Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Letter from Ferringhi Beach – Penang Island Malaysia.
Not much news then regarding the Kings Dyke Bridge – although a small amount to celebrate that there will not be a CPO for the land.

See Part 1 in respect of a planning application for Market Street.

Fantastic if that’s what we can call it that ‘Street Lighting’ is to be re-instated back to ‘normal (Cambs CC)

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.

I am very grateful – as I am sure our readers are to our correspondent….

Police Matters.
Among the matters brought to the attention of the police officers attending were: thefts from vehicles in and near to Stonald Road and anti-social behaviour at Station Road recreation ground.

Kings Dyke Bridge.
It appears that a Compulsory Purchase Order will not be necessary to gain access to the land. Councillor Butcher estimated that the bridge will be completed by “late 2017”.

Street Lighting and Gritting.
County Council has informed  WTC that schedules for gritting and lighting will be restored to last year’s levels.  There is no date set for either.

Planning.
There were no major planning applications though one private application in Park Lane was discussed at very great length.

Neighbourhood Plan.
A revised questionnaire will be delivered to all addresses in Whittlesey and villages in February. The questionnaire will also be available on line. There will also be public exhibitions later next year.

Route 63 Cycleway.
Installation of the new gate will be completed this Saturday 17th December.  It is an “elephant gate”. It will have a central gap for pedestrians and horses.  Council also voted to pay for the installation of speed cushions on the lane to the Field of Dreams.

Tour of Cambridgeshire Cycle Race.
This will not come through Whittlesey town centre but it will use Benwick Road. The race is attracting some elite riders and will be the largest yet.  It is anticipated that it will be a very exciting and attractive event.

Civic Day.
This national event will commemorate the introduction of urban conservation areas 50 years ago. Groups and individuals will be invited to take part.  Dates to be arranged.

Ward Matters,
The Flood gates on the Thorney Road have still not been repaired since they were damaged nine months ago.  Tank-trap style concrete blocks will be used instead, if necessary.

Double Parking on Crescent Road.  (This was not, however,  mentioned at “Police Matters”) Potholes on Bellmans Grove need urgent attention.
This has been reported to FDC.

Very interesting planning application submitted F/YR16/1143
Erection of a first floor and second floor rear extension and erection of a front boundary wall and railings with 2.3m high (max height) piers (involving the demolition of existing wall) to enable the change of use of from a 3-bed dwelling, offices and music studio to C1 use (hotel with 6 x self-contained hotel suites) and A1 retail  7A – 9 Market Street Whittlesey Cambridgeshire.
This historic building has previously had planning permission, for a different configuration. In 2007 FDC refused the application but the applicant won on appeal at the Planning Inspectorate in 2008 – that application has time expired.
Whilst the plans ‘look’ very impressive and a promise of tidying up a Graded listed building – unfortunately ‘we’ ar back to the usual issue of ‘Parking’  – 6 self contained hotel rooms and NO Parking – my understanding is that ‘Town Centre’ applications do not need to provide parking spaces….So where will the clients park? – I see a ‘small’ entrance from Market Street. I see no provision for getting rid of ‘6’ lots of rubbish – where will the bins go – on the path I suspect. So although very impressive – I hope FDC is able to reach a compromise on this application.
Note : On the plans it states ‘The Monastery’ / someone else called it ‘The Nunnery’ I wonder if anyone knows if this building was indeed used for this purpose in the past.

Acknowledgements:
Fenland District Council
Images of England©
Peter Tree©

Welcome to the latest newsletter from Police and Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite.
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Lloyds customers should be on the lookout for a new sophisticated fraud that involves fraudsters sending fake bank letters.
The convincing letters being sent are a replica template from Lloyds and include their logo, address and signature from a customer service representative.   The letter tells recipients that there have been some “unusual transactions” on their personal account and asks them to call a number highlighted in bold to confirm they are genuine.  When victims call the number, an automated welcome message is played and the caller is asked to enter their card number, account number and sort code followed by their date of birth.Victims are then instructed to enter the first and last digit of their security number. The fraud was spotted by the Daily Telegraph who was alerted to it by a reader who had three identical letters sent to an office address. On separate occasions the Daily Telegraph ran some tests using fake details and were passed to fraudsters who claimed to be from a Lloyds contact centre. The bank has confirmed that the phone number and letters are fake.  The letters are essentially a sophisticated phishing attempt and serves as a warning to consumers to question written correspondence from their banks.  If you are ever suspicious about correspondence from your bank you should call the customer serviced number on the back of their card.  To report a fraud and cyber crime, call us on 0300 123 2040 or visit
Action  Fraud
Click to view

Visit Whittlesey NHW Website an excellent place to find information.
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I am extremely pleased to be informed that Cambs CC have decided to re-instate full street lighting once more…. I wonder what has brought this about – certainly not the ‘spin’ of the publics concerns….more likely this very unpopular decision would have caused issues at the next elections…

Continuing our 40th Wedding Anniversary celebrations – we have moved to the very ‘Colonial’ Eastern & Oriental in Penang Malaysia a wonderful hotel the General Manager Mr Richard Evans has been very engaging with us and we’ve had a wonderful time back here in Penang after a 4 year gap.
   

      
Yes I did attempt some carols on the Edwardian piano, a swimming pool just for me! and another night of drink and make merry with the resident ’50’ Trio’

Letter from Penang:
Stay Safe, Lock Up, Look after your Neighbours

 

Room with a view                                                   View from Penang Hill

Well not being in the UK at present I am unable to attend the council meeting (To the delight of ‘some’ councillors I understand!) – However the downside – No one sends any information over to me – those who may have attended… so sorry….
This is what is on the agenda.

Two other items that caused me some concern being:
1/ The attempted break-in of vehicles along/around Snoots Road, however as in previous similar instances – the vehicles concerned were left unlocked – this is a big temptation for someone to rummage around to see if they can find anything – Lock It or Loose It….
2/ The second concern that being of I ‘quote’ from anti-social media, that the usual faceless person complains about the toilets being ‘filthy’, this raises several issues.
Since I can not confirm the state of the toilets, if the person who found them in such a state – why did ‘they’ not take a picture of the ‘filthy’ state and why did they not report it immediately to either WTC of FDC
Whenever I have met the Street Cleaners and actually seen them ‘perform’ their cleaning of the toilets – it has always been to a very high standard – now what happens after they have left is no their fault. The toilets were refurbished a couple of years ago and other than some vandalism I would consider normally fit for purpose – Show me the evidence please and I am sure our councillors will be very quick off the mark.

Well I ‘quote’ the usual rants and raves on our anti-social media sites, with an almost 100% negativity about the ‘usual items that has been circulating for months if not years.
In fact ‘they’ ran out of ‘rants’ so decided to move and whinge about the traffic around the ‘Amazon’ area…. having not enough to complain about locally.

One or two controversial planning applications was on this weeks agenda….

For Connie and I – well we are away…. celebrating our 40th Wedding (Ruby) Anniversary, here at ‘The Majestic’ in Kuala Lumpur – we came earlier in the year and checked it out.
Joined by most of our Malaysia Family along with good friends Andrew and Sue from Whittlesey.

    
   
The fantastic ‘Orchid Room’ with over 400 orchid plants – Afternoon Tea for two

    
A marvellous buffet that lasted 4 hours – with multi cultural food for everyone.

My letter from K.L. (As the well educated readers may know -Alistair Cooks letter from America on the BBC for over 40 years – ended on a note).

Wishing our very good friend Jeanne Beaumont ‘A Very Happy Birthday’ – Jeanne is a very spritely octogenarian – may there be many more Happy Days….

Unless there is anything pressing/urgent – for the time being there will be a weekly update.

Maybe not everyone has the ‘Fens’ magazine delivered so I’ll copy it here.

Whittlesey Police Station 1857 – 2016

The opening of the Queen Street Police Station on the 3^rd October 1968 by Alderman T.W Anthony, (J.P. and Chairman of Cambridgeshire & Isle of Ely County Council) was a day to celebrate. The total cost of the building which included demolition of the old one was £30,560. The first Station which included a lock up and a house was built on the present site and completed in 1857, just prior to a riot which took place in the town after an election. The police force at the time was inadequate to cope with the disturbance and assistance had to be brought in. Retired sergeant Dennis Ellingham spent most of his career within Whittlesey and during that time, no murders occurred, there were 2 sergeants and 6 constables. There was 1 cell but has no toilet. The sergeant had the use of the ‘Ford Anglia’

      
Police Station 1930                             (l) Dennis Ellingham

The current Police & Crime Commissioner Mr Jason Ablewhite has decided in conjunction with Cambridgeshire Police that the Whittlesey Police Station is no longer required for operational purposes. The Police Station has been only been opened for limited periods for some time and has now been officially closed at the end of October. In liaison with other interested groups, Fenland Policing have said that there will be coverage of Policing in and around Whittlesey and district. Unfortunately our town has also lost our long standing PCSO Ian Moll – who has moved to be based in Peterborough.

Written and researched by Roy Gerstner Chairman Whittlesey Neighbourhood Watch My thanks to Whittlesey Museum. Would you like to become a better neighbour, why not join Whittlesey Neighbourhood Watch

Please  contact. Roy Gerstner @ roy.gerstner@ntlworld.com

 
See agenda above – Click on picture to enlarge – click a 2nd time to further enlarge.

Monday at Hinchingbrook with Cambs Police.
Tuesday attended the Whittlesey Town Council – Neighbourhood Plan meeting, where community groups, businesses, and other community leaders viewed the proposed questionnaire that will go out to the general public possibly in the new year.
Wednesday attended the WTC planning meeting.
Friday meeting with Whittlesey new PCSO Shane Green along with NHW secretary Robin Sutton. A varied discussion on past and present issues that the NHW members have raised. We appreciate that Shane has to settle in to our town and villages and we hope that he being allocated to our area will be beneficial to all.
Meeting with the Prison reform group at Peterborough.
Saturday attended the FOWL Christmas Fyre at the Library/Learning Centre. All tombola prizes won.
Gift wrapping and Cakes went very well.
FOWL will be holding a Quiz next year
(Fish & Chip supper) what this space for more information.
A very good year for the small group of dedicated volunteers.
Sunday went out Litter Picking for 2 hours.

This Saturday 10:00am to 12:00 Get your presents wrapped and ready
                                     Free entry, in support of Friends of Whittlesey Library – FOWL

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.
I did attend this evenings meeting, where there was myself and one other member of the public in attendance.
I did speak at the public forum stating that the agenda had not been available on the Whittlesey TC website, it was pointed out to me that it was not a requirement to do so, which I was aware of and only wished to point out that the ‘Public’ expectations are that information is reliable and consistent.
The WTC website is administered by a 3rd party and possibility this item was missed.

Since there so many applications being received by WTC there will be Planning meetings now arranged outside of the ‘usual’ 3rd Wednesday of the month.

The decisions on these applications will be available on the WTC website when the minutes are approved.

The next meeting is on Wednesday 30th November at 10:00

Message sent by Charles Kitchin ( Police, Director of Public Engagement and Communications, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Many thanks to those of you who completed my recent Police and Crime Plan survey. With budgetary pressures set to continue over the next few years and the need to save a further £6 million by 2020/21, I am considering a small increase in the policing element of the council tax for 2017/18. This would be just under 7p per week (£3.60 per year) for an average Band D property which equates to an increase of 1.97%. Your opinion counts and I would be grateful if you could take a moment to complete this short survey and let me know your views.
Please click here for the survey.

Many thanks Jason Ablewhite Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.