Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Today Robin Sutton (Secretary & Webmaster) and myself attended the AGM of Cambs NHW Group, at Police HQ Hinchingbrooke.
We were both re-elected on the executive committee, this being my 7th year.
Deja-vu – another good 10 minutes of good engagement with Jason Ablewhite the Police and Crime Commissioner, with what I considered good feedback of how the ‘new’ Policing model if taking effect.
The loss of our Police Station is now history – I and a ‘few’ fought to keep it, but alas – our argument was not strong enough and our support was also not strong enough.

So now we move on and make the best of what we have been given, there are some very positive things happening both within Fenland and Cambridgeshire as a whole.
A ‘new’ Police Station for both Wisbech and Cambridge.
Joined up resources probably with Cambs Fire Service, which our local police team are already now using.
Whittlesey NHW Secretary and Webmaster, gave the audience a very good talk and presentation of what is happening nationally with NHW and the move to London from their present base in Leicester.
I also had a good conversation with Assistant Chief Constable Dan Vajzovic about our ‘minor’ issues here in Whittlesey, I say minor in comparison to both Peterborough –
Wisbech and nationally.
As I stated on several occasions, ‘we’ were all concerned about how the closure of our Police Station might affect crime – the results (so far) is that has had NO significant effect on crime in our area.
Yes I too – am old enough to remember when we had a Police Station here in Whittlesey ‘open’ 24/7 – but that’s history as well – and if you remember back I did a good article about the ‘history’ of Whittlesey Police Station.
So we soldier on – our aim is safer communities, and I am passionate to remain promoting this, we do not live in an ideal world, and we are certainly not crime free, but by working together with our neighbours, we have a strong presence.

Ongoing engagement with our Police colleagues and support officers.

If you would like to join us at Neighbourhood Watch – The largest community lead group in England – please contact:

Robin Sutton      robin55@btopenworld.com

Visit Whittlesey NHW Website for a vast array of information and advice go to:-

https://www.whittleseynhw.org.uk/

It is that time of the year again…. my (2) friends ‘Suntan & Timmy’ have not had a very good year – maybe it was too hot even for them, as during the heatwave, they didn’t venture very far and didn’t eat a great deal.
This year Suntan only put on 22 grams (normally 40/60 grams) & Timmy 7 grams (normally 20/30 grams) – so I/we hope they will survive another winter.
Wait until March and we shall see….

(l) Timmy (male) (r) Suntan (female)

Hereward Community Rail Partnership

Dear Colleagues,
I am just making you aware that next week the Hereward CRP will be holding its first social media campaign on the theme of travel along the Hereward Line. 

From Monday 24th September and for the next 6 days there will be a range of posts from FDC Facebook and Twitter pages about the Hereward Line.  Organisations such as ACoRP and the train companies will be mentioned in these posts but it would be great if you could forward on to others using your organisations social media accounts.
You can follow the posts from:
Twitter – @FenlandCouncil
Facebook – Fenland District Council 

This first social media week is a trial for the Hereward CRP and I will report back to you on its impact during the next CRP Steering Group meeting in October.

Tomorrow Friday will see a big meeting of heads of various councils from Fenland (including Whittlesey) and some other authorities in/around Cambridgeshire.
The meeting is with MP Steve Barclay and Metro Mayor – James Palmer.
I am not privy to the agenda – but I dare say to discuss ‘what the state of affairs’ are and what improvements our council is looking for….my guess only….
Maybe a report from our Town Council mayor at next months TC meeting….

Click on picture to enlarge – click a 2nd time to further enlarge…..

Considering the amount of ‘debate’ about Whittlesea Railway Station/Trains etc is going on elsewhere!!!
– only myself and Cllr Alan Bristow were present from Whittlesey at last nights meeting of the Community Rail Partnership.
I have attended most of these meetings for well over 5 years and unfortunately not a lot of progress has been made
(until now that is)
The ready good news is – that after a sustained campaign by many, new LED lighting is to be installed in the near future.

The second piece of good news, being that the funding for ‘Option 1’ – Station Platform and Footbridge has been secured via the Combined Authority for £9:2 Million (Includes both Manea and Whittlesey)

Third piece of good news – the Birmingham to Norwich route is to remain for the time being, this is good news for those who use this train for Stanstead Airport.

Both Cllr Bristow and myself were vocal in regards to the forever poor state of the Railway Station and the surrounding area’s – not a pretty site and not very welcoming to would be tourists.
The none engagement of Network Rail is always a challenge and has been since the beginings….

Oh – why do we have to change a corporate identity from Hereward Community Rail Partership – to a new – what-ever-the name maybe…..new logo, new letterheads, new i.d.
and it all costs someone (you and I) money.

Next planned public meeting 06th March 2019

Hopefully by that time someone at the meeting will be able to explain what things like ‘Grip 4’ not only means but can explain its context in simple terms – we simple people can understand.

Will we have the LED lighting in place by them – we shall wait and see.

Coming tomorrow (Wednesday) – tonights meeting at Fenland Hall March where a total of…6 – that’s read 6 members of the public attended the meeting.
Some good new and some not so good news…..

Nice to talk with Fenlands contractors (The real workers) ISS who are now at long last on top of most grass cutting in/around our area, explained all the issues and difficulties they had at the beginning of the year (a long time ago).
Many know the ongoing issues of playing football and cricket at the Manor Field and it is certainly a rough terrain to say the least – challenging…still the grass looks OK now….

Annual General Meeting of The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group @ The Fleet Centre Fletton Peterborough last night (18th)
Only 20 attendees, of which maybe only 2 or 3 was members of the public.
The CCG covers 960,000 people so I would say very sparsely attended.
Maybe no one is interested in how this £1.2 Billion monolith is run or governed.
Most people are only interested in being able to access a doctor with a timely appointment.
I did attend, and you are welcome to read all 115 pages of Annual report and accounts! – I can supply the document.
So lets get to the main points:-
Dr Gary Howsen is the Chairman of the group (Whittlesey/New Queen Street Surgery Doctor), remains in position, there have been 6 predecessors!
Jan Thomas is the new Chief Officer
New Financial Officers
It would appear the time span of senior personnel is pretty short.
A good delivery by Dr Howsen kept it short to the point and understandable.
There are still serious concerns/issues about ‘overspend’ the ‘target’ being £35 – £45 Million (Budget being £1:2 Billion).
The CCG employs 300 personnel to manage this vast budget.
The CCG is rated as #14 out of 200 CCG’s in ‘Cancer Care’ – one very good result.

There are very big challenges for the CCG to deliver and getting to grips with the for-ever overspend (as many other do as well).
As patients, Dr Howsan said this was his first priority, but at the same time trying to help patients – help themselves if possible.
Many other topics were covered and I have done articles in the past – about how the NHS can save money, example being ‘pain-killers’ Paracetamol’ – 99p over the counter, but for a GP to issue a prescription, the chemist to dispense it cost well over £40 (Dr Howsan).

Any further information please contact me….

After more years than I can remember, there maybe just some light at the end of the never ending tunnel…..

A scoping exercise which cost nearly £400K into our local railway stations and trains running through them.

Tomorrow evening 19th @ Fenland Hall there will be a Full Partnership meeting.

I will be attending and hopefully come back with some good news – who knows….