Environment

Cambridge Conservatives cleaning the Giant's Grave pond in Cherry Hinton

Conservatism is at its most basic about preserving what is worthwhile and beautiful about our country and its heritage. This means valuing the architecture of our historic City and the unspoiled countryside around it.

Vote Blue, go Green. Conservatives were the first to call for the introduction of Blue Bins, as used by Conservative-controlled Huntingdonshire, as a way of increasing the recycling rate. Eventually, the Lib Dem City Council introduced them. Conservatives would work with the County Council to improve recycling rates further. We would follow Conservative-run Windsor and Maidenhead Council by installing smart metering in Council buildings and making energy usage visible online, so that residents can hold the Council to account for their energy usage.

Weekly bin collections would be strongly favoured by a Conservative leadership of the City Council. Government funding for the return of these collections was made available in 2012, but rejected by the Lib Dem-run council.

No to overdevelopment. Conservatives oppose the hurried growth of Cambridge favoured by the Lib Dems, which almost led to the building of 12,000 homes on Marshalls Airport and has caused thousands of cramped flats and garden grabbing developments to be built within our City. Conservatives would preserve the character of Cambridge while allowing it to grow to provide the quality housing that we need. See Planning for more information.

Car and cycle parking. Conservatives would do everything possible to encourage further use of cycling, such as by making more parking sites available throughout the City. But we recognize that cars are an unavoidable part of life for many residents. The Conservatives will work with residents to provide proper parking areas for local people, aiming to avoid the damaging use of grass verges. We can prevent parking on verges in locally approved zones, at the request of their communities, as well as turning other places into proper parking areas.