we've got three liberal democrat mps in cambridgeshire. The nearest of one is right next to us in St Neill's. We can ask them to put pressure on the government to find a better deal for local government generally, the county council in particular, which is really struggling, which is, you know, under a lot of pressure to deliver properly these days.
Speaker 4:So are you arguing, then, that another Lib Dem county council will help put more pressure on the government to release more funds to the County Council?
Speaker 10:That's the idea really. Yes, obviously we're working in tandem with the Liberal Democrats' councils existing on the County Council, assuming they get re-elected, of course, but the Liberal Democrats' team is the biggest team, I think, on the County Council, slightly larger than the Conservative group. The county council, like the district council, we both work as what we call joint administrations. So we have Liberal Democrat members, labour members and independents on the district. We have one Green council as well, the excellent Lara Davenport Ray. But generally speaking it's an agreement between those three the two parties and the independents to work together to agree policies and how we operate and that generally on the districts obviously, which I have the experience of it generally works very well you're listening to riverport radio, riverport radio Riverport Radio.
Speaker 1:When you've been out and you go on the knocker, as they say, and you've actually been talking to people on their doorsteps, what sort of issues do people bring to you in your ward?
Speaker 10:So obviously potholes, roads, are one of the biggest ones here, as you'd expect. I think education is a big issue in St Ives, as you know, with the Astrea Academy Trust which has caused difficulties for local people, as we've heard of the recent annual town meeting, and we've seen the same issues happening in St Leots and both of the St Leots schools. Now, obviously the County Council doesn't have a lot of control over how Academy Trusts work, but it absolutely has an interest and will advocate for you know, better solutions where we possibly can. So schools are a huge issue.
Speaker 10:Health is another huge issue which we are continually hearing about people not getting doctor's appointments quickly enough. Dentist appointments can you find an NHS dentist these days? Almost never. I've had to relinquish my NHS dentistry recently and gone to having to pay for it, as most people have, I think, and that's terrible for people who are not poor and really struggle to fund these things, you know. So that side of things is very sad in itself, particularly for thinking about families and children. So and again, the GP appointments. Liberal Democrats had a manifesto commitment to deliver GP appointments within seven days and within 24 hours in case of emergency. Obviously it had been elected then. That's what we would have committed to, that's what we would have delivered on. But things are as they are. Whether they're actually getting better, as the current government is suggesting, I think it's a little bit too early to tell. But also we'll be putting maximum pressure on them to deliver better for people with their health issues.
Speaker 1:Certainly as the River Porter. We get letters and comments made to us about hospital appointments and we see it on the local Facebook pages as well people complaining continuously. But there's not an awful lot that a local council can do about it really is there.
Speaker 10:Indeed, that's right again. So you know, I mean we can obviously apply pressure. We can, we can indicate where the issues are, we can sort of pinpoint issues and say, you know, look at this scenario situation, but ultimately, as you say, as I said earlier, it's down to us. You know, um highlighting things to our three local MPs and other MPs in the district, in the area, and trying to make them to put pressure on Westminster to, you know, deliver better.
Speaker 4:You're a current ward, the South St Ives for the district with the county. You're adding Needingworth to that. It does. Yes, so have you been in Needingworth recently engaging are they? Do they have any different issues to St Alans South?
Speaker 10:Very much so no, I mean, yeah, needingworth actually, I mean it is quite a happy place, I think, with people I talk to. Obviously they've got a wonderful bypass, which means that they don't see the volumes of traffic in the village itself that they would otherwise see. I have asked them the question, I've sort of given them a nudge sort of saying come on, what are the issues in meeting with? But I haven't really seen anything very significant that is bothering them.
Speaker 10:If I can talk about St Ives in terms of development and traffic and so forth, people are aware that already if I was commuting from St Ives across the river down to the south, I would really struggle with the queues, the fact that you've got to, you're in a traffic jam every morning, every evening, to get in and out of the town. I don't want to be a nimby, I want not to say I'm anti-development, but I do worry that when we have even more development coming into the town, if we do that, these things are only going to get worse. We are particularly constrained in St Ives because we have the river to the south of us.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:This Gifford Farm potential, which is obviously north St Ives you.
Speaker 10:You would be happy with that particularly worrisome, I think, that one in terms of, yes, people, as I say people, if they've got a guest across the river, then you know they are going to add to the traffic volumes that already exist. I mean, the other thing is, you know about uh transport itself. So I've been advocating and I raised a question to Nick Johnson and he gave me a fulsome reply about the bus situation. Now you know the bus franchising story, which is, looking at the moment, quite promising in terms you may have better, more frequent bus routes and better delivery to different places. I'm very concerned that if the Conservatives get in or that we have a Conservative med, all that could be cancelled, thrown out and we could go back on the road.
Speaker 4:Nick Johnson is the current Combined Authority Mayor but he's not standing again. That's right. And Paul Bristow, who's an ex-MP, I believe, isn't he? He is. Yes, Peterborough is standing for the Conservatives.
Speaker 10:That's right. So yeah, I'm talking about about the combined authority made for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We have our own candidate, lorna Dupre, who's excellent, very, very experienced, and I'm sure she would make an excellent mayor. The other thing is cycle routes. I cannot understand why we haven't got a clear cycle route between St Ives and Huntingdon, with this gap in the middle at Whitton, which means you've got to either get off your bike and risk your life crossing the road and then to get back onto the Huntingdon end. That really needs to be solved. It's been going far too long having farted lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've been a counselor for a while. You've been, yes, representing us all here for a long while, is there any particular project or arrangement that's happened in the past where you've been particularly pleased to be part of?
Speaker 10:in terms of some times itself.
Speaker 1:You mean yes, in terms of things that have happened for some hives yeah, so we've got our uh piece on the broadway.
Speaker 10:I know it wasn't universally popular, but I do think the the Broadway is a much better looking part of the public realm than it was beforehand. You know, it was really really just a car park. You know, with all this herringbone parking going on outside the shops, you know it just didn't look good. It was also dangerous because cyclists and people with wheelchairs and so forth were always at risk of being knocked over by these cars trying to reverse in and out of the Herringbone parking. So I'm really pleased that's gone. I think it looks much nicer now. You know other people will talk about spend, but it's a capital spend. You know it's not to do with our spend on fixing the potholes. That's a separate budget. So I'm pleased with that piece of work. We had an excellent engagement with vanessa kelly who came to see us she was the project manager on a regular basis to see how it was going and was this with the town council?
Speaker 10:that was between vanessa and we actually all of us as district and county councillors. Also, karen reynolds was involved as well as us as District Councillors. She did modify the design quite a bit, you know, because originally there was going to be quite a loss of car parking, so she reduced the loss quite substantially. So I think we're only about four or five spaces down from what it was beforehand. So you know, we ended up with a solution which looks really nice and has hopefully caused a minimum of difficulty to people Of course, the the big issue still remains of of policing parking.
Speaker 4:It does Because, although you've you've made it look nice, you've still got the same problems of parking there. We do. That's right. Yes, you know. And then and until the district council take over the authority for parking, that's never really going to be solved.
Speaker 10:That's right. So that's in train. At the moment we are waiting for the bill to go through parliament and unfortunately, because of the change of government, that's taken a little bit longer than it otherwise should have done. But we're hoping that by August we should get the green lights to actually introduce the civil parking enforcement with traffic wardens. A lot of the pre-work has already been done. You'll notice changes to the street furniture. A lot of work has been done on all that to make it suitable. So, in other, changing the yellow lines, changing the signs on the side of the road, and I'm hopeful that by august, by autumn time, we'll see proper civil parking enforcement, traffic wardens, which will be which will be good for the town overall.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio.
Speaker 4:We nipped out between interviewing you and Julie and Kevin this morning. We nipped out for some lunch on the quay, which is a lovely day, a lovely sunny day, exactly, and it couldn't be nicer and we stopped to talk. Well, someone stopped to talk to us and we said we were interviewing county council candidates. The phrase used was well, I'm not sure I should repeat it, but it was something along the lines they're all the same same, you know, not very good in effect. Uh, and then went on to say they'd just been to Ely, and why can't St Thomas have free parking areas, like Ely has right?
Speaker 10:so.
Speaker 10:So, as far as the district council goes, we are going to look at this very seriously.
Speaker 10:What we're going to do is we're going to introduce, uh, traffic wardens, introduce civil parking enforcement and then, once that's in place, we're then going to review the whole parking uh realm and including car parks, and see if there is a better solution, trying to work out whether there's a better solution for hunting and share um that you know would provide, you know who knows and can't promise there'll be free parking, but that's a possibility in theory. There's all kinds of different possibilities that may materialize once we've got the the traffic warden solution in place in a stepwise fashion though, because you can't, you know, car parking revenues are significant in terms of income to the district council. So you know we, we couldn't, for example just you know, suddenly allow one hour's free parking over there, because that would have quite a detrimental financial effect on the district council. So we have to do it in a more coordinated fashion and work out, you know, what's feasible. But, as you say, maybe doing a trial solution is the possibility that could be looked at in the course of time, certainly.
Speaker 4:Well, best of luck with your campaign. You've obviously got a couple of interesting candidates standing against you. Indeed, you've got Kevin standing against you, the incumbent, and then you've got Alex from the Labour. Do you know, alex?
Speaker 10:No, I was right behind her in the queue to go into the Any Questions last Friday so we didn't actually speak to each other. But I think Alex knows some of my colleagues, I think young Nathan Hunt, and they know each other.
Speaker 4:Well, we've yet to interview Alex along with the other Labour candidate.
Speaker 10:We'll see what she has to say Indeed, yes, I try not to make negative points about other candidates, but it is the fact she doesn't actually live in St Ives-on-Ingred. I know she's got interests in the community, but I do feel that being on the ground, literally doors away from where something is happening, is an advantage for a councillor generally are we alright, then let's do.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much for coming along. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for lads, thank you very much for coming along, thank you thanks for doing it we'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2:Please get in touch with us if you'd like to feature on our Riverport Radio podcast. Whether you're a business or an individual and you've got something to say or something to share, please contact us using the following details. You can text us direct from our podcast. You'll see the send us a text prompt just under the play button. You can message us direct from our facebook page search on facebook for riverport radio podcast or write to us via email. Editor at theriverporteruk. We look forward to hearing from you. To round off this podcast, I caught up with Reggie Ray at the launch of his new one-man show at the St Ives Corn Exchange. The show is all about his Jamaican roots, accompanied by Ray performing reggae and ska hits from across the decades. This was a fundraiser for the St Ives Corn Exchange and an amazing £975 was raised on the night. Good evening, ray. How are you, mate? Good to see you.
Speaker 9:Thank you too. You two should sit down. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2:You're always down.
Speaker 9:I'm scrubbed up. Hello, oh, you're all right. Thank you so much for coming. I'm looking forward to it. You two look like you just sent out a phone call. All the time.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we're looking forward to your show. I'm just recording a little bit for Riverport Radio Podcast. How are you feeling this evening, are you?
Speaker 9:looking forward to it. I'm a bit stressed, oh oh, I see I've been a bit stressed pulling all this together. I've just been chucking stuff in, so it's become like a massive jigsaw puzzle and I don't know where the edges are or where the middle is. But I've got there and the key to it is simplicity. Make it simple and. I've over complicated it, I've learnt a lot along the way and I'm just really happy to be here and happy that you're all here, I love watching your entertaining. You know I can't.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't come to your gigs because I'm always. I know because you're there's a man who does 15 gigs a month, but I can see the vibe. Yeah, that you create.
Speaker 9:Yeah, it's a party, yeah and I love good entertainers and decent people. You know.
Speaker 2:If they're not nice people I try to keep away from them so happy to be connected with a friend of yours enjoy everything on the radio. Guys enjoy your radio and enjoy the show tonight this is helping cheers good evening, ladies and gentlemen those who don't know me.
Speaker 7:my name's Al Thompson. I'm finance director at at the Corn Exchange and I'd like to welcome you all here, and it's lovely to see you all here this evening, so please spend lots of money over the bar. I'd firstly like to thank Ray and Duncan for coming tonight.
Speaker 7:They are doing this as a fundraiser for us, which is absolutely outstanding, so we'd like to thank you, and this is his new bit of work, so I think we're all very glad to see you have a nice day, and we're all looking forward to it Me too, thank you very much, alan.
Speaker 9:Don't call him Alan, that's his mother's name. Sorry, no, that's the name his mother calls him. I should say sorry, sorry. So, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ray. I'm known as Reggae Ray. What is my name? Bless you. I'm not going to try and remember all of your names. Okay, it's not my birth name, it's not my Christian name. Ray is my name, raymond and um, if I hear Raymond, I know I'm in trouble with my mother. Sadly she can't be with me tonight. She's 88 and she's riddled with that horrible thing called dementia.
Speaker 9:Luckily she had six of us so we all spent time supporting her, basically because she was a good mum. I was going to do this later on in the show, but if you'll just excuse me, I'd like to get dressed. Just bear with me a second, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 6:Does anybody know how you wear your?
Speaker 9:dreadlocks.
Speaker 6:Good fashion. Ladies and gentlemen, I know what you're thinking.
Speaker 9:You're thinking his battery and his microphone's running out, but no, I've got my dreadlocks on. Have you noticed? What is the show about? There's going to be some stories. There's going to be some history. There's going to be some songs. There's going to be a little bit of ska, a little bit of reggae. Is everybody cool with that? So far? Right, essentially yamma. You know, yamma, you say well, well, I've got a better Jamaican than me, but you have been there six times, right this is what I want you to do tonight, ladies and gentlemen, what I'm about to do now is play a song, and this is not just a song.
Speaker 9:This is an instruction for your life. You are allowed to dance, you are allowed to sing, but, most importantly, you've got to enjoy yourself. You're only young once. Did you hear that, mick? You're only young once, duncan. So please don't fall off enjoying yourself anymore and always be who you are. I love red dots, but they're not for me.
Speaker 6:I'm back. Sing it if you know the words. Enjoy yourself when it's a little better than you think.
Speaker 6:Enjoy yourself While you're still in the rain. And as the years go by, and as quickly as the rain, and as the years go by, and as quickly as the rain, you gotta join yourself, man. Join yourself. It's better than you think. Oh yes, take wisdom, take the knowledge and understand it. Stop looking to the ground. You know it's time to spread it right out. You've got to think of your future. Stop hating problems. In same time, everybody sing Rudy. A message to you, rudy. A message to you, rudy. Oh, it's a message to band came along. They made Neil Diamond so much money.
Speaker 9:UB40, Red Red.
Speaker 6:Wine.
Speaker 9:Cause tonight makes me forget that I still need her. So Anybody drinking red wine tonight.
Speaker 6:Red red wine. It's up to you. All I can do, I've done. Memories won't go. Memories won't go. Thank you for attending.
Speaker 9:ladies and gentlemen, If it's been a bit hickory-pickory, I apologise. This is the first show. If you came in late, I'm doing this for free to support the venue. Please come to some of the things that Al talked about earlier on that are going on in April and May. Have you enjoyed the show? Yay, I really appreciate you coming. God bless each and every one of you and safe journey this way. Good night.
Speaker 2:I'm glad it's been delivered.
Speaker 9:I love the response from the audience. I love doing it. I went to school in house and I'm just glad people came out and supported me in the venue. What more?
Speaker 2:can I ask for it was a fabulous evening. Thank you so much. Keep doing your thing, keep going mate, thanks for listening and we'll see you all again next time here on Riverport Radio.
Speaker 3:Riverport Radio. Riverport Radio.
