Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

The sun sort of came out briefly and it remained dry, around 100+ adults and children watched the ‘Ducks’ being launched and ‘slowly’ drifting with help from the Fire Service make their way along the ‘Bower’ – Not sure who won this year but I dare say it will be in the Free magazines later this month.
All in good local causes all over by 2:30
    

Firstly let me wish Marylyn Gregory a speedy recovery after this weeks short spell in hospital.

Marylyn G 4th from left – Marylyn is the Chair of FOWL seen in the left picture with The Opera Dudes 2016

 
This year The Opera Dudes return (23rd June) for a very entertaining evening of song and comedy.
Last year the performance was a sell out – tickets are limited to size of venue.
If you would like tickets – they are available from the Library.

Sorry to interrupt our ‘peaceful Easter’ but….The man from Latvia was trying his best to get knocked over on Church Street this afternoon as my pictures show.
No regard for the traffic and he became quite forceful with ‘rude’ gestures and language
when the vehicles did their best NOT to knock him over.
I did stop briefly and ‘someone’ has very kindly cleaned him up a bit, washed, shaved and a haircut since last Monday.
He appeared not to remember me or the deep conversation we engaged in last Monday – but still he may well turn up at tomorrows Mayors Duck Race at 2pm – that may well add a bit of extra excitement to the proceedings….
Today he used one of his nine lives I thinks….!

RG – Easter 1954

Although this happened a few days ago, the Police/Action Fraud have put out the following

Wonga has confirmed a data breach where up to 250,000 accounts have been compromised. The incident is now being investigated by the police and has been reported to the Financial Conduct Authority. Wonga has updated their website with further information and confirmed that they are contacting all those affected and are taking steps to protect them, but there are also some things you can do to keep your information secure.

Here’s what you can do to make yourself safer:
If any of your financial details were compromised, notify your bank or card company as soon as possible. Review your financial statements regularly for any unusual activity. Criminals can use personal data obtained from a data breach to commit identity fraud. Consider using credit reference agencies, such as Experian or Equifax, to regularly monitor your credit file for unusual activity. Be suspicious of any unsolicited calls, emails or texts, even if it appears to be from a company you know of. Don’t open the attachments or click on links within unsolicited emails, and never disclose any personal or financial details during a cold call. If you have been a victim of fraud or cyber crime, please report it to us: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

Many thanks to the 19 members of the public and Neighbourhood Watch Group who kept me and the Police informed on the where-abouts of our visitor from Latvia.
The Police are well aware of this gentleman and he is being ‘looked after’ until various agencies get together to best help this gentleman.

At this weeks Whittlesey Town Council meeting, under confidential matters – discussed under F81/17 was ‘New Office Purchase’ – since members of the public are excluded from this item, I am surmising that the Town Council are looking at either moving or purchasing the present building.
There has been a lot of past debate on the relationship with the Landlord and terms and conditions of the present lease.
I note the building and adjoining land is ‘For Sale’ by agents Malcolm James/RightMove©
View Here Details – @ asking £400,000 until further details become public knowledge which I doubt will be later than sooner as there are commercially sensitive information.
This parcel of land had ‘Planning permission’ for retail and housing – which has since lapsed. The agents seem confident that due to a shortage of Town Centre building land that any sympathetic planning application would probably succeed.
The Town Council still have a lease on this building. The Council have spent a considerable amount of money on upgrading and enhancing the present building – it is also disabled accessible.
We await to see what comes into the public domain.

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.

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.

Warmest congratulations to Brian Smithyman who was honoured last night by being nominated for
Citizen of the Year.
Brian is involved in many projects around Whittlesey and is a very well deserved recipient of this award.

Remember that the 14th is Good Friday.
You still either put the survey through the Town Council Office Letterbox or complete online, Friday 23:59 is the deadline for surveys to be valid.
The completed surveys returned so far have well exceeded those numbers that March Town Council obtained, (It is not a competition) but the more people who complete the form, the better the representation your council will have to work on.

Today’s visitor was from ‘Latvia’ he had travelled to Whittlesey with his ‘Waitrose shopping trolley’ (09:45 this morning) to say he was somewhat inebriated is an understatement – how do I know – I engaged in meaningful one sided conversation with Latvia Man – he was wandering around in loud self dialogue in language somewhat flowery even to my ‘nautical ears’ – he was looking for cigarette ends for a while – but I explained we already have a resident who clears these up daily, he then found a half empty bottle of cider and seemed well pleased with himself. I came back about an hour later and he had gone on his way – looks like the word is out – seems we are on the tourist trail for these ‘strangers’ – wonder who we shall have tomorrow?