Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

AT 12:26 the EA issued that The North Bank was open for traffic.

North Bank Road alongside the River Nene, East of Peterborough
and West of Dog-in-a-Doublet Sluice

Flooding is expected – immediate action required
Recent heavy rain has caused river levels to rise on the River Nene coinciding with high spring tides. During periods of high tide the river will be unable to discharge into the sea, resulting in tide lock conditions. This is likely to lead to localised flooding at North Bank Road. Whilst the Flood Warning is in force, the Local Authority will close North Bank Road. Diversionary routes will be put in place and further updates will be available through local media.

This information was last updated at 7:15am Tuesday 1 May 2018 from the Environment Agency…..

Although I like most people want to see as many shops in use as possible, the fact that 2 Vape Shops in our town was always unsustainable – so the original one on High Street is no more. How long the other one on Market Street lasts we shall wait and see….

The Vape Hut October 2016          The Vape Hut April 2018

10:00am – (Environment Agency) – EA issue Flood Warning which I suppose was to be expected given the amount of rain in Central & Eastern England in the past few days.
More rain on the way – so we’re told…

Never a dull moment here as my wife will tell you…
Yes it is ‘true’ – I never publish ‘fiction’ there was a ‘Snake’ on the loose in High Street Whittlesey, fortunately someone rescued it before it slithered away down a drain or into the old Barclays Bank Building.
An excellent week with meeting people, councillors and on-going policing issues – at least getting ‘facts’ from those who know them but unfortunately not always getting the answers ‘we’ would like to hear….
This coming week, I will be attending a governors meeting at Peterborough City Hospital,
an informal meeting with another political group (who I wonder!!!) and hopefully attend the planning meeting at WTC on Wednesday evening.
Looking at the weather forecast… hoping by next Saturday all will be spring-like and 17°C

Here are a few pictures from the previous event and a very good time had by all.

Hello Everyone,
I thought I’d share some good news with you today. Our Trading Standards team have had a considerable success with a court case brought recently against Life Comfort Products. The directors and members of the sales team have received significant jail sentences. All entered guilty pleas to a charge of contravening professional diligence. The company sold pressure beds and chairs to elderly and vulnerable residents using high pressure sales tactics. A number of demonstrations had been given to customers with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and these vulnerabilities would have been plainly visible to anyone according to the victim’s families. When demonstrators arrived at customers’ homes, they would often spend a number of hours showing the products and the court heard how demonstrators from the firm even signed cheques for customers. It is a nice example of what Trading Standards can do if enough people report issues. The news report can be found here.

Unfortunately other scammers are still active out there. As football fans everywhere will know, the 2018 FIFA World Cup is taking place from 14 June – 15 July. The worldwide demand for match tickets, accommodation and flight tickets throughout the competition is expected to be high. Action Fraud is warning those planning to travel to be cautious when buying tickets or accommodation because the event is likely to be targeted by fraudsters looking to take advantage of unsuspecting fans. Between 2013 and 2015, over 600 reports were made to Action Fraud in relation to the 2014 World Cup.

Fraudsters will likely be posing as Official World Cup ticket vendors or private individuals attempting to sell on a match ticket via an online marketplace. Also be wary of fraudulent websites or operators offering non-existent flights or other transport to host cities and any accommodation booking service, hotel or operator, offering seemingly convenient accommodation. For more information please visit the Action Fraud website here.

Also on the Action Fraud website are the top 8 frauds to watch out for in 2018 according to Nat West. Working with The Future Laboratory to analyse data from the last 18 months, they are predicting eight frauds expected to emerge in 2018. These include the World Cup scams, romance fraud and wedding scams and is worth a quick look here.

Fraudulent websites alleging to offer cryptocurrency investments are dishonestly using the image of Martin Lewis, the founder and editor for moneysavingexpert.com, as an endorsement for their companies. Martin Lewis has published a warning to the public saying “I don’t do adverts. If you ever see one with my face or name on it, it is without my permission, and usually a scam”. The full article can be found here. 

We are still hearing of local victims of the courier fraud I have mentioned previously, so just a reminder; the scam involves fraudsters phoning individuals pretending to be a police officer or bank official and asking them to withdraw money from their bank accounts as part of an undercover investigation. Your bank and the police will never ask you to withdraw cash, reveal your PIN number or passwords or purchase high value goods that will then be collected from your home.

I hope this information proves useful. As always, if you would like to be removed from this emailing list please just let me know. Thanks for all your support.

Kind Regards
Elaine Mountfort
Community Protection Officer
People and Communities Directorate

Telephone: 01954 286006 or 07810153604Email: elaine.mountfort@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Message Sent By
Action Fraud (Action Fraud, Administrator, National)

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.