Friends of Whittlesey Library
QUIZ  NIGHT

 I’ll start with my usual ‘rant’ of Fly-Tipping – yes it will just not go away – and of course this is long before the reality of the ‘Brown Bin’ issues come into effect – just because ‘other’ councils state that the introduction of the ‘Tax’ has not increased fly-tipping – does not mean it will not happen in Fenland for us in Whittlesey.

This weeks very kind person(s) decided to dump an old mattress near Decoy Lakes and an old settee on Turningtree Road.

My correspondent informs me that again thanks to FDC’s Rapid Response Team – the said items were quickly removed.
Fantastic work guys – but we the tax/rate payer are having to fund this.
I don’t often get involved in other area’s Councillor problem, but the never ending character assassination of individuals becomes a bit tiresome – namely Councillors in Wisbech forever hacking on another – nothing wrong with holding councillors to account or questioning, but I would have thought with all the so called problems that Wisbech has – they would be better off addressing these instead of each other.

I’ll give MP Steve Barclay some well deserved kudos this week for having had a go at The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP (GCGP) for what ‘appears’ to be ‘Quango’s gone a bit crazy again. Looks like a lot of money (yours and mine again) going almost everywhere except Fenland which received a mini amount
of £46,000 in a total of 1 grant – Cambridge Council receiving 12 grants of over £1 Million, seems to me that Fenland has lost out again – and thanks Mr Barclays for trying to hold another Quango to account – of course
they will attempt to defend themselves?

I have to report this week, that yet another sad person(s) have removed flowers from the Whittlesey Cemetery – have these poor people got nothing better to do with their bored lives.

Still Connie & I are still enjoying sunshine – we are in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) where I last visited as a 21 year old in 1972 during the Viet War. A vibrant and very clean city.

   
7 Million Motorbikes Cocktail Hour              Fresh Coconuts            Notre Dame Cathedral

       
The wonderful ‘Majestic Saigon’ build 1925   Full of history                Connie

Many will remember (maybe) the controversy with Tesco™ wanting to build a supermarket along Cemetery Road, they wanted to knock down houses, they were ‘offering’ inducements to residents to sell, they wanted to knock down and re-locate the Fire Station…these were just some of the issues at the time. The planning application failed and they then moved to the next site on the Industrial Estate on Station Road.

Since then (History over) they have ‘banked the land’ – recently they came to WTC with their latest proposals, I was at the meeting were they did a presentation, I was not allowed to take away the ‘plan’ – however, many Councillors were very concerned about access and the number/types of dwellings that they were proposing. Several WTC Councillors were quite vocal in the respect that there should be NO houses backing onto James Gardens – which are bungalows, the agents for Tesco ‘appeared’ to be sympathetic with the Councillors and said they would take it away.

Now I understand FDC Planning last week F/YR16/0704  the consideration of the application for the land by the New Queen Street Surgery was, rather unusually, deferred for further information. Vote for deferral by 4 votes to 2. The whole application, with the additional information required, will need to be reheard at a future Planning Committee meeting.

In the additional report, Muntjac Dear are on the site, although not a protected species,
they apparently have some level of protection.
Despite Planning Officers’ recommendations on this application, —- all is not lost!

So the application lives another day…..

Very interesting and again Kudos to our WTC councillors in calling the application in.

The report (2Mb)

Update Report

Some comments in respect of F/YR16/1163
Planning-agenda-16th-January-2017

The annual ‘Friends Of Whittlesey Library’ (FOWL) Quiz is planned for Friday March 17th – further details will follow (Time & Costing)
The evening will include a Fish & Chip Supper….

Watch this space….

For this very special annual event – view the Straw Bear Website for information & history.

Click Here  ©®

Many thanks to our own correspondent for the photo’s…..

         
©RG

Thanks to our ‘correspondent’ who sent the following after attending WTC meeting this Wednesday.
Good that PCSO Green and Froment were in attendance – and the reaction received was positive.
Police Matters.
Illegal parking in Windmill Street.
Anti-social behaviour has decreased over recent weeks.

Kings Dyke Bridge.
Information is almost ready to put out to contractors so they can submit tenders. Decision on selecting contractor should be made in the spring. 

Planning.
There were no major planning applications.

Neighbourhood Plan.
Progressing. The questionnaire is almost complete.

Route 63 Cycleway.
The new gate was installed in December.  It was vandalized soon after but was repaired immediately.  It is hoped that the gate is robust enough to dissuade further efforts to damage it. 

Commonwealth  Day.
Whittlesey Town Council has received a flag.

Peterborough Local Plan.
Councillor Bristow was the only Councillor to have studied this document.  He reported that Peterborough City Council intends to build 27,000 homes by 2036.
4,700 of these have already been built.

PCC also intends to invest heavily in public transport and employment opportunities.
The document is very lengthy and, apparently,  lacking in excitement.

Budget Proposals.
Councillor Dorling  submitted the following information:
Precept – £171, 015

Currently WTC is underspent on this year’s budget and estimates it will be £20,000 “on the right side of budget” by the end of the year.

Good to hear that the ‘Kings Dyke-Bridge’ is progressing…I wonder !!! when the Bridge is built, whether the Anti-Social Doom Mongers will eat humble pie and give those who made it happen the credit it will deserve – Of course ‘when’ it is built?

       
Happy Bear Days                            Connie & Hotel Owner Daughter -Diddy
in the Wallace & Grommit Scooter.

I am pleased to have received several comments about my article last week about ‘Fly-Tipping’ – The reported issues spotted in/around our area.
As I explained taking ‘miss fits’ through the criminal prosecution system is lengthy and expensive.
Magistrates/Courts give out minimum fines in many cases, as the riff raff claim poverty in most cases.
Catching people in the act is also difficult.
At least one very small piece of good new, is that the Government is introducing law to make car drivers/owners responsible for Litter thrown out of vehicles – back to the same issue – who police it and getting evidence that will stand up in court – sorry – sounds good but I doubt if many people will feel the force of the law.
At least in my picture – ‘people’ had left their rubbish by the bin.
Moving on – I read that FDC are proposing a 1:8% increase in their ‘Tax’ for the forth-coming year – which is ‘just’ under the threshold that doesn’t attract Government asking questions.

Cybercrime Conference.
Good afternoon The Cambridge Community Safety Partnership are funding a Cybercrime Conference which will be taking place on Tuesday 24 January 2017 from 17:00-19:00. This event is supported by Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner and Cambridge City Council.  The event is being held in a 400 person lecture theatre at Anglia Ruskin University so all welcome.  Places for the Cybercrime Conference can be booked through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cybercrime-conference-tickets-30291843720

The agenda can also be found using the above link.
Kind regards Jason Ablewhite – Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

It is an unfortunate fact ‘Most’ people do not take cyber crime seriously.
Besides nearly ‘everyone’ wanting to know our personal details, I am probably as guilty as the rest – and I am a pretty good electronics engineer.
So called legitimate companies, Google™ Microsoft™ and Facebook™  to name a few, have so much information about us, that we have probably forgotten it even exsisted.
Whilst the above companies Big Brother tactics are worrying they aren’t as downright scary as hackers who are out to take control of your PC/Tablet/Phone/Keyboard, Webcam or router.
Although I am unable to attend the Cyber Conference, I hope that maybe someone can and maybe give some feedback.

There are many ways to protect yourself and limit what companies like Google™ tracks your every move/keystroke and website ever visited – there are ways to stop it.
There are ways to stop companies recording what you say.
There are ways to prevent ‘Hackers’ watching you through a webcam.

There is of course one sting in the above – our Government (Free Speach and all) want and are bringing in legislation for Internet Providers to record ALL activity people use for 12 months.
Off course the argument is national security – and the old ??? if you have done nothing wrong then there is nothing to be afraid of.
Life is complicated enough I can well understand why some people try and remain Off The Grid…..
 

Two good friends who have been a bit under the weather lately – Hope you get well soon.

Jackie Bullen.                            Jean Beaumont.

Informed that Mrs Enid Exton passed away last week. I lovely lady who always had time for a ‘chat’ – wife of Richard, she worked in the Co-Op for a number of years.

So, did you claim your 10% discount – (Big deal) on the up-coming Brown Bin Tax – I’ve been questioned about my terminology on this subject – however ‘any’ monies I pay to either central or local government is a ‘tax’ in one form or another, taxes very rarely go down, and we have yet to ‘hear’ what FDC and CCC will clobber us with – in this next financial year…. watch this space.
You have until Tuesday January 10^th to get your discount.
I’m not finished on this subject – although I accept Cllr Simon Kings explanation on this ‘history’ of ‘Garden Waste’.
I also accept that half the councils in England are either planning or are already imposing the ‘Tax’
My mobility is none to good – I don’t do any home or ‘urban’ gardening anymore.
My ‘small’ wife has little choice now when doing our small garden – she cannot be expected to hump stuff to the ‘Tip/Recycling Centre’ and remember it wasn’t so long ago Cambs CC was looking seriously at closing quite a few of these down.
I and many others campaigned vigorously to keep Whittlesey Recycling Centre open.

Next – when I came to pay my ‘New’ subscription – boy did I have issues getting it done – No fault of FDC (As they had probably out sourced the payment) but after a frustrating 5 attempts finally ‘we’ are subscribed to take in effect from April.
Finally remember that it going to ‘Cost’ FDC/Ratepayer/Me/Us/You to set this scheme up – They (FDC) hope to recover that money – again I’ll be very pleased to be informed when this happens – and will naturally give space for it.

As commented on last week, Whittlesey (+Villages) are expanding – along with the rest of the country. An interesting statistic came this week, that The New Queen Street Surgery (I am on the Patients Group) now have 10,153 registered patients in 2016 compared with 9,815 in 2015 – we have only two health centres and I don’t know the figures for the Jenner Health Centre.
Some complain, but I will say 99% of the time NQS do their best to see people in a timely way – yes one may have to stand outside at 07:45 in order to get a same day appointment – I have done this many times – and have always been successful.

Interesting for ever ongoing report on Fly-Tipping with Cambs – especially hot spots like Bretton – we had the ‘usual’ do-gooding person – (Radio Cambridgeshire) who wants to educate Fly Tippers before taking any further action – when will these people wake up – educating riff raff will make NO difference what-so-ever.
(above – A street scene within Whittlesey).

It costs FDC a considerable amount of our money to remove Fly-Tipping and kudos to the Rapid Response team of FDC for their dedication in removing this blight.
However we then go too – A Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) is issued when someone is rarely caught – FDC and their enforcement may have done their bit – do these blighters take any notice of FPN’s I doubt it very much – I witnessed last yeat some blighter who had ‘dozens’ of FPN’s was he/she bothered no…..stuck two fingers up to the magistrates?

There is a Whittlesey Town Council meeting this Wednesday 7:30pm at Grosvenor House.

Farwell this week from Sunnier Climates – Nice.