Want a bit of fun with your friends – why not enter The Friends of Whittlesey Library Quiz Night – tickets include a Fish & Chip Supper (Alternative if requested in advance)
The session will run from 11am – 1pm on Saturday 24th February at
Whittlesey Christian Church.
The workshop will include:
Everyone is welcome – we’ll have a table set up with some more creative activities for the smaller members of the Parish so feel free to bring the kids along!
Further to the previous post:-
There have been a few anecdotal posts on Facebook in the last few weeks from a number of Cambridgeshire village sites reporting on people rummaging through residents’ bins. Whilst this could be totally innocent, please remind people to shred any documents containing personal details.
The Community Protection Team are delighted to be involved with Cambridgeshire’s Crime Prevention Day which will take place on Wednesday 21 February and aims to encourage people to take some easy steps towards making their property and vehicles more secure. For 24 hours police will host activities across the county including marking property, educating people on how to protect their belongings and reduce opportunist crime, and selling security products at cost price.
The awareness day, which is the force’s biggest ever crime prevention event, will involve around 8 crime prevention officers, 40 officers, 12 Specials, 80 PCSOS and our police cadets, with those involved split into teams focused on particular crime types.
For your information I have added details about the teams and events from Cambridgeshire Constabulary website to the end of this email.
Action Fraud is warning the public about fraudsters that are using the name of the British Council to trick businesses and individuals into handing over money.
They have had several reports about fraudsters who are approaching businesses in person and individuals over the phone and tricking them into paying a fine or license.
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, it does not collect council tax fines or issues licenses.
Also from Action Fraud: ‘We’ve got several reports about HMRC phishing emails being sent from an Italian domain that passes through Finland!
Don’t click, this isn’t something @HMRCgovuk would send!’
The good news is HMRC shut down 16k malicious websites last year!
You may be aware that those defrauded using Western Union wire transfers between 2004 and January 2017 have been eligible to claim money back, but the original deadline has passed. According to Halton Trading Standards there is an extension to 31 May 2018. If you are eligible to claim and haven’t there may still be time. Claiming is free so be very wary of anyone who makes contact offering to help with your claim as the scammers have victims’ contact details. Please only go to government sites (sites that end .gov.uk) or the Western Union remission site itself (with no spaces in the URL) to get the most up to date reliable information and never pay to make a claim.
Another one to watch out for; fraudsters are sending out fake Sainsbury’s gift vouchers via email, with 15 reports received by Action Fraud from members of the public in one day. When you consider that only 3 – 5% of scams are reported, this suggests this scam is quite widespread. The email claims that the intended victim was overcharged on a recent visit to the supermarket and offers the gift card as compensation. However, when users click the link to get to the promised gift vouchers, they are led to a website that
could potentially defraud them.
Stay safe everyone (and as always please let me know if you would like to stop receiving these emails). Spring will soon be here.
Kind Regards
Elaine Mountfort
Community Protection Officer
People and Communities Directorate
Telephone: 01954 286006 or 07810153604Email: elaine.mountfort@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
 Good Morning, Next week on Wednesday 21st of Feb, Cambridgeshire Police is going to be holding it’s biggest ever one-day crime prevention day.For 24 hours we are going to be holding crime prevention events and initiatives across the county. As part of this we are offering Cambridgeshire residents the chance to have a comprehensive shed-security survey carried out. Shed breaks are unfortunately very common in Cambridgeshire but thieves can be deterred with some simple and low cost techniques. If you would like one of our officers to visit you on the 21st to carry out a security survey of your shed you can book your visit here: http://tinyurl.com/shedsurvey Some quick points-
We look forward to helping as many of you as we can on the 21st- please check in with www.cambs.police.uk for more details on the crime prevention day. Best Wishes Superintendent James Sutherland |
As you may be aware I am very passionate about ‘Rubbish’ – whether it be locally or globally. The momentum on The Great Plastic issues is moving forward – slowly I accept but at least ‘some’ are making an impact.
Plastic straws will be phased out, biodegradable packaging will be used and water will be served in glass bottles.
The Queen is banning the use of single-use plastics across all Royal estates, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
Measures include the phasing out of plastic straws in public cafes at Royal residences and in staff dining rooms.
Internal catering staff will now only use china plates, glasses and recyclable paper cups as well as biodegradable packaging for takeaway food items.
Read Story on Sky News Here
MPs to make plastics pledge to tackle pollution
Politicians will make a commitment after it emerged more than a million disposable coffee cups were used in Parliament last year.
MPs will pledge to cut their use of single-use plastics in order to lead by example in tackling pollution in the world’s oceans.
Parliamentarians will make a commitment to reduce the use of items such as plastic straws and plastic cutlery in their daily lives.
The problem of plastic pollution will be brought home to MPs by the arrival of Plasticus, the Sky Ocean Rescue whale, outside Parliament.
Made up of a quarter of a ton of plastic, Plasticus represents the amount of plastic that enters the world’s oceans every second.
Read Story on Sky News Here
FACT – Two-thirds of the plastic Britons put in the recycling bin is sent abroad – but some just ends up in landfill or polluting the local environment.
We are sending vast amount overseas and into our own Landfills – one day this will come back to haunt in the not too distance future – certainly the next generation will suffer.
© Pictures and articles Sky News
One day for sure the rest of the country will follow – maybe not in the near future but who knows.
Have a 10 minute read –
TfL We are consulting on the next stage of the Mayor, Sadiq Khan’s plan to help tackle London’s toxic air pollution, which contributes to thousands of early deaths in our city each year.
To have your say visit tfl.gov.uk/airquality-consultation From 8 April 2019, the Mayor is introducing the Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London, replacing the T-Charge with an even tighter emission standards for diesel vehicles.
To help further reduce toxic emissions in London, the Mayor is also now proposing to:
Extend these tighter emissions standards to the whole of London for lorries, buses and other heavy goods vehicles only in 2020
Expand the ULEZ for all vehicles including cars, vans, motorbikes and minibuses up to the North and South circular roads by 2021
This consultation ends 28th February 2018
Monday 12th February 2018
A few items of interest being
(I) Land ownership – I presume this is to do with Kings Dyke Crossing – being discussed under confidential matters so the public are to be excluded.
(II) Syrian Refugees!
Below is the ‘press release’ carried out by WTC/CCC.
They ‘seem’ pretty confident to have released this statement –
my comments to follow later.
Ground-breaking Kings Dyke highway work due to start The eagerly anticipated next phase of planning to build the approved new crossing at Kings Dyke on the A605 between Whittlesey and Peterborough will hit the ground next week.
Ground investigations involving bore holes, trial pits and topographical surveys are due to take place week commencing the 19 February 2018.
The existing level crossing has long been a local issue due to downtime of the barriers, and the subsequent delays caused to traffic travelling between Whittlesey and Peterborough. Future plans by the rail industry to increase trains along the route will further increase delays. Cambridgeshire County Council’s Economy and Environment Committee approved plans to replace the congested Kings Dyke level crossing in 2015 to reduce these delays and improve safety.
Kier has been appointed as the contractor to carry out the detailed engineering design of the scheme and is expecting to progress onto construction.
The ground investigations works planned for mid-February will help Kier to finalise the road construction design. The scheme requires significant earthworks, ground stabilisation and a bridge to be constructed over the railway line, which can only be closed for very short periods of time. Therefore the process needs careful design and planning with survey work being carried out on-site in both the existing highway and along the proposed route.
The County Council is also working very closely with current land owners to reach a conclusion on specific land and access requirements, and this should be finalised by the end of February. This will ensure that the contractor can finalise the design in preparation for approval in June 2018.
With negotiations with land owners progressing and agreements nearing completion on the final stages of land deals, it is intended to begin works in late autumn 2018.
Cambridgeshire County Councillor for Whittlesey South Cllr David Connor, Chairman of the Planning Committee said: “Developing major road projects of this kind through land that has prized mineral extraction areas is complex.
“They require planning and land acquisition and as such can pose many challenges for the County Council when programming works. As part of the scheme two tunnels are to be built to allow access for future potential mineral extraction from land nearby. These are large structures and have involved some careful design consideration to ensure suitable access is given without compromising the agreed planning requirements for the scheme.
“We are now through the most challenging stages involving land and engineering requirements and are well placed for the scheme to commence works in autumn 2018.”
The route chosen for the new single carriageway road bypasses the existing level crossing to the south. It will involve the creation of two new roundabouts at Funthams Lane and the brickworks access road.
The scheme has wide local support with residents as well as a number of local businesses and Whittlesey Town Council, and sits within the Cambridge and Peterborough’s Combined Authority approved list of schemes to be completed.
One of the favourites predicted has won the contest to become leader of the Fenland District Council.
©FDC
