Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Thanks to CCC Cllr Michael Fisher who has been the lead in getting information and action from CCC Highways……Public and we councillors are not experts in structural matters and leave it to those who are qualified….

Good morning Cllr Fisher,
Our design team have now carried out the inspection of Bower Footbridge and noted that overall the bridge is in poor condition and is need of replacement, hence why it is in this year’s programme for reconstruction.
Work is due to start in October with the off-site fabrication of the new bridge already commenced. 

The dates of the installation work are governed by the Mid Level drainage authority requirements to keep the navigation of the watercourse open to river users and the requirements to temporarily divert a UKPN power cable that runs underneath the bridge. 

The main structural supports and bridge parapets are generally sound and we do not believe there is sufficient risk to warrant closing the bridge at this time, taking into account the very long diversion route that would negatively impact on all pedestrians and other non-motorised users. 

In Adam’s absence I shall however be arranging for some more urgent temporary repairs (to be carried out as soon as the contractor can mobilise) which will include the following; 

• Board over or protect the further missing/vandalised parapet spindles at the East end of the bridge;
• Install a temp protection board at the East end (similar to the existing one at the West end) to remove/reduce the trip hazard;
• Re-fix loose deck boards near midspan/at end of temp Ped barrier attached to the parapet. This appears to have been attempted several times so suggest extra long fixings or some over boarding at the joint to secure adjacent boards to each other;
• Screw down or re-fix all protruding fixings in the deck boards. 

In the short term, if you have any further questions or queries please contact me directly as Adam and Gareth are on leave until next week. 

Kind regards
Stephen McGee
Bridge Engineer (Hunts, South & City) – Structures & VRS Team

With kind regards,
Cllr Michael Fisher
CCC Whittlesey South Electoral Division

Dear Councillor,

I am writing to share an update on our proposals and invite you to attend an online briefing. 

Following our phase three consultation which closed in December 2025, we’ve been making great progress in developing our plans. This includes reviewing all consultation feedback and publishing our feedback summary report. We also commenced the latest round of site surveys and ground investigations, which help inform our design and our environmental assessments, and development of our construction, traffic and transport plans are ongoing. 

As our understanding of the project has matured and we continue to refine the design, we now plan to hold our next phase of consultation in mid-2027 and will be preparing to submit an application for development consent in late 2028. 

We would now like to meet with you to provide an update on the ongoing work that has been happening on the project, as well as answer any questions you may have. 

We’ll be hosting a meeting on Microsoft Teams on Monday 14 September, 6pm-7:30pm.

We’d be grateful if you could confirm your attendance by Friday 28 August by responding to this email. We will then add you to the Teams invite. 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please email info@fensreservoir.co.uk.

Kind regards

Damien Thomas.
Relationship Lead – Fens Reservoir

Anglian Water and Cambridge Water are proposing a new reservoir in the Fens that will secure water supply to our customers for future generations. 

To contact the Fens reservoir team, please email us at info@fensreservoir.co.uk or call our hotline on 0800 915 2492 and leave a message.

For any other enquiries about Anglian Water, please visit www.anglianwater.co.uk/contact-us/ 

For any other enquiries about Cambridge Water, please visit https://www.cambridge-water.co.uk/contact-us.

Dear Roy,
Do you have a concern you would like to talk to your neighbourhood officers about? Or perhaps you would like to hear about the work we have been doing?
If you answered yes to the above, then come along to our community meeting!

The details are:

📍 Whittlesey Library

⏰ From 12pm until 1pm

🗓️ Saturday, 22 August

If you are unable to make it, you can keep an eye out on here or our website for upcoming events.

July 2026 – Below, are planning applications which have been decided by delegated powers – Planning Officers @ FDC – these have not been put before the planning committee for a decision.

August 12th…..check many websites for more details……

You can view the Planning Application (350 documents) @ Fenland District Councils
Web Portal/Planning  Click Here…..

Day one report on Cambs Live News  Click Here…..

Part of their remit is to make an actual visit, several others attended today including Mayor/Cllrs Alex Miscandlon & Barry Wainwright.

Message from CCC Cllr Michael Fisher – According to his records, the bridge was last inspected on 7 July 2026, with no major concerns identified by the engineer at the time.

However, following the recent concerns that have been raised, Gareth has instructed M Group engineers to carry out a further follow up inspection as soon as possible.

A quick reminder that the Saxon Pit Community Health Impact Assessment survey closes on Sunday 23 August.

If you have not yet completed it, please do make  time to do so. Whether your experience of living locally has been positive, negative or mixed, this is an important opportunity for it to be recorded directly as part of the Public Health assessment.

Some of you will also have seen the recent BBC report concerning comments made about SaxonGate during earlier multi-agency discussions.

Saxon Pit residents’ group in Whittlesey shocked by ‘vocal’ claim – BBC News

We do not want that issue to distract from the important work now being undertaken by Public Health. However, it is concerning that so many issues raised by residents, including non-conforming waste, storage after site flooding, non-inert waste and the processing of IBA-contaminated material near the site lagoon, have subsequently resulted in action by the authorities, including an ongoing criminal investigation, yet CCC can describe our residents’ group as “sometimes misinformed or speculative” without providing any evidence to support that assertion.

SaxonGate takes considerable care over what it says, evidences all the factual statements it makes and stands by its record. Against that background, it is particularly important that residents’ own experiences are recorded directly through this survey.

Please also encourage neighbours, friends and others living within the study area to take part. The more people who respond, the more representative the assessment can be.

The survey can be completed online at:
https://tinyurl.com/SaxonPit

If someone does not use Facebook or the internet, they can complete the survey by telephone on 07542 016586.

It takes approximately 12–15 minutes to complete and closes on Sunday 23 August.

Thank you to everyone who has already taken part.

In reference to the refusal of 200 houses in Coates, the applicant has appealed to the planning inspectorate  and evidence is being presented today and tomorrow.
Ward Councillors Bob Wicks and Haq Nawaz gave evidence of issues supporting the refusal. This can all be watched on FDC’s YouTube Channel.

Watch Live or Catch Up Here…..

We have been having reports for many months of concerns about the safety of The Bower Footbridge – Briggate East towards Jenner health Centre.

These reports have been passed onto Cambs CC Highways, who carried out some basic minor repairs.
The last time I crossed over was around 10 days ago on my mobility scooter
(weight 70+ Kgs) felt OK at that time.

Today more concerns from resident and these again have been escalated by several councillors to Cambs CC Highways – we can do very little more – it is down to them – we can keep reporting until they decide to inspect the Bridge.

It was supposed to have been replaced some 20 months ago, but various issues and problems encountered has caused the replacement delay….

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about Bridges / Bridge defect at BRIGGATE EAST. 

Your report details: Cllr BW

We are pleased to confirm that work has been ordered to address this issue which will be carried out within 12 weeks.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate your support in helping keep Cambridgeshire’s network safe, accessible, and operating to a high standard