As reported on several occasions, ‘The Monastery’ is well advanced in becoming the latest small hotel to come to town. Seen here in 1981 with Craig & Co Estate Agents next door – bought my first and only property through them..

Sorry to see that not only Wrights closing down , The small DIY/Builders Merchants on Broad Street has also gone and the latest to be closing is a long established ship.
The Lighting Centre.

I look forward to hearing David Ostler giving a talk to The Whittlesey Business Forum meeting in February.

Last week full of good news, this week not so good news….

Hopefully these businesses will soon be replaced.

WTC Planning Meeting 07th February – Several interesting items..

This weeks nostalgic photo taken some 20+ years ago, when visiting Monument Valley, Connie & I were very honoured to meet and talk with the local Navajo Indians.

They did me a great favour when ‘I’ accidentally locked ourselves out of our hire car….they would not take any payment from me and left us with smiles on their faces….
Happy memories – again.

Hope you all have a good weekend –

Our condolences to good friend Andrew and Sue Overton, Kevin (son) Annett (daughter)on the passing away of long term resident of Eastrea and Coates, Mr Herbert Overton, who sadly pass away on the 30th January, peacefully at Peterborough City Hospital aged 92. ‘Bert’ had lived in Eastrea and Coates for over 65 years.

Connie and I had visited him twice during the week, a sad loss to us all.

Click On Picture to enlarge

As part of TfL and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s commitment to make travel accessible to everyone, there are now 72 step-free stations across our Tube Network.
Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street were the most recent stations to become step-free,
ensuring that some of our busiest stations are fully accessible.
Our £200m investment in delivering step-free access will mean that by 2022 over 100 Tube Stations will be step free.
To see more about Tfl Improvements Click Here

With so much development along the western end of Stonald Road – both Whittlesey and Fenland Councils are keen to make improvement to the play area at the Water Tower Play Park.
Please see below… It is very important that as many people have their input –
Thank You…

I am grateful to Cllr Chris Boden who has followed up my comments about confusion of signage in respect of the B1040 Thorney Road/North Bank Road – Being Closed and Re-opened….
We will all wait and see the next time indeed North Bank is closed – whether the Peterborough Boys do in fact cross the border into Whittlesey and place signage as
detailed below…

“We have some progress on the signage issue for North Bank closures!
Peterborough City Council are indeed responsible for placing and removing signs at the KellyVision roundabout (and also slightly further north on the B1040 hear Hemmerley Drive) relating to the closure of North Bank – I honestly don’t know for sure why this is so, but I don’t really need to dig into that!
The City Council’s Water Management Engineer has spoken to their Network and Traffic Team Manager and they were unaware of the issue around signage recently.
As such the Water Management Engineer will speak to their Highways Maintenance Team and reinforce the details around the diversion route signage for road closures at North Bank.”
Cllr Chris Boden

Ex Morley Petrol Station & Garage – West End/Low Cross/Finkle Lane – All documents including (one) so far objection can be viewed on FDC’s Website by directly following this link (saves searching for it)

Click Here

F/YR18/0015/F | Erection of a convenience store retail unit and 3 x 2-storey 3-bed dwellings and erection of 1.8m (max height) boundary wall, involving the formation of new accesses and the demolition of existing buildings within a Conservation Area | Land North And West Of 3 – 5 Low Cross Whittlesey Cambridgeshire

The store plans to open 7 days a week from 07:00 to 22:00
15 Full time employees
3 X 2 story dwellings
24 Car Parking Spaces
6 Cycle Spaces
2 Disabled Car Parking Spaces

Its been on a ‘funny’ week! – with some usual ‘Fake News’ on local social media sites.

Lets start with the ‘Smelly News’ – yes it is there and people have reported it as far away as Northampton? – (Fake) …. I followed this up in quite detail, and found that only last week – Two Whittlesey Councillors and the Chairman of the Business Forum were given a guided tour of the facility – the ‘Smell’ is being investigated.

After my reporting it here this week, today I have also been given an open invitation to visit the site….Well I can not ask for more  – thank you.
As many of us know – Whittlesey thrives on negativity and I am sure it is not unique.

Lets see what else was discussed in ‘my’ meetings this week.
I can tell you ‘FACT‘ – that infrastructure in our schools is well advanced, with plans for New Road and Sir Harry Smith to the amount of £5 Million over the next few years.

The upgrading enhancements of The ‘Monastery‘ on Market Street is advancing very well and will provide much needed accommodation within the town – yes there are parking concerns. (It is being called a Beautique B&B).

The ‘new’ Vets’ on Church Street again in nearing completion and will have state of the art facilities – They have plenty of parking.

The imminent opening of ‘Subway’ providing jobs hopefully for local people.
Parking right outside.

The planning application for a ‘Co-Op convenience store at the old Morley’s petrol station/garage – Plenty of parking – again hoping for up to 15 jobs being created.

These projects  are inward investment into our town, substantial money – it might not please everyone, but I would rather this happen than see empty shops and derelict land within our town.

Excellent contact with Cllr Chris Bowden about signage along the B1040/North Bank -which I’ll post up later – again thank you.

Finally going back to the Knot Hole at Kings Dyke – when completed it is planned to turn the land back to a Nature Reserve….for the local community.

I call this ALL Good news…. Not FAKE NEWS…found elsewhere…

I use these photo’s regularly to ‘remind’ people of what our Town Square looked like only a few years ago….I and many others are ‘proud’ and ‘passionate’ about our town.
Occasionally spoilt by a few Riff/Raff – but that does not deter the rest of us….
Have a pleasant weekend…

©Roy Gerstner

Some residents can smell it – some can not – however it is there and the Environment Agency has been involved and are investigating – they have visited the site where the ‘smelly’ is originating from.

If any resident does experience a pong or smell coming from the Kings Dyke Knot Hole area can I ask that they still report it to the authorities.

0800 80 70 60

TAKE FIVE TO STOP FRAUD WEEK

22-26 JANUARY 2018

Neighbourhood Watch is proud to be supporting Take Five To Stop Fraud Week. Take Five To Stop Fraud Week is part of the national campaign from Financial Fraud Action UK and the Government, backed by the banking industry coming together to tackle fraud.  The advice being issued this week is really simple but it can stop you becoming a victim of fraud.

1. A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account. Only give out your personal or financial details to use a service that you have given your consent to, that you trust and that you are expecting to be contacted by.
2. Don’t be tricked into giving a fraudster access to your personal or financial details. Never automatically click on a link in an unexpected email or text.
3. Always question uninvited approaches in case it’s a scam. Instead, contact the company directly using a known email or phone number.

   

With the resignation of current leader of the group and of Fenland District Council – John Clark, there will now be a closed election for a new leader of the group and probably leader of the Council on Thursday 8th February –

There is as usual positioning and ‘jockeying around’ but I am reliably informed that Cllr Chris Seaton is favourite at this moment in time, there appears to be one or two other hopefuls but we shall wait and see who is the eventual winner.
Cllr Seaton was elected in 2007 and was promoted under leader Alan Melton in 2010.
He is elected for the ward of Roman Bank Wisbech

He holds several positions and is currently the portfolio holder for finance
Odds on favourite – maybe – who knows –

Photo FDC©

David was a Coates resident for over 83 years, local butcher and businessman.
Passed away peacefully at home on 9th January 2018, aged 83 years.Devoted Husband of Peggy.
Loving father to Kim and Tania and Father in Law to David.
Also a much loved Grandad to Lian and Darren and Great Grandad to Phoebe (Squidge).
Funeral service to take place on Wednesday 31st January 2018. 12.30pm at Holy Trinity Church, Coates;
followed by committal at Fenland Crematorium.Family flowers only please.
Donations, if desired, in lieu of flowers, may be made to the Peterborough Ambulance Service at the service.
Enquiries may be made to H.E Bull and Son Funeral Directors, 61 Inhams Road, Whittlesey, Peterborough. Telephone 01733 203573
Published in Peterborough Telegraph©