Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

I would sincerely hope by now after many years doing this web site/Blog, that those who view it know I Do NOT do rumours.
Last week-end I was informed on 3 occasions that the land intended for the ‘Sainsbury’s Supermarket’ was now in the planning stages of becoming houses.
(No planning application has been seen as yet).

The 3 informants are regular drinkers at various public houses in town, and I can categorically say they are at present – very miss-informed.
Having contacted the person who has the planning permission, he told me – that he is still planning to deliver the Whittlesey scheme.
That’s how it stands today 15th September 2017

The ‘sign’ says – Country Park Coming Soon – it does not specify ‘How soon’ is/was.

The next Whittlesey & District Neighbourhood Watch
meeting will be held on : Friday 22nd September at 7pm

Whittlesey Town Council Offices – Grosvenor Road – Side entrance – Up the stairs (Stair lift if required)

All welcome – Help reduce crime in your street.

Over the past few weeks across Cambridgeshire and surrounding forces there has been an increase in the reports of Distraction Burglary and Rogue trading offences. The older members of our community and vulnerable are the main targets.  Fenland has only had a couple of reported cases, with this in mind it is the ideal time to remind the community that these offences although few and far between do happen! Please could I ask you to remind your older family members to follow the below simple rules. Could I also ask that you keep an eye out for your older and vulnerable neighbours and to report anything that you feel is suspicious.
Simple tips:- NOT SURE DON’T OPEN THE DOOR! If you feel you MUST open door, always put your chain on Remember simple rule…. STOP, CHAIN, CHECK!
Also ensure rear/side doors are locked before opening front door. NEVER let anyone into your home without prior appointment! ALWAYS check ID. NEVER employ someone standing on your doorstep. (They might remind you of work you need completing!) however you should always use a reputable company!
Recommendation from friend or family is best If not trading standards have the BUY WITH CONFIDENCE scheme! If persons on your door step are being pushy, call the police. (If possible take vehicle details index, and make and description of person/s).

REMEMBER: Utility companies are who ever you pay your bills to e.g. British Gas, Anglian Water etc. You can also set a password on all your utility accounts for added protection and security. (Ask person what your password is)! Ensure you have a list of your utility companies beside your telephone! If your not sure contact company on the number you have NOT on any ID card provided. Most utility companies will contact you prior to attending your address (They will not be offended if you call to check they are genuine)! If you have a key safe change the code regularly and when carer’s etc. leave!

SCAMS- Postal scams …Australian Lottery, lottery of Ireland, Clairvoyants, prize draws, you have won please send money to receive your prize even some of the smaller mail order catalogues, vitamins etc.  If you are not sure, don’t enter and shred, or you can send them to post office FREEPOST scam mail and they will destroy. All the above if they seem too good to be true they are!
All monies sent to these PO BOX addresses is used to fund organised crime, exploitation and human trafficking. If you notice any of these types of mail dropping on the doorstep of your family members please report to trading standards.
TELEPHONE/COMPUTER. Never give your personal details to anybody calling you over the phone. If you are worried and need to check, call your bank etc. from a different phone or wait 10-15 minutes before calling from number you received call on! Microsoft software problems, never give money contact Microsoft directly. E-mail asking for money friend trapped abroad, this is another scam, your account has been hacked or tampered with. I hope that you find the above useful and are able to pass the information onto family, friends and members of your community you feel might not have access to computer. Many thanks for your help and support.

Julie Bailey Crime Reduction and Community Safety Officer Fenland.

Whittlesey NHW Website can be found – https://www.whittleseynhw.org.uk/

After many recent successes on putting on an event during school holidays, Friends Of Whittlesey Library (FOWL) have their next event…see poster
Click on picture to enlarge – click a 2nd time to further enlarge….

At the executive meeting held at Police HQ on Tuesday, the update from the Police & Crime Commissioner was that a consultant had been engaged to look at the delivery of ‘local Policing’ and had started work.

A few months ago – there was a consultation from the PCC’s Office regarding closer working with the Fire Service – the result was that 53% of the returns supported the initiative.
‘Speedwatch’ – the official channel that Cambs Police use (Not The Community Road Watch Scheme) had a dedicated officer ‘Mike Brookes’ -who was very encouraging in establishing more ‘official groups’.

Please see attached documents…

Environmental Reports, Fly-Tipping, Open Spaces, Street Pride.

Tidy Fenland saw FDC partners ‘Kingdom’ spend a whole 2 days in Whittlesey in a month, spending the majority of their time in Wisbech, which as we are all aware has much bigger ‘issues’ than us in Whittlesey, still some WTC Councillors are asking if ‘Kingdom’ can not spend a bit more time in our town and perhaps dare I say The Villages !!!

   
CCTV report – reading the incidents makes ‘sad reading’ suspects in Whittlesey Manor Field, suspected drugs – No Police available to investigate – Ask our Police & Crime Commissioner !!!
‘We’ are paying in the region of £9,000 a year for the above….

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.

The last full council meeting was in July – There is no meeting held in August.

The Agenda was published on this website on the 13th September see belwow.
The ‘usual’ 4 members of the public present including myself. Cllrs absent Dorling, Garratt, and Bristow. Cllrs Boden, Laws and Curtis arrived during the meeting.

Policing: There were No Police in attendance as they were busy elsewhere, there are still on-going concerns about ‘Speeding’ & ‘Parking’ issues. There was some statistical information from the ‘Community Road Watch Scheme’ – however Cambs Police do not engage with this group (There is history!). Later in the meeting Cllrs voted on making a small donation to the CRW team for their work.

Public Forum: SB, Thanked the Council for the recent ‘Yellow Lines’ at the Commons Road/Stonald Road Junction, this appears to be working and has made the junction very much safer.
RG, Thanked the Councillors who attended the Community Rail Partnership meeting on Monday, and although not that well attended as previous stated Whittlesey 11 – 0 Wisbech.
BEG: Commented again the lack of any Police what-so-ever with-in Eastrea for many months.

Other Business:
Kings Dyke Crossing: My updates as published here last week, there were no further updates – however it was stated last week that Network Rail had made a derisory contribution to this £18+Million scheme – derisory is an understatement – Network Rail have committed £70,000 (No I have NOT missed any zero’s off – (That reads Seventy Thousand) – I stand corrected in my statement last week that Network Rail has nothing to gain by the bridge –  and will cover this in another article.

Neighbourhood Plan: Is progressing well as planned and good funding schemes and grants have been obtained thus far. The result of the Public consultation are available on the WTC Website.
There are ‘Workshop’ sessions planned for Friday 13th October 2017 – I will advertise this shortly.

Community Rail Partnership: Cllr Mrs K Mayor gave the meeting an update on the ‘Dire State’ of Whittlesey Railway Station and the very ‘little’ progress that is being made either with ‘Greater Anglia’ and the almost ‘None communication with Network Rail – she stated that The station resembled a scene from ‘Beirut’.

Ward Matters: Mainly concerning the state of Ramsey Road, Cllr J Windle has had meetings with residents and Cambs Highways, a temporary ‘Fix’ was completed yesterday on the part just before the Ramsey Road Level Crossing.
There is plans in place for the re-surfacing of the road from The Boat Inn all the way to Pondersbridge – sometime in January 2018

The next full council meeting will be held on 11th October 2017

The public are invited to take part:
Whittlesey Neighbourhood Plan – Vision and Objectives Workshop
Friday 13th October – see Flier below.
Click on picture to enlarge – click a 2nd time to further enlarge….

 
We would like your views on proposals to increase penalty charges issued to drivers by TfL, from £130 to £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days.
To have your say, please visit tfl.gov.uk/penalty-charge

This consultation ends on Friday 10 November.

More workshops on the future for libraries in Cambridgeshire .
We have recently started an informal discussion with library users and stakeholders on the future for libraries in Cambridgeshire through a series of workshops. The first round of events is drawing to a close but the conversation continues over the coming weeks with more workshop dates and venues in September/October.

The county is changing and the way people use our services is changing. We want to take this opportunity to ensure our services are fit for the future and meet the needs of the community. We would like to hear your ideas and suggestions on how to sustain, improve and develop your libraries and the services they offer. We’ll use this discussion to inform our work over the coming months to define how libraries can achieve long-term sustainability and continue to thrive.

This new set of workshops is intended to offer as many opportunities to as many people as possible to get involved and will follow the same format as the August events.

• Monday 25th September 10.00 – 12:30
  The Eastrea Centre, 2 Roman Gardens (Coates Road), Eastrea, Whittlesey PE7 2BA

Here we have ‘another’ consultation, is it worth it I ask – does anyone or quango’s take any notice of what their ‘consultee’s have to say.
Well it’s up to you the information is here…
Also attached are :

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

(1) Requirements for the new East Midlands Long Term Rail Franchise August 2017

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

2) The minutes of the last CRP Meeting 27th March – see if anything much has changed compared to my article previously

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

Whittlesey  11 –  0  Wisbech

At last nights Community Rail Partnership Meeting, out of the 15 people attending, 11 from Whittlesey (Including 3 Councillors) and (2 Ex Whittlesey Signalmen).
No Councillors from Wisbech, March, Chatteris or Manea, and MP Barclay wants to spend £100+ Million on the Wisbech to March Rail – Link – Hey Mr Barclay are you not getting the message (again) – No one from Wisbech bothered has to turn up as is usual.
(Other than Cllr King – the Chairman)

Back to the meeting, I am sorry to report that ‘very little’ progress is being made in respect of Whittlesey Station or the number of trains that might call in, the earliest any increase that may come about is 2020 !!!! (In your dreams)

Our 3 Whittlesey Councillors (Cllr’s Mrs K. Mayor, Wicks and Curtis) put a number of questions to The Chair Cllr Simon King and Alan Neville from Greater Anglia, Mr Neville has made some statements (NOT Commitments) in the past, and is extremely versed in NOT answering the actual question!
So he admitted that Whittlesey Station is in a very poor state, it took some considerable time and effort to even get a ‘dangerous/insecure’ electrical cabinet door replaced – arguments on ‘who’ owned or was responsible was the on-going issue.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the meeting, but NOTHING is going to happen in the short term.
When Mr Neville stated that ‘Ticket Machines’ were going to be installed at all stations –
I asked  – When – to which he replied he didn’t know!!!! – and that just about sums up the meeting (nearly 3 hours).

So thanks to the other Whittlesey residents who showed up  –  just now on the news, Greater Anglia Train Drivers have announced a planned strike…..can it get any worse….
So here are some slides and photos…

[wds id=”3″]

There has been a number of incidents in/around the New Road area over the past few weeks, the Police are very well aware and are asking residents to report anything suspicious.
The latest being between 08th @19:00 and 09th @ 13:00 – 20 Gallons of Red Diesel was stolen from a shed in the New Road area.

Any information please phone 101

I plan to attend.

Update 110917 – 10:05 In addition to the meeting advertised below, there is a very good website with plenty of information re- local railways.

Fen Line Users Association

http://www.flua.org.uk/