Thank you for visiting my blog. Through my blog I’m aiming to give you a better insight into what I am doing behind the scenes to represent you and make sure the Council is delivering on the priorities you have helped us set.

If there is anything you want to know more about, or topics you want me to cover in more detail, please get in touch by emailing cllr.smith@councillor.online 

Best wishes
Bridget

Friday 23 October 2026: Attending the Development Corporation’s Board Meeting

Earlier this week (20 October), I attended a board meeting of the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation. At the meeting we discussed a whole host of different topics as the Development Corporation sets itself up.

That included the Dev. Co.’s transparency policy, its governance and committee arrangements, and the principles for growth in Greater Cambridge.

As Leader of South Cambs District Council, I raised this importance of public meetings and decision making, and making sure residents are able to feed into the Dev. Co.’s decision making. Whilst the Dev. Co. is centrally led, we were told that the government set it up to combine national government's delivery capacity with local government's knowledge and accountability. So, there's no excuse to make it any less open to residents - who will have to live with the decisions it makes!

I also highlighted the need for Growth to be infrastructure-led including all different types of infrastructure – transport, water, energy, social and importantly, but all too often forgotten, nature and greenspaces.

Cambridgeshire has a massive nature deficit, and development should be made to work with, protect and enhance nature. I will continue to champion this issue on behalf of the people across our district who care deeply about our natural world and want to see us all working to safeguard it.

Friday 25 September 2026: Energy and responsibility

This time of year is known in politics as “Party Conference Season” - and as a Liberal Democrat, for me, it meant a trip to Lib Dem Conference in Brighton. I had a brilliant time this year, catching up with colleagues from across the country and hearing some really thoughtful contributions about the future for my party and, importantly, the future of our communities and our country at large.

One of the highlights for me was chairing a panel discussion on multi-party politics. With politics becoming more fragmented, councils increasingly find themselves working in circumstances where no one party has all the answers and increasingly where no party has an overall majority.

That means we need to be willing to work constructively with others where that is in the interests of our communities, while still being clear about our principles and what we stand for. Local government is often where this kind of practical, collaborative politics matters most.
I also wanted to congratulate some of the newly elected South Cambs Councillors, who took part in their first party conference this time - notably Cllr Amber Thomas, who spoke powerfully in a debate on primary healthcare!

Another real highlight was hearing Cllr Lisa Spivey, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, speak in the main auditorium about the importance of local government. Her speech was a timely reminder that councils are not simply an administrative tier of government. We are the people closest to our communities, delivering the services people rely on every day and making decisions that have a direct impact on people's lives.

At a time when local government is facing enormous financial and political pressures, it is more important than ever that we make the case for strong, empowered councils. Decisions about local communities should, wherever possible, be made by the people who know those communities best.

I came away from Conference feeling energised by the conversations I had, but also reminded of the responsibility we have as councillors. Whether it is building new homes, protecting our environment, supporting local businesses or making sure people can access the services they need, local government matters enormously.

And that is something worth continuing to make the case for - loudly and proudly.

Thursday 26 March 2026: Looking back at the last four years for my final blog of the 2022 to 2026 Council term

Next week, nominations open for the District Council elections, and candidates from each party will be setting out their stall for why they should be a councillor. Even if we disagree with each other, everyone who stands should be thanked for giving voters a choice of who should represent them. I wish everyone who is campaigning in these elections, regardless of party affiliation, a safe and respectful campaign.

To those councillors who aren’t re-standing - I wanted to share my thanks for all the hard work you’ve put in for your communities over the last four years. Local democracy is one of the most powerful tools for change that any of us have and by putting in the countless hours, I know we’ve made a real difference to people’s lives.

As we come towards the elections for district councillors, I wanted to use my last blog of this term to reflect on the last four years for South Cambridgeshire District Council.

We are now recognised as one of the most financially stable district councils in the country. Thanks to that stability, we are able to invest in things beyond our statutory duties, despite having one of the lowest rates of Council Tax in the country.

The Council has helped residents tackle the cost-of-living crisis and has helped residents claim benefits (like pension credit, winter fuel allowance and Healthy Start vouchers) they were eligible for but not claiming, with a lifetime value over £4 million.

The Council is now delivering new Council houses at a faster rate than ever before – with our Council housing stock now at the largest it has been since 2002. South Cambridgeshire is still one of the most unaffordable places to buy or rent, so may this Council-house-building success continue.

Our area is one of the most nature-depleted in the country, and that’s why I’m so proud of the Council’s work to help communities across the district reduce their carbon emissions, and to protect and enhance nature. I’m as glad, that through years of lobbying Government, there’s finally recognition of how important it is we protect our precious chalk streams.

The Council has helped small businesses and start ups across the district, both with grant funding and with expert advice. And the Council’s business support team have been proactively helping rural businesses like farmers, pubs and breweries, as well as village markets!

And of course, South Cambs has shown that it is possible to solve our recruitment and retention problems with a four-day week, all whilst improving council services and saving taxpayers’ money.

It’s been a busy four years and there is so much more the Council has achieved in that time, which I couldn’t include here. So, I’ll finish with this message - thank you to everyone across South Cambridgeshire – councillors, council officers, residents and businesses. I love this district, and without you all, it wouldn’t be the amazing place it is!

Wednesday 4 November 2025: Our very best wishes to those affected by events in Huntingdon

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the terrible events of the weekend in our close neighbour Huntingdon. Our sincere thanks go to all of the members of the emergency services, the railway staff and those members of the public who protected their fellow passengers, for their fast and efficient actions. Our very best wishes go to those passengers who were injured and traumatised, and their families.

Thursday 16 October 2025: Incredible people, life-saving Work: My Visit to Magpas

I spent such an interesting morning with the Chief Executive of Magpas Air Ambulance, Daryl Brown, made even more exciting by the helicopter going out when I was there. Magpas Air Ambulance provides the very best pre-hospital emergency care, in the air or on land, including treatments usually only available in hospital. They are on standby to save lives across Cambridgeshire and further afield 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They average five calls outs a day using the aircraft or one or more of their four fully equipped vehicles.  

It is such a great place to work that they had well over 150 applications last time they advertised for more medics. Their new building at Alconbury Weald is spectacular and volunteers told me that it was a really great place to work. On top of all they that they make a beautiful community room available to local groups and charities and regularly welcome schoolchildren to see what they do.

My main take away was that, though I hope I never need their services I am very, very glad that they are there just in case I or one of my nearest and dearest ever do. They are completely reliant on charitable money and fund raising – what could be more worthwhile? If you do nothing else buy your Christmas cards from them. 

Tuesday 14 October 2025: From lab to legacy - How AstraZeneca is inspiring the next generation

It was a huge privilege to visit the AstraZeneca offices on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus last week and to talk at length to Chair Shaun Grady and his colleagues. AstraZeneca are at the very cutting edge of new drug development - paving the way for a very different future in tackling diseases of all types. 

To do so, they have to keep attracting the very best scientists from all across the world but also continue their brilliant work in encouraging young people to learn to love science and all of its possibilities. To this end they invite hundreds of children a year – some of them very young indeed - to their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics laboratory to work with their own scientists and hopefully secure their workforce of the future.

Wednesday 1 October 2025: Hearing from residents about local government reorganisation

Yesterday (Tuesday 30 September 2025), I had the pleasure of hearing directly from residents of South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge as part of a public focus group on Local Government Reorganisation. Both the Leader of Cambridge City Council and I spoke to an incredibly engaged audience about some of the challenges and opportunities in front of us.

People told us that there was a real appetite for change, but only so long as that lead to improved services.

We heard about some of the worries people have – about the new Council being less responsive and your local Councillor being more difficult to contact.

But we also heard about some of the opportunities people saw – like the opportunity to bring preventative services into communities so people stay healthier for longer and bringing decision-making on housing and transport all under one house.

We know just how important it is that residents’ voices are able to feed into our response to government and that when ministers make a decision, they understand what local people think is important.