There are a couple of tiny pools in colleges (many of which are unheated/outside) - access to which is not given to all students.

I think we need less, not more, division between students and other residents of this city. I can’t see any argument to treat University of Cambridge students differently from ARU students with respect to swimming discounts.

I’d like to see elected representatives engage as enthusiastically with students’ unions as they do with residents associations. At the moment I think students’ have too little influence and engagement in local Government in Cambridge despite their key role in choosing who runs and represents the city.

Regarding local democracy, however, I do think students should be able to vote in Cambridge if they so choose. If they consider Cambridge to be their primary residence, they should be able to vote there. Many students I’ve canvassed choose not to vote locally precisely because they don’t consider Cambridge their home.

On the other hand, I think there’s a definite case to be made that at the next Boundary Commission review a new council ward should be drawn to take in as many students and as few normal residents of town as possible. Under the current boundaries and with the current voting intentions of students, permanent residents in Market and to a lesser extent in Newnham and Castle can be largely ignored by the Lib Dems, as the students will carry them over the finish line.

Creating a student ward probably wouldn’t entail any great amount of political benefit for any one party - both the student and non-student areas of those wards tend to favour the Lib Dems - but it would simplify questions of constituent service and help to regularise the position of students as an interest group in Cambridge’s local government.

As for who can and can’t vote, surely removing someones right to elect their local representatives is a step backwards for democracy?

When you’re going to leave university with an average debt of 15 grand, three years council tax is likely to break the camel’s back.

Especially since Cambridge University bans its undergraduates from working during term time and limits the allowable hours of postgrads.

Obviously there are some who can afford it. But the reason it doesn’t make sense to charge students council tax is that they’re generally poor during their university years.

I can see that discounts for those such as students and the elderly are to some extent badly targeted - in that some of the those in the city with the largest disposable incomes come into those groups but if we are going to offer discounts they’re easy groups to select and do cover some many of those who will benefit from discounts.

I agree a greater Cambridge unitary authority would help, though it is unlikely it would be drawn widely enough to really impact this kind of problem.

Many government schemes don’t properly account for their effect on “destination” authorities like Cambridge which cover areas which are the centres for their region.

People come in to swim in the city from a wide area but the government’s mechanism for funding for the free swimming for under 16s does not account for that.

Surely a card with ten ‘free’ tokens which could be punched in exchange for entry to the pool, a bus ride, etc can’t be that difficult to devise.

I agree, deal directly with the provider. Why not connect to the Central Library card and encourage young children to register to use the library if they haven’t already.

This would require some interaction between the City Council and the County Council (the library services provider and schools!) …

I’m all for giving discounts to the youth where affordable (especially if it’s the sort of thing that’s going to enthuse and occupy them for a significant period of time) but this does seem like a strange way to go about it.

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/leisure-and-entertainment/swimming-and-paddling-pools/parkside-pools.en