Disclaimer: These observations are not the ‘official’ minutes of the meeting, these are supplied by Whittlesey Town Council, normally (1) month following the meeting and can be viewed on their website.
Lets start with who was not present at the WTC Meeting – Since these prospective County Council candidates are so interested in becoming YOUR councillor I would have thought that maybe ‘they’ might just once attend a WTC meeting but no chance. Absent were:
Whittlesey South Ward Whittlesey North Ward
Martin Lodziak (Lab) Steve Jansky (Lab)
Graham Kitchen (Lib Dem) Frank Bellard (Lib Dem)
Karen Alexander (Green) Dawn Rhys-Owain (UKIP)
Alex Oates (Green)
As far as I am aware (I am prepared to be corrected) None of the above have ‘ever’ attended any local council meetings – how can a candidate be serious if they haven’t a clue what the local council debates and makes decisions on? – I rest my case.
The (2) Councillors who were present – who are candidates for the forth-coming County Council elections were.
Cllr David Connor (Con) & Cllr Chris Boden (Con)
The agenda was published on this site a few days ago.
Councillors absent were Cllr Curtis (On holiday), Cllr Garratt (No apology)
There was no update given to the public in reference to the Street Scene Officers report or an update on Police matters/CCTV
Public forum, I did raise the on-going ‘issue’ of the 3 Out-of-Use Public Toilets, which has been the case for a number of weeks, there was NO update that Councillors could give me. (There will be a separate update received from Cllr D Laws today)
I also highlighted the serious issue of the Police 101 telephone reporting system – being not very helpful or user friendly – this mainly concerned the recent ‘Vagrant’ issues.
Councillors also debated:-
Village Notice Boards : Increased costs due to work in putting posts in
Pondersbridge – N0 Notice Board due to land issues.
Community Road Watch : No Updates
Kings Dyke Crossing : Update by Cllr Butcher, there are 6 contractors who have expressed an interest in carry out the work – the bidding for the work is about the begin.
There is still some land issues to be secured, but this is running in tandem with the bidding process. Cllr Butcher stated that the delivery of the ‘Bridge’ was still anticipated to be in 2018
CCVS : The Council decided to join for 1 year only, CCVS helps funding streams.
Route 63 : Cllr Whitwell stated that the cost of installing 2 speed cushions had increased to around £2,000, this enhancement is to help protect walkers and cyclists.
CAB : A somewhat long debate took place as to whether WTC would pay the Citizens Advice Bureaux for attending Whittlesey for one day a week. There were 3 options:
Pay nothing, Pay for a volunteer or Pay for a professional qualified advisor.
The members voted to pay for a professional advisor – on a quarterly basis with reports as to the numbers and type of cases being reviewed.
For a number of local residents the CAB provides a very valuable service.
3 Councillors abstained in voting.
Must Farm : Councillors were pushing for artefacts to remain in the Whittlesey vicinity.
3 Whittlesey Councillors sit on a joint committee.
Community Rail Partnership : There was some minor updates, Councillors were concerned that Whittlesey Railway Station has Health & Safety issues.
You can view my update and presentation material posted on April 04th View Article Here
Neighbourhood Plan : All going to plan with the survey closing tomorrow 14th April. There has been a very good response with excess of 13% returned.
The next full Town Council Meeting will be held on 10th May 2017 at 7pm this will be the Annual Town Meeting, this followed by the Annual Meeting of the Council at 7:30pm
The Police Speed Van has been in/around the area quite regularly – yesterday was at one of its favourite spots – Kings Dyke Crossing.
