Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

This morning at WTC Offices @ Grosvenor Road, saw a few people pass through the exhibition of boards explaining the various options on offer.
(See my post of 22nd April)
You can view all the documents and download them at FDC’s website by following the link

FDC Website Whittlesey Railway Consultation

Unfortunately the numbers attending this meeting today was somewhat disappointing.
On Thursday night a meeting at Fenland Hall of the Hereward Community Rail Partnership saw just 5 people attend – one being Whittlesey Town Councillor Alan Bristow who is the representative for Whittlesey – I have attended these previously but had another appointment on Thursday.

So where are we with getting any improvements – well I was told today that the whole project is at ‘GRIP 3’ stage – there being 8 stages altogether – it has taken a number of years to get to this point – so I’ll let you make your own mind up of how long it will take…..

Click on picture to enlarge….

I have met Ray Bisby at previous meetings but not had the opportunity to talk with him at any length.
We arranged a meet up today at Morrisons Café and had a long and open dialogue covering a vast array of subjects and topics. I can not produce the whole 2½ hour meeting but can highlight some of the common issues and concerns we both have.

Naturally the Kings Dyke Bridge is the big topic at present – Ray and two other Councillors represent Cardea, Stanground and some adjoining areas.
The building of the Bridge has effects on their area as well and especially the extremely bad and poor planned twin round abouts at Park Farm and Cardea – leading to Traffic issues at the A605 Pondersbridge turning.
As I previously posted – Peterborough City Council (PCC) along with the Combined Office of the Mayor for Cambridgeshire have agreed to fund a ‘Traffic enhancement’ at the Pondersbridge entrance/exit/A605.
Today Ray informed me that this commitment was hard cash of £4.5 million.
Now comes the bad news…. the small bridge has some form of protection order on it…
(He does not know the reasons) – so the bridge apparently can not be interfered with.
The answer maybe to build another small bridge alongside or indeed to change a spur off the Cardea round-about.
Timing is to be decided and hopefully some communication between Cambs CC and PCC is and will be taking place.
We discussed the effects of Cardea not having a dedicated health centre and its ramifications on other health centres.
We discussed the future housing at Cardea (approx. 950/980 houses) – the land opposite the Cardea site is NOT being built of in the foreseeable future.

We spend at length discussing Policing within Cambridgeshire and specifically for us – here in Whittlesey. Although the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner holds the Chief Constable ‘to account’ the office has no remit in day to day running of the Police Force.

As I have previously reported and posted ‘A new’ Policing model for Cambridgeshire takes effect as of tomorrow, which sees us in Whittlesey becoming part of the Northern area ie
Peterborough.
There are ‘big’ plans being formed as to placing resources in what will be known as ‘Blue Light Hubs’ and I pushed Ray in whether the word Whittlesey was in this plan.

We covered Health & Education, Vagrants, Drugs, Anti-Social Behaviour, Litter + Fly Tipping and then ‘I’ ran out of time as I had another appointment.

My thanks to Ray Bisby for his valuable time and his engagement with me, I certainly think we can become good neighbours and hopefully continue the discussions and dialogue we have had today.
Ray Bisby is seeking Re-election for the Conservative Party in the Cardea, Stanground, Fletton area’s and I wish him every success in his endeavours.

e&eo ©Roy Gerstner

My 2½ hour meeting with Cllr and Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner Ray Bisby was like breathing fresh air – Ray who is a Conservative Councillor for the Cardea area answered ALL my questions without “hesitation, repetition or deviation”.
A recent event happened to me, where I was asking Senior Policing ‘why’ Policing wasn’t being addressed for minor problems here in Whittlesey.
My remit for this was as Chairman of Whittlesey Neighbourhood Watch – some of the members were asking me questions!

So I made my own Councillors aware, (As my first point of contact) they told me that they were aware of these ‘issues’ and had contacted the Police about it.
At the last Council meeting these issues were briefly discussed and ‘allegedly’ the term NO resources available was used – this is term I used when discussing at later meetings with Senior Officers at Police HQ (Previous posting).

I subsequently received an e-mail from the NPT (Neighbourhood Police Team) Sergeant Lugg with a copy of an e-mail he sent to the Council, explaining the resources and priorities of his policing team – at NO stage did he mention ‘NO Resources’.
I enclose at the bottom Sergeant Lugg’s e-mail.

I then asked a Whittlesey Councillor if they had seen this e-mail – to which they said they hadn’t – so who did receive the e-mail then – some must have in order to make alleged quotes.
If indeed my own Councillors had received this e-mail, I as a constituent or as my role in NHW who had contacted them previously – did they not keep me informed of the ‘factual’ e-mail they may have received – This surely is being a ‘Good Councillor’ – quiet often at WTC meetings I hear from one particular Councillor the wording – Transparent – the incident above is just one example – The phrase ‘Knowledge is Power’ and is not unique to some of our Councillors – it happens everywhere, it is very annoying when the same group – who would like to promote high ethics within Council business are not practicing what the preach!

This is how and when Transparency starts and is indeed somewhat Opaque.

Below e-mail is unedited and is it’s origin format.

Afternoon Roy
I am currently abstracted this week so have little time to look into my emails in detail. However I understand that an email I sent to the council last month was discussed at the meeting. I have copied it below for your info and for you to make your own mind up as to whether my email has been distorted at the meeting you attended.  

Personally I do not believe I said we had NO resources. I have acknowledged responsibility for parking enforcement but I have tried to manage expectations in that we do not dedicate officers purely to parking issues.
In that light Shane will endeavour to look into this repeat vehicle and take some form of action as soon as he can.
I return to my NPT duties next week so will be available to answer any other concerns you have. Kind regards
Richard

EMAIL TO COUNCIL:
Thank you for your email.
I will forward your email to the local PCSOs so that they can include the street in their patrols and issue tickets for those parked on the lines that have been implemented.  

In order to meet your expectations however:
In this part of Cambridgeshire the council has not decriminalised parking offences. As such they are unable to provide parking wardens that you may have seen in most other parts of the country. As a result parking currently falls to the police to enforce. Unfortunately we live in a world where we do not have infinite resources. We no longer have dedicated parking enforcement officers. As such we have to prioritise our workload and deal with those matters that cause the greatest amount of harm first and above everything else that falls to us to deal with.
This prioritisation is undertaken consistently as new incidents are reported to the police.
Incidents where there is a threat of harm, harm already taken place or involving an element of risk of harm will clearly take precedence over issues involving parking. By way of example a person who is missing and at risk of harming themselves would need to be found before we issued parking tickets. A child at risk of sexual exploitation would need to be safeguarded before we issued parking tickets. A situation where a vulnerable elderly resident is being subjected to high levels of anti-social behaviour would need to be resolved before we issued parking tickets.

On some days the PCSOs may have ample time to enforce parking. On others they may not be able to due to the risk of harm evident in calls for service and ongoing cases that we as a team have to deal with.
Once all risk is reduced on any given day we can then turn our attention to matters that do not involve immediate safeguarding such as parking.
Having said all of that we are currently going through a period of change. Your Mayor has been invited to a meeting next week for those changes to be explained. Although we anticipate more time to be available for parking issues we will still have to adopt a risk based approach when prioritising our workload. We will not be returning to dedicated parking enforcement officers.

As a council you could chose to send the clear message of which you speak to educate drivers around the existence of the new lines and that failure to abide by them will result in a penalty notice from the police.
We will enforce them along with all of the other parking enforcement across Whittlesey, March and Chatteris when we can.  

I hope this helps you to understand the current situation around parking enforcement and policing priorities.
Kind regards
Richard

Sgt Richard Lugg
South Fenland Problem Solving Team.

e&oe ©Roy Gerstner
If you believe any of my articles are factually incorrect I am more than happy make corrections.

Last night at The Falcon Hotel, 21 attendee’s including (1) WTC Councillor.
A very good presentation by ‘Louise Nicholls’ on behalf of NGNP UK –
No Gain No Pain, a small local group who are making a fantastic difference to those in need of palliative care and can no longer take medicine orally.
Attached is some information – They have handed over to the NHS 39 machines which cost £1,100:00 each and have a lifespan of 7 years.

Remarkable work and passion by Louise and her very small team.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Several other items were discussed the main one being the forth-coming Business Forum Fayre which is taking place at the Manor Leisure Centre on:-
Sunday 20th May 10:00am – 16:00
Entrance -Free
Children’s Rides -Free
Music – Free
And much much more……

One ‘issue’ raised was that of theft and break-in’s on our Industrial Estate – several have happened and a substantial amount of equipment has been stolen.
One victim stated that even though he had CCTV evidence the ‘Police’ had not come to visit him.

Dates of future events:
Rotary Charity Beer Fest at The Falcon Hotel May 18th/19th/20th
Business Forum Charity Walk Sunday 08th July (a very successful event last year)

More to follow….

After a recent incident – I’d say not very transparent at all – in fact quite the opposite…
Coming tomorrow…

There have been questions by me of what’s happening with the A605 / Junction Pondersbridge -Whittlesey Road Junction – Nothing much said by our councillors!

I can confirm that Peterborough City Council (PCC) – 5 Year Local Transport Plan and Cllr’s Chris Harper & Ray Bisby (Peterborough) have secured the promise of joint funding from the combined authority and PCC to make the improvements happen.

Cllrs Chris Harper & Ray Bisby carry out regular litter picks with their community –
Not Just at Election time? But throughout the whole year in the Park Farm and Cardea area’s

I have a scheduled meeting with Ray Bisby this Friday and hope to engage with our neighbour on a fairly regular basis…..
Shared planning with Peterborough may or may not be everyone’s choice, but shared resources in this day and age of Governments cutbacks (all I’ve every heard for years) is the way forward to protect services, and should Peterborough be our choice – well that’s another debate.
©Chris Harper – check out Chris Harpers website and just see how he keeps his electorate informed…. A truly incredible amount of caseload and initiatives Chris Harper

There are 7 documents here to look at – they may take some time to load..
If you would like me to send the documents please get in contact with me…

To view next page – click on small arrow at bottom left of page.

Rob Boddington won my small competition, he was the first to correctly identify where I was last weekend – Portland Bill

Today collecting his nominated charity cheque to the RNLI

Thanks to those who took part.

I am pleased to say that there is a winner – who will visit me in the next few days for a hand over of a charity cheque.
The answer to where I was standing – Portland Bill (Lighthouse)

Taking me back to the wonderful 60’s, last night Connie & I was at the Bournemouth International Convention Centre to see ‘Roy Orbison’ – now us oldies know that Roy O died in 1988 – But last night – ‘Holographic – In Dreams’ was a real blow-away – the re-incarnation was truly phenomenal – we had 2nd row seats and sound and vision truly lifelike – so much so it was somewhat surreal.

A full medley of the Big ‘O’s hit from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s with a song from the Travelling Wilbury’s.
Of course the nostalgia takes me back when I saw Roy Orbison at the Embassy Theatre in or around 1965 – All groups of the 60’s played city venues and The Beatles played twice in Peterborough and ‘almost’ came to Whittlesey had the date not clashed with another event at Ramsey.
There was The ‘Palais’ and The Corn Exchange where other ‘live’
music events took place, and Peter Baxter was a regular at these venues and has a great memory for these events.

Roy G – In 1965                             Roy O – 1965                                   Roy G – Last Night !!