Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Passing the Town Hall today, I visited the Whittlesey Mud Walls meeting, I have done so on occasions previously, interesting and informative of these ‘fairly’ unique pieces of history, especially within Cambridgeshire.
The group have almost completed a booklet explaining all about the ‘Walls’ and their locations.
Also at the meeting was FDC conservation officer Katie McAndrew – who gave an update on the ‘Conservation consultation’ – which I promoted several weeks ago.

Contact the Mud Walls Group – C/o The Town Hall, Market Street Whittlesey PE7 1BD

I find it a bit confusing that WTC Planning Committee are discussing the old Morley’s Garage site for a convenience store and 3 x 3 bed dwellings when at FDC have today (03rd) issued a decision notice to Grant Permission.
The FDC’s Planning Committee report was made on the 28th March 2018

visit FDC’s Planning Portal  Click Here – Click on documents – to view decision notice.

At next Monday’s (09th April) Patient Participation Group Meeting (PPG) at The New Queen Street Surgery – 7pm – A talk and demonstration by Deborah Slater – All welcome –
You may well – Save someone’s Life by learning how simple these Defibrillators are to use.
Why not visit Defibrillators for all website : http://www.defibrillatorsforall.co.uk/

Here you will be able to see a map of all locations in/around Whittlesey & Villages.

The B1040 is closed Flood warnings

• Flood Warning in force: North Bank Road alongside the River Nene, east of Peterborough and west of Dog-in-a Doublet is CLOSED.
  B1040 (Wash Road) Whittlesey to Thorney CLOSED

Throughout the Easter weekend we saw heavy rainfall in the River Nene catchment area. This means that the river level has risen and remains high. We expect the river to remain high over several more days, particularly within the Whittlesey Washes.
Our forecasts indicate that flooding to properties is not likely and therefore flood warnings are not expected to be issued at this stage. We are constantly monitoring river levels and have staff in the field checking for and clearing blockages. This message will be updated as the situation changes.
This information was last updated at 5:24pm Tuesday 3 April 2018

Weather was the factor not as many turning out on a damp & cold afternoon – still a good success for the Mayor’s Charity….

A selection of pictures of todays event – click to enlarge

About 2 years ago, a developer stated that they would pay for the Bower Foot Bridge upgrading, whether it was these developers I don’t know.
However the Foot Bridge is now more ‘accessible’ in that the 3 concrete steps have been removed either side and a ramp and resurfacing has taken place.

Fantastic for Prams and Mobility Scooters…

The weather forecast is looking slightly better for today – this afternoons –
Mayors Charity Duck Race.
Providing it goes ahead – there will still be a few tickets available – All monies raised goes to ‘local’ charities.
Start at 2pm, at Ramsey Road/Church Street – Bower Bridge.
Just in case I do not make it .. here’s a couple of photo’s from previous years.

Please see acknowledgement at the end E&OE

Dates for your diary for you to engage with councillors and members of the rail partnership will be on:  Friday 20th April 06:30-08:30  @ Railway Station
09:30 – 12:00 @ Market Square
Saturday 28th April 10:00 – 12:00 @ Town Council Offices

I have been attending the Hereward Community Rail Partnership meetings for many years. There was and is a Whittlesey Town Councillor attending on some occasions.
Cllr Simon King is the Chairman of the Group.
Presently another on-going consultation (yes another consultation which not a great deal of notice is taken into account).
A small number of Whittlesey public have also attended and ‘we’ are normally the best represented with 5/7 attending.
I do remember that prior to the latest franchise being negotiated – All sorts of ‘promises’ were made but without any committed time scale…since then most/nearly all these promises have been well forgotten about.

Now we shall look at ‘The Third Cambridgeshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2031
This was and to an extent is still the state of play today…but not a lot of forward progress after 4+ years…

Page 1                                             Page 2                                     Page 3
Click on Pictures to enlarge

In the above paperwork/document it clearly states that the ‘total cost’ of the Bridge would be £13:2 Million – The latest figure I was told on Wednesday of this week was – It was now £19:2 Million – including a somewhat vague figure of £5 Million ‘contingency fund’ – for what I don’t know at this time.

The more important news I received was that the sellers of the land ‘appear’ to be ready to sign, they now claiming that Cambs County Council are the ones holding the process up.
My source(s) informed me that ‘Perhaps’ CCC doesn’t have the money in place!
Again it was my understanding that funding for this project had been in council speak –
‘Ring Fenced’.
You will see that at the bottom of Page 2 – It clearly states then in 2014 that funding by CCC would have to come out of capital funding (Hard up as they are) or by ‘Prudent Borrowing’ another council speak acronym…

I and many others do firmly believe that one day the Bridge will be built at what-ever the cost – Whittlesey residents have waited long enough.

The road/round-about issues/concerns at A605 Ponderbridge/Cardia will be addressed – but not to everyone’s satisfaction (on the cheap one Peterborough councillor told me).

The Railway Station – well as you can see the plan goes all the way to 2031 – doubt if I/or maybe you will still be here in 2031 – If you are still here – let me know please….!
My e-mail address will    ……….  co.uk/in-heaven

This article has a long way to run as yet – and we wait and see what the ‘Latest’ public engagement brings –

My thanks and acknowledgement to Mr Peter Baxter who did a great deal of research.
Peter Baxter is passionate about Road infrastructure/Pollution issues/concerns. Transport & HGV’s using the A605
Peter is and has been lobbying Councillors and MP Barclay for some time now. If you would like to talk or meet with Peter, please let me know and I’ll put you in contact with him.

Today we have seen that 500,000 Hits have been registered since my very humble web-blog beginnings.
In the early days only a few people knew of this Web-Blog – over the years, it has grown and I sincerely hope that what I post is, honest and accountable.

There are NO FAKE articles on this website.

I’ve posted 1316 articles since 2012, not all political, in fact probably only about 40% being so. How long I carry on – well we wait and see….

My thanks to ALL my readers – locally or overseas – It is the ‘Only’ Community Website where you will find -‘Real News, Comment and Stories.

At last nights (28th) Whittlesey Business Forum meeting, a presentation was given on behalf of East Midlands Waste Management (EMWM) – Ex Saxon Brickworks.
Attending were 7 Whittlesey Councillors² and 21 members of the Business Forum including myself.

The very professional presentation was given by Mr Stephen Rice (Chartered Surveyor)¹
He informed the past history of the Saxon works from when the original Planning Application to ‘stabilize’ the Eastern side of the pit by Hanson Brick back in 2002.
Mr Rice made it very clear to everyone, that this site is NOT a landfill site but in his words, a restoration of the banks using ‘stabilized inert material.

In 2012 an application to extend the time period was made and again in 2017 a further extension (See my post of  24th Match).

The current ‘owners’ are now preparing a new application to include the deteriorating North Face – adjacent to the Railway Line.
A short presentation by Mr Frank Owen (Site Manager) who gave the audience a similar run down on the operation which I described in my previous article 24th March.
Mr Owen has been in his position for 8 weeks and is very experienced in the field of site management. He also emphasised that the project under planning control is NOT a landfill. He explained the audit trail and inspection of suppliers of waste products, he did mention that the recent ‘waste’ that was identified by the Environment Agency (EA) as not being ‘fit for engineering’ purposes had been quarantined and was awaiting disposal to another ‘Landfill site’ nearby.
Mr Rice then made a second presentation about the ‘issues’ and ‘challenges’ he was having with Network Rail™ regarding their none engagement in preparation of the forth-coming planning application.
The North Face of Saxon Pit is only 35 metres away from the railway line.
The river goes beneath the railway line.
Two nearby drains go beneath the railway line.
This next phase (when planning consent is given) will see some 500,000 cubic metres – approx. 1,000,000 tons of ‘Inert’ material (That which is licenced by the EA) needed to shore-up the Northern Bank, this could take up to 5 years to achieve depending on the availability of the ‘Inert material’
Several questions were then asked by 3 councillors, 1 New Business forum member and myself.
Briefly:
1/ The ‘smelly’ material which several residents complained about – was identified by the EA, has subsequently been quarantined and is not toxic or hazardous.
2/ Questions about the amount of Lorries/Traffic being generated under the next phase – Mr Owen indicated that ‘most’ of the HGV traffic would be coming from the Peterborough side of the A605.
3/ Water seepage and Pumping of water, again Mr Owen stated that this is work in progress, a new ditch had been dug out and water collected would be pumped back into a nearby reed bank. (Some issue with electric supply to the pump)
4/ The company which supplied the ‘suspect/now quarantined material is no longer an approved supplier.
5/ The transparency with the Environment Agency is to the benefit of everyone and the EA has stringent checks in place.
6/ There is to be a ‘Liaison Group to be formed, this was emphasised would NOT be councillor based or lead, but should be local residents in conjunction with Mr Owen.
This small group could then flag up any concerns or issues brought to their attention.
7/ Would there be a public consultation on the forth-coming plans, was a good idea, but doubt if time now available – as EMWM are hoping to have the plans submitted by May 2018.
8/ Local resident who lives adjacent to the Pit @ Priors Road, stated that in his opinion, the present site owners had been the best he had experienced, he stated that he had no issues with either ‘smell’ or ‘noise’
Sorry about the length of this article, but I know a lot of people are looking to view this meeting, there were a few other minor questions.
Maybe suggest wait to see that Planning Application when is goes into Cambs CC then if residents/public have any questions or concerns they can either contact EMWM via their ‘Liaison Group or make representation to Cambs CC Planning Department.

¹ Mr Stephen Rice Chartered Surveyor website and projects can be viewed Click Here
² Councillors attending were:
R. Butcher     A. Miscandlon     J. Windle     C. Boden     D. Mason     R. Wicks     E. Dorling

In my several recent postings on the debacle of them selecting or re-selecting or even de-selecting their future candidates, I was some what short in saying it was a ‘disaster’.
It would now appear Editor at large – John Elworthy @ The Cambs Times© has an even better insights..

“Conservatives in turmoil in the Fens as president lashes out at his own executive for de-selecting four sitting councillors…
Disarray in the Conservative Party in Fenland spilled over into the annual meeting of the local association with a blistering attack by president Victor Aveling on the de-selection of sitting councillors.”

Read Mr Elworthy article on the Cambs Times by Clicking Here
or go directly to http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/news
Never mind its all smiling and bon ami in the public face – and I dare say this rift & tiff will all be forgotten about in a few weeks or months.

But then again, my ears were well burnt by someone informing me that one of the de-selected councillors was done by the way they had voted on a planning application some years ago – it wasn’t forgotten and it looks like the councillor was punished now some years later….

Plus of course the even thought Mr Elworthy could imply that ‘Decisions’ are being made in secret meetings….. phew – never even thought of that one – Ha pull the other one!!!

Not Happy Bunnies for Easter then –