Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

The issue of overgrown areas along the towpath along the Bower River was raised at Wednesdays WTC meeting, it would appear that ‘some’ attempt had been made – but had little effect – That was Wednesday – Today Friday I am happy to inform that a ‘slightly’ better job has been carried out.
Individuals, Doggie Walkers and those in Mobility Trucks can now happily go about their business without being scratched or stung.

All Happy for the time being…..

I am beginning to think! – someone is ‘pulling a fast one’ – why – well at Wednesdays Town Council meeting I was shown a copy of an e-mail written by the head of environmental services at FDC informing the Councillor that The Toilet which has been out of operation for over 12 weeks had been fixed – I reported this with great happiness on Thursday morning…..
Lo and behold – on my checking it out today Friday at around 15:00 – what did I find – as Victor Meldrew would say – I don’t belieeve it – … The Toilet still had a sign ‘Closed’

What ‘we’ do have this week is some rubbish welding of sorts – a security bar with lock’ covering the key slot – I can a put money on that it won’t take a ‘brain surgeon to work out how to break in – misfits with a little time on their hands and bit of YouTube will soon work out how to by-pass the security – still my hopes have been dashed – the Councillor who was also happy that The Toilet had been fixed – has been either misinformed or someone at FDC has given out something not quite correct…..
We wait and see what next week brings – of course there is the WTC sponsored Music Festival – Good for Wetherspoons to have such good facilities.
Watch this space

Environment & CCTV reports.

   
Click on pictures to enlarge

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.

The agenda for this meeting was posted on this website 10th June 2017
Present were myself and 3 other regular members of the public.

All Councillors were present with the exception of Cllr Martin Curtis.

The Police, CCTV And Street Officers reports….the last two will be posted separately.
I have not as yet sighted the Police report, however Cllr Mrs Mayor had a meeting with Neighbourhood Sergeant Lugg with various concerns involving anti-social behaviour.
Irrespective of National major concerns, our local Policing are stretched and every call has to be prioritised.
At the Pubic forum, I informed Councillors of ‘RIPA’ – Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000) which sets out what agencies, councils and others can and can not carry out – which also includes CCTV. I also supported WTC comments of the excellent work that FDC’s Rapid Response team carry out.
Mr Bernard Gray-Esson highlighted the lack of prosecutions in respect of Fly-Tipping and Littering.

Please see part (2) ‘Environment Report – FDC’s Street Scene Officers will now be joined with Peterborough’s private company called ‘Kingdom’ for enforcement purposes.

There was an excellent presentation by FDC’s conservation officer Katie McAndrew she is carrying out a review and management plan for Whittlesey.
There will be no overall expansion of the conservation areas.

A605 – It was reported that WTC Councillors had meetings with PCC in respect of the A605 junctions at Park Farm/Cardia – PCC has this bottleneck quite high on its priority list.

Kings Dyke Crossing – Chairman Cllr Butcher informed that the ‘Land Issues’ had been resolved although not as yet formally signed. The successful bidder has yet to be announced and this has caused another delay – it is hoped that the contract will be signed in August (This Year) and that ‘hopefully the project will be completed by the end of 2018

Must Farm – 3 Councillors representing Whittlesey have had meetings with Peterborough CC and Forterra – owners of the land.
The councillors came away with some positive remarks, trying to have Whittlesey correctly identified as the area and for some of the artefacts to remain locally.
Some ‘plan’ to invest £7 Millions for Peterborough Museum and £4 Million for Flag Fen was mentioned!

Neighbourhood Plan – Is progressing per schedule and there is to be a ‘Workshop’ on 11th September.

Community Rail Partnership – There will be a meeting on September 11th at 6pm at Fenland Hall. I was at one time included in the updates to the CRP and have attended many meetings, however like others I am ‘off’ the mailing list and therefor not always aware when these meetings take place.

Footnote – Hurrah Hurrah – I am informed that the ‘Out of Use Toilet’ is now back in use. So now we have ALL toilets fit for purpose – until the next time some Low Life decides to vandalise or set fire to them again.

Click on Picture to enlarge

New members (anyone) are invited to come along to the next Neighbourhood Watch meeting being held on:

Thursday 22nd June 2017 @ 7pm

Whittlesey Town Council Offices – Grosvenor Road (Near Co-Op) side door up the stairs.

On the agenda will be information about:
Doorstep Selling
Keeping Safe Online
Crime Stats for Whittlesey and any trends
Local PCSO in attendance

Why not come along – No Fees/Joining costs – Make your area/Street/Neighbourhood a Safer Place – Join with your Neighbours.

Make Whittlesey & our Villages safer areas for ALL to Work, Live and Play in.

This is a message sent via eCops. This information has been sent on behalf of Action Fraud (National Fraud Intelligence Bureau)

Fraudsters have been advertising vehicles and machinery for sale on various selling platforms online. The victims, after communicating via email with the fraudster, will receive a bogus email which purports to be from an established escrow provider (a third party who will keep the payment until the buying and selling parties are both happy with the deal). These emails are designed to persuade victims to pay upfront, via bank transfer, before visiting the seller to collect the goods. The emails also claim that the buyer (victim) has a cooling off period to reclaim the payment if they change their mind. This gives victims the false sense of security that their money is being looked after by this trustworthy third party, when in fact it is not and the money has gone straight to the fraudster. Protect yourself:

• When making a large purchase such as a new car or machinery, always meet the seller face to face first and ask to see the goods before transferring any money.
• If you receive a suspicious email asking for payment, check for spelling, grammar, or any other errors, and check who sent the email. If in doubt, check feedback online by searching the associated phone numbers or email addresses of the seller.
• Contact the third party the fraudsters are purporting to be using to make the transaction. They should be able to confirm whether the email you have received is legitimate or not.
• False adverts often offer vehicles or machinery for sale well below market value to entice potential victims; always be cautious. If it looks too good to be true then it probably is.

If you have been affected by this, or any other type of fraud, report it to Action Fraud by visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk, or by calling 0300 123 2040.

For a vast amount of help and information visit:

Whittlesey Neighbourhood Watch Website:

https://www.whittleseynhw.org.uk/

This Saturday 17th June which is National Civic Day – The Whittlesey Mud Wall Group will be conducting a tour of the town at 10:00am & 12:00pm with explanations on the way.
Meet at the Buttercross.

Saturday 24th June @ 7:30pm – £8:00 pp Inc Wine & Nibbles @ St Andrews Church
Click on poster for further details…. Enjoy Music – a good night coming your way.

A lovely afternoon of music at St Andrews Field this afternoon, pity it was not supported by more people, only 20 or so at 2pm and maxed at about 75 by 4pm. Free event, Bar by Colin at The Falcon – BBQ & Ice Cream Man – BYO Picnic and I was very impressed by ALL the musicians.
 

   
Maybe everyones gone to the Elton John Concert!!!!

Once more some ‘Low Lifers’ are at their game again, this afternoon whilst carrying out my therapeutic rubbish picking campaign, I had just done High Causeway and came back 3 minutes later to find ‘The Yobs’ had deposited 2 boxes worth of Chips they had just bought, I cleared up the Boxes, but not the Tomato Sauce laden Chips.

To these ‘Low Lifers’ I say bugger off somewhere else – good job I didn’t catch them in the act – I would have run them down in my mobility scooter and probably got locked up for it.
No CCTV – No Police – No Street Scene Officer – No Money
Same old answers…..

Lets not go national or global – plenty of that news on the TV.

An excellent community turn out at our Christian Church on Broad Street this morning, to raise monies for the Whittlesey Festival later in the year. Magic and good prizes in the raffle – Sorry but I did come away with 2 prizes and a box of cakes for my neighbours (honest). The Ex ‘Hero of Aliwal’ is slowly taking shape and hopefully will be open soon as a very modern vets.
Very good to see my good friend Kenny C – who manages the ‘Payback Team’ (or what-ever they are politically called now).
He is very happy to have a ‘New Van’ with all mod-cons – today whilst I was Litter Picking he and his small team were cleaning up and strimming along Briggate West.
Kenny informs me he is very motivated now he has new lawn mowers and strimmers that are up for the job – as shown he has been a bit ‘Desk’ bound for 12+ months….needs more fresh air.

Of course it wouldn’t be Saturday if not for the fact that the ‘Broken Toilet’ is still Broken.
When I ask ‘a’ councillor today why and what progress there might be – I was given a very negative reply -NOT MY WARD’ better ask one of the others.
So with a ‘Whittlesey Town Council’ sponsored (Your money) Music event next week I again wonder if after 11 or 12 weeks whether the ‘Toilet’ will be fixed – Watch this space – I might be lucky to report next week that all is order – or maybe NOT.

See below the Agenda for this coming Wednesday Full Town Council meeting….