Today’s record low unemployment figures of 3.4% confirm the stretch in the labour market that every employer is feeling, the overwhelming objective of all our local authorities needs to be ‘can workers get to work, can deliveries be received’ If this is not achievable then the already critical hiring problems will worsen, our city centre will continue to function below its potential and workers will work elsewhere.

This is highlighted as follows – I’m lucky to live in the city thus I am able to cycle or walk most places. I attended an event at the Fitzwilliam museum last night at 6.30pm as I picked up my phone, the diary invite stated heavy traffic and gave a travel time of 40mins, my cycle along Mill, Lensfield and Trumpington roads was less than 10. However the main issue I encountered and the reason for the delay to traffic was at the Lensfield/Trumpington roundabout, before the changes there used to be 2 lanes exiting Lensfield Road and to turn right as a cyclist I would be safely in the wide right hand lane, now there is just one lane so I have to jostle with the majority of cars going left and this felt quite dangerous and the queues are adding to poor air quality.

I notice Greater Cambridge Partnership have restarted consultation on more residents parking schemes in the city. This free parking is currently used by workers who have to drive because they can’t live in the city and there is no appropriate bus provision. Stagecoach are cancelling 18 or so mainly Eastern and Northerly bus routes so this provision will worsen and the result will be more workers driving.

Most city centre retail hospitality and leisure workers are paid around £10-11 per hour so less than 50% of a striking train driver, as a consequence they need to park for free, otherwise faced with paying £25 a day in a city centre car park they will simply work in another place where there is lower cost parking or get a bus or maybe even walk to work.